Unmasking Victorian Monsters Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Unmasking Victorian Monsters - Research Paper Example In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Henry Jekyll begins experimenting on himself by drinking a potion that unleashes his dark side, a violent, brutish misanthrope named Edward Hyde. Eventually, he becomes unable to control the shift in personality chemically and it begins to overtake his upstanding persona and psyche as Dr. Jekyll. The novel itself is in the form of Dr. Jekylls last will and testament as it has fallen into the hands of his solicitor. The Island of Dr. Moreau tells the story of Edward Prendick who is shipwrecked in the South Pacific and finds himself on the island of Dr. Moreau. Moreau was a famous London physiologist who was shunned when his experiments in vivisection were revealed. He has exiled himself to this island where he can continue his experiments in vivisection unhindered by public opprobrium. Prendick learns that Dr. Moreau has created a collection of Beat Men who may, or may not, be under his control and resistant to their animal tendencies. Bram Stokers Dracula has multiple narrators although its principle one is Jonathan Harker, a London solicitor. Harker journeys to Transylvania to assist a client, Count Dracula, with a real estate transaction. Subsequently, Dracula arrives in England and begins to work his evil on a British woman, Lucy Westenra. As she wastes away the Dutch vampire expert, Abraham Van Helsing, eventually joined by Harker and his fiance, Wilhelmina Mina Murray, wages war against Dracula. Lucy and her mother both die after a wolf attack; the struggle eventually returns to Transylvania where Dracula is exterminated; one of his hunters, Quincy Morris, is also killed; and, Mina is freed from the mental and emotional thrall of the evil vampire. Indicatively, Moreaus creations are known as the Beast Folk. They appear to be neither people nor beasts but rather an

SWOT analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

SWOT analysis - Essay Example This is followed by analyzing the internal and external factors that complement achieving of these objectives as well those which hinder achievement of the same objectives. It therefore gives business leaders a sense of direction and changes which need to be made to achieve the set business objectives. A business stands a better chance of success if they do understand the opportunities which exist in a particular market segment. A company can also exploit the weakness of a competitor n meeting market demand. At the same time a SWOT analysis can help a company avoid a saturated market or taking on an established competitor (Snelling, 2012). A detailed SWOT analysis helps a company identify potential hazards before entering a market. This is crucial in laying strategies to overcome these risks. These risks include those that a business entity has no direct control over such as the economy, forex rates or government policy. It is always the goal of any business to increase profitability while reducing costs. Identifying the strengths of a business helps in optimal allocation of resources (Snelling, 2012). For example the company can know how much it should spend on advertising, public relations activities as well as social responsibility depending on its position in the market it operates. Conducting a SWOT analysis helps a company identify vulnerable areas in its operations which can be used by competitors to their advantage. Identifying these weak points helps a company lay contingency plans to improve and deter external threats by competitors. The first step involves assembling the SWOT team and setting the SMART objectives which need to be achieved by conducting the SWOT. The objectives of course should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound (Ferrell & Hartline, 2012). For example a SWOT analysis can be about expanding to a new market or starting a new product line. The second step is understanding the business

Network Security Ph.D. Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8500 words

Network Security Ph.D. - Essay Example The weekly assignment, which covered various security-related topics, necessitated that we, as students, research the assigned topics, engaged with the material and, importantly, explore the multi-dimensional nature of network security. Added to that, weekly feedback on assignments offered us a clear indication of the topics which we could handle well and those which we could not. Following a review of the weekly assignments and the identification of the topics which I could write a good extended research on, I decided that threat identification and confrontation was an interesting topic. It was, however, too general and accordingly, I sought the advice of our Chief information Security Officer who directed me towards state of the art threat identification and mitigation technologies as a possible topic. The primary aim of this research is the examination of the technologies currently employed for the detection of a worm attack and its subsequent negation. Through this examination, the research will illustrate that by taking existing honeypot technologies and using them to populate unused IP space on a network, a honeywall could use these honeypots as sensors to detect and respond to unauthorized traffic. In order to respond to the research question, an in-depth investigative exploration of the network attacks and the technologies for dealing with them was conducted. The research was limited to secondary data and all sources were checked for credibility. Part II: Background 2.0 Introduction An understanding of the nature and types of attacks seen on the network is established first. Following the classification of attacks, a profile of an attacker is presented to provide a more substantial example of network intrusions. A discussion of firewalls, intrusion detection, and honeypots is provided to complete the background information. 2.1 Network Activity Lyle (1997) posits that most attacks fall within one of three main categories: attacks on integrity, attacks on confidentiality or attacks on availability. The act of maintaining the integrity of a network is the act of preventing authorized users of the system from making changes beyond their authority, and to prevent unauthorized persons from making changes at all. If the integrity of a

Final assignment Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Final assignment - Movie Review Example Johnson from achieving her dreams with teaching. The students are derailed from concentrating in their education by drug dealing and other elements of street life that are unfavorable to education (Smith). This movie is important to me individually because it affirms my belief that, besides its use for language aesthetics, literally work has practical implications on the society. For example, Johnson uses Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan’s poems to challenge and instill hope in her students, and the results are visible. This movie embodies messages and feelings that are relevant today because it features real life issues that have endured through history. Issues of poverty, illiteracy, and drugs trafficking are issues that still make headlines to the present day. However, the theme of hope has traversed centuries and it is exemplified in this movie (Smith). Finally, the message of change featured in this movie is reminiscent of the present day endeavor to abandon the practices and systems that hamper progress and embrace those that bring

The roles of bias, Context, and the researcher in Qualitative Research Assignment

The roles of bias, Context, and the researcher in Qualitative Research - Assignment Example Ensuring the integrity of the research data is one of the primary priorities of every researcher. Consequently as a researcher carries out a qualitative research undertaking, it is important to understand the potential impacts of external factors such as environment, context, personal bias as well as the role of the researcher on the integrity of the research data. For example, in a qualitative research, bias often the reliability, validity of the findings by distorting the truth or skewing the collected qualitative data. On the other hand, the researcher is also considered an important instrument in a qualitative research and some of the roles of a researcher include gathering data as well as interacting and collaborating with the participants in the research (Brown, 1996). This paper describes the results of my personal observation of a photograph in correlation to the roles of context, bias and the research during a qualitative research study. Description of the results The results of my observation suggested that the photo requires a qualitative analysis to capture all the required qualitative data and any non-numerical information that a company can use in performance analysis. The use of qualitative data to support businesses in decision-making provides a business with the detailed picture of the performance of individuals. The use of qualitative research by Health Plus creates openness in the organization (Creswell, 1994).

Higher education Essay Example for Free

Higher education Essay Security, quality education, access to healthcare, prospects of a reasonable job on merit and sound economy are the ingredients to be provided by the state to its citizens to run the state and the society smoothly. Growth of successful nations is denoted particularly to the education. There was a time when people believed that higher education should be available to people of all social classes and, obviously, it was freely available to all who wanted it. The fact that it is not, that public education was once available and now it is very hard to access is indicative of deep problems in Pakistan. Encouraging colleges and universities to raise their own resources by charging higher fees has clearly excluded a significant section of students belonging to poor sections of the society. Education in Pakistan is now so expensive that poor can’t even imagine of their children becoming doctors and engineers. Our education system is passing through a very bad phase now and it is regarded as perhaps amongst the poorest in the world. Cream of the Pakistani brain is either becoming idle due to non-availability of ever rising cost of education or going to other countries. UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS Article 1 provides; every child has the right to have equal access to an education, irrespective of their color, creed, nationality, ethnicity, or social and financial status, so they may obtain gainful employment and contribute to the growth of their society, being born free and equal in dignity and rights. Life for a common man in Pakistan in this so called â€Å"democratic† regime has already become difficult owing to the all-round price rise across the country. Inflation, combined with policies of privatization, has caused a complete deterioration in living standards of the people. Frankly speaking, there is no such thing as democracy in Pakistan. This type of â€Å"democracy† has often left the common man in constant struggle for survival. Majority of Pakistanis are living in poverty and unsustainable economic conditions; when they are struggling for their livelihood education loses its utility in their eyes and it becomes far from their desire. But for the riches and powerful corrupt politicians, things are very rosy. Pakistan is suffering terribly for that, with socio-political and economic crises strewn all over the society like a straw hut in a typhoon. Lack of good education and unemployment in Pakistan would contribute many social ills, including crime, prostitution, and the break down in law and order. In Pakistan, providing education to the masses had always been state responsibility. Now there has been a major push for the private provision of educational services. Moreover, corrupt politicians, feudalism, injustice are such problems which have further pressed the most pressed people of the country. Education is a tremendous tool for social change as well as an opportunity out of poverty traps. People trapped in the lower classes have trouble climbing out of it because they lack the tools to do so, because they live in a feudal society that actively works to keep them there, and education can be a form of escape hatch. But Education System in Pakistan In Human development Report Pakistan is placed at 136th position for having just 49. 9% educated population. In addition to that, Pakistan is ranked at 113th out of 120 registered UN members according to the research conducted by UNESCO et. all. Some of the very basic flaws of the education system in Pakistan contribute to the economic, ethnic and sociopolitical crisis within the country. Flaws of Education System in Pakistan Firstly, the education system of Pakistan is based on unequal lines. Medium of education is different in both, public and private sector. This create a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. Such a distraught infrastructure is a basic cause of high illiteracy rate in Pakistan and high drop out rates in rural areas and public school. Secondly, regional disparity is also a major cause. The schools in Balochistan (the largest province of Pakistan by Area) are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (the largest province Of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29. 5% in males and 3% in females. The third major cause of flawed education system in Pakistan is gender discrimination. The current primary school ratio of boys and girls is 10:4, which is a cause of huge concern. For the last few years there has been an increase in the growth of private schools. It is believed that Pakistan is among the most prominent states affected by gender discrimination. That not only harms the quality of education in Pakistan but create a gap among haves and have nots. Fourthly, the lack of technical education is a biggest flaw in the education policy that has never been focused before. Therefore, less technical people means low standard of education. Fifthly, the allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1. 5 to 2. 0 percent of the total GDP. It should be around 7% of the total GDP. At that budget allocation, the illiteracy rate in Pakistan would not decrease but rather increase. The federal and provincial governments need to cut down their expenditures in other areas and spend a bigger proportion of income on education. Moreover, the quality of education in most of the public schools and colleges is well below par; the teachers in government schools are not well trained. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. They are not professionally trained teachers so they are unable to train a nation. Quality of teaching needs special attention in rural areas where the teachers lack in all departments. In America, Europe and most of the developed countries, the emphasis of the states is on developing virtual education systems i. e. provision of education through online networks. The idea of online education is gathering momentum and many online institutions have been set up which offer online courses and online degrees. The Higher Education Commission and Education ministry need to focus on developing a strong online education network so that students through out the country can benefit. Universities such as Harvard, Berkley and MIT are offering online courses and degrees. It reflects the importance of online education in todays modern high tech world. Finally, Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to Madrassas where education is totally free. The government has to make changes to financial infrastructure to improve the situation. Bank loans for education purposes should not be interest based as it discourages the people of Pakistan to acquire loans. Education loans are offered at low rates through out the world and it enable people to acquire quality education. Social awareness regarding all these issues need to be spread and we, the people of Pakistan have to work hand in hand with the government authorities to improve the current system. Our children should not be deprived of their basic right to acquire knowledge. All these issues contribute to high illiteracy rate, which in turn result in economic crisis in shape of high unemployment rate and below-par quality of labor. Moreover, the country suffers on social, political and technological front! There are hundred other problems which need attention but the core-issues need to be addressed as soon as possible. You can read my article Pakistans Educational System which is an overview of the education infra-structure within the country. In todays world, the benchmark for excellence is education. Moreover, if a country has a distraught academic infrastructure, the chances to survive in current competitive world are petite. The illiteracy rate in Pakistan is alarmingly high which calls for critical attention. The federal and provincial governments need to work together towards elimination of flaws of education system in Pakistan. The first time I thought about education and its significance to this society was when I went on a field trip to a school set up by an NGO in the late 1990s. It is now a rightly famous NGO but back then during my sixth grade field trip it just seemed like a project of a group of cranky Karachi businessmen who had decided to spit against the wind of the government’s non-interest in providing education to its people. These rich grouches had  gotten together in the chaos of 1995 Karachi and seeing the government more interested in massacring hard-boiled militants than provide social services, they decided to simply pool their own money and build their own schools. How benevolent of them. I would love to see these rich men’s tax receipts. The citizens of a country shouldn’t be dependent on the benevolent charity of rich men. Through their own democratic political process, citizens must enforce upon their richest members the income taxes necessary to fund an education system that reaches every child in the state. The fact that Pakistanis have not done so points towards the weakness of their political system in dealing with its population’s educational needs. There is no real shortcut from the state actually enforcing a tax system that extracts the adequate revenue needed to fund the creation of a school near every human settlement in Pakistan. The goal I have described of having a school near every human settlement in Pakistan, is what Pakistan is obligated to do under its current international treaties and the simplest and most straightforward way it can be done. It is certainly not impossible. Pakistan has managed to make sure that no human settlement lacks a mosque. The same needs to be done for schools. Where we went wrong Nationalisation of schools, as was done by the Z. A. Bhutto administration, was a shortcut that cannot be used, and was actually instrumental in ruining government schools. The provincial governments that ran education departments became overstretched then to the point of breaking. The schools that were nationalised saw the prospect of future capital and human investment in them pointless, as the former owners were now dispossessed of their old stake in the schools. Good teachers left, rather than become government employees to be posted in far flung places, and the lack of good teacher training colleges, a necessity unacknowledged up until recently, saw little competent replacement. By nationalising the missionary (Christian), faith-based (Muslim) and private schools, an unwieldy, unplanned expansion of Pakistan’s school system reduced the status of government school teachers to the corrupted, incompetent, ineffective place it finds itself in today. Teachers do not come to classes, and if they do, they are ill-prepared to teach. It becomes difficult to weed out and penalise underperforming teachers because their status as government employees prevents them from being penalised as they would be in the private sector. As much as this rhetoric may sound similar to the United States, Pakistan’s teachers’ unions continue to shelter wildly incompetent teachers, who beyond being simply bad at teaching, many times do not even show up. Anti-participatory environment We are not helped either by large class sizes, low teacher to student ratios, non-production of teachers in a sufficient quantity and quality by the low number of Pakistani teacher-training colleges. Central to this remains the criminally low expenditure on education by Pakistan, and the failure to collect or divert enough revenue to the education sector. Taking the education emergency of Pakistan seriously would mean finding means to increase the amounts spent on education in Pakistan, on a war footing. Students cannot themselves push for an effective learning environment. Despite the fact that some students actually do want to learn, the environment that exists in classrooms, does not brook dissent. This discourages students from bringing up flaws in their educational setting. This anti-participatory environment in classrooms is facilitated by excessively large class sizes, which discourages teachers from having more individualised interactions with students. This anti-participatory trend in classrooms is complemented by an anti-democratic trend in schools, where no voting is done to elect new prefects or monitors, rather the relevant students are appointed by the school administration. Giving students an opportunity to actually vote for their school leaders might inculcate democratic and participatory values in them at an earlier age, and teach them the responsibility of making their own decisions. If and when these students reach Pakistani universities, they can adequately recognise the entrenched authoritarianism accumulated in many of Pakistan’s universities over the last three decades. Student politics This persistent anti-democratic trend within Pakistan’s educational establishments has reinforced the low academic quality of these institutions. There is little legitimate input from the student bodies on how their education is conducted. Since the 1980s student union elections have been either banned or delayed, witnessing unrest in a violent country like Pakistan ripple into campuses as violence, as opposed to measured  debate. The situation turned chaotic in the 1990s when the general mayhem of the city of Karachi coincided with violence on the Karachi University campus. The presence of such violence made the students of that decade disinterested in participatory politics. This suited the authoritarian and bureaucratic administrations of varsities, as well as the sclerotic, unelected leadership of Pakistan’s political parties. They did not mind that the students of Pakistan slid into political apathy. However, the importance of student politics was re-kindled in the 2007 lawyer-led movement against the dictatorship of General Musharraf. The importance of student politics was even acknowledged by the government that won against Musharraf in 2008, when it lifted the ban on student and trade union elections. However, the twist in the tale has been the glaring domestic democratic deficit of this government. The anti-participatory atmosphere on campuses has not lifted as no memorable student elections have been held. Neither have any well-publicised trade union elections been held. And most significantly, no internal party elections have been held in any party that maintains a decisive number of seats in parliament. What the lack of student democracy has to do with Pakistan’s state of education is that there is no feedback from students, who are the objects of education. There is no diminishment in the cruel authoritarian atmosphere of Pakistani government classrooms, where teachers, in negligent enough environments can still use sticks to punish students. I never really thought about education in society as a child. That would have been expected of any 11 year old. But when I visited a third grade NGO school classroom in the late ’90s and saw another 11 year old struggling with phrases I would read just for fun, it hit me how serious the problem of illiteracy was for Pakistani society. In a misbegotten decade as that one, beyond the Gordian knot we had witnessed of Karachi’s bloody politics, the reality of children’s mis-education struck me as a crueler fate, a dire issue that had to be resolved immediately. That’s because these ill-educated children would not remain children much longer. They would soon be badly-educated adults. And if this cruel act of omission by Pakistani society was not amended quick enough, then one more generation would see their adulthoods wasting away under the 21st century curse of illiteracy. Tax the rich, teach the kids. We have an education emergency on our hands. The Education System of Pakistan is divided into five levels 1. Primary level (Class 1 to 5) 2. Middle level (Class 5 to 8th) 3. Secondary level (S. S. C) 4. Intermediate level (H. S. C) 5. University level (Graduation, Masters and Research) Another division of Education System in Pakistan according to the School System 1. 1. Public Schools or Government Schools These schools are managed and financed by the government. Unfortunately, the majority of the schools are in poor condition.  » There is no any merit system; teachers and other staff are appointed by the ministers on their own wishes.  » There is no any accountability; a large number of GHOST SCHOOLS AND GHOST TEACHERS are listed in the documents. They are receiving funds and pays, but, in reality they did not exists.  » In Rural areas, the buildings of public schools are mostly held by Waderas and Feudal. They use them as marriage halls, otaks, bethaks etc. â€Å"Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality. † (Henry Fielding) 1. 2. Elite Class Schools (private schools) Due to badly failure of government in providing the Education, the Elite Class Education System in Pakistan got successes very quickly. Today, even poor prefer to send their child in these private schools but because of high fee structure many aspirants are unable to part this Education System. It is generally accepted that, the standard of Elite Class Education System is more reliable and first-rate than Public Schools and Madarsas. There is accountability, transparency and checking system. Generally, the students of private schools are more competent than those of public schools and Madarsas. The government should take lessons from this Education System. These are successive models for the government i. e. CITY SCHOOL, BEACON SCHOOLS, PAK-TURK SCHOOLS etc. 1. 3. Madarsas Madarsas are the largest NGOs of the world. Today in Pakistan about 8000 Madarsas are working. They provide not only Education but also accommodation and food. They provide Islamic as well as worldlyEducation. Mostly, poor parents who are unable to educate their child prefer this Education System. The government should introduce the reforms for the Madarsas and improve their standard. This will be helpful in two ways. Firstly, it will provide free of cost education to poor child. Secondly, it will lessen the burden the government. Before the 18th Amendment, the EducationSystem in Pakistan was the responsibility of Federal Government. The Ministry of Education at Federal level was responsible for formulating Policies, Planning and Promotion of Educational facilities across the country. But, after the passing of 18th Amendment, the responsibilities of Education System are divided among the Federation and the Provinces. The responsibilities of the Provinces 1. To set the Curriculum 2. To set the Syllabus 3. Standards of Education up to Grade 12 (F. Sc, H. S. C, I. Com, etc). 4. Islamic Education The responsibilities of Federation are following 1. Planning and Policy 2. External Affairs; Signing, implementation and monitoring of Bilateral and Multi-lateral Educational Agreements, Pacts, Protocols, MoUs 3. Controlling of Libraries, museums, and similar institutions 4. Federal agencies i. e. FATA 5. Special Studies 6. Inter-provincial matters and co-ordination. † 7. Legal, medical and other professions. 8. National planning and national economic coordination including planning and coordination of scientific and technological research. 9. National Education Policy and clear cut Domain over the following acts. 1. 1. Centres of Excellence Act 1974 2. Area Study Centres Act 1975 3. Pakistan Study Centres Act 1976 4. National Book Foundation Act 1972 5. Fed. Board of Intermediate Sec Education Act 1975 6. Federal Directorate of Education Isb. [Article 142 (d)] 7. Federal Supervision of Curricula, Textbooks and Standards of Education Act 1976 8. National Education Foundation Ordinance 2002. Source: http://www. defence. pk/forums/national-political-issues/125588-education-system-pakistan-good-bad. html#ixzz2PKkMjbtM Flaws hovering over Pakistan’s education system Filed under ISSUES 0 According to the reports of Human development our country is placed at 136th with just 49. 9 percent educated population. There is lack of uniform education system. Private and Govt. educational institutions has different syllabus. The flaws in education system lead to sociopolitical, economic and ethical issues in our society. Our education system is based on uneven lines. Even the medium of education is different in private and public educational institutions. This inequality has divided people among two segments. Such a distressed educational infrastructure is a crucial cause of increasing rate of illiteracy in Pakistan. The regional discrepancy is also main reason illiteracy in Pakistan. The schools in largest province of Pakistan Baluchistan are not establish and sparked as schools in Punjab. There is lack of awareness among people about the significance of education. In FATA the literacy rate is very poor constituting 29. 5% in men and 3% in women. The gender discrimination is also one of the major causes of educational flaws in country which is projecting the boys and girls primary schools ratio 10:4 correspondingly. In the last few years many new primacy schools for girls and boys are established but still there is need to establish more and more primary schools to meet the educational needs of increasing population. In the last decade the growth of private sector schools is tremendously increased. The private schools trend not just harms the quality of education but also created a huge gap between rich and poor. The people of lower class couldn’t afford the fees of private educational schools and colleges. In public schools there is lack of quality education. There is also shortage of required facilities like qualified, train staff, furniture and school buildings etc. Our educational policy doesn’t focus on technical education. There are very few technical institutions and less technical trained people in country. The funds allocated for the education are not sufficient the funds are just about 1. 5 % to 2. 0% of total GDP. Although to promote the education the funds must be about 7 percent of total country GDP. With increased education budget the literacy rate in country will surely increased. The provincial and federal Government both need spend a larger portion of their income on promoting education. Author: Rizwan Ghani Posted On: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 Source/Reference: www. pakobserver. net Total Views :1320| After 18th Amendment, improvement of education in Pakistan to international standards can be done with help of international frameworks including Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and boards like National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). Federal and provincial governments have to address the issue of teaching language (English, Urdu or regional languages), standardization of curriculum, and dealing with two-track education system- Urdu and English medium to take local and international exams. These tested frameworks can bring the progress of decades in Pakistan while saving billions of dollars. Thus, Pakistan needs to adopt appropriate policies to raise education standards, sustain economy and earn foreign exchange. The political, social and education complexities of teaching language can be controlled with help of international frameworks. PISA does not require the member states to change curriculums, teaching languages and teaching methodologies. It allows governments to periodically monitor outcomes of national education systems within internationally agreed framework. It provides a basis for international collaboration in defining and implementing educational goals and skills that are relevant to adult life (professional and social). PISA reading, mathematics and general science frameworks help bring national education at par with international standards. Around half a million 15-year-olds from 75 countries representing 28 million students, participated in PISA 2009 assessments and surveys. Pakistan can use PISA to improving national education standards in all provincial languages (www. pisa. oecd. org). Teaching in local languages can improve Pakistan’s education standards internationally. According to the 2011 Writing Framework for National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of America, good writing instruction empowers students to acquire new knowledge and to develop critical thinking skills. This is true of writing in all subject areas, not just English language http //www. state. nj. us/education/assessment/naep/results/writing/2011naep. PISA and NAEP framework rubrics allow student evaluations irrespective of language. Learning and teaching in mother tongue is a universal human right recognized by UN. China, was a top scorers in 2009 PISA testing http //www. nytimes. com/2010/12/07/education/07education. html. It shows education in mother tongue does not affect nation’s international competitiveness and national education standards. Since education is a provincial subject, therefore provinces should be free to impart education in local languages, make English and Urdu as optional languages. Provinces can issue degrees with pass/fail with English/Urdu or both to free the country from politics of language. It will allow students to continue higher education without passing compulsory languages, which is a major contributor to school and college dropouts. It will allow the students to join job market who do not wish to continue with further education. The employer can omit or consider language(s) pass/fail status of candidate at the time of employment. On the other hand, the higher education institutions can keep compulsory languages as part of admission criteria. In line with many American universities, a six months period can be given to first year university students to clear compulsory languages. In terms of syllabus, international frameworks and boards can help Pakistan’s policy makers develop required syllabuses, fulfill demands of local market, and meet national education objectives to bring national and international education at par. They allow improving exam testing and incorporating modern technology in reading and writing. In addition, they facilitate linking of national boards to international boards like NBME (www. nbme. org). NBME model allows state medical qualified doctors to take national level exams, upgrade national education and examination standards and link them to rest of the world. It allows tens of thousands of international medical graduates to take United States Medical Licensing Exam without actually studying in American medical colleges. It is equally true for British, Australian and New Zealand medical boards. This model can help cut cost of professional education and fight poverty in Pakistan. Based on these frameworks and models, federal and provincial governments of Pakistan should collaborate to standardize local education and bring it equal to international standards. Islamabad should hold annual summits with China and western countries in line with reports of annual Indo-US higher education summits planning collaboration of universities in both countries. In addition, Pakistan needs to allow private publishers to print books according to the contents of given courses. It will improve concepts of students, standard of books and education. The existing control of federal government on higher education needs to be changed by allowing provinces complete control of universities, scholarships, hiring, training etc. Federal government needs to become a regulatory body instead of controlling authority and facilitates provinces to standardize higher education, provincial education and bring it equal to international levels. Federal education setup should work with ministry of labor and manpower to identify and develop human resource for interprovincial and overseas market, work with foreign missions to issue annual forecast of overseas jobs and train foreign workers and students. Pakistan needs to organize education to cater to local and international needs, attract foreign investors and earn foreign revenue. Reportedly, America and Britain earned $31bn and ? 8 bn in 2010 from foreign students respectively. China is charging $5333 boarding lodging fee annually for a five-year MBBS and one-year internship. It is also offering seven-year specialization degree programs (5 years MBBS and 2 years specialization) in most medical fields. Beijing has gained international recognition through standardized tuition fees, transparency, qualified staff and allowing foreign students and teachers in local universities (http //www.4icu. org/cn/). The Chinese model can help Pakistan cut prices of professional education by 50 percent and train surplus number of local and foreign students to sustain domestic and international needs. In line with China, Pakistan should also take necessary steps to attract flocks of foreign students, interns and investors. Finally, a debate is going on in China on two-track system- one for national college entrance exam (the gaokao) and other for international exams. Imran Khan’s PTI is deliberating about single education system. Pakistan can overcome challenge of teaching language, two-track system (English and Urdu medium) and bringing local education at par with international with help of international frameworks, NBME and more freedom to provinces. | Pakistans Education System and Links to Extremism Author: Jayshree Bajoria October 7, 2009 * Introduction * A Dysfunctional System * Government Reform Plans * The Madrassa Myth? * Reforming Madrassas * U. S. Policy Implications - Introduction Pakistans poor education system has increasingly become a matter of international concern. Lack of access to quality education, which in turn limits economic opportunity, makes young Pakistanis targets for extremist groups, some experts say. The World Bank says nearly half the adult population of Pakistan cant read, and net primary enrollment rates remain thelowest in South Asia. Experts say the system suffers from inadequate government investment, corruption, lack of institutional capacity, and a poor curriculum that often incites intolerance. In August 2009, chief counterterrorism adviser to the White House John Brennan, summing up a concern held by many U. S. terrorism experts, said extremist groups in Pakistan have exploited this weakness. It is why they offer free education to impoverished Pakistani children, where they can recruit and indoctrinate the next generation, he said. There have been some efforts by the Pakistani government, Western governments, and the World Bank to reform the system, but serious challenges remain. A Dysfunctional System According to the Pakistani governments National Education Policy 2009 (PDF), three parallel streams in educationpublic schools, private schools, and Islamic religious schools, or madrassashave created unequal opportunities for students. Of the total number of students going to primary school (grades 1 to 5), 73 percent go to public or government schools, 26 percent to private schools, and less than 1 percent to madrassas, according to the Karachi-based policy research institute Social Policy and Development Center. Within the public and the private sector, there are elite schools catering to a small minority of students. The majority of students attend low-quality private and public schools with poor curriculum, limited teaching materials, and inadequate number of properly trained teachers, or in many cases absent teachers. [N]o Pakistani leader has had the courage to implement serious [education] reforms- Pervez Hoodbhoy The government-mandated curriculum is a major concern for Western observers who say it encourages intolerance and a narrow worldview. Except in some elite private schools, which do not follow the government-prescribed curriculum, all public schools and registered private schools have been required to teach Islamiyat, or Islamic studies, for nearly thirty years. In addition to Islamiyat, many scholars have noted that the government curriculum uses Islam for a wide array of controversial ideological objectives, writes C. Christine Fair in the 2008 book The Madrassah Challenge.

What are the effects of violent video games?

What are the effects of violent video games? Running Head: EXPOSURE TO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES INCREASES AUTOMATIC AGGRESSIVENESS 1 INTRODUCTION Playing video games have become a hobby among people especially children and teenagers. Some video games are violent at the same time addictive and when they are played, there is an impact on the person playing the game. This has led some people to state that children become more aggressive after playing such games (Koop, 1982; Zimbardo, 1982). Parents nowadays have to sacrifice their time to monitor their children and to control the amount of time their children spend playing these video games. There are many types of new video games being introduced because of the popularity of these games and the number of players playing these games. Many researches have been conducted over the centuries about violent media and violent video games and the empirical evidence regarding the negative effects of violent video games and media is overwhelming. Violence has been a big issue in societies around the world for centuries and violence on the media causes violent behaviour among people. Findi ngs suggest that one way in which the violent media may influence behaviour is through the changes in a persons’ automatic self-concept. There were no researches on this done before. Therefore this research was carried out to find out the possibility. CONTENT This journal is about the effects of exposure to violent video games on automatic aggressiveness. A sample of 121 students were used in this research. Playing the violent video game Doom lead participants to associate themselves with aggressive traits and actions on the Implicit Association Test. In addition, self-reported prior exposure to violent video games predicted automatic aggressive self-concept, above and beyond self-reported aggression. Many researches have been conducted in the past regarding the effects of exposure to violent video games as well as violent television shows on aggressiveness and results show a positive correlation between the variables. According to a research, trait aggression as well as self-reported, peer reported and teacher reported aggressive behaviour correlates with exposure to violent television shows and video games (Anderson Dill, 2000; Singer Singer, 1983, 1986; Singer, Singer, Rapaczynski, 1984). Experimental studies as well as longitudinal studies have been carried out in the past. Experimental studies have shown that watching violent movie scenes on television and playing with violent video games increases aggressive behaviours such as delivering electric shocks and blasts of noise to another person (Anderson Dill, 2000; Anderson, &Murphy; Bartholow Anderson,2002; Bushman, 1998; Bushman Huesmann, 2001; Wood, Wong, Chachere, 1991), increases agressive expectations for others ( Bushman Anderson, 2002 ) and reduces prosocial behaviour ( Anderson Bushman, 2001 ). Longitudinal studies on the other hand have shown that watching violent television is one of the best predictors of future violent behaviours for example, criminal behaviour. (Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitzb, Walder, 1973; Johnson, Cohen, Smailes, Kasen, Brook, 2002). What is not so clear and well understood is the mechanisms by which exposure to violent media increases aggressive behaviour. In addition to other influences, such as learning of aggressive values (Bandura, 1978; Bandura, Ross, Ross, 1963), current models (Huesmann, 1986; Berkowitz, 1990; Bushman, 1998; Anderson Bushman, 2002) assume that the mechanisms underlying the effects of violent media are often automatic in nature. According to Berkowitz (1990), violent media automatically causes aggressive thoughts and feelings. Anderson Dill (2002) pointed out that playing violent video games increases the automatic accessibility of aggressive traits and actions in one’s memory. When one is repeatedly being exposed to violent media, one’s aggressive thoughts and actions are easily accessible causing an increase in the likelihood that the person will behave aggressively especially when the person is being provoked or in a frustrated state. (Anderson Dill, 2000; Berkowitz, 1990; Bushman, 1998; Todorov Bargh, 2002). Besides, according to researches there will also be an influence on automatic relations with the self when one is exposed to violent media (Greenwald Banaji, 1995; Greenwald, McGhee, Schwartz, 1998; Todorov Bargh, 2002). Research involving the area of automatic social cognition on the other hand suggests that people’s cognitive associations with the self and other attitudes objects would mediate the relationship between their environment and their behaviours. (Bargh Chartrand, 1999; Greenwald Banaji, 1995; Todorov Bargh, 2002). Measures of these associations (Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, Williams,1995; Greenwald et al., 1998) are strong predictors of relevant judgments and behaviours, including the actions that discriminate members of social outgroups (Bessenoff Sherman, 2000; Dovidio, Kawakami, Johnson, Johnson, Howard, 1997; Fazio et al., 1995; Gawronski, Ehrenberg, Banse, Zukova, Klaur, 2003; McConnell Leibold, 2001; Rudman Glick, 2001) and psychological abuse of oneà ¢â‚¬â„¢s spouse (Zayas Shoda, 1999). According to this journal, exposure to violent media may exert an influence on one’s behaviour through changes in a person’s automatic self-concept. For example, the extent to which one associates the self with aggressive traits and actions. It is time this research is carried out because till date, there are no researches that have explored this possibility. This study investigated the relationship between exposure to violent media and the automatic self-concept on two levels. The first one was, can exposure to media, in this case the violent video game Doom in the laboratory temporarily change the extent to which people associate the self with aggression ? Second, does the extent to which a person plays with violent video games in their own life predict their automatic self-concept with regard to aggression, above and beyond self reported aggressiveness? Violent video games have the tendency to influence the player more and cause the player to learn aggressive scripts compared to violent television and movies (Anderson, 2002). In this study, 121 introductory psychology students took part in the experiment in return for course credit. 54 were males, 65 females and another 2 did not give an answer. All the participants were 18 years old and above. The materials used in this study were violent games,non-violent video game, implicit association test, feeling thermometers, semantic differentials, Buss and Perry aggression questionnaire and previous game exposure questionnaire. A popular 3d game, Doom was selected as the violent video game. The non-violent video games used was â€Å" Mahjongg : Clicks†, a puzzle game. The Implicit- Association Test ( IAT ) was used to measure the automatic aggressive self-concept. This test was developed by Greenwald (1998). The participants completed two feeling thermometer measures whereby they rated themselves on a scale from 0( not aggressive ) to 100 ( extremely aggressive ) and on the other one they rated â€Å"other people† on the same scale. They also rate d themselves and other people on three semantic differential scales and also completed the Buss and Perry (1992) Aggression Questionnaire to measure trait aggression. Besides, participants were also asked on their previous game exposure. All the participants were asked to play Doom or Mahjong for 10 minutes. They were then assessed using the IAT, feeling thermometers, semantic differentials, Buss and Perry Questionnaire and the previous game exposure questionnaire in a fixed order. This was the procedure conducted. Various results were found soon after that. Overall, participants associated themselves more with â€Å"Peaceful† than with â€Å"Aggressive† on the IAT. The more positive a person’s IAT score, the greater their association of Aggression with Self. A 2 (game condition : violent vs non violent ) Ãâ€" 2 ( gender ) ANOVA on participant’s IAT scores. Participants in the Doom game condition were more likely to automatically associate themselves with aggression than participants in the Mahjongg game condition and there seem to be no interaction between the participants’ gender and game condition. As hypothesised, playing violent video games did increase automatic aggressiveness and it applies to both males and females. However on the feeling thermometers, semantic differential measures and Buss and Perry measure, participants reported a low level of aggressiveness. The same was done whereby a 2 (game condition : violent vs non violent ) Ãâ€" 2 ( gender ) ANOVA on participants’ scores on the 3-self reported aggressiveness measures. The results gained from this was that there were no significant effects of game condition on the feeling thermometer measure, semantic differential measure and Buss and Perry scale. There were no gender effects on both feeling thermometer and differential measures but on the Buss and Perry scale, there was a significant gender difference whereby the score for aggressiveness for men were higher than for women. Overall, the results suggested that exposure to violent video games did not significantly influence the self-reported aggressiveness of both males and females. For the prior game exposure questionnaire, the results showed that more men played video games and spent more time playing violent video games compared to women. However, both these genders did not differ in their exposure to non violent video games. Both the IAT and the Buss and Perry scale were positively correlated with self-reported prior exposure to violent video games and neither correlated with prior exposure to non violent video games. The relationship between the measures and prior exposure to violent video games remained significant after controlling for game condition. Therefore, long term exposure to violent video games makes largely independent contributions to automatic and self-reported aggressiveness. The author came up with a good discussion about this research and several conclusions were drawn. Most people have the belief that exposure to violent media has no effect on them personally but they do believe that it has an effect on other people (Innes Zeitz, 1988). As a conclusion, in this study participants that played the violent video game, Doom for 10 minutes associated the self more with aggressive traits on the IAT. However, they did not associate self with aggressive traits on the other self-report measures. Thus, the findings suggest that the short term effects of game exposure on the self-concept in this study were strongest at an automatic level. It is easy to imagine how playing a violent video game could temporarily increase the accessibility of aggressive concepts, feelings, and thoughts through priming or spreading activation (Anderson Dill, 2000; Berkowitz, 1990; Bushman, 1998). There have been many correlation, experimental as well as longitudinal studies over the decades that suggest that exposure to violent media is a cause of aggressive behaviour (Bushman Anderson, 2001; Singer Singer, 1983). From the results of this study, it is found that violent media may also exert their effects through changes in automatic associations with the self. There will be several strengths as well as limitations when it comes to research. First, the critique will be on the strengths of this research. There are a few strengths that must be highlighted. The hypothesis and purpose of study of this research is clear and understandable. This is one plus point of this whole research because without a clear and proper purpose of study, the readers would not understand the whole research and what it is all about. Therefore, having a proper purpose of study in all researches is important. The purpose of study for this research was to examine the relationship between exposure to violent media, in this case the violent video game and the automatic self concept on two different levels as mentioned previously. This research is different from other research because this research focuses more on the self concept. Another strength of this research is that it provides cognitive awareness through its clear explanations in the discussion section of the research. According to social cognitive models, the self is a knowledge structure, organized as a network of associations (Greenwald et al., 2002). It provides a clear knowledge on how priming can increase the automatic accessibility of a possible self. There are other studies, Wheeler Petty, 2001 ; Blair Ma Lenton, 2001 that explains more on how priming increases the automatic accessibility of a possible self. Participants will gain more knowledge in the sense that they know and have an idea on what is actually going on and why they react in such ways. Therefore this research in other words will create awareness among people. Every research will have strengths as well as several limitations. The limitations of a research need to be pointed out so that future researchers would take the weaknesses into consideration when conducting their research. The first limitation identified in this research is that the researcher did not really get the expected results from the participants. There were no significant effects of game condition on the feeling thermometer measure, semantic differential measure and Buss and Perry scale. Therefore the first limitation of the study would be the self report measures. Several other studies for example Rushbrook (1986) have measured the aggression using self reports. The problem with the research is that the correlational evidence is not so convincing and sometimes the observed positive correlations may not only be due to aggressive individuals having a greater desire for video games. It can be due to other factors such as low educational level or low socioeconomic status. Vid eo games studies with better methods typically yield greater effects, suggesting that heightened concern about harmful effects of exposure to violent video game is warranted. Another limitation would be health issues of the participants were not taken into consideration during the experiment. For example, when one plays violent video games, some biological processes occur inside the person’s body. This could be dangerous. A study carried out by Lynch (1994) proposed that playing video games with violent content would produce greater cardiovascular responses. Besides, exposing one to violent video game is not good even if it was for an experiment purpose. Researchers in the British Journal Nature (1998) reported that the brain releases a hormone called dopamine when one is playing video games. Dopamine is a pleasure chemical hormone. Those exposed to these video games then tend to get addicted to it. It can be addictive even if exposed once. New brain research (Bartholow, Bushman Sestir, 2006) stated that violent video game players are showing less healthy development, brain tend to be more response to real-life violence such as gun attacks and th at those with these less empathic brain responses were more likely behave aggressively in the laboratory. Future researches should take this seriously before conducting any kind of experiments. It would be better if surveys on consumption of violent video games are used rather than carrying out experiments. CONCLUSION Although previously there have been many researches on violent video games from many aspects, this research showed something new. According to this research, there is a relationship between exposure to violent video games and the automatic self-concept. Therefore, it is proven that exposure to violent video games increases one’s automatic aggressiveness. Video games are not always bad. It depends on what video game one is playing. There are video games that are quite beneficial that can be used as training aids in classrooms and therapeutic settings. Violent video games on the other hand definitely have negative effects and causes aggression among children and teenagers. There are many different types of violent video games that which probably have different effects. Therefore researchers should carry out more studies to find out all the different effects caused by playing violent video games. Future studies perhaps could use more surveys instead of experiments because experi ments sometimes could be quite harmful if certain measures and precautions are not taken into consideration. This journal is quite useful in the sense that it gives a lot of information to readers about this new aspect of violent video games that never have been studied before. Studies such as this would create awareness among people and hopefully would have an impact on them as well. Such researches are carried out with the aim that somehow or the other the information and results that the researchers have found could help people for example reduce the amount of consumption of violent video games in the future. REFERENCES Uhlmann, E, Swanson, J. (2003). Exposure to violent video games increases automatic Aggressiveness. Journal of Adolescence. Retrieved from, http://www.lionlamb.org/research_articles/study 3.pdf Carnagey, N.L ., Anderson, C.A ., Bushman, B.J. ( 2007 ). The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Retrieved from, http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/abstracts/2005-2009/07CAB.pdf Griffiths, M.(1998). Violent video games and aggression : A review of the literature. Retrieved from, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178997000554 Hasan, Y. , Begue, L. , Scharkow, M., Bushman, B.J. (2013) The more you play, the more aggressive you become: A long-term experimental study of cumulative violent video game effects on hostile expectations and aggressive behaviour. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.Retrieved from, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103112002259