Literary Analysis of the poem Beowulf Essay Example for Free

Literary Analysis of the poem Beowulf Essay Beowulf is considered as one of the longest poems in literature with more than 3,000 lines. It is has no known author, but it was considered as the national epic of England. Beowulf is a man a hero who faced three major battles in the poem. These battles were not against other humans, but were against monstrous creatures (The Norton Anthology of English Literature). It is a poem that deals with legends, of hero and his men, and his great battles. It is composed mainly to entertain, a work of fiction with several relations to historical context. And with this, some speculations were raised, saying that Beowulf was something more that a poetic narrative of the hero, Beowulf. The epic poem was then related to a Christian context, saying that it was a Christian allegory. The poem takes place in the late 5th to 6th century, following the Anglo-Saxon’s settlement in England, after making contact with Germanic tribes in Scandinavia and Germany. Beowulf may be based on real people and real events at that time in Scandinavia. The clans mentioned in the poem were clans which are found in the area, as well as some of the prominent personalities in the story. So basically, the epic poem is a work of fiction but was based on factual characters and events during that time. The time of Beowulf was a time of Paganism, but Beowulf himself addresses a higher being rather than man, wherein he presents himself to the Father Almighty. According to Helterman, â€Å"As the view of the intellectual setting has shifted from a pagan to a Christian context, this ‘something more’ has been seen as a Christian allegory or didacticism†¦yet the tone of the poem and the lack of specific Christian allusions cause difficulties for such an approach (Helterman). The poem didn’t mention anything regarding Christianity, and Beowulf was a pagan. But there were several â€Å"Christian sentiments of a general sort† which were attributed to the hero. Because of the Christian-like characterization of the hero Beowulf, there were several speculations saying that the author was a Christian in England who wrote about Scandinavian history, which then became the epic poem Beowulf. But some said that the Christian attribution in the hero’s character could mean that he was an archetype, the generic, idealized model of a person (Chickering). And at that time, Christianity was a budding religion, wherein Beowulf’s character could have been patterned into that of an ideal Christian. Beowulf as the hero of the epic was made the way he is, the ideal person. But then again, every hero has its counterparts. And just like Beowulf, his counterpart can be seen in a Christian context. The epic poem Beowulf is divided into three major battles. The first one is his battle with the monstrous creature called Grendel, which was the reason why he went to Hrotgar. Just like Beowulf, Grendel also has a Christian context. He is to be the descendant of Cain, the son of Adam and Eve which was banished for killing his own brother. Because of this, Grendel is given an antagonistic comparison with Cain, who was the first person to commit murder in the Christian bible. Grendel, along with his mother, was compared to as the kinsmen of Cain, whereas Beowulf was the pagan hero considered as the archetype of a human being. Beowulf and Grendel were great opposites, as manifestation of the forces of good battling with the forces of evil, or in the context of religion and Christianity, will be righting the wrong. Beowulf’s character is the manifestation of Christianity’s good; wherein his defense of Heorot was an act to â€Å"order the chaotic universe,† where Grendel and his mother on the other hand, were the forces that bring chaos, falling into pattern of disorder (Batchelor). This is manifested by their physical appearance wherein they do not resemble or have any human characteristics. They were monstrous in size and strength. They can kill people with the swipe of their hands, and they even eat people, as to what Grendel did to Hrotgar’s men. Another possible association with religion and Christianity was during the creation of Heorot, the great hall which was built for the people of King Hrotgar (Helterman). The creation of the hall was because of the word of the king. It is the same as that of the Christian’s Genesis, wherein with the word of God, there was light. And it was with that word that He was able to create day and night, and everything that he wished and commanded. Just as with Hrotgar’s word, Heorot was created, all for the sake of the people, since in this hall they dined, ate and sang, until the time that Grendel came into the story. When Grendel came, it was like introducing chaos into order so that you could cleanse it, just like the cleansing of the sins of the people, just like the Great flood, where chaos or the flood was added in order to cleanse the world of the sinners. When Grendel came into Heorot, chaos caused destruction, thus it would require reconstruction, where after reconstruction was the cleansed state. Grendel, even though he caused a great deal of devastation to the people, has served a purpose, which was to strengthen the then destroyed Heorot. His chaos has led to a good outcome in the story. It could also be viewed on another angle, where the battle between Beowulf and Grendel was actually the same as to that of the myth of creation, where light and darkness mixed and â€Å"fought† in order to create the earth and everything in it. Another instance that relates the epic poem Beowulf to Christianity was during the battle against the mother of Grendel. Beowulf was definite on the losing end at that moment, since his sword, Hrunting, lost its powers and cannot harm the creature he is up against with. In his desperation, he was able to locate a sword in the Grendel’s lair, which only he could be able to use. It was a heavy sword of the giant, which he used to behead the mother of Grendel and eventually prolong his life. Even though he was able to slay the monster and keep his life, he gives the credit of his victory to the â€Å"higher being,† the â€Å"Wielder of Men. † It was an indirect association to God in Christianity, since he recognizes His powers and that his victory wasn’t possible without him. Beowulf being a pagan is just a characteristic, since there was no evidence of him knowing about Christianity (Batchelor). But the fact that he addresses to a higher being is a manifestation of being Christian even in his beliefs. The epic poem Beowulf is truly a literary piece that was made to entertain, with the life of Beowulf as a hero, his adventures, his battles, and even his death, makes it a wonderful read. But there are other underlying concerns that could come about while reading the epic. It is undeniable that there are other meanings in what was written, rather than just to entertain. The poem Beowulf is associated with religion, especially Christianity. The main character’s recognition of a higher being is but one of many manifestations of this underlying messages.

Men Are Better Leaders Essay Example for Free

Men Are Better Leaders Essay Women in high-level leadership positions, such as corporate CEOs, when studied, seem to exhibit the same sorts of leadership behaviors as their male counterparts. That is probably because the demands of the leadership role require certain actions and behaviors to succeed. In addition, because of the hurdles that women must leap to get to the top (leadership and gender expert, Alice Eagly, refers to this as the labyrinth that women, but not men, need to go through), it could be the case that only women who exhibit the same sorts of leadership styles and behaviors as male leaders make it through. So, studying leaders at the top, gives the impression that there are no big differences in how men and women lead. You get a somewhat different picture if you ask followers and leaders about male and female leaders. They notice differences that are in line with stereotypes about men and women, reporting that female leaders are more nurturing, empathic, and responsive than male leaders, but they will also report the negative side (e. g. , moody). Male leaders, on the other hand, are perceived to be more action-oriented and more focused on tasks. As a Catalyst study concludes that according to leaders and followers in the workplace, women leaders take care, men leaders take charge. Realize, however, that this involves peoples perceptions of leaders, colored by stereotypes and expectations. Finally, there is a growing body of research that has studied the leadership styles and leadership potential of men and women, typically men and women managers (but also women in non-managerial positions). For example, using the theory of transformational leadership as an indicator of successful leadership (transformational leaders are inspirational, positive role models, concerned about followers, empowering, and push followers to be creative and take chances), research shows that women, as a group, have more transformational qualities than men. In other words, and based on this research, women have more leadership potential and tend to lead more effectively than men (I discussed this in an earlier post). So, what are the implications? Well, as attitudes about women leaders change (they are changing, albeit ever so slowly) and the labyrinth becomes less difficult to navigate, we expect more to women attain high-level leadership positions. Noted leadership scholar, Bernard Bass, predicted that by the year 2034 the majority of high-level leaders will be women, based on their more transformational qualities. Of course, men in leadership positions are also realizing that the old way of leading taking charge (command and control) may not be as effective in todays world and in the future, so they learn to adapt and change how they lead.

Assessment Centres: Advantages and Disadvantages

Assessment Centres: Advantages and Disadvantages Assessment centres were introduced at the middle of the 20th century. It also gives the idea and use of assessment centre. It uses to check the ability and skills of the employees. History of assessment centres explore, how and why assessment centres help us to appreciate, what the original user were trying to get and how can be assessed the skills, attitudes, personal skills and abilities as well as knowledge of the participants with the help of interview, exercises and leading practice. Basically, the origin of assessment centres started for the selection of the soldier in the Germany. That time there was a great frustration between the boundaries of the countries due to the atmosphere of the war, and every country wanted to get Prestige on the other countries. So, assessment centres used to check the ability and quality of the employees, and referred the position according to his knowledge and capabilities. We can be seen certain example throughout the history. Germany used to check the ability and performance to select the officers. In the book Spies and Saboteurs, by Dr W.J.Morgan (1955, London Victor Gollancz Ltd), the author describe how a German psychologist, Dr Simoneit watched officer performing a variety of tasks. The duties of assessment centres were to check the abilities thorough different implications of test and exercises. It also checked the rate and standard of the officers and according to this, the promotions have been announced by the army. This process had been started because; it showed the performance and their promotions. It also explored the certain reasons, why certain offices did not reveal or proceed in the way. They would have been promoted once. After this, the assessment centres emerged from Germany to USA. USA was one of the fast growing economies and USA used to judge the ability of the spy. It also used select the officers for intelligence. For checking of mental ability of officers they used further research of psychological and scientific method had been to add the work by assessment centres. The concept of assessment centres populated in different economy from one side of the world to another part of the world. British Government checks the qualities of on board selection committee and testing method. British government added more tests and exercises analysing the capability, British were pioneers to add the physical and psychological tests during an interviews and selections for employees. Dr WJ Morgan illustrates that it is how you performed your tasks, whether as an individual or within a group, that matters not how quickly an exercise was done. With the passage of the time, it growth and, different business have been adopted by different countries. Then most businesses used the assessment centres to assessing the hold jobs to employees. But sometimes man has more ability but at the position sometimes, it can be showed by an organisation. In this matter the assessment centres help the organisation as well as to emerged the capabilities of the employees and the employees have better opportunities to do best. It is right that an assessment centres started for militaries bias to check the abilities but now it very common in between every aspect of the life such as businesses and other public service as well. Now in this era, there is a great competition in the world, so, it is not easy task to check the capabilities of any employees. So in this matter assessment centres is helpful to check the abilities and capabilities through the interviews and exercises the personality of the employees. (http://www.psychometric-success.com/faq/faq-assessment-centre-origin.htm) INTRODUCTION OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: An Assessment Centres does not refer to a location, DEFINE ASSESSMENT CENTERS : It can be usefully defined as A method for assessing aptitude and performance; applied to a group of participants by trained assessors using various aptitude diagnostic processes in order to obtain information about applicants abilities or development potential. Assessment Centres are mostly utilized in the initial stages of the selection process; this is due large amount of time and expenditure involved in it. This is followed by initial job interview. Assessment centres involve assembling in one place several candidates who applying for the same position and putting them through a variety of different tests. They can be operated over one day, but usually involve an overnight stay. Assessment Centres are seen as one of the most effective ways of identifying top candidates wholl get on well with others and fit in with the organizations culture. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Developments Recruitment, Retention and Turnover 2009 Survey, 34% of employers now use assessment Centres when recruiting managers, professionals and graduates. (http://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-assessment-centers.htm) IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: Implementation of assessment centres should be carried out properly. When the structure and content of the assessment centre have been established, the issues involved are organising, managing and giving proper direction. The assessment centres should have a range of activities that allow candidates to demonstrate teach competency more than once during the course of the centre. The range of activities should considered exercises that sample job content and mirror real-life situations. The assessment centres should have different department heads which can manage too many candidates or too many exercises and maintain a sensible ratio of assessors to candidates. The assessment centres should have proper clear goal in mind so that they achieve the success. Adopt a competency-based approach with assessment criteria appropriate to the target role. Training is necessary for assessors in technical areas, such as observation and interview techniques, and raises their awareness of diversity issues. Feedback should be given to both the successful as well as unsuccessful candidates. The assessment centres activities should regularly refresh to avoid over-familiarity on the part of candidates and assessors. DESIGN OF A SUCCESSFUL ASSESSMENT CENTER: The successful assessment centre is well defined on how well it has been designed. Before designing its best to review the nature and purpose of an assessment centre. The important feature is to consider the skills and abilities assessed are actually relevant to the job in question. An assessment centre is a step further in selection procedure, it is held either on employers premises or in a hotel, which normally lasts one or two days. The process which usually involves in designing is as follows: While designing the assessment centre the time duration of the centre is taken into consideration. For instance, for senior most people, one day might not be sufficient. The second most important criteria is the location of the assessment centre, which deals with the proper surroundings and accessibility for candidates. Create a Task list and match with roles and goals given by the company. Create a questionnaire related to the task list. Use the competencies well through knowledge and skills. DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPETENCIES: Different competencies generally are developed as framework to be used as a reference or resource. The purpose of the resources database is to assist users to identify the many existing competency-based resources currently in use. The database is not exhaustive, but contains numerous examples of the resources that were tapped to identify competencies in the development of the high growth industries. A competency is demonstrated or mastered in a job and can be easily transferred to another job. These resources generally contain descriptive information about the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success in the field. Managerial Competencies: The competencies which are considered to be important for staff with managerial or supervisory responsibility with sizeable budget to manage, which includes directors and senior posts. Some managerial competencies could be more relevant for specific fields; however they are applied in the organization. These competencies include: 1) Team leadership 2) Change management 3) Analysis and decision-making. 4) Interpersonal sensitivity. Technical/ Functional Competencies: Some specific competencies which are taken into consideration to perform any job in the organisation within a defined technical or functional area of work. Those competencies are as follows: 1) Industrial process sectors. 2) Finance and administration 3) Human resource management and environmental management. Generic Competencies: Competencies which are considered essential for all staff, regardless of their function or level include: 1) Communication programme execution. 2) Processing tools. 3) Business awareness. 4) Achievement and motivation. STEPS INVOLVED FOR SUCCESSFUL ASSESSMENT CENTRE: The assessment centre should be very clear about the objectives. They should have a proper planning and organising of all the departments which are involved with them for two or three days. The assessor should look for different competencies which are being evaluated in the assessment centre. When the assessor is assessing the candidates working environment is taken into consideration. The assessment centres should be well known for their good and different variety of exercise so that the candidates feel motivated. The vital step involved for successful assessment centre is giving feedback to everybody. Successful as well as those candidates who did not get selected. MAIN ELEMENTS OF ASSEMENTS CENTERS: Elements of assessment centres are used in anglicising and zeroing in on relevant behaviours to be assessed and evaluated. The assessment centre use different exercises and techniques to select or assess the candidates. The assessor carefully examines the candidates while the candidates are doing exercises, on the bases of performance the candidate which has potential or capable for the job they got selected. The assessors who are selected for conducting interview they are trained, the assessor must be external of the organisation or the organisation needs to hire them or it should be from organisation itself like the HR managers. The assessor observes the candidates and records the observed behaviour of the participants. The assessment centre does job analyses before conducting interviews. There are seven important element of the assessment centre: PRESENTATION: In the interview process this is the most important exercise because the assessor or the management team will assess the candidates, in this exercise the candidate gets a topic and they have to prepare that topic in specific time and that topics are highly job specific. The candidates shows their communication skills, problem solving skills, and confidence level, how they interact with the assessor. GROUP INTERVIEWS: The purpose of the group interview in the assessment centre exercises is to observe candidates interpersonal skills and personality when he or she is working with other people in a group. After the group interview, the assessors reduced the number of candidates and one-on- one interview is set up. The important employers working in organisation can check the candidates interactions with other people. In the group interview the employees give the candidates a task to solve hypothetical problems in order to work in a group. 3) IN-TRAY EXERCISES: In this kind of exercises the employers involves the candidates in some paperwork from the role in question and asking them to deal with it. The in-tray exercise items will be specifically designed to measure job skills such as: ability to organise and prioritize work; analytically skills, written communication skills, and their delegation. In-tray exercise are the most vital components of assessment centres, not only because of variety of skills, attitudes and knowledge can be judged but because this exercise also has considerable face validity. In this way the candidate can see how it relates to the job they are applying for and therefore they tend to take it seriously. 4) ROLE-PLAYS: Role play is a type of assessment centre exercise which offers a chance to place candidates in the kind of situation. In role play the candidates get the role of employee who has to resolve the problems of the customer. In this exercise the management team assess the candidates who have problem solving skills and see that how they communicate in that situation and how they can handle. The assessor usually plays the role of the customer and the candidates play the role of the employee. 5) PSYCHOMETRIC EXERCISE: Psychometric test assess the ability and personality test, the assessment centre hire the professional assessor it is expensive. The external assessor are qualified, they can manage the recruitment process, interpret results and give feedback to the candidates so they can know about their strength and their weakness. The two types of psychometric tests: ABILITY TEST: The rough ability test, it can be checked that and purified the ability of the employees by assessment centres. It is also helpful to check the skills and ability for the vacancy. Ability testing is a very common and effective selection tool, particularly for identifying unsuitable candidates. PERSONALITY TEST: The personality assessment provides the evidences and direct selection process. It also highlights the area where candidate can work. Personality assessment also provides the opportunity to glimpse in the candidates personality during the interview. Personal questionnaire is important to provide feedback for candidates as well as it also helps to understand the personal profile of the candidate. The feedback session is the best idea for decision making process for any position. Personality test remains contentious but is widely used in United Kingdom. GROUP EXERCISE: Interpersonal competency is usually tested by means of variety of group exercises that a group of four or five candidates carry out together. The aim in group exercise is to allow assessors to observe how each candidate behaves in relation to the others. Here the leadership qualities are anglicised and the negotiating skills of the candidates. Some assessment centres give groups some task to complete, which include management games more commonly used for developmental purposes. EVALUATIONS OF ASSESSMENT CENTRES: The selection and decision for hiring and promotion of the employees can be made by evaluation of assessment centre. Assessment centres also identify the training and development according to requirements and needs of vacancies or positions. The most essential characteristic of assessment centre is to evaluate participants potential and management skills. The emphasis is to identity the selection and promotion decisions of participants are on the basis of essential job performance dimensions. Deficiencies on critical job dimensions of participants can be anglicised by using training and development purposes. The feedback and employee development suggestions that result from an assessment form the basis for training programs that are designed to correct performance problems. In an organisation assessment centers can serves as needs assessment programs that identify employee development and hiring needs. ASSESSORS: In the assessment centers the role of an assessor is very vital. The assessors are given their own briefing packs. These packs contain description of the exercise and a list of the behaviors or answers that they should be looking for. Organisation usually recruit trained additional assessors if required for selection process, however trained internal assessor are used from the centre. This comprises a combination of HR specialists with experience in assessment techniques and line managers. CANDIDATES: Here the candidates are also presented with the briefing pack which contains the objectives of task and any information required to complete it. In each exercise, candidates are rated independently by two or more assessors, using behavioral scales for each competency being assessed. TEST VALIDITY: ADVANTAGES OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: The most important advantage of an assessment is their flexibility. They are not time-restricted as interviews. The data which is collected by the assessment center helps them to recruit the right candidates for the right position; by this process the reliability and validity of the selection decision is improved. The assessment centers which are designed well provide evidence of the most valid method of predicting a candidates performance in a job. The way in which the assessment center collects data is the most fair and objective to make recruitment decision. Assessment center improves planning and administration. Now a days many organisation choose assessment center for recruiting large number of candidates because to avoid juggling interviews and managing the recruitment process. Assessment centers apply these for recruitment such as graduate recruitment, training scheme intakes. The nature of the assessment centre also allows organizations to get closer to the selection process by observing how candidates perform the sort of tasks actually found in the role for which they are being assessed. These sorts of real life exercises can provide a good indicator of a candidates probable future performance. LIMITATIONS OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: An effective centre requires a considerable investment in time and resources-the design process alone can take many months. Many organizations already have detailed job descriptions and competency frameworks in place, simplifying this part of the design process. Assessment centers are expensive to run but appear to be rated highly by employers and candidates alike. Aside from psychometrics test and interviews, candidates can expect to undertake in-tray exercises, role-plays and group activities, as well as being required to make presentations. Care should be taken when using high-validity selection methods to ensure that they operate fairly and are free of bias against any particular group of candidates. CONCLUSION: http://www.howto.co.uk/careers/questions-at-interview/assessment_centres/

Star Wars :: essays research papers

You're sitting in a dark movie theater. X-Wing fighters whiz across the screen, and light sabers flash. You've seen it all before, but now it's better than ever. Star Wars, the Special Edition, is a classic that has been updated for the 1990s. The new Star Wars has additional special effects, a more realistic home planet, and improved sound.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The original Star Wars movie had great special effects, but they weren't as good as today's computer-generated special effects. In the new Star Wars, the spacecrafts are more realistic-looking, because they are images created by a computer rather than actual models. So, they have been given more details than the original spacecrafts, and they can fly and maneuver more easily. An example of this improvement can be seen near the end of the movie when the Rebel Fleet attacks the Death Star. For example, there are more rebel ships, and the ships can twist and swoop with ease when they're fighting the Imperial ships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thanks to today's technology, Luke Skywalker's home planet, called Tatooine, is also more lifelike. It has new creatures, more people, and additional flying machines. For instance, the scenes in the city of Mos Eisley seem genuine. In the original Star Wars, it looked as if not much went on in the city. Now, added people, creatures, and robots walking on the streets make it look busy. Also, there are many more spacecraft taking off, landing, and flying overhead. The effect is that the city is more believable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Finally, the sound of the new Star Wars has been digitized --it has improved in several ways. Explosions sound bigger. The exhaust sounds from the flying spacecraft are louder and actually sound as if they're swooshing. Also, voices and noises in the movie seem to come from your right or left side, which is a more realistic effect. For example, when several of the main characters are stuck in a garbage room with steel walls, Han Solo shoots his light saber to try to escape. The laser beam bounces off the walls, and you hear it hitting the right wall as if it were on your right side, and you hear it hitting the left wall as if it were on your left side.

Elie Wiesels Night :: Elie Wiesel Night Essays

Elie Wiesel's Night      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes.   And we had to look him full in the face.   He was still alive when I passed in front of him.   His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed.   Behind me I heard [a] man asking:   Where is God now?"      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The suffering of this child being hanged is comparable to the suffering endured by many Jews during the holocaust.   This quotation is found in just one of many heart wrenching scenes found in Night, a biography of the holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel.   Wiesel stayed quiet about the holocaust for ten years and his reasoning for this was, "I didn't want to use the wrong words.   I was afraid the words might betray it."   This also may account for the fact that some of the sentences found in Night are very wordy and often are overwhelming to the reader because of the amount of significance found in each.   This flaw, though, is very forgivable under the circumstances.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Besides for the brilliant descriptions found in Night and the feeling that you were walking in Elie's shoes, if he literally had any, Night opens the readers mind to the atrocities of the holocaust and concentration camps.   We take for granted, today, our knowledge of knowing how many Jews were killed by the Nazi's and having a general idea of the kind of life people led in the concentration camps.   People never really stop to think about what it must have felt like not knowing what was going on or what was going to happen next.   Wiesel illustrates this very clearly at the beginning of his autobiography.   He shows the reaction of the townspeople when they first heard of Hitler and German troops and the optimistic approach they ecided to take on life.   This technique of taking the reader to life before the ghettos and the concentration camps is very interesting and unique.   Before reaching about the middle of the novel, the beginning may not really be appreciated.   The reader probably will not realize how much greater the effect is on him/her until he/she notices how much life has changed for

Distance Learning Essay -- Education Distant Learn Essays

Distance Learning "As we enter the Information Age, more and more adults from various economic and cultural backgrounds, already in the workplace, and with families are seeking to educate themselves to keep up in their careers" (Duderstadt, J., 1999). Whether that is through Higher Education, the university system, or their company's Intranet is usually dependent upon the learner. The ways that they seek to educate and re-educate themselves to stay abreast with current trends in their jobs is the topic of this paper, Distance Learning. Many of these non-traditional students are looking to advance their careers through education by non-traditional means. They may have constraints that keep them from attending a structured classroom environment. It is this population that forces Higher Education and the corporate Educational Services to rethink their approach and delivery of instruction. For example, a few days ago I was in the Securities and Loan office of Fidelity National Bank conducting a Needs Assessment on a young SPA Loan Officer Trainee. The young man, a recent graduate in Finance and Economics from Kennesaw State University, planned to enroll in the MBA program at Harvard University. That of course prompted me to ask, "How do you plan to complete a MBA at Harvard and continue your work here in Atlanta?" His reply, "I would take these courses online and meet at the school the second Saturday of every month." He then went on to say that a MBA from Harvard carries a lot of weight in this town's financial community. With new technologies and the Web, more and more Universities as distinguished as Harvard, are putting Masters and Doctorate programs online. Not only are these Universities using the Internet to p... ...orks Cited Comeaux, P. (1995, Oct.). The impact of an interactive distance learning network on classroom classroom communication. Communication Education, 44(4), 353-361. Duderstadt, J. (1999) Can colleges survive in the information age? In Dancing with the Devil. (p.4). San Francisco, Calif.: Joss-Bass Publishers. Harmon, S.W. & Hirumi, A. (1996, May). A systemic approach to the integration of interactive distance learning into education and training. Journal of Education for Business. 71 (5), 2 267-271 Retrieved September 30, 1999 from EBSCO business search on the Galileo: http://www.galileo.gsu.edu. Lohman, J. (1998, Sept.) Classrooms without walls: Three companies that took the plunge. Training and Development (52)9 38-42 Matthews, D. (1999) The origins of distance education and its use in the united states. The Journal. 54-64.

The Book: Boofheads

Essay on Boofheads by Mo Johnson. The book Boofheads is a story based on prejudice. Prejudice is here in every day society. This book was written by Mo Johnson for teenagers that have the same problem. The problem is sexism. The prejudice in the book is sexism and how it can affect people in such ways that they have to give up one of the most important things in life. With the three seventeen year old boys Ed, Steve and Tom sexism is a big problem. In the book Boofheads by Mo Johnson sexism is a problem between young boys and girls. The ‘girl’ saying about girls being smart and boys being dumb. This was a clear demonstration of prejudice in Boofheads. In chapter three the three best-friends Ed, Steve and Tom were all in English class. Their teacher had asked Tom a question about the book ‘Pride and Prejudice’ which the class had been given to read for homework. One of the girls in the class named Amy Jones had spoke up before Tom could start to answer his question. Amy then answered the question correctly and turned to Tom and Steven to comment on how ‘dumb’ they were. Her arguments aim was to prove that girls were clearly smarter than boys and that they were not able to produce a â€Å"single word of half decent English,† Amy had commented. This example explains why this passage from the book has the prejudice of sexism. Boofheads by Mo Johnson has a main story line on three teenage boys pretending to be a 36 year old lady in order to have a column in a teenage girl’s magazine. The three boys Ed, Steve and Tom have had the opportunity to prove themselves right to all the sexist girls in their school. They are going to become a fake lady so that they can answer teenage girls’ problems in Tom’s mother’s magazine. Each month they get an email from Toms mum with problems from girls around the state. They come up with solutions to the problem and send an email back to Toms mum with the answers. They only do this to prove that boys can produce a ‘single word of half decent English’. The girls in the boys’ school are adamant that the boys are dumb and these three boys want to prove that they are not. In Boofheads the seventeen year old boy named Tom has a mother that is a fussy magazine editor. One of the best in the country. She has a messy office and never relies on Tom’s advice. Tom is always giving his mother advice on the look of the magazine, contrasting colours and some fashion ideas. He is usually right as his mother gets the same criticism from her boss. She never even realises that Tom gave the same advice to her rior to her changes. She does not believe that a male has any brain for a magazine and they need to stick to the things that men are supposed to do. Tom could be right on the spelling of a word and she would still not believe him. This shows that women of an older age are still sexist to males when it comes to how smart they really are. In conclusion the book Boofheads by Mo Johnson was a book about sexism. It was mainly based on sexism on males by females. This is why Boofheads is a book about prejudice.