Value of college Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Value of college Education - Essay Example In this modern age of business and economy, the demand for higher education has increased tremendously. Anyone who cares for a better future strives to attain a college degree in order to get their dream jobs. The biggest advantage of having a college degree is getting a better job and also to be the best in the competitive job market. Most companies require their employees to have at least a four-year college degree and five years work experience in certain jobs they apply for before they are offered the jobs. College degree prepares a student for the task ahead in the job industries and that is a major reason why most people work extremely hard to attain college degree so that they are able to get the kind of jobs that they desire. I grew up in a very poor family where college is the last thing my parent want to spend money on. Looking at my surrounding, I figured out that the only discrimination in my society is whether you own a college degree or not. I made a promise to myself to step up to the standard of my society by working hard to ensure I have a college degree. It is very important to have a college degree in order to acquire and display necessary employability skills and create a pool of highly skilled labor that most companies are outsourcing from overseas. Most high-skilled jobs like accounting, information technology, and criminal justice among others require quality education that enables one to make the positive impact in the global market and also to continue to compete among the best in the global job market.

My Childhood Essay Example for Free

My Childhood Essay When I started pre-school, I found it difficult to speak English because I spoke Chinese at home. I was distracted and frightened when I attended school in our Los Angeles neighborhood, and crime was a constant concern for us. It worried my parents to see that I was losing interest in school, so they moved me to Chino Hills after I finished 7th grade to live with my sisters, hoping that the environment would be a better place for me. The different atmosphere I was in changed my perspective on education. The students in Chino Hills are very competitive in their academic pursuits which motivated me to try harder and work up to my potential. The realization that a different environment can make a huge difference brought much confidence to me; I began developing better judgment and making better decisions toward my education. As I approached high school, I was beginning to understand the importance of an education. Although my parents remarks about school were simply for me to behave, I knew they also wanted me to have a good educational opportunity. My first year as a freshman in high school was difficult for me; it became evident that I didnt know how to manage my time. As every con has a pro, I knew that time management was no exception. Mastering the art of time management can reap great rewards, and by ignoring it I found myself facing great disappointment with my grades. At the end of the day, I tried to reflect on my performance and soon realized I have accomplished little. In my sophomore year of high school, I began to manage my time more wisely and took my education more seriously, and realized that it did not take much to use time management in an efficient manner; but the rewards were fulfilling because my grades had greatly risen. My course work and grades became obvious to me that I still had trouble managing my time. I soon started to decompose my goals, making it possible to tackle them one step at a time and realized as I progressed, my time management bettered. During my junior year, Procrastination was the biggest barrier to time management I had to face. I found it difficult at times to start working; however, I realized not working was related to the fear of poor results than it is to the actual difficulty of the work. My junior year gave a spark to my life; it helped me create a target to aim for, which is to attend a top 4 year  University and pursue my dreams in the medical field.

Coopers Chingachgook :: essays papers

Coopers Chingachgook The Death of Chingachgook as the Apogee of the tragedy of the Indian Nation in Cooper^s The Pioneers The Pioneers, written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1823 opens the popular series of books about the adventures of an inhabitant of the New England forests Natty Bampo ^ a white man, a scout, and a hunter. However, the novelist does not merely narrate the life of Natty, his main aim is to present the whole situation on the Eastern Coast of America in the seventeenth century. In The Pioneers, in particular, Cooper writes about the new settlers in America, about their conquest of the lands, and about the tragic extinction of the Indian people, who had been proud owners of the lands of America. One of the most important moments in this book, and even in the whole cycle, is the scene of the death of Natty Bampo^s best friend Chingachgook, the last representative of the Indian tribe of Mohicans. In this scene the author presents his most important ideas about the vices of the new settlers, hypocrisy of Christianity, and the tragedy of the native inhabitants of the American lands. C! ooper actually makes the death of the Mohican sound as a final chord in the calamitous history of the Indian people, who under the onslaught of European civilization are doomed to disappear. He makes the dying Indian chief a symbol for his perishing nation, presenting him at the last minutes of his life in his national costume and believing in the Indian morals and gods. Moreover, by misspelling his name on the gravestone, Cooper redoubles the tragic implication that after the death of Chingachgook his culture is forgotten and lost, and a meaningful Indian name loses its importance for the white people who come to live in the formally Indian forests. Towards the end of The Pioneers the tragic story about the Indians who were expelled from their lands by the white Europeans, reaches its apogee. The scene of the Chingachgook^s dying is full of sadness, pain, and hopelessness. In a very meaningful way Cooper presents his Indian hero on the threshold of death, sitting "on a trunk of a fallen oak" (p.381). Thus he hints at the identity between the old chief and the tree, implying that once young and strong they both are now old and lifeless. Moreover, as the fallen tree is now disconnected from the company of the strong young forest mates, thus also Chingachgook with his "tawny visage" (p.381) is lonely among the liveliness of the newly established colonies. So Cooper writes that in place of the once virgin forests where the

Role of the HR Professional

No matter the breadth or the depth of an organization, it will always have the inherent need for human resources. It is safe to say that without manpower, no organization in the world would exist. Recognizing not only the need for people, but more importantly, the need for skilled, efficient and loyal employees has been a key turning point in defining the role of the HR professional. As the â€Å"people people† or organizations, today†s HR professionals work in a wide variety of capacities as mediators, mentors, job analysts, and career planners – to name a few. However, perhaps some of the most important and challenging functions of HR professionals are directly related to the recruitment, selection, training, and appraisal of the organization†s employees (or potential employees as the case may be). It is up to HR manager or management team to create processes and methodologies in recruiting, training, and appraising its staff in such a way that it is congruent with the values, vision and culture of the organization. This can be an enormous challenge – especially in today†s business world where companies are constantly acquiring and merging together forming whole new identities at an exponential rate. In dealing with the ambiguity of the corporate world HR professionals realize that it is not singular performance of each and every HR function that will assure the best human resources for their organizations, it is the alignment and integration of all of the HR functions that create an environment that empowers and encourages employee growth, competency, and loyalty. There are two main components of the staffing function, which are the recruitment and selection of potential employees. Recruitment, which involves all actions in attracting applicants from both inside and outside the organization, is one of the most pivotal roles of the HR professional. The bottom line in the recruiting effort is to attract the most qualified applicants for the needed positions by communicating the qualifications needed in order to fulfill the position. With a constant cycle of mergers and acquisitions occurring around the globe involving some of the world†s most monolithic organizations, the role of recruiter has changed vastly over the past few years. Because organizations are finding themselves more and more saturated with talented and highly competent employees, they are looking to fulfill vacant positions within the organization. This is also a very logical approach because existing employees are already well oriented with the policies and culture of the organization and do not need to undergo the orientation that an â€Å"external hire† would require. In contrast, recruiters have also had to become much more creative and ultimately aggressive in recruiting potential applicants externally. With the introduction of the World Wide Web and the increase in competitiveness among universities, colleges and other post-secondary institutions, graduates are entering the business world with more knowledge, skills and insight than ever before, making them desirable assets to many organizations. With the increase in popularity of job fairs, co-op programs and web-based career centers, recruiters are now equipped with the resources they need to seek out and entice the most qualified of applicants. At the same time, graduates and other people seeking employment have become empowered to seek out their most desirable positions, and are challenging recruiters with a much more proactive and aggressive approach themselves. Once the recruiter has aptly performed the function of attracting qualified applicants, they then assume the role of â€Å"selector†. In this capacity, it is up to the HR professional to select the best possible applicants to fill the positions that are needed. Usually the selection process involves the consideration of three types of information: 1. Education, Work Experience and Background History 2. KSAO†s – Ability, Performance, Personality, Honesty/Integrity 3. Medical Condition or similar considerations – physical and psychological health The selection process also usually involves, the initial sharing of information, filling out and application, initial interview, the administration of any tests, a final interview (or secondary interview with potential colleagues), reference checks, and then the final selection is made. Although the selection process varies in different organizations, the underlying framework is usually the same. Throughout the entire recruiting and selection processes, the HR professional must also use their intuition and consider the applicant using less â€Å"tangible† measurement methods, such as observing their mannerisms, understanding the applicants† personal values and beliefs and what their extra-curricular interests are. Although an applicant is judged more on his or her qualifications and skills, as a â€Å"selector†, it is important for the HR professional to select someone whose values and beliefs are congruent with the company and who they feel would best â€Å"fit† within the culture of the organization. If an HR professional is able to use their intuition and â€Å"people skills† effectively in attracting and selecting applicants, they are ultimately integrating and aligning their â€Å"staffing† role with their successive role as a trainer, which follows once a successful applicant has been selected. The health of any organization depends on the development of its people. If indeed the greatest asset is its human resources, then it is even more vital that the organization allow for its HR professionals to invest time and energy into this vital planning function. As was stated earlier, the success of the HR professional in being an effective recruiter and selector is key in ultimately determining their success as a trainer, and the employees† success in becoming well-oriented with the philosophy, policies, procedures, and culture of the organization. When planning how best to train new and existing employees, HR professionals should always be sure to address both immediate and long-range goals, behaviours and skills. However, more often than not, just like anyone else, HR people cannot always assume or pretend to know what would best work for everyone, so it is critical that before planning out the training process, they must conduct a thorough needs assessment. This can be done through many ways such as the administration of questionnaires and surveys to determine employee needs and expectations, observation of job functions and the organization as a whole, and other methods of qualitative information gathering. Once a training plan has been established, the entire process by which people learn what is expected of them in their new roles in the organization is socialization. This process, not unlike many other HR processes, has multiple stages such as: Entry/Anticipatory Socialization, Socialization/Accommodation, and Mutual Acceptance. It is important for HR professionals to recognize and encourage the full development of the new employee through all of these stages. Throughout the orientation and training of new (or old) employees, it is also important for an HR professional to conduct a training and development assessment. A thorough assessment would include an analysis of the training needs as well as the development needs over the next few years. Training needs should be based on immediate needs for changes in behaviour, where as the long-range development goals should be based on the acquisition of knowledge and skills to be used now and in the future. Positioning employee training to focus on short and long term development helps HR professionals to look â€Å"down the road† and address how they can help their employees meet challenges, create change and ensure the overall health of the organization. In using this futuristic approach, an imperative strategic alignment is built to integrate employee training and development, with that of employee performance management. Once employees have gone through all of the processes or socialization and have become well-oriented with how the organization functions on all levels, it is at this time that the HR professional takes on yet another role as that of performance measurer and manager. There are two primary reasons for performance management: 1. Administrative: includes promotional consideration, dismissal consideration, compensation, benchmarking and the ability to manage performance at all levels 2. Developmental: includes the ability to provide feedback, assessing training needs, encouraging external and internal motivation, and analysis current job design Historically, the only people directly involved in the appraisal of an employee†s performance were the employee and their immediate supervisor. However, as the practice of HR evolves, so have many of its functions, especially in the area performance appraisal. Today, more and more organizations are adopting the practice of â€Å"360 degree feedback† in evaluating their employees† performances. This method involves not only the boss and the employee, but also the employee†s peers, subordinates, and clients. ‘This relatively new practice facilitates a much more well-rounded and thorough evaluation of the employees performance and has been proven to be much more useful in assessing the employees developmental needs and areas for improvement. However, like any major practice, the â€Å"360 degree feedback† method is not without it complications. Allowing this type of participation in performance appraisal can cause such problems as: the â€Å"Halo Effect†, central tendency, overt leniency or strictness, and biased appraisals. In recognizing these common appraisal problems, it can be said that the ends still justify the means in this case. As long as appraisals are designed to be relevant to the job, sensitive, reliable, fair, and practical, employees receive a much better picture of how they are doing in their jobs and where they can improve. It is my opinion that the strategic integration of the HR functions that have been discussed in this paper such as staffing, training, and performance management are not aligned in the sense of a linear relationship. In my mind, they are linked cyclically, with each function being a continuation of the previous function. For example, once a performance appraisal has been conducted, it is at this time that a training needs assessment is also conducted, allowing all parties involved to gain a better understanding of the areas in which improvement is needed. In turn, this would be where the HR professional would take on the role of trainer and facilitate the further development of the employee. It can also be seen that performance appraisals are also very helpful within the recruitment and selection role in aiding the HR professional to gain a better understanding of the qualifications and behaviours that are essential in seeking out potential candidates and choosing the best one for the job. Writing this paper and taking closer look at these specific HR functions has helped me to gain a better understanding of the many roles that the HR professional has to assume at any given time. It has also given me a greater appreciation for the underlying connectivity between all of the HR functions and how strongly they are linked.

Interpretation and Analysis of Lost Boy Lost Girl Essay

a. Setting: â€Å"Lost Boy Lost Girl†, by Peter Straub, is based primarily in the hometown of the protagonist, Timothy Underhill. It is a mid-western city by the name of â€Å"Millhaven† in Illinois. Some believe that the town is based loosely on Straub’s hometown of Milwaukee. The chief setting of the novel is an abandoned house on 3323 North Michigan Street, a custom built house with secret passageways, staircases, a torture chamber and chutes for corpses. The locale of a small town, along with the eerie â€Å"murder house† is perfectly appropriate for the story. To Tim Underhill, it appears â€Å"surreal†. This lends to the tale a sort of gothic and intimidating feel. Had the story been set in some other place, it would have lacked the forbidding atmosphere that Millhaven imparts. The author, Peter Straub does a commendable job of representing and defining the settings, so as to give the readers an authentic sense of the place. b. Major characters: Two of the major characters of the novel are Timothy Underhill and Mark Underhill. 1. Tim Underhill: Tim Underhill is the protagonist of the story and narrates a major portion of it. A writer living in New York, he seldom returns to his hometown of Millhaven and is not very close to his brother, Phillip. In fact, Tim and Phillip share a sort of strained relationship. Tim appears a serious fellow, although there are instances wherein he chooses to possess a sense of humor. He quips, â€Å"Once you take someone’s word about an invisible man, you are playing with his racquet on his court, and it is no use pretending otherwise† (p. 142). Perhaps the most prominent and apparent aspect of Tim Underhill’s character is his love for his nephew, Mark. He refuses to relinquish his quest for the boy and investigates the murders occurring in the town, resolving to get to the bottom of things. This is clearly induced by his affection for Mark, of course combined with his pursuit for the truth. Like many other small-town folk, Tim is a man who would not easily forgo his morals or principles. When faced with a decision, he will always take the one which is morally right, as for example, his decision to stay back in Millhaven upon his nephew’s disappearance and his perseverance in trying to find him. At the climax of the novel, we can see that Tim Underhill’s character has changed a good deal. His relationship with his brother, his thoughts and his beliefs has been altered considerably. 2. Mark Underhill: Mark Underhill is the son of Phillip and Nancy Underhill. Fifteen years of age, he is â€Å"†¦restless; unfocussed; afflicted with.. a budding arrogance† (p. 5). His behavior, sense of dressing and language (judging especially from the emails he sends to Tim) are all illustrative of him being an average teenage boy. He becomes obsessed with a house in their neighborhood and suddenly disappears one day. He has, in Tim’s opinion â€Å"a good and tender heart†. He is sensitive to other’s feelings and we can sometimes observe that he is slightly smarter than the other characters. The account of Mark’s mother’s funeral, through his eyes, portrays vividly his affection for her and his anguish at her death. Towards the end, however, we see a more mature Mark. One who has undergone a transformation of sorts. He emerges stronger and more prudent than he was before the whole ordeal. c. Horror Fiction Formula:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Lost Boy Lost Girl† remains quite true to the â€Å"horror fiction formula† throughout. The small town of Millhaven, with its simple and innocent inhabitants forms the perfect setting for the novel. The townsfolk are orderly and peaceable. Their lives, however are disrupted by a â€Å"monster† that seems to be dwelling in a house in their neighborhood. The monster is believed to be a pedophile and a serial killer who is kidnapping young boys. A spirit, one of a little girl, also inhabits this said house. Straub has very astutely merged the human with the supernatural to give the whole story an eerie and disturbing feel. The townsfolk, Tim and Phillip Underhill in particular, embark on finding this crazed kidnapper and killer. Although the monster is dealt with in the end, the lives and convictions of the people of the town are altered forever. That being said, there are portions of the story that are not entirely associated with the â€Å"horror fiction formula†. The transformation of the spirit of the girl into a â€Å"good spirit†, the depiction of dysfunctional families such as that of the Underhills and the transition of a boy into a man are some of the aspects that Straub deals with that do not essentially comply with a horror novel’s customary description. d. Levels of Horror: Terror: Following the disappearance of Mark Underhill and other adolescent boys, the reader is made aware of the fact that a terror lurks in the darkness, but it can only be sensed, not seen. Straub has done a remarkable job of keeping the reader intrigued by keeping the identity of the â€Å"monster† under wraps. The level of terror is, however, not sustained. The â€Å"monster† is revealed to the audience later on in the story. Horror: Towards the second half of the book, the reader becomes conscious of the form of terror(s), that is, the little girl’s spirit and the serial killer. Once they are disclosed, the novel takes on the level of horror. The killer and the spirit are described in detail for the reader’s benefit. Revulsion: Straub chooses to scare his readers psychologically rather than with the spilling of blood and guts. Nevertheless, the novel contains various illustrations of repulsive and horrific events of graphic nature. For instance, the scene of Nancy Underhill lying dead and nude in the bathtub, with her wrists slit and a plastic bag over her head is sure to make the reader wince. Furthermore, the character sketch of the killer and the description of Mark hearing footfalls of the ghost which was like â€Å"hearing someone stepping down a passage within his own head† convey a powerful sense of fright and dread. Most incidents, nonetheless, are not of a gory disposition.