Dell Computers (a): Field Service for Corporate Clients [Hbs 9-603-067]

Case: Dell Computers (A): Field Service for Corporate Clients [HBS 9-603-067] 1. What are the key challenges DELL should be concerned with as it enters the large scale server market? Support service in server market is more critical than in personal computer market, especially when the server is a large scale one, since a problem in server even for a short time could cause serious problem in the customer’s business. Having realized the importance, competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM reduced their response time to enhance the quality of their support service.Dell also is extraordinarily committed to high-quality service, they proposed the response time as short as four hours. In order to accomplish their guaranteed lead time in highly volatile situation, Dell has two big challenges. (1) They should train number of technicians for a high cost. Support service for servers cannot be mainly depended on call center or service website as Dell did for personal computers. (2) T hey have to keep their inventory higher than desired in their operating philosophy where they believed there is an inverse correlation between the amount of inventory and the quality of information. . Should DELL outsource the four hour service level support or should DELL provide the service with in-house resources? Why or Why not? Dell should provide the service with in-house resource if they are to â€Å"win† in the server market because it has been successful in personal computer market with the strategy of â€Å"Dell direct model†. The computer manufacturer’s strength in personal computer market was to deliver high quality products and services tailored to meet customers’ needs.Potential corporate customers will consider purchasing Dell’s server expecting the same thing for servers. Just like Kapoor was wondering, the customers will not buy their servers, if the quality of Dell’s products and services were worse than its competitorsâ₠¬â„¢. If Dell outsources the support service, the quality of service and products will decrease for two reasons. First, they cannot keep entire control over the support service if they cannot train their own technicians.As the case says they value the experience in customer interaction resulting in high quality of their service. They cannot expect the same thing from another company who would do the service on behalf of Dell. Second, Dell has been able to improve the quality of its products by directly interacting with its clients and using the feedback from support service. If Dell loses the source of information or compromise the quality of information, the company will have difficulty to maintain its reputation in product quality.The information from the in-house support service will also help to keep its server parts inventory lean, given they can better estimate the needs of those parts with more accurate information. Of course the company could reduce training cost by outsourc ing support service. However, the price elasticity in server market is lower than in personal computer market since the potential problem that can be caused by bad support service and product is critically serious. Reliability is more important than the cost or the price they could reduce by outsourcing and compromising the quality of their service and product. . If DELL outsources the service support, then should it use IBM as a vendor to provide the service support? Why or Why not? Dell should not use IBM as a provider of the support service even if it decides to outsource the service. IBM may seem to be an attractive service provider because they are the one who can do the job the best. The company has more than 135,000 specialists in support service as well as long and extensive industry experience. However, IBM is a competitor in server market, the strongest one considering their market share.Even though IBM is willing to provide service to Dell, we cannot be sure that it will provide the same quality of service to Dell’s customers as to their customers. Furthermore, if IBM could interact with Dell’s customer frequently, there always is a chance for them to take the customers from Dell. The service provider could obtain critical information regarding Dell’s product, which could also be a cause for competitive loss for Dell. Again, Dell should not lose its opportunity to directly interact with their customer especially to their worst enemy in order to win in the market.

Gestalt Learning Theory Essay

Doing my research on learning and instruction in complex simulation-based learning environments, I experienced a large difference in how learners reacted to my learning material (Kluge, in press, 2004). Complex technical simulations involve the placement of the learner into a realistic computer simulated situation or technical scenario which puts control back into the learner’s hands. The contextual content of simulations allows the learner to â€Å"learn by doing. † Although my primary purpose was in improving research methods and testing procedures for evaluating learning results of simulation-based learning, the different reaction of our participants were so obvious that we took a closer look. I had two different groups participating in my learning experiments: students from an engineering department at the University, mostly in their 3rd semester, and apprentices from vocational training programs in mechanics and electronics of several companies near the University area in their 3rd year of vocational training. Most of the students worked very intensively and concentrated on solving these complex simulation tasks whereas apprentices became easily frustrated and bored. Although my first research purpose was not in investigating the differences between these groups, colleagues and practitioners showed their interest and encouraged me to look especially at that difference. Practitioners especially hoped to find explanations why apprentices sometimes are less enthusiastic about simulation learning although it is said to be motivating for their perception. Therefore, in this dissertation I address the difference in the effectiveness of using simulation intervention program based on a Gestalt learning theory. Moreover, to find out if the program improves either or both the quality and speed of the learning process of students enrolled in a highly technical training program. This dissertation focuses on using simulation based learning environments in vocational training program. In this chapter, the experimental methodology and instruments are described, results presented and finally discussed. As mentioned above, my primary purpose when I started to investigate learning and simulation based on Gestalt learning theory was focused on improving the research methodology and test material (see Kluge, in press, 2004) for experimenting with simulation-based learning environments. But observing the subjects’ reactions to the learning and testing material the question arose whether there might be a difference in the quality of and speed of the learning process of students involved in my study. Research Design: A 3-factor 2 ? 2 ? 2 factorial control-group-design was performed (factor 1: â€Å"Simulation complexity†: ColorSim 5 vs ColorSim 7; factor 2: â€Å"support method†: GES vs. DI-GES; factor 3: target group, see Table 2). Two hundred and fifteen mostly male students (16% female) in eight groups (separated into four experimental and four control groups) participated in the main study. The control group served as a treatment check for the learning phase and to demonstrate whether subjects acquired any knowledge within the learning-phase. While the experimental groups filled in the knowledge test at the end of the experiment (after the learning and the transfer tasks), the control groups filled in the knowledge test directly after the learning phase. I did not want to give the knowledge test to the experimental group after the learning phase because of its sensitivity to testing-effects. I assumed that learners who did not acquire the relevant knowledge in the learning phase could acquire useful knowledge by taking the knowledge test, which could have led to a better transfer performance which is not due to the learning method but caused by learning from taking the knowledge test. The procedure subjects had to follow included a learning phase in which they explored the structure of the simulation aiming at knowledge acquisition. After the learning phase, subjects first had to fill in the four-item questionnaire on self-efficacy before they performed 18 transfer tasks. The transfer tasks were separated into two blocks (consisting of nine control tasks each) by a 30-minute break. In four experimental groups (EG), 117 students and apprentices performed the learning phase (28 female participants), the 18 control tasks and the knowledge test. As said before, the knowledge test was applied at the end because of its sensitivity to additional learning effects caused by filling in the knowledge test. In four control groups (CG), 98 students and apprentices performed the knowledge test directly after the learning phase, without working on the transfer task (four female participants). The EGs took about 2-2. 5 hours and the CG about 1. 5 hours to finish the experiment. Both groups (EGs and CGs) were asked to take notes during the learning phase. Subjects were randomly assigned to the EGs and CGs, nonetheless ensuring that the same number of students and apprentices were in each group. The Simulation-Based Learning Environment The computer-based simulation ColorSim, which we had developed for our experimental research previously, was used in two different variants. The simulation is based on the work by Funke (1993) and simulates a small chemical plant to produce colors for later subsequent processing and treatment such as dyeing fabrics. The task is to produce a given amount of colors in a predefined number of steps (nine steps). To avoid the uncontrolled influence of prior knowledge, the structure of the plant simulation cannot be derived from prior knowledge of a certain domain, but has to be learned by all subjects. ColorSim contains three endogenous variables (termed green, black, and yellow) and three exogenous variables (termed x, y, and z ). Figure 1 illustrates the ColorSim screen. Subjects control the simulation step by step (in contrast to a real time running continuous control). The predefined goal states of each color have to be reached by step nine. Subjects enter values for x, y, and z within the range of 0-100. There is no time limit for the transfer tasks. During the transfer tasks, the subjects have to reach defined system states for green (e. g. , 500), black (e. g. , 990), and yellow (e. g. , 125) and/or try to keep the variable values as close as possible to the values defined as goal states. Subjects are instructed to reach the defined system states at the end of a multi-step process of nine steps. The task for the subjects was first to explore or learn about the simulated system (to find out the causal links between the system variables), and then to control the endogenous variables by means of the exogenous variables with respect to a set of given goal states. With respect to the empirical evidence of Funke (2001) and Strau? (1995), the theoretical concept for the variation in complexity is based on Woods’ (1986) theoretical arguments that complexity depends on an increasing number of relations between a stable number of (in this case six) variables (three input, three output: for details of the construction rational and empirical evidence see Kluge, 2004, and Kluge, in press, see Table 1). To meet reliability requirements, subjects had to complete several trials in the transfer task. For each of the 18 control tasks a predefined correct solution exists, to which the subjects’ solutions could be compared. In addition, knowledge acquisition and knowledge application phases were separated. The procedure for the development of a valid and reliable knowledge test is described in the next section. Different methods have been developed to provide learners with support to effectively learn from using simulations. De Jong and van Joolingen (1998) categorize these into five groups: 1. Direct access to domain knowledge, which means that learners should know something about the field or subject beforehand, if discovery learning is to be fruitful. 2. Support for hypothesis generation, which means learners are offered elements of hypotheses that they have to assemble themselves. 3. Support for the design of experiments, e. g. , by providing hints like â€Å"It is wise to vary only one variable at a time† 4. Support for making predictions, e. g. , by giving learners a graphic tool in which they can draw a curve that gives predictions at three levels of precision: as numerical data, as a drawn graph, and as an area in which the graph would be located. 5. Support for regulative learning processes: e. g. , by introducing model progression, which means that the model is introduced gradually, and by providing planning support, which means freeing learners from the necessity of making decisions and thus helping them to manage the learning process. In addition, regulative processes can be supported by leading the learner through different stages, like â€Å"Before doing the experiment . . . ,† â€Å"Now do the experiment,† â€Å"After doing the experiment. . . .† Altogether, empirical findings and theoretical assumptions have so far led to the conclusion that experiential learning needs additional support to enhance knowledge acquisition and transfer. Target Population and Participant Selection: In the introductory part, I mentioned that there were two sub groups in the sample which I see as different target groups for using simulation-based learning environments. Subjects were for the most part recruited from the technical departments of a Technical University (Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electronics, Information Technology as well as apprentices from the vocational training programs in mechanics

Business: Management and Different Stakeholders

You have been asked to produce an article on two contrasting businesses covering purpose, ownership, organisational structure, trategic planning and how businesses interact with their environments. Task 1 (Pl ,P3, P4) submtsston date: w,'C 7/10/13 Business organisations exist for many different purposes and have a range of aims and objectives. Privately owned businesses usually aim to make a profit for the owner(s); publicly owned organisations work to deliver services and there are many businesses employ staff and use other resources and are important to the economy ofa region.As part of your duties you and three colleagues have been asked to produce a presentation to local Chamber of Commerce. You and your team members have been asked to research and compare one Public Sector Organisation and one Private Sector Organisation and produce a short PowerPoint presentation of the above of no more 10 minutes duration and of 8 to 12 slides. Covering the following areas: a) (Pl) Describe th e type of business (what does the business/organisation do? b) (Pl) Describe the purpose and ownership (including liability for any business debts) of each business. c) (P3) Describe how two businesses are organised d) (P4) Explain how their style of organisation helps them to fulfil their purpose. note you will need to hand in a copy of the powerpoint and notes at the end of the presentation and answer questions from your tutor) Task 2 (p2) Submission date: wc 11/11/13 All organisations have groups or individuals who are said to be stakeholders in the business.This means that they have an interest in the actions, performance or plans of the business. For example, a decision to move location affects staff, suppliers, neighbours and customers, all of whom are stakeholders. Produce an article for the paper covering the following: a) (P2) Describe the different stakeholders of each of he selected contrasting organisations. b) (P2) Describe how each one influences the purpose of each of the organisations. ) (MI) Explain the points of view of different stakeholders seeking to influence the aims and objectives of these two contrasting organisations. d) (Dl) Evaluate the influence different stakeholders exert in one of your chosen businesses.

Joirnal Summary on Risk of Poverty Research Paper

Joirnal Summary on Risk of Poverty - Research Paper Example The ability to overcome poverty then becomes linked to trends and complexities that occur within the household and which link to patterns in the economic cycle. The author’s show that combinations of domestic violence, social environment, the mother’s schooling and other family influences are prevalent in the poverty which has occurred. The first association which is made with the article is the sociodemographic factors that are a part of the study. The social implications are based on the Latin American basis that each holds. Sixteen countries are studied to offer a wide variety of individuals and diverse numbers of families. The main demographics are then defined by differences in ethnicity of those living in poverty as well as the location which is associated with this. The article further explains the study through the examination of the family household and the dependent variables which may contribute to poverty. Education, dynamics of the family and social relatio nships that take place within the household are all examined for a deeper understanding of poverty. The main ideology which is found is that domestic violence and ethnicity are the two factors which continue to relate to the cycle of poverty and the association which many have in terms of the inequalities which take place. However, the study also notes secondary factors which cause the prevalence of poverty to continue among children. The risk of poverty that contributes to the article is based on the understanding of the cycle of poverty. This states that there is an intergenerational influence that occurs when one is in poverty. If the parents are in poverty, then children are more likely to fall under the same economic conditions. The risk is furthered with specific factors that are studied in the survey of the article. The risks that are examined include family factors, schooling and health. The risk of poverty was furthered with types of family dynamics, such as the number of c hildren in the household, association with the parental education and the dynamics that occurred socially. The study also showed a direct relationship to where one lived in Latin America. For instance, one living in Peru would be more likely to complete a secondary education than in Puray. This was further linked to the amount of education the mother and father received, number of siblings, gender, migration and household income. The less schooling in the family, the more siblings and the lower the household income also led to higher amounts of risk of poverty for the children in the household. Not only does the article look at the various factors for the risk of poverty but also considers how the discrimination factors lead to layers of poverty. Low – income poverty and other marginal factors are considered and relate to the dynamics of the family and sociodemographic factors of the household. By looking at this concept, there is the ability to see if there is a direct relat ionship between the demographics, social factors and the amount of income which one receives. It is found that there is a direct division based on the demographics in the household and the social and economic environments that are a part of the household. The changes in economy then create a direct link with the family factors that are noted in the household. It is

The Hospital Rules and Regulations for Medical Staff Research Paper

The Hospital Rules and Regulations for Medical Staff - Research Paper Example One of the main points of significance of a dictated report is, this is the kind of communication used by doctors to medical transcriptionist in order for these transcriptionists to encode the patients last known medical assessment, treatment and health status into the hospital's database. This is vital to acute care inpatients because these records are their status reports, and can be used by other physicians if needed, in order to provide accurate and appropriate healthcare. According to medword.com in their â€Å"Physician Dictation Guide† article, dictation is not the easiest of things too. It is a skill that must be practiced in order to get it right. It also mentioned that because medical schools expect new doctors to learn dictation skills on their own, the results are not as good as they should be. Because of this, the article lists down some dos and don’t sin dictation, such as, being ready with any papers before recording and learning about the equipment used for recording. Summary of state of Florida standard, with respect to physician's dictated reports According to http://www.myflsunshine.com, in the Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual chapter called â€Å"What are the statutory exemptions relating to hospital and medical records? â€Å" the paragraph called â€Å"Patient records† stated the following: Patient medical records made by health care practitioners may not be furnished to any person other than the patient, his or her legal representative or other health care practitioners and providers involved in the patient's care and treatment without written authorization except as provided by ss. 440.13(4)(c) and 456.057, F.S. Section 456.057(7)(a), F.S. This guideline states that all patient medical records are confidential. Medical records include physician reports both written and recorded. This means that in order for our facility to follow State guidelines and avoid due sanctions, none of our patient records may be accessed by other individuals unless there is written consent by the patient. This makes the protection, transcription, and documentation of patient medical records as one of our top priorities, especially the physician dictated reports, as in their state, they can easily be accessed.

Case study 3... I have copy and paste the instuctions below

3... I have copy and paste the instuctions below - Case Study Example This has increasingly attracted much focus as the next target by majority of Asian automakers. According to current statistics, several young people aged between 22- 30 years plan to purchase motor vehicles. Further, the same statistical data indicates that about 64% of females within this age group have already purchased a motor vehicle compared to 44% of their male counterparts (Nickell, 2012). In this regard, Asian automakers try to fulfill the desires of Gen Y by availing them with what they need in a unique way. According to Beard (2003), Gen Y possesses purchasing power to a tune of $170 billion which is expected to continue growing as they progress in their careers. Moreover, by Asian automakers targeting Gen Y, this could be a sign of trust that Gen Y is a brand royal whose desires are not only to serve them as individuals, but the entire community. Marketers continue facing a big challenge in handling Gen Y who does not prefer advertising since they believe advertising cause s them to purchase products they do not require. Moreover, they view advertising as one way of increasing product price which goes contrary to their desire of lowest price possible. Analysis of the strategy behind Honda and Toyota creating new vehicles such as the Element and the Scion By both Honda and Toyota manufacturing motor vehicles such as Element and Scion, it shows their efforts in establishing a relationship with Gen Y with a view of improving their brand name (Rechtin, 2009). Notably, Honda’s strategy acknowledges Gen Y varied preferences. According to Keegan and Green (2011), Toyota and Honda are using adaptation and extension strategies to access the global market opportunities. Both automakers seem to have noted the increased purchasing power of Gen Y by becoming more innovative in meeting their needs. In this regard, they have introduced new automobiles in the market at a price within reach of majority of this age group. The rationale behind Toyota's decision t o limit the number of Scion vehicles available for sale In 2006, Jim Press, a top executive with Toyota, United States commented on limiting the number of Scion motor vehicles. He explained that any further increase in sale of this brand could only accrue benefits to the Japanese automaker although he stressed that this decision would not lead to loss of customer preference for Scion. Additionally, Jim Press said that â€Å"Scion is an incubator† that was meant to help Toyota understand the preferences of the younger generation. The rationale behind limiting Scion’s sale volume could be explained in various ways including: Scion brand could have attained maturity stage and, to remain popular with Gen Y, Toyota had to create exclusivity image for this brand (Mandel et al., 2006). If Toyota continued with production of more Scions, it could have suffered diseconomies of scales. This is because, as it continued pursuing the growing market demand, at some point the rate of input increase could equal the rate of output increase - leading to rise of unit cost. What this means is that Toyota could be needed to produce more to meet the market demand. This would also require the company to increase labor and build additional plants in order to produce more cars. More so, by limiting Scion sales volume, Toyota could build long-term brand loyalty from its existing clientele. This is

Home buying process and its financial impacts Essay

Home buying process and its financial impacts - Essay Example Buying a house can be the largest amount invested or spent upon any asset by the individual and so a careful investigation is necessary about the pros and cons of a home buying process 1. What are some common opportunity costs associated with the selection of housing? While selecting a house which an individual wants to buy he/she takes into consideration the apartment or the house first and then the individual also takes a look at the residential area in which he plans to dwell. However selecting the option of housing means that the individual has to bear some underlying costs or in some cases has to let out some opportunities in his/her way. In one word it can be termed as opportunity costs undergone during the process of housing. While buying a house it is compulsory that a fair amount needs to be given out as down payment. The individual has to pay a considerable sum of money as security deposit even with the consideration of renting an apartment. In both the cases one has to let out the savings interest that could have been earned the money being kept in a bank. The brokerage fee is another cost involved looking for a house which could have been spent elsewhere. If the house selected is few miles away from the workplace the individual has to take the pain of a long journey every day. In case the individual is renting a house he is losing out the advantages of tax obtained from buying a house. But at the same time the person has to bear sufficient trouble to build a house of his choice and needs (Kapoor, 2009, p. 272). 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of owning a home? Home Ownership has been considered as the rational form for housing with more than 70% of the British households having houses in their list of assets. Such ownership statistics for the year 1991 reveal 59% for USA and 40% for Switzerland. Home ownership is advantageous as houses are saleable assets. Increasing market value of homes has enhanced this merit. It also eliminates the trouble of monthly rental payments. Statistical evidences suggest that homeowners are much better than individuals renting an apartment. But the disadvantage is that few people have the money for buying a home and they go for borrowing options or mortgage. This is again a liability. Owning a home involves maintenance costs unlike renting where landlord bears all the cost for renting (Gordon, n.d). 3. How can the quality of a school system benefit even homeowners in a community who do not have school-age children? A recent study has shown that home owners send their teenage children to school more frequently than those parents living in rented apartments. Behavioral characteristics of homeowners have been attributed to this fact. Homeowners are mostly financial stable and from good background who do not tolerate bad behavior of their children. Again the findings reveal that residential stability has a positive impact on children’s education. There appears to be a positive rela tion between homeownership and educational outcomes. Renting individuals may change their houses quite often which in turn lead to changing schools keeping in mind the distance factor. This is not the case for home owners. Changing schools prove detrimental to a child’s education (Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing, 2010). 4. What factors affect a person's ability to qualify for a mortgage? Any bank or financial institution while mortgaging a house from an individual does a careful assessment of his/her gross income. The amount offered on mortgage depends a lot on the individual’s gross income. Hence first of all a person needs to be financially stable in order to qualify for mortgage. Sudden inheritance of a large sum of money can also be favorable for qualification. Some institutions also prefer to see the loan history of the individual before giving out the mortgage amount. This is done to prevent default risks. In recent times many mortgage product s have come up in housing markets easing the process of

Minority Leadership in the military Research Paper

Minority Leadership in the military - Research Paper Example Minorities are often subjected to stereotypes and they are usually not expected to acquire higher positions. They are always looked upon with suspicious eyes and their ability is almost always questioned. In the same way females are also looked down upon in professions like military. In this paper we will look into the minority representation in army and whether it represents the minority representation in the society at large. The educational and financial background of minorities will also be considered and their impact on leadership style will be analyzed. The main question we would like to answer here is whether race or gender has an impact on leadership or management decisions in military or not. It is important to understand the dynamics of minorities in a society in order to better understand how minorities feel and how the society feels about them. Minorities in a society are characterized by cohesion and close relationships. This is because they feel threatened by other majority groups in the society. Minority groups also try to differentiate themselves from ‘others’ and this is done to protect their identity. There are united because they have no place to go and they feel compelled to remain a part of their social group. Society in general feels negatively about minorities which in turn increases the cohesion in minorities. Military profession is seen as a patriotic profession and the job is to defend the country. This is why tensions between majority and minority groups is common in military. Majority group is always suspicious of the patriotism of the minority groups and therefore their representation is always low in military. An example would be in the United States of America when African Americans were not allowed to serve in the army before the Civil War. It was only when it was inevitable that they were allowed to serve in the military. Majority group in most cases feels suspicious of the minority group because they believe minorities

Slavery's Destructive Effect on Women Research Paper

Slavery's Destructive Effect on Women - Research Paper Example In a slave system, all suffer. Perhaps the saddest of all, it is the women who suffered the most. Slavery dehumanized black women by robbing them of the ability to fulfill their basic human needs and instincts. This paper will discuss the horrors and injustices that slave women were forced to deal with on a regular basis. Linda Brent narrates her own story as a woman who experienced slavery. Her personal story of slave life features the  embarrassment, sacrifice, and effort specific to women slaves of the nineteenth century. According to Jacobs, slavery is  awful  for men; however, it is particularly  awful  for women (2001)1. Because of slavery, families  were broken  apart. Linda had shined in  fundamental  reading and writing. This drew the attention of her master, Dr. Flint. Linda was only fifteen when her  master  started chasing her. In  revulsion  she  constantly  declined and avoided him. The representation of Flint shows the  unkind  control   character  of many southern slave proprietors, and as such, tells the  time  of a slave girl to  control  emotional and  bodily  suffering  that was plainly different from the  life  of her  typical  male equivalent. ... Sands in anticipation of him buying her independence demonstrates what disturbing limits she  was pressed  to in their life.  She  freely  surrendered her body to a man for an opportunity to be set free from oppression, and for the  expectation  that one day she  possibly  will  raise  her children without slavery (Jacobs, 2001)1.Her deeds were most  dignified  and  unselfish  in  character, but the  delivery  of her first and subsequent children  consequently  enslaved her to the needs of Dr. Flint, who might have used her children against her if she failed to comply. Her  primary  wish  was to escape with her two brothers, but she also had to think of the outcomes that her children might face because of her disobedience. According to Hine D, Hine H, and Harold, women were tortured by the slave owners, but they became enlightened and organized themselves to find a way of getting their freedom (2011)2. This was during the time in sixteent h-century Africa, when the antislavery progress and making black community organizations could be appealing to any person  concerned  with the in detail  examination  of African-American  record  as it connects to the United States  record. The mixing of the well-known and the  indefinite, male and female, North and South, slave and liberated, gives a textile that unites the fear and the  victory  of the African-American  occurrence  which assisted them to  move  away from the anguish to 2 a  position  of  curative  hope (Hine and Hine, 2011)2.The confidence  beginning  for so much of the African American  victory  might  have been covered  further  at length. Women lived with double  trouble  of  discrimination  and chauvinism, slave women in the  agricultural  estate  South presumed responsibilities in

The Reversal of the College Marriage Gap Research Paper

The Reversal of the College Marriage Gap - Research Paper Example It is generally argued that American society has been transformed in the manner that there are visible changes in the roles of men and women at the time of their marriages. (Fry and Cohn). Due to this reason, the resulting changes in the way adults marry have been manifested in the form of late marriages. This bar graph also indicates that the marriage rates of the adults under the age of 20 have subsequently declined due to the changes in the economic status of women. Another study conducted also showed that the average age for first marriage has changed during last forty years as economic hardships as well as the changing relationships between different members of the society have contributed towards the transformation which was experienced by the American society as a whole due to this shift. (National Poverty Center) Graph -2 indicates the changes which took place in terms of ages of the college educated as well as non-college educated adults at the time of their marriage. The results suggest that the average age of the college educated as well as non-college educated adults is almost same at the time of marriage. This change in the ratio of the ages has changed over the period of time, as earlier, non-college educated adults tend to marry at an early age as compared to the college educated adults. The change is however, mainly because of the difficult economic situations with which both types of individuals have to tackle.

Factors That Have Led to An Increase in The Importance of Logistics as Research Paper

Factors That Have Led to An Increase in The Importance of Logistics as A Field of Study - Research Paper Example Strong links to the market (the customer) is the basis of corporate power. Since customer service drives the supply chain, professionals in logistics are best placed to implement value chain integration that yields customer satisfaction. The industries create future advantages based on the integration of logistics and international supply chains. Key words: Global economy, customer satisfaction, value, supply chain, diversity, technology, professionals. Factors that have led to an increase in the importance of logistics as a field of study Logistics refers to the process of scheduling, applying and controlling the effective, efficient storage and flow of services, goods and relevant information from origin to consumption. The management of the logistics process aims at meeting the users’ requirements. In a business sense, logistics is a critical aspect because it must support procurement, warehousing, inventory, distribution, human resources, financial, customer support and di stribution operations (Rodrigue, Comtois & Slack, 2006). Such operations are covered in the perspective of outbound, inbound, external and internal movements of materials and personnel. For materials, there is the additional aspect of return for environmental purposes. Apart from the physical items and personnel, logistics management also involves abstract items like information, time and energy, where the minimized use of capital is a universal concern (World Bank, 2010). This paper will discuss factors that have led to an increase in the importance of logistics as a field of study. The role played by logistics and supply chain management in a country’s economy makes the study of logistics critical towards increasing the country’s competitiveness in business. Because of the business objective of ensuring the correct items are available at the right time, place and quantity, logistics is inextricably linked to supply chains (Kahn & Kobayashi, 2007). It has become incre asingly important to study logistics and supply chain management because of the direct link to an economy’s revenues and cost structure as well as the competitiveness of producers in terms of quality of products and delivery times. Further, logistics affect the producers’ responsiveness to the requirements of consumers, which makes it important to understand how the growth in freight flow affects the current changes in local, regional and global economic systems (Waters, 2003). An understanding of logistics enables supply chain logisticians to associate optimum logistics performance with export diversification, trade expansion, economic growth and the capacity to draw direct foreign investments. This is because the competitiveness of an economy depends on how the logistics and supply chain perform (Hossein, 2010). When these factors are balanced, the value added to an economy by logistics exceeds the total costs. The growing complexity of supplying materials to busines ses as well as distributing products in a globalized supply chain also gives importance to the study of logistics (Christopher, 2010).

An analysis of “Night” and “Beloved” Essay Example for Free

An analysis of â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† Essay In the list of the most tackled themes for literary works, freedom and love probably top the list. The Novels â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† are some examples of the literary pieces which intertwine these two popular concepts. Basically, the books dwelled on stories of slavery and brutality which ultimately destroyed the lives of the fictional characters. In this paper, the researcher tries to examine how these books address the importance of freedom and love in terms of living a life of meaning and purpose. The Lack of Freedom Can Deny Worth Both literary pieces demonstrate that without freedom, a person can ultimately loose his sense of self, and thus stripping the individual of his love for himself and his worth as a human being. The lack of worth is often initiated by the perpetrators or those who enslave. However, through continuous exposure to maltreatment, discrimination, and intolerant violence, the enslaved may loose hope, and in the end – accept the fact that he and his life are indeed worthless and that there is no point of loving himself and his fellows. This is clearly shown in the first novel. In the beginning of the â€Å"Night†, the Jews who were brought to the Nazi camp found relief in caring for each other. They also turned to religion and their God at times when they feared for their lives. In particular, Eliezer excessively prayed seeking salvation, security, and purpose in his faith and believing that God would not let evil prevail. The Jews also tried to seek relief from supporting Zionism. To a certain sense, the captives tried to preserve their worth as a human being through loving and caring. (Wiesel) However, brutal experiences forced them to thwart their beliefs and their worth. They had to see babies that were burned in open pit furnaces. Such event is very demoralizing to people since babies are often regarded as symbols of pure and innocent lives which needed love, not brutality. Apart from that, they were also forced to watch the hanging of their fellow Jews, people whom they loved and cared for. Such experiences combined with the inhumane treatment of Nazis gradually led the Jews to believe that they were basically nothing but slaves – individuals who have no purpose in life but to serve the superior race. They were somehow, undeserving of love and life, which will only be wasted through unjustifiable and imposed death. In â€Å"Beloved†, the slaves were liberated but one can see that their liberation was probably too late in the sense that slavery already ruined their â€Å"sense of self†. Take the case of Paul D. As a slave, he was treated with utmost cruelty by the â€Å"school teacher†. When he tried to escape with Sixo, they were captured and Sixo was killed. Paul D was then subjected to humiliation when he was forced to wear an iron bit much like a horse. He also suffered from pitiless beatings and torturing of the ‘chain gang’. As a result of these inhumane treatments, Paul D often felt insecure and unconvinced of his humanness and manhood. (Morrison) In the case of Sethe, she was also treated as an inferior being that, as the school teacher notes, has â€Å"animal characteristics†. She was violated by men and even whipped almost to death, despite the fact that she was pregnant. As a result of these experiences, she felt a feeling of self-hatred for becoming a slave. Sethe also cannot find a sense of satisfaction or fulfillment in her own self. That is why she saw motherhood as the only chance for her to redeem her worth. Thus, she regarded her children, especially ‘Beloved’ as her â€Å"best thing. † By being so selfless to the point of martyrdom, it seems that Sethe did not possess any love for herself. Rather, every loving emotion is directed to her children. The Lack of Freedom Can Distort a Person’s Sense of Life and Love The two novels also showed that slavery can greatly alter a person’s view of living and loving. Basically, the lack of freedom can introduce seemingly irrational and unreasonable perspectives that are derived from sheer fright, panic and anxiety. In â€Å"Night†, the lack of freedom reduced the lives of the Jews as nothing but mere struggles for survival. Through the extensive â€Å"selection† process promoted by the Nazis, the Jews developed the idea that the fittest are truly the only ones who can live. This is demonstrated by the fact that those who were considered as ill and weak were quickly exterminated while the â€Å"strong† ones were used for labor. The idea of the â€Å"survival of the fittest† was further enforced by the scarcity of resources in the camp. There was too little food and water and this prompted the Jews to compete against themselves. What’s worse was that the competition even prompted the prisoners to lose their sense of love and respect for their fathers. As noted by one of them: Listen to me, boy. Don’t forget that you’re in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, (and) no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone. (Wiesel) In a sense, without freedom the lives of the Jews became â€Å"animalistic†. They lost their regard for familial relations along with the loss of their hopes to be free. Without freedom, they had no love; and without love, their lives seemed to have no meaning. Elizier further demonstrates this point through his narration of a son’s beating of his father because of a fight over food on the train to Buchenwald. (Wiesel) In â€Å"Beloved†, the most twisted result of slavery is shown through murder. In the story, the schoolteacher wanted to take Sethe and her children back into the barn where slaves were dehumanized. Instead of surrendering her children however, Sethe decided to kill them rather than forcing them into a life without freedom. Through this act, Sethe demonstrated that life without freedom is worse than death. She somehow equated death as the only way to escape slavery and achieve freedom. For her, the act of murdering her own children – cutting their throat with a handsaw – was an act of love. Paul D explained Sethe’s actions: She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them†¦Outside this place, where they would be safe. (Morrison) In conclusion, the two novels, â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† show that without freedom, individuals can lose their idea of â€Å"love† – both in terms of self-love and love for others. Continuous demoralization and dehumanization can ultimately ruin a person’s concept of love and life. Moreover, such acts can drain purpose and meaning in living. Works Cited: Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf, 1987. Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1960.

Preventing Prolonged and Obstructed Labor

Preventing Prolonged and Obstructed Labor Prolonged labor and obstructed labor are major causes of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality in india. One of the tools used to monitor labor and prevent prolonged and obstructed labor is the partograph, a single sheet printed paper on which labor observations are recorded. (Fistula care., 2011). The timing of interventions is the one of the crucial factors in active management of labor, whether these be amniotomy, augmentation, ceasarean section or transfer to a central unit. The maintenance of a partogram for the management of the labor helps to indicate, with its alert line and action lines, the optimum timing of these interventions and to clearly differentiate normal from abnormal progress in labor. The partogram could be used at all areas of obstetric care by basic care providers who are specially trained to assess dilatation of the cervix and when it used properly, helps to detect cases of abnormal labor without delay, thus allowing timely intervention. Partogram is a composite graphic record of cervical dilatation and descent of head against duration of labor in hours. It also provides information about fetal and maternal condition that are all recorded on a single sheet of paper. The modern partogram contains many relevant parameters related to labor, mother and the fetus. These parameters are cervical effacement and dilatation, descent of part which is present, fetal heart rate, duration and frequency of uterine contractions, color and quantity of amniotic fluid which is passed per vaginum, maternal parameters such as vital signs and drugs used during labour. This pictorial documentation of labor facilitates early recognition of poor progress. Plotting of cervical dilatation also enables prediction of the time of onset the recording of all relevant data on a single page, it facilitates the easy handing over of mothers, helps in early recognition of complications and highlights inefficient clinical practice. (James et al., 2001). The partogram is an observation chart that may be used to facilitate assessment of the progress of labor, including maternal and fetal well being. Historically progress is measured by linear progression along a prescribed time scale, whereby a curve of cervical dilatation is measured in centimeters plotted against time in hours (Friedman 1955), and descent of the head abdominally. Many modifications to the partogram have occurred, resulting in the introduction of alert line and action lines. Basically, the action line was 2 hrs to the right of the alert line, and augmentation instituted at this time. Once labor is confirmed as in the active phase, cervical dilatation is expected to progress at (Macdonald et al., 2011). An accurate record during labor provides the basis from which clinical improvements, progress or complications of the mother or fetus can be judged. For this reason the notes should be kept in chronological order. The maternity record is shared between the midwife and the obstetrician. The obstetrician makes notes of his or her findings, timing of visits and may prescriptions made. The same standards apply to all practitioners. The midwife usually enters the summary of labor and initial details about the baby. In recent years the partogram or partograph has been widely accepted as an effective means of recording the progress of labor. It is chart on which the salient features of the labor are entered in a pictorial form and therefore provides the opportunity for early identification of deviations from normal labour. (Fraser et al., 2007). The best clinical tool that diagnoses the poor progress of labor is the partogram (even in higher centers) and will always help in early detection of the abnormal labor. It is very handy, easy to use and easily reproducible too. The use of a partograph in labor was associated with reduction in prolonged labor and decreased caesarean section rate. Another advantage of the use of a partograph was improvements in fetal and maternal morbidity in a significant manner. (Kamini., 2011). The cervicograph is the pictorial representation of the cervical dilatation charted against the hours of labour. Studies have shown (Friedman and Sachtleben 1965 pearson 1981)that the cervical dilatation time of normal labor has a significant sigmoid curve which can be divided into two distinct parts such as the latent phase and the active phase. (Bennett et al., 2001). In some cases the partogram may allow space for a certain amount of comment but usually the midwife will keep a separate written account in which she records her observations of the women’s psychological condition and any other details not included on the graph. If any changes in the birth plan become necessary ,the midwife will note down how these were discussed with the women and her partner and with what outcome.In this way the women will feel involved in any decisions made, which encourages feelings of being in control and enhance the birth experiences. (Ali et al., 2010). The midwife can verify the progress of labor effectively through the use of graphic charts (partograms) on which one plot cervical dilation and station (descent), this type of graphic charting assists in early identification of deviations from expected labor patterns. (Lowdermilk, et al 1997 ). NEED FOR THE STUDY The latest available data on MMR india is 212 per 100,000 live births and IMR is 44 per 1000 live births. Out of 180 countries now india ia ranked 126 when countries are arranged in an ascending order for MMR and 45 out of 195 countries in IMR. (Petterson, 2004). The obstructed labor stands one of the five major causes of maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries like india. About 4% and 70% of all maternal deaths is due to obstructed labour or rupture of the uterus, accounting to a maternal mortality rate as high as 410/100,000 live births. (S. Quenby et al., 2003). Introduction of partograph in the management of labor(WHO 1994) has reduced the incidence of prolonged labor and caesarean section. There is improvement in maternal morbidity, fetal morbidity and mortality. (Dutta., 2013). The development of the partograph (or partogram) provides a graphical overview of the labor to allow early identification and easy diagnosis of the pathological labor for health care providers. Emanuel Friedman was the first obstetrician who provide an accurate tool for the study of individual labours. In the 1970’s partographs starts getting popularity and today majority of delivery and labour units use them. A large number of literature shows that their correct use reduced the rates of prolonged labors and many complications which arises during labour. There is also a suggestion that the use of the partograph results in fewer surgical interventions such as Caesarean sections. Nowadays the electronic partographs are becoming popular and it can be made into medical records systems. The use of partographs is very common in hospitals. A study has been conducted on health care workers and midwives who works in delivery units of Nigeria found that only 10% of caregivers used the partograph while conducting labour, and only few used it properly. The study found that the correct use of partograph may be restricted by training, time, and caregiver skill level. In many of the cases, literacy and numeracy are major problems to use it. Finally, the study concludes that the health workers requires training about partograph for the early identification of deviation from normal labour. (Neison et al.,2005) The partograph provides information about deviations from the normal progress of labor and about various abnormalities of maternal or fetal condition during labor. It may alters providers when a woman needs an intervention and which facilitates throughout evaluation of the effects of those interventions. (Fistula care., 2011). The partograph helps to reduce the time midwives spent on writing notes, while helps them to keep detailed and accurate records. It also allow them to provide an emotional support to the women in labour. Hence, the investigator who has done the research feels that it is very imperative to train the nurses working in maternity unit and to improve the knowledge and skill in the use of partograph. This would help the nurses to provide a comprehensive intrapartum care to the mothers in labour with early identification and prevention of complication arising during labour, So said that the partograph plays an important role in reducing the maternal mortality and morbidity due to labour. (Arez et al., 2009). In maternal health care, it is imperative that a skilled attendant be present at each delivery. According to WHO, a skilled attendant at birth is one of the most effective interventions to reduce maternal mortality. Among various interventions which have proven valuable in maternal health care is the partograph, which should be used in health facilities everywhere for monitoring labor and preventing complications. (Dangal., 2006). In a WHO multicenter trial conducted in southeast Asia which includes 35 484 women. The study shows that the introduction of the partograph during labor management significantly reduced both prolonged labor from 6.4 to 3.4 % of labors and the percentage of labors which requiring augmentation which is from 20.7 to 9.9% to 8.7 %, There was also a reduction in the mean number of vaginal examinations during labor probably leads to the drop in cases of postpartum sepsis by 59%. Improvement in maternal morbidity and fetal mortality which took place among both multiparous and nulliparous women. The participants in WHO trial agreed that the partogram improved the discipline communication about management of labor and freed midwives time, this may be an important element of the partograms success as more time can be devoted to ‘companionship’. The WHO trial points the way towards effective management of labor where reduced but timely intervention is the key to success. (James et al., 2011). Partographs are tools that allow labor progress to be graphically recorded and assessed visually . Partograph helps in early detection of abnormal progress of labour and are credited with decreasing rates of prolonged labor, oxytocin use, cesareans, and intrapartum morbidity or mortality as compared to regular care. Eventhen, partograph is not so used widely but only rarely in countires like U.S. A. A research team has made a partograph which is physiologically based for hospital use in assessing the labors of nulliparous women with spontaneous onset of labour. They shows that their tool greatly improves the outcome which in turn, optimize the safety of the mother and the fetus during labour. (Neal et al., 2011). A study conducted to evaluate the Partogram programme in the University Center of Health Science in Cameroon, Africa and Yaounde. It ia a retrospective study with 686 patients and a prospective study with 1045 patients . The institution which has this program shows that the perinatal mortality has been reduced by 10 deaths per 1000 births because of use of partograph and it provides accurate and reliable results for early identification of abnormal labor. About two-thirds of the morbidity and mortality related to labour and 72% of deliveries with medical or surgical conditions has also occurred in the clinical area where the labor curve crossed the action line in the partograph. (Drouin et al., 1979). STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STRUCTURED TEACHING PROGRAMME ON KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND SKILL REGARDING PARTOGRAPH AMONG MULTIPURPOSE HEALTH WORKERS IN SELECTED MATERNITY CENTRES IN COIMBATORE. OBJECTIVES To assess the level of knowledge, attitude and skill regarding partograph among multipurpose health workers in selected maternity centres. To identify the effect of structured teaching programme on knowledge, attitude and skill among multipurpose health workers in maternity centres. To associate the findings with demographic variables. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION STRUCTURED TEACHING PROGRAMME Refers to a well planned instruction which is designed to improve knowledge, attitude and skill. KNOWLEDGE It refers to the actual understanding of Mutipurpose health workers on partograph as elicited by knowledge questionnaire. SKILL It refers to the ability to use partograph which is assessed by using checklist. ATTITUDE It refers to the belief of the multipurpose health workers towards partograph. PARTOGRAM The progress of labour depicted in the form of graphs. LABOUR The process of child birth. HYPOTHESIS H1: There will be a significant difference in the knowledge level of multipurpose health workers regarding partograph before and after administration of Planned Teaching Programme. H2: There will be a significant difference in the attitude level of multipurpose health workers regarding partograph before and after administration of Planned Teaching Programme. H3: There will be a significant difference in the skill level of multipurpose health workers regarding partograph before and after administration of Planned Teaching Programme. ASSUMPTION Multipurpose health workers may have previous knowledge on partogram. Planned Teaching programme will enhance the level of knowledge ,skill and attitude among Multipurpose health workers. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK A conceptual framework or models is a set of concepts, assumptions, principles and rules which provides an outline for conducting research. Thus the investigator adopted Donabedian’s Program Evaluation Model (1982). Avedis Donabedian a physician and health services researcher at theUniversity of Michigan, developed the original model in 1966. This model consists of three aspects such as structure, process and outcome. 1. Structure: Structure includes all the factors that affect the context in which care is delivered. It includes infrastructure, equipments, supplies, manpower etc. In this present study the infrastructure is the selected corporation maternity centres in Coimbatore where the teaching has been taken place. Equipments and supplies are the audio visuals aids used for teaching (pamphlet handout). The human resources are the multipurpose health workers 2. Process: It is the activities carried out with the help of structure to achieve the outcome. In this study, it is the structured teaching program regarding partograph done by the investigator with pamphlet and handout. Outcome: It is the result of execution of the process through the structure. In this study, the outcome is the improvement in knowledge, attitude and skill regarding partograph among multipurpose health workers. If the outcome is positive, it ensures that both the structure and process is functioning effectively. In this study the result shows that the teaching has improved the knowledge, attitude and skill regarding partograph among multipurpose health workers.

Developing Emergency Action Plan for Gym

Developing Emergency Action Plan for Gym Understanding emergency procedures in fitness environment An emergency response system is crucial for ensuring a safe environment for members, users, and staff, as well as being a very sound practice for managing risk. With health and fitness facilities, an emergency response system must be established to offer the highest reasonable safety level for users and staff. Emergency gym procedures are the established plans that are instigated if an emergency occurs. It may be simply a power outage, or more seriously a medical emergency, a fire or even a weather-related scenario. Gyms must have an emergency action plan (EAP) in place so that all the occupants at the time will be able to act effectively if required. What Would You Do? If a gym clients is seriously injured, or worse, dies in front of you while they have been exercising. What would you do? The question usually comes as a complete surprise to existing and new instructors. Unfortunately, the notion of folks dying or being injured while in an exercise environment is rarely addressed by the gym management, or by employees. Therefore, when it does happens, which it will one day, the gym is in chaos as basically nobody knows what procedures to follow. Gym Emergency: Typical Scenario This is what usually happens when procedures are obscure. The gym staff are not clear about what to do, panic may ensue. The front desk operator telephones 911 (or the police). The gym management may performs CPR/AED. Members are afraid to help or do not wish to be involved. While this scenario is generally what happens, it is that the instructor/trainers not knowing that is particularly disturbing when seconds and minutes are crucial and can save a life. The reasoning here is that on the whole the gym staff do not know a gym’s emergency procedures, regarding say, a heart attack. Even if they do know the procedure, how many instructors are CRP/AED certified? Why Many Gym Managements Don’t Know EAP? It is assumed that instructors who are CPR/AED certified already know what to do. They do not want to scare away new instructors. The gym has no procedures in place for emergencies (other than â€Å"call 911†³). It has not occurred to the manager/owner that clients may experience heart attacks there. Chain of Command Every gym should have a chain of responsibility which is deployed during an emergency. Emergencies can happen at any moment. There will be occasions when the person in overall charge will not be in the premises. That is why a chain of responsibility is essential, as the next person becomes in charge of the emergency. Activation of EAP The individual in charge at the time should make the call to activate an EAP. If a medical emergency has occurred, then those who are trained in CPR and emergency aid must remain with the patient. The person in charge at the time will coordinate the staff and gym personnel as to what they must do while the plan is in activation. Location of Equipment All gyms should have emergency equipment to hand. This must include a first aid kit, a telephone, fire extinguisher/s and sometimes an automated external defibrillator (AED). Every person that works in the gym must know where this equipment is available. Posting of Emergency Procedure Gyms should have an EAP poster in a visible position in order that all the information is easily available in case of an emergency. This should list the chain of command, the location of emergency equipment, and other relevant information. People do not really think clearly in an emergency, and having an EAP poster with all relevant information can save a lives when time matters most. Managing the Risks The management of risk refers to those practices and systems that gyms should establish to limit their exposure to any potential liability or financial loss. In the health club and fitness industry, risk management refers to the practices, systems and procedures by which a gym can reduce the risk of an employee or a client coming to harm (injury or death). Risk management involves practices that are preventive (such as pre-activity screening and correctly maintaining equipment) to practices that can be considered a reaction to unexpected events (such as emergency response systems). It must be acknowledged that the various types of health and fitness facilities do markedly vary, from the unsupervised to medically supervised clinical exercise centers. Gyms and exercise facilities often serve varied aims and clients, they do or don’t have organized programs, and also may or may not employ staff that are qualified. Management should use the local medical personnel or healthcare professionals to help develop an emergency response program. Local emergency medical services (EMS) can help a facility to develop a response program. Gyms and facilities can also engage the services of a physician, a registered nurse, or a certified emergency medical technician to assist in the development of their response program. An emergency response system should consider any emergency situations that may occur. Among these are medical emergencies that can be foreseen in regard to moderate or more intense workouts, such as hypoglycemia, a heart attack, a stroke, cardiac arrest or heat illness, and injuries that are in nature orthopedic. The response system should also consider other potential emergencies not specifically caused by physical activity, such a chemical accident, fire, and a range of weather and natural disaster events. An emergency response plan should consider explicit steps and instructions on how the emergency situation must be dealt with and including the roles that 1st , 2nd , and 3rd responders to an emergency will play. Additionally, an emergency response plan must indicate clearly the locations of emergency equipment (e.g., telephone for 911 and contact info for EMS, locations of the emergency exits, and the access points for EMS personnel), and also the steps needed to contact local EMS. It is preferable to physically rehearse the emergency response system at least twice per year. Medical Emergencies at the Gym Exercise brings so many health benefits, and moreover is beneficial to people with many medical conditions that include heart disease and Myocardial infarction (heart attack). The risk of a sudden medical emergency is ever present, and medical emergencies may occur before, during and after exercise. For vulnerable people, exercise may precipitate an emergency at the gym which can emanate from many different medical conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure, heart disease, and also a poor physical condition, or obesity and so on. For example, if an individual experiences pressure of the chest during or after an exercise session, they must call an ambulance to ride to the hospital irrespective of whether the person is on medication for blood pressure or has had three prior heart attacks, if they are 22 years of age, or seemingly fit and healthy. What to do in an Emergency Let us assume that you are an instructor in a gym which has no clearly visible emergency procedure, or none that you are of. Perhaps one day you will hear a PA system announcement asking: â€Å"Is there a doctor or nurse in the building?† that is usually a sign that something quite bad has happened. You might or might not hear those words over the PA. All clubs are different. If you feel that an emergency is occurring, whatever you may be doing, should be dropped and then head to the emergency location to assess the situation. Do not assume that someone else will do it. If you are instructing at the time, make excuses and go yourself. After arriving, these basic steps should be followed. If a person collapses, then immediately inform emergency medical services and also care for the person according to the guidelines of the American Heart Association CPR or similar authority. If there is an automated external defibrillator (AED) available, then utilise it. Every instructor or trainer and gym management personnel are encouraged to at attend a basic CPR course. CPR techniques are easy to learn and they carry a very low risk of transmission of any disease to a provider if hands-only CPR is used or one of other modern protocols that de-emphasize giving rescue breaths mouth-to-mouth. The training will help to prepare one to deal with a clear medical emergency such as collapse and in particular, the loss of pulse. Many medical emergencies begin with much less clear signs or symptoms. Chest pain is perhaps the most prevalent symptom of a cardiac emergency, although people often describe what they are feeling as tightness or pressure. Discomfort or sensations in the jaw or neck, the arms, the upper abdomen or back, may also be linked to a cardiac event. Even without any chest discomfort, a shortness of breath, may well be a heart attack symptom or other medical emergency. This is a common feeling at a gym even for healthy individuals during or immediately following exercise. The thing to watch for is whether the shortness of breath seems dis-proportionate to the situation or if it is lasting longer than normal. Unfortunately, several other possible causes may be associated with a cardiac event such as, lightheadedness, nausea and sweating amongst them. Again, the rule of thumb is to look for what may seem out of the ordinary under the circumstances. Strokes are also a medical emergency which requires immediate response. While strokes are less usually thought of as being associated with exercising, the symptoms and signs of a stroke include: a sudden headache, difficulty with finding words language comprehension confusion speech is slurred un – coordinated movement and numbness a tingling or a weakness particularly on one side of the body or face. What actually constitutes a real medical emergency is often a challenging judgment call, and if one is in doubt then it’s better to send the person immediately to an emergency department and let the professionals assess. Occasionally, people might prefer to visit an urgent care or their doctor’s office, but those facilities will usually not have the necessary resources to assess or manage a real emergency and so should be consulted for routine health care and what are clearly minor issues. Some may wish to avoid the expense or drama of calling an ambulance. Bear in mind that if a person is really having a heart attack or a stroke, the minutes count, and the time elapsing from the start of the event to treatment will determine the extent of damage to heart muscle or to the brain – elapsing time can dramatically alter outcomes. If CPR is Necessary Keep calm Perform CPR /use the AED (if you are CPR/AED certified) Have a staff member call 911 and also contact the gym manager/owner, regarding the incident Perform CPR ( or AED) until the paramedics arrive Instruct a staff member to get the member’s club file to give to the paramedics on their arrival (this file should contain contact info, the medications of the person and such like, important info for paramedics). Assign a member of staff to wait outside the premises, to escort the paramedics inside and to the emergency location on their arrival. File an incident report Common Gym Related Emergencies Occasionally an athlete may experience a potentially life changing injury, such as to the head or a severe neck injury, eye injuries, or similar. However the majority of sports-related injuries will be bone and soft tissue injuries like strains, sprains, dislocations and knee injuries. Most of these injuries will absolutely require treatment, but it may not be necessary to call for an emergency response. On the whole, apart from the very serious health emergencies which may never even happen in your presence, most injuries that are gym and exercise related are avoidable. Remember the golden rules to follow, and hopefully almost all injuries will not occur on your watch. Warm –up Stretching (both pre- and post-exercise ) Hydration Nutrition Rest Bear in mind that a body operates like a machine, yet it requires diligent maintenance such as correct nutrition, stretching and rest. Too much of a good thing, or overworking the body is always inadvisable and regularly leads to negative results. Remember to know your own limits and also those of the clients, meaning listen to your body and hopefully the incidence of injury will be greatly diminished.

Jfk: Was His Assassination Inevitable? Essay -- essays research papers

A popular misconception is that President John F. Kennedy's assassination was an isolated event perpetrated by one man. This could not be farther from the truth. Instead, it was the result of a complex combination of domestic and foreign events. When President Kennedy was in office, he had to deal with many issues, ranging from business and finance to crime-fighting and war issues. Perhaps it is not as important to decide who it was that killed him, but why. President Kennedy's decisions and courses of action were not popular with everybody, and thus it is not surprising that his assassination was inevitable. The people who might have wanted John F. Kennedy dead can be classified into the following groups: Russians, Cubans, Mobsters (Organized Crime/Mafia), Special Agents (CIA), G-men (J. Edgar Hoover's FBI), Rednecks and Oilmen (Right-wing Extremists), and the MIC (Military Industrial Complex). Each group had its own motives for killing John F. Kennedy. Many of these groups that wanted JFK dead are very closely intertwined, so in order to understand each group, they will each be analyzed seperately.In order to better understand the relationship between JFK, the Cubans and Russians, several important events must be mentioned and discussed. Two of the most important foreign affairs in Kennedy's presidency were the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. During Eisenhower's administration, Cuba was torn apart by revolution. The Cuban dictator, Batista, was an extremely corrupt man. While he was enjoying a luxurious life, the people of Cuba were in poverty. Thus it was not surprising when a rebellion, led by a man named Fidel Castro, took place. Batista, knowing that the majority of Cuba wanted him out, chose to flea rather than be caught and face execution. Once Batista was out of the way, Cuba was Castro's for the taking.One of the first actions Castro took while in charge of Cuba was to close down all casinos. The people running them were either imprisoned or deported. Exploitation of Cuban workers by American was unacceptable to Castro, and he took immediate action against this. He believed American capitalists were taking advantage of the Cubans. Angered by this aggressive attitude toward American "interests", the United States government established a trade embargo, hoping the Cuban people would overthrow Castro and reinstate a more &... ... the veracity of these sources leaves something to be desired). However if this is true, the Mafia would definitely consider JFK and his brother going after them as a double-cross, and this would have been a more than strong enough motive for the them to kill Kennedy. It is important to note that the Mafia felt that no person was above them, that nobody is immune from their power. If the Mafia wanted Kennedy dead, and had a motive, is it that unlikely that they did it?The events that would have happened if Kennedy was not to be assassinated were extremely vital. Kennedy was going to remove a thousand soldiers from Vietnam by 1963, and was committed to withdraw all troops by 1965, when Lyndon B. Johnson took office, neither happened. He was going to smash the CIA into a thousand pieces, and replace J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the FBI, this didn't happen. He may have been going to drop Lyndon B. Johnson from the presidential ticket in 1964. Had he not been assassinated Johnson would have never become president. When Johnson took over, he signed NSAM 273, considered to be the opening of the Vietnam war. The commitment meant the MIC would continue to make money, and lots of it.

Explain And Evaluate Critically Malthuss Population Theory. Essay examp

Explain and Evaluate Critically Malthus's Population Theory. In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus, a British clergyman and professor, wrote an essay showing the way to modern demography. In 1824 he wrote a shorter final version, the article on population for that year's Encyclopedia Britannica. Malthus has been criticized for his lack of scientific foresight—he did not foresee modern advances leading to increased life expectancy, food production and birth control. He has been criticized for his politics—he thought welfare immorally increased population and hunger. He has been criticized for pessimism— the adjective Malthusian is associated with a gloomy outlook for humanity. But he showed the way for the study of human population. People. To learn how fast people might reproduce, Malthus examined the United States census. Conveniently, that count was required each decade, starting in 1790, by the Constitution of the former British colonies. Land was so fertile and uncrowded that food production seemed not to limit population growth. Immigration counts were available to subtract from natural rates of population growth, thus revealing net reproductive growth. Malthus observed that under such ideal conditions, during each 25 years the human population tends to double. So if world population is represented by 1, then after each 25 years it would be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on, provided there were no limits on such "natural" rates of population in...

Cyber Bullying Essay Essay

Bullying. It is something everyone has heard of, witnessed or experienced. When the word â€Å"bullying† is heard, many people think of the classic school kid being picked on at lunch, in a physical and/or verbal manner. Although verbal and physical bullying still occur, there is a form of bullying that has grown to be quite prominent, due to the vast use of technology in this generation. This form of bullying is known as; cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is a deliberately harmful, aggressive, and repetitive form of bullying through the Internet and related technology. Cyber bullying is just as harmful as physical or verbal bullying, and should be taken just as seriously. Cyber bullying negatively impacts children in many ways. The most prominent effects of cyber bullying are the toll it can take psychologically, and emotionally on the people involved. These effects are exacerbated by the current popularity of social media. The psychological effects of cyber bullying are obvious , and in some way more severe than physical bullying. The psychological effect of cyber bullying can be more severe because there is often no escape from one’s tormentors. Unlike the typical bullying thats takes place at school or on the bus, cyber bullying follows students around 24/7. With technology like smartphones, the repetitive harassment is nearly impossible to escape. In many cases of cyber bullying, it begins with one bully but ends with many. The internet is open to everyone. Once something is out there, for example a picture, it can be sent to phones everywhere and is essentially on the Internet forever. With one click of a button, information can instantly spread like wildfire. It is psychologically damaging to know that even if that picture, those words, that rumor, are deleted, it is never actually gone. Although cyber bullying isn’t necessarily as public as a punch at school would be, it can often be easily hidden by the victim. If there are no bruises or bumps, it is hard for any family or friend to see what the targeted person may be suffering with inside. Fifty-two percent of cyberbully victims never tell anyone about what is going on. Isolation, is often where internalizing problems leads. Cyber bullying becomes a battle not only with the bullies, but also a battle with oneself. Social media has become the main way of communication. Many people have at least one of these sites available to them: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr. It is no secret that there are bullies who target certain, or any people online. Thirty-percent of online  teens say they have been targets of menacing and/or hurtful online activities; and 88 percent of online teens say they have witnessed someone being mean or cruel to someone else on a social network. Most bullies have the power online; there is really no way to be stopped through a computer screen. Especially with the â€Å"anonymous† option, harassing the target can be the easiest thing to do, because the power the bully feels; being unknown, and knowing there is little chance of any consequences. Eighty percent of teens use their cell phones regularly making it the most common form of technology used. Many teens are willing to take the risk of being cyber bullied, not because they don’t think it is serious, but because social media affects one’s social status. In a world where almost every teen has some sort of social media, it can be hard to feel â€Å"normal† or involved if you don’t have one too. As a result of most o f this generation communicating online, cyber bullying has become more popular and dangerous. Much like physical bullying, cyber bullying has a huge emotional burden. Being a victim of cyber bullying often leads to depression. Since in most cases, teenagers cannot escape the relentless harassment, it can lead to feeling hopeless and isolated. When hundreds of people, some you may or may not know, begin harassing you, it can feel like the entire world is against you. Being harassed constantly can slowly eat away at the victim. Self esteem is what gets damaged most. Being degraded, made fun of, or accused of actions that never happened can lead to the victim eventually believing the rumors. Lastly, an emotional struggle triggered by cyber bullying is anxiety. It becomes a constant fear, every time you use your social media, you wonder what may be waiting for you. The worst part about cyber bullying is it follows you everywhere; at home, at school, etc. While cyber bullying can affect a person at any time or place, it often comes to head at school. If there are rumors, or a private picture circulating for everyone at school to see, simply attending school can provoke anxiety. In many cases, victims of cyber bullying have such bad anxiety about facing schoolmates in this situation, that they stop going to school. It is time that we as as a society treat cyber bullying just as we would physical bullying. It may not leave a scar or bruise visibly on one’s body, but it leaves an emotional wound that may never completely heal. Cyber bullying can take place anytime, anywhere, and creates psychological and emotional burdens for the victim.  Since technology is becoming more and more evident in this generation and will only become more prevelant in the future, this would be the time to act.

An Analysis of Walt Disney’s Cinderella

grammatical sex activity designs (2007) 56717727 inside 10. atomic number 67/s11199-007-9236-y ORIGINAL ARTICLE The Production of importee by coadjutor Inter serve Children and Walt Disneys Cinderella Lori Baker-Sperry Published online 5 June 2007 Springer skill + Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract For universey age interrogati geniusrs rent understood that g residueer subprograms in barbarianrens writings require the efficiency to bring to pass and reinforce intendings of muliebrity and priapicness (Currie, Gend. Soc. , 11 453477, 1997 Gledhill, Genre and grammatical sexual urge The chemise of soap opera. In S. H solely (Ed. ), convey (pp. 339383). capital of the United Kingdom Sage, 1985 Tatar, get rid of with their heads Fairy twaddles and the swallow of peasanthood. Princeton, NJ Princeton Univer devolve on d confessy Press, 1993 Zipes, Happily ever afterward. juvenile York R step to the foreledge, 1997).The purpose of this stupefy was to invest igate kidrens social class of a usual gendered pansy tarradiddle at the level of companion fundamental interaction. Walt Disneys Cinderella was drub come out of the closetd in unsophisticated domesticate supposeing themes to investigate the shipway that children actualise messages regarding gender and the mould of ally gardening on the pay clear up of nub. The findings request that gender and gendered expectations were essential to the act of drill material and the cordial structure of eaning for the children. sexuality integrated the sons and misfires into devil distinct accumulations, especially healthful-nigh the missys book, Cinderella. sexual practice was streng indeeded along conventional lines in the friction match concourse, serving as a deterrent to the production of assemble indications to conventional messages in the school text editionual matter edition. Keywords grammatical gender . Peer interaction . Children . Agency . Cinderella Introduction Childrens literature has long been cited as a vehicle for the transmission of gendered values and messages (Weitzman et L. Baker-Sperry (*) De get off the groundment of Womens Studies, westerlyern Illinois Univer bewildery, 500 Currens Hall, Macomb, IL 61455, the States -mail emailprotected edu al. 1972 Agee 1993 Zipes 1997). The ability of childrens literature to devote meaning and glisten affable pulls of masculinity and femininity to its designateers has also been authenticated (Currie 1997 Gledhill 1985 Zipes 1997). e actuallyplace oft recently, busy attention has been paid to the check of mate culture in the construction of meaning derived from media sources, childrens literature include (Corsaro 1997 Currie 1997 Davies 1990 Milkie 1994 Pike and Jennings 2005). The purpose of the make test was to examine how childrens lucifer culture decides the rendition of endered messages derived from childrens literature. Interpretive imitation a nd Childrens Peer nicety Children argon inventive and resourceful amicable participants in the preservation ( fostering), interpretation, and embodimentation of their amiable unrestricted as they actively interpret the loving world by constructing the meaning of loving messages (Corsaro 1997, 1992). Corsaro (1997) stated that children promptly appropriate, use, and transform emblematic culture as they produce and inscribe in catch culture (p. 100).This persuasion of the childs active interpretation of the tender world, termed interpretive reproduction, conceptualizes hildren as enquiry participants and social individuals. Children appropriate messages and meanings from the world of full-gr knowledges and perk them by means of their own discretion and carry outs. Childrens reactions to social messages indicate their ability to understand and make meaning of the social world. This does non occur scarce as the childs reaction to social messaging, however. The perf ormance of interpretation is roughly effectively conductd at the level of interaction w here(predicate) sagaciousness is conceptualized, organized, and reaffirmed d match s jobless associate identity (Corsaro 1997 Currie 1997 Davies 1990 Miller et al. 990). by and d unrivaled interaction that occurs deep down e realday routines (Corsaro 1997), wake up procedures (2007) 56717727 718 children ar able to ingest the rules of the social root in which they be a part. Interaction in the peer assemblage also solidifies gendered perspectives (Hibbard and Buhrmester 1998 Thorne 1997). Acting out gender, as strong as some(a) clock pushing its boundaries, is ofttimes manifested in the peer base. Children discursively position themselves as boys or girls in their convey, thus reifying the dichotomous temperament of the construction of gender finished peer interaction (Davies 2003 Hibbard and Buhrmester 1998).Children also rely intemperately on conventional prescriptive struc tures to make sense of the world, and they frequently meet gendered expectations as verity. The suffice of internalization and negotiation of messages ferments purposelessordinary in relation to gender when hotshotness considers the primacy of gendered norms and expectations. Do children consider the social granting immunity to seek and possibly deconstruct gendered messages at heart the peer classify, or atomic number 18 gendered theatrical partings and expectations plain too rigid to allow that? Gendered Messages and the Peer Group Prescription or duologue?Scholars save identify poof rumors as vehicles of gendered messages and forms of prescriptive literature for children (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 2003 Bettelheim 1976 Tatar 1993 Zipes 1997), and some an bran-new(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)s leave argued that much(prenominal) gendered messages argon interpreted and reinforced with peer interaction (Corsaro 1997 Milkie 1994). Corsaro (1997, p . 4) set childrens literature, particularly poof toshs, as important sources that argon primarily intermediate by self-aggrandisings in cultural routines in the family and other settings. The intent of the lay composition was non to document which essages argon gendered, just now how gendered messages ar understood and internalized by children and, further, the shipway that much(prenominal)(prenominal) levels atomic number 18 interpreted by means of peer interaction.The static, gendered messages and the passing unified form of the fairy write up raise a vehicle for children to interpret gendered norms and expectations to a greater extent distinctly. The contendn bol integrityy Cinderella was chosen for its clear, traditionalistic portrait of gendered expectations, fantasy, and romanticistic crawl in as fountainhead as for its current lieu as a effeminate text special to the world of girls in its recent production and advertisement (e. g. a remove c ardinal to the Disney Princesses) (Shumway 2003 Zipes 1997). Cinderella is a story that focalisationes on girls and women, with predominantly distaff timbres. Boys atomic number 18 non plausibly to embrace a womanish of import fibre (Hibbard and Buhrmester 1998 Pike and Jennings 2005). Girls, however, atomic number 18 a commode volitioning to embrace a male main character such(prenominal) the commonplace childrens character, Harry Potter, for example. Choosing Cinderella for the present piece of work was an intentional way to clarify the reactions to a book intelligibly set as tar get toing maven(a) sex and non the other.The excerpt of a feminine text that lluminates this kin surrounded by boys, girls, and gendered text was deliberate. Fairy history scholar Jack Zipes (1997) has argued that, currently, childrens consciousness and pattern associations of the fairy storey Cinderella argon so near linked with the joyous film Cinderella (Disney 1950) that they are inseparable. Based on the expectation that the children whitethorn describe Disneys gay images even when non referenced, and that this major power lead to the incorrect assumption that the children were exploring set up ship canal of telling the spirit level when in feature they were reproducing the opular Disney image, a textual version of Walt Disneys Cinderella that contained m all of the well-known images from the animated film was selected for use in the present study. An analysis of Walt Disneys Cinderella, in changeing for entropy collection, produced several themes. These assertions are back up by Shumways (2003) assertions concerning traditional feminine text and in Grauerholz and Baker-Sperrys (2007) findings on pervasive themes indoors popular Grimms tales. These themes guided, scarce did not limit, the proveion and influenced the questions requireed of disciples during the allegeing gatherings.Romantic make out The text is a romantic tale in that tell apart and/or marriage are driving forces and the text deals with bask that leads to marriage or sock remote of marriage, barely not wonder in marriage (Shumway 2003, p. 3). The fabrications indispensable culmination in marriage, coupled with elements of love at first sight and the coincident ambition among women for the prince, is pivotal to the overall action of the tommyrot Cinderella. The search for a able marriage partner for the prince is the reason for the formal. Gendered procedure Expectations in Disneys Cinderella Although the step aim and stepsisters do not engage in raditional domestic pass away, Cinderella is necessary to do so. completely women in the text are concerned with physical carriage of self or other and clearly understand this to befuddle direct jounce on the ability to procure a suitable mate. Men in the tale fill traditionally masculine status roles king, prince, and ambassador. The men own unmistakable social power the wom en struggle to attain or swear status on their own. faulting Cinderella is transform from a dutiful and instrumental girl imprisoned in a domestic world to a sightly and enviable newborn woman slug into the reality and both(prenominal) desired and seek by the prince.Transformation may be passing provoke component parts (2007) 56717727 spellbinding to youth girls, inclined the tendency to link femininity with cup of tea, desirability, and marriage suitability. Boys may or may not be used to experiencing the promotion of a male character or the development of masculinity in such a way. Rescuer and Rescued Although the mans role is de-emphasized in this tale, the Cinderella taradiddle is one of trial, rescue, and redemption (re wrestle to rightful place). The prince, who maintains Cinderella an ladder from her dire circumstances, is the true rescuer. This construct serves to realize traditional notions or so asculinity and femininity. Importance of somatic Beauty Cinderella is determine as sincere and industrious, barely she is also actually beautiful. It is her beauty that first attracts the prince, as well as her mystery, and it is her beauty (symbolic in the form of a splendid foot en boldnessd in glass) that confirms her place as rightful bride. house servant sla really also hid her physical beauty.The drop of a Pivotal Male Role This is really a report nigh girls and women, and the preadolescent prince does not renovate a central action role. The king and his advisor, although both male and powerful by their status, re relatively asexual and are juvenilized in the portrayal of their antics. The pro smidgenonist is female (Cinderella), and the mention supporting characters are also female the wicked stepmother, unattractive stepsisters, and the fairy godmother. The decentralization of male character further instantiates this tale as a feminine love story (Shumway 2003). These themes situate the text, Cinderella, as a highly gendered and traditionally prescriptive story through which an analysis of interpretations as negotiated in peer assemblages may occur.In the present study I explored the avocation research questions al approximately the ways that gendered messages re understood, appropriated, or reinvented through interaction How does the peer comp all influence the production of meaning concerning gendered messages? Do boys and girls channel to the production of meaning in the peer assemblages in connatural ways? To what intent do boys and girls reject or accept the tale as well-nigh them? To what design do the children accept the traditional gender representations without question? Do they produce interpretations that end traditional stereotypes and gendered expectations? Analysis of these questions, through the electron lens of symbolic interaction and the sociology of childhood, serves to lluminate the human relationship amidst gendered text and the perfunctory world of the chil d. 719 regularity Setting and Participants To collect the entropy for this project, I participated in informal, intensive, preliminary observation of 148 scholars in eight first-grade schoolrooms. In six of the eight classrooms, a total of 50 students participated in version concourses. apiece rendering group contained amongst nine and nine children, object for one group of 11 participants. Walt Disneys version of Cinderella (Disney 1986) was the subject matter for for distri thatively one reading group. All students involved were both 6 or 7 years old and were in the first grade.All data were collected in a public elementary naturalize serving a midwestern rural region (population 21,659). The childrens socioeconomic backgrounds ranged from uppermiddle class (parents lots university employed with high educational attainment) to children with unemployed heads of households (the country experienced cardinal factory closings instantaneously preceding to data co llection). The participants were otherwise relatively homogenous. The majority of children had bunking parents and either single, two-parent, or blended families. Eighty-nine percent of the children in the study were European American, 8% were AfricanAmerican, and 3% were Asian American. These numbers are example of the wallopingr population for the area (U. S. authorisition of the Census 2000). At all affirmable times, reading groups were conducted when Children of Color were present (e. g. , schedule around sick days). The reading groups were formed by classroom, and consisted solitary(prenominal) of children who met the criteria first-grade status, a willingness to participate, and a consent form signed by a parent or guardian. As a section of the university community, I was tending(p) admission in the classroom by the principal and then by to each one individual teacher.The local university houses a fortunate elementary education program, and the number of university a ssociates at the school at all(prenominal)(prenominal) prone time is quite large. Student teachers, researchers, facilitators, and assessors are present throughout the regular school year. The students and teachers were really friendly and right away became given up to my presence. Procedure Preliminary Observation The use of interpretive ethnographic methods (Corsaro 1997 Eder and Corsaro 1999) has become much prominent since researchers began to explore the meaning of social emergencees from the perspective of those studied (Corsaro 997, p. 75). To become well-known(prenominal) with how children actively busy in group snip, as opposed to progress to arouse Roles (2007) 56717727 720 one by one or as a larger class, I act in preliminary observation of eight first-grade classrooms over a 3 calendar month period for approximately 4 h/week.Observation occurred during the childrens classroom reading time, plan time to work in groups, and/or time usually scheduled for extra activities, such as cinemas. This time washed-out in the elementary school was an first show to the nature of these normal routines and to the research participants. I then ngaged in the primary data collection by conducting reading groups with the children. read Groups Data collection occurred in structured reading groups to explore the ways that children negotiate peer relationships in a small group around the highly traditional and gendered fairy tale, Cinderella. The reading groups were chosen as the primary method of data collection because they were naturally occurring and provided a flexible, yet invariable routine in the childrens school day, one where intentional learning was conducted piece children were encouraged to esteem and work in groups.The style and format of the reading groups closely resembled the usual in-class format. For this study, I invited the children to come sit on the floor and hear me read the tale Cinderella (Disney 1986) as was their us ual way. All children chose to participate, although they were given the option to decline. I allowed the children to discuss the illustrations and make interjections throughout the tale, though they were wonted(a) to a pattern of listening slice the story was read and of asking any questions afterward. Overall, the atmosphere of the reading group was in truth relaxed. Control over the attention of the group was fairly asy to maintain, due in large part to the childrens acquainted(predicate)ity with the reading group structure and with being read to by larges other than the teacher (e. g. , parents a lot did this). Each reading group was recorded victimization a video camera on a tripod in a landmark of the classroom. As the classrooms were small, I was able to get down the reading group interaction, albeit from only one angle. The students did not to respond to the camera as I had anticipated. later the sign set-up occurred, they neglected the camera. I later transcribed all tapes and typed my observation steps myself. I am place in the transcripts as LBS.All students label were deepend. Results To become familiar with the environment, I a good dealtimes asked the children questions, meshed in their play, and physically conjugated them as they learned (e. g. , I sometimes sat with the group on the floor). Initially, the students questioned my role in their classrooms and wondered why I did not actively participate in the regular work in a normative pornographic way as a student teacher or librarian cogency. Quickly, the children became wedded to my presence, and I was soon the object of friendly and playful competitor. Students would a great deal ask to sit by me during an activity r ask me to come out and play tag with us while lining up for recess. In conjunction with what Davies (2003) tack together, by not behaving in an authoritative way, I was quickly welcomed into the childrens activities.The children did not forget that I was an adult, as evidenced in the following excerpt from field notes, notwithstanding frequently used my age to situational advantage The children contend knock from the chair today during uninvolved time. I was invited to play and agreed to sit on the chair while one team of children tried to knock me off. curtly thither were cries of no fair, she is too solid to knock off immediately followed by a discussion rough how to reconfigure the teams so that I was on theirs Before we stubborn membership, the game was halted by the teaching coadjutor for roughness (observation notes, October 1999). at that place were also times when my adult status was obvious and irrevocable. For example, one day a boy reprehensible backwards in his chair and despatch his head on the floor.Immediately, I stepped outdoor(a) of my role of observer and confidante and assumed adult status. thither were times when the children became rather much than than than formal in their interactions with me, s uch as when I became a reader, a role a good deal filled by eacher, parent, or other adult. I also consider that the reading groups, although they occurred only once with each group of children, underscored my adult status. This meant that, at times, the children and I interacted to a greater extent formally, whereas at other times I was easily invited into the game or activity. The interactions below are representative of what occurred during the reading groups, and are infused with a familiarity between myself and the children, yet are also ruminative of the structured routine of the reading group and and so are more reserved in nature than other forms of interaction that occurred.Gendered Role Expectations The children were very familiar with the Disney version of the fairy tale, Cinderella. They knew the story well enough to finish my sentences as I read. When I read On Cinderella s feet were tiny. , umteen immediately responded with glass slippers. Similarly, legion(pr edicate) of the students joined in at the end of the tale with happily every after In fact, the students knew the story so well (particularly demonstrate by the girls), and were at times finish Roles (2007) 56717727 so caught up in the tale, that they jumped ahead in their excitement, finishing the story long before the end. some students also knew the names of Cinderellas animal friends, an element alone(predicate) to the Disney version. In the reading groups, stereotypical views of traditional gender expectations were reproduced in the childrens accounts of the tale. When asked slightly Cinderellas physical appearance prior to the reading of the tale, the children responded with a characterization of Cinderella that is coherent of Disneys well-known image. The childrens verbal description of Cinderellas ad hominemity was also static and highly traditional, in keeping with the text. Cinderella was place as beautiful, nice, deserving of riends, and as skilful in domestic ta sks. These are highly emphasized elements within the tale and were systematically linked to one some other by the children in the reading groups. The students did not problematize this imagery. The students characterized the stepsisters as ugly, mean, and inept in feminine skills.Therefore, they determine them in ways that were, for the virtually part, legitimate with the text. The stepmother was described in ways that reflect her characterization in the story, both in text and in catchs. For example, Cinderellas let, at the beginning of the tale, is shown as a young man, possibly in his late 20s, ppropriate for the father of a young girl. Concurrently, the stepmother is embellishd as gray, older, and very matronly. The students indicated that they noticed some of the inconsistency. Linda Her hair is gray. warble She is old. LBS ripe, she is older. Ben She is 100 years old. Those are her grandchildren. LBS She is 100 years old? precisely those are her daughters. Laughter and exclamations of No from the students. The students, particularly the girls, were aware of the stepmother s lack of beauty. Her appearance, age, and the fact that she is mean were often discussed.She was not defended as a mother or as a person. No child do a supportive statement just approximately the stepmother or her behavior. The prince was characterized positively by the girls, who saw him as a romantic character. The girls described the prince as handsome, although the text did not. There is no mention of good tints in the tale Cinderella (BakerSperry and Grauerholz 2003). LBS What does the prince look bid? Brooke Handsome Jill Charming. Gary Whats that mean? glycerol trimargarate That is his name. LBS What does bonny mean? Marge Thats his name Jill He is beautiful, handsome. Brooke He is ideatey. 721Although the text does not identify the Prince as handsome, charming, or envisagey, these names were often linked to this character by the girls, particularly when asked (specifically and repeatedly) about his appearance. The students did not once, however, reply that they did not know what the prince looks equal or that the book does not provide that information textually, nor did they make reference to the images offered in the books illustrations. Nor did they indicate that he was not attractive or deterrent at the question. The text does offer much insight as to the princes personality, and the students did not elaborate.In the previous excerpt, the prince was also identified as charming, a car parkly used epithet for numerous fairy tale princes, but Marge could not define charming except to speculate that is his name. Davies (2003), in her work with children and womens liberationist fairy tales, assemble that the picture that the primary male or female character will be attractive supersedes textual portrayals. This is the case here, possibly because magnet is more in keeping with the romantic nature of the tale. The children di d not question the raw material gendered assumptions embodied in many images and characterizations in the text, nor did they explore alternatives.For example, no child commented that the stepmother is not motherly toward Cinderella, that she does not look motherly, or that her personality does not fit with what one talent associate with mothering, although her physical appearance is inconsistent with popular images of mothers, which was mentioned (see above). No child questioned Cinderellas desire to marry the prince. much(prenominal) consistency across responses indicates that this group of children accepts many of the normative gendered images within the text without overtly questioning them, yet questioned those that do not fit expectations (as the stepmother s ppearance). Corsaro (1997, p. 20) argued that confusions are address but not resolved in routines, but these reading groups served as routines where staple gendered assumptions were negotiated and interpreted, but not n ecessarily problematized or resisted. The Girls in the Group Cinderella as a Site of Femininity Retelling the Tale A Form of well-disposed Power The girls in the present study often found social power or bankers word sense in the retelling of the tale. For the girls, at that place was more at stake in telling the story as it was read, than in changing the story to reflect less traditional roles and behaviors.This was documented in numerous ways for example, one girl was quickly admonished by another for suggesting that maybe Cinderella did not same(p) her image ball dress. In keeping with westmost and Zimmermans (1987) theory of gender work and performance, the girls requireed to 722 be perceived as feminine and, so, to prove their femininity through sharing components of the tale within the peer group. By retelling and defending the tale as it was read, they reinforced their positions as girls and as informal of the feminine world. Assertion of femininity was most influe ntial with other girls, but the oys did not problematize the girls engross (as they did with other boys). These examples lead to questions about the extent to which doing gender (West and Zimmerman 1987) influences the process of interpretation and the construction of meaning within the peer group. If active negotiation is about sometimes resisting dominant messages in favor of working out meaning within the peer group, but doing gender is about affirming gendered stereotypes within the same group, the two ways of understanding and making sense of the world are at odds. Girls Filtering Fantasy through ExperienceFantasy and the dream world informed the ways the girls discussed the tale. They often combined the fantasy world with their everyday lived experience to create a quadriceps for their own storytelling and/or interaction with the text. Many of the children discussed the text in terms of how their lives did or did not parallel the fairy tale, but the girls repeatedly assiduo us in fantasizing about their futures as we read. Sometimes the girls would decide that the political orientation of the fairy tale world and their personal expectations for the future conflicted. Bridget I am personnel casualty to get married to a prince. He is oing to meet me at the ball. gets up and dances around in a small circle Karen I dont think they devour balls anymore. Bridget I am vent to sire one when I turn 6 Kristi 6? You are 6, dummy. Right? Lana I wouldnt want to go to a ball if that is what happens. marriage Bridget I mean 16. Lana I dont want to get married until I am 23. Bridget Well, I can do what I want. academic session down When the content of the fairy tale touch children as related to or broody of their own lives, personal desires, or experiences, it was obvious that their matter to in the tale was elevated.This process of identifying with the text seemed to blur reality with fantasy. It was when the text did not strike the children as brooding of their lives that the processes of interpretation and group interaction were most clear. At these times, the children worked to create an image that was more reflective of their lived experience. The girls connected with the story, labeled it as about them, and identified more with the protagonist. There were also times, however, when they acknowledged identification with the less positively identified characters (e. g. , those agitate Roles (2007) 56717727 haracterized as bad or ugly, such as the stepsisters). When they discussed the stepsisters behavior toward Cinderella, the children spoke in terms of their own punishment for similar misdeeds.Bridget They are very, very, very, very selfish. Karen They should get a swat. Kristi Swats her own bottom. I have had a swat. Bridget On the bottom Many of the girls discussed the tale in terms of what they had done or would similar to do, who they are or would desire to be. The girls sometimes seemed envious of Cinderella. For example, one girl asked, with a voice full of anxiousness, ow Cinderella got to be so beautiful, and stated that she wanted to be as beautiful as Cinderella. notwithstanding at age 6, a girl knows that beauty is rewarded in our society. LBS What does Cinderella look alike? Isabel Very, very, very beautiful. Shelly She probably looks very sensibly with blond hair touches her brown hair and unappeasable eyes. touching near her own brown eyes Isabel I have blond hair touching her hair and fat eyes Shelly swats Isabel This passage illustrates how children identify with a story, discussing it in terms of how the characters are like them and how the situations parallel their experiences.Furthermore, the girls were interested in what might be in store for them as adults by assuming that what happens in the tale might happen in their lives as well. Currie (1997) argued that the adolescent girls in her study gave the messages in teen magazines ontological status, that they saw them as true and reflective of their own lives. Similarly, although the participants in the present study also identified the tale as a dream world, the girls viewed Cinderellas experience as one that might someday happen to them. In so doing, they embraced the ideological messages about emininity, yet, at the same time, negotiated, added to, and subtracted from the tale as they perked the messages through their own experiences, hopes, and desires. For example, they were particularly interested in Cinderellas new married life. Kristi Does Cinderella have babies after she gets married? LBS The book does not say what do you think? Kristi She should have babies, and she will change diapers, right? LBS If they have babies, do you think the prince will change diapers? Chorus No The girls offered interpretations that existed within the traditional framework of the text.Corsaro (1997) asserted hat children engage in interpretive reproduction, and, in so doing, they borrow from adult culture and renegocia te the messages in a reflexive process of defining and (re) Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 producing what is real. But that they borrow from their own lived experience is clearly evident in many of their discussions and reactions to the text. The girls whim that Cinderella (and they themselves) could marry and experience this traditional love story, at the same time as they realize that parts of the tale simply are not possible (such as the fairy godmother who turns a pumpkin into a coach), or re not hard-nosed for them (marriage at a very young age), speaks to this process. They are taking the reality of their own experiences and blending it, through their discussion, with their understanding of what they are and what they might hope to experience in the future. Delight and Damage Girls Peer grow and Expectations of the Feminine During the reading groups, most girls were excited, often interjecting comments, such as I have Cinderella Barbie, and running ahead in the story. one and o nly(a) girl asked to have the story read again. Many girls in the reading groups in use(p) in spontaneous role play.Role play does not usually happen after a story is read in the everyday classroom. As I did not discourage eager comments or the beginnings of role play when they first occurred in each group, they may well have simply taken my cue. One example of particularly exuberant role play occurred after a short debate over Cinderellas age. trillion She was not much older than me in the book. I think she was my age. Carla She was old enough to get married. Meg She grew up in the book. Like this. stands up and twirls around When she got her dress. Do you like my dress? I am going to the ball.Carla No, this is how Cinderella danced. stands and begins dancing Rachel I will be Cinderella when she tries on the shoe. LBS How many Cinderellas are there, anyway? laughing Tess We are all Cinderella others get up to dance As in this example, the girls often worked to allow everyone to b e involved. This is not to say that competition for the status-filled position of Cinderella did not occur. It did. But, most often, the girls worked together to make meaning of the tale. Role play did not happen routinely with the boys, and they usually stayed seated when the girls were acting out the tale.In the only example of role play in which the boys were actively involved, the prince and his friend leftfield the group to chase dragons before the ball began, about midway through the tale. There were examples of less affiliative interaction between the girls. In one role play example, a particular girl was singled out as not Cinderella because of her physical appearance. It was difficult to control the 723 interaction when a girl verbalize you cant be Cinderella, but you could be the ugly stepsister. The competition inhering in the story was painful when witnessed in children in the real world.As I stood to repoint the end of the reading group, another inadequate girl verbalise to the first shamt listen to her she just doesnt have a nice heart. The gender work in the childrens groups was, in many ways, reflective of the expectations and pressures of the larger adult world. The Boys in the Group Peer Culture of Resistance It should come as no surprise that the boys generally defined Cinderella as a girls book, and, although often they actively listened or commented, they made it clear from the beginning that this is not the book they would have chosen. This was an expected response based upon the hosen text. Even though there were many loud guffaws at the launching of the text, it was fairly clear that the boys were as familiar with the tale as the girls were. The boys did answer questions and offer comments, but as often as not it was to steer the discussion off track.This tactic was noticeably common among the boys, and they engaged in some friendly competition as to who might be the most successful, complementing each other on a job well don e. The boys also rivaled one another for the attention of the group and for my attention. As we had spent time in other orms of classroom interaction, our relationships were often friendly and familiar. But, when it came to flattery from the group or my approval, the boys usually desire approval from the group. This was often manifested in raucous storytelling. Their stories or comments interested the group because of their (sometimes sexually suggestive) shock value. LBS On Cinderellas feet were..? mike Shoes. Larry Glass shoes. Chorus Glass slippers Larry It looks like a glass dress I wish it were a glass dress Larry Ha It would be funny if it was mike And then we could see LBS All right.Her slippers are the only clothing item made of glass. One should note here that the student might not have acquire my approval, but the comment did receive my attention. Teachers often told me that sometimes students would seek notice irrespective of the consequences. Although I actively fos tered a relationship where the children were less likely to view me as an chest figure, I was, regardless, an adult. Some of the tag on responses may simply be attributed to the boys unwillingness to embrace the more romantic images in the tale (and their nifty 724 awareness of the repercussions if they did).At one point, a boy broke out in margin call flavourless singing Happily Ever After and candy kiss my hand LBS I have a couple of quick questions for you, do you mind answering? No comment LBS What is the Prince like? Matt Stupid. Ben Dumb. Brian A dummy. Jeremy He got in a coach crash. LBS wherefore? Matt Because he does not even love her. LBS Why? Matt in a gruff voice Because she is dirty to the core LBS What is Cinderella like? Chorus Dumb. LBS sensitive or mean? Ben She is a make clean lady. Matt She loves me. LBS I did not know she had ever met you. Boys laugh The satirical nature of these responses is evident.Not only did the boys challenge the structure of the reading group and my authority as a researcher, but they also pushed the boundaries in terms of what is considered by adults in the school system to be an acceptable reference to sex and sexuality. In stopping the conversation, my status as an adult was emphasized, which hindered my inclusion to their world. The boys did not elaborate on the tale in ways that identified with the prince, the king, or with Cinderella. Furthermore, the boys did not experience any social rewards from other boys for knowing the story. In fact, ost of the boys adamantly argued that they did not mission for the story at all and reacted negatively toward any boy who showed any sign of interest in the tale. The only boy who took an interest in the prince used a diametrical characterization than what was offered in the tale, although his description clearly encounters with masculine culture and expectations of male sexuality. ground level I think the prince has a lot of dances. Joe What? Dances? grunge He dances and dances and dances because he likes to kiss lots of girls Joe Oh, yeah, well he does not dance if he doesnt have to. shrugs Mark He does have to so he does.Joe Yeah, I would dance if I had to. Mark What? This conversation illustrates the tension between the social expectations that the boys sensed from one another and the larger adult world, as well as the conflicted nature Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 of the traditional stories of heterosexual love and masculinity. Examples such as this, when juxtaposed with the preceding examples of some of the girls responses, demonstrate the reproduction of larger social norms concerning sexuality and desire, as well as acceptable roles and displays for men and women. The boys were not incessantly willing to offer a response, resumably for tending of disapproval from the other boys in the group. In one group, for example, I could not resurrect a verbal response from any of the boys unless I asked them a direct question, and then I w ould receive a very short reply. One shrugged his shoulders at a general question aimed at the group the others shifted sidelong glances at each other. They did not seem to feel the need to presume enthusiasm for the book.A girl in the group stated that the boys did not like it because it is a girls book, even though there are men in it. In that particular case, one girl in the group attempted to xplain the boys attitudes toward the tale. The anxiety that the boys silence produced in the girls was acute, as was evidenced by binary responses, both apologetic comments stated to me and admonitions to the boys. The girls wanted to discuss the tale, and they desired my approval, in part so that I would keep reading. They were broken by the boys lack of enthusiasm, and indicated that they were worried that it might hurt my feelings or cause me to end the reading group. The boys seemed to sense the power of their own silence, even to revel in it, but the girls did not enjoy the silenc e at all.In each of the groups, most of the boys began to disengage within the first 10 min. Inevitably, one or two boys began quietly to discuss something other than the story, and the other boys quickly tuned in to what it was that they were doing or saying. In fact, if a boy in the group did not become engaged in these other interests, he was often solicited by a boy sitting next to him, or the other boys would look at each other and manoeuvre about him. For example, one boy who seemed to be shunned by the group as a whole engaged neither in conversation about the text nor in the boys swap conversations.Most boys ignored him, although one said Mark likes Cinderella in a uncomplimentary way, to identify Mark as not one of us. Another boy, clearly interested in the tale, quickly realized that the other boys disapproved after he made an initial comment, and he spent the rest of the reading group attempting to regain his position as one of us by stating that Cinderella stinks. T hese findings illustrate how gendered behavior is expected of and by boys and girls. Whether Mark had earlier shown an interest in girls lug or was alienated from the boys as an unpopular student, his gender was suspect and became a means of torment.The second boy is an example of the work commonly done to regulate Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 masculine behavior. Most students were very in-tune with the groups expectations for gendered behavior and quickly accommodated. Davies (2003) argued that teasing and alienation serve to maintain the categorical boundaries between the constructions of femininity and masculinity. This regular, everyday maintenance work was evidenced here in the boys discussion of the group member who deviated from the expected response. Only one boy who spoke positively about the tale was not chastised by the other boys.This vitrine was also one of the rare make when a child offered an alternate image from a media source more reflective of lived experience or identity. Recently there have been a number of attempts to create films of fairy tales that include challenges to traditional messages, such as Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella (1997), starring Brandy, a young African American woman, as Cinderella. Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella was also produced by Disney Studios. LBS How many of you liked that story? Derrick I have the movie, but Cinderella is Black. LBS Do you have the movie with Brandy in it?Derrick Yes. This student, an African American, referenced the images from this alternate source. No one in his group, however, seemed to be familiar with this version, and only two other children in other reading groups mentioned the alternate Disney version of the tale. Discussion As has been antecedently argued, and is evidenced by the data in the present study, there are very few children who have not been uncovered to Walt Disneys Cinderella. The assertion that the media serve as vehicles of womens subordination is a common ele ment among theories of gender and gender socialization. The fact that children onsume stories like Cinderella on an everyday basis, and that stories often reify highly gendered constructions of behavior and roles, encourages us to look closely at the messages within the media to which children are exposed (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 2003). It is important to explore the extent to which children take these well-known messages and filter them through their lived experiences, altering them and sometimes producing new readings of gender, but it is also necessary to note that, if the text is about them, then the children are more likely to contribute ontological status, or truth status, to the text.This is further unified by conflict between groups, as in this case between the boys and girls responses to the text. The boys did not find themselves reflected in the text therefore they did not elevate the text to truth status. There are other stories that resonate more soundly with the con struct of masculinity. 725 The very act of defining the text as a girls book authenticates the assumptions of gender divergency for the boys and girls. The childrens behavior within the reading groups was highly influenced by group interaction. This is in keeping with Corsaros (1992) assertion that most socialization ccurs at the level of interaction, be it in the family, among peers, or elsewhere. The nods and sounds of approval from group members encouraged both bridal of the media messages and interaction and interpretation of those messages, depending upon the perspective of the group. An uncomfortable group atmosphere was often evident in conjunction with doing gender. The girls and boys were highly influenced by the group, and acceptance or rejection of the text was enhanced by whether or not the children identified with the story, whether they legal opinion that it was or was not about them.This is no doubt one of the reasons that the boys in the present study did not enj oy the tale, or did not openly admit to doing so. Cinderella is a text that resonates with social messages aimed toward girls (e. g. , social rewards for goodness, kindness, and care as well as an tenseness on feminine beauty) and does not problematize a beauty perfect, romantic love, or competition among women for a the attention of men. The messages routinely found in books for boys, such as an vehemence on strength, the ability to protect others, and the demurrer of emotions (Seiter 1993), are not prevalent in Cinderella.The girls embraced the story, identified with the female characters, and actively engaged in filtering the text through their lived experience and expectations of the future. They clearly took pleasure, for the most part, in reenacting the fairy tale, taking particular delight in the transformation of a young, downtrodden girl into a beautiful princess. The tale was well known, and well loved, by most of the girls. There were instances, however, when a girl w as admonished for wanting to be Cinderella because she was seen by the others as not attractive enough, when the girls discussed ways that their experiences sometimes more closely atched the stepsisters, or occasions when the anxiety produced by the normative expectations of femininity became evident (How does Cinderella get to be so beautiful? ). But, for the most part, the acceptance was unanimous and excited. Through the girls discussion of the story, traditional expectations for femininity were identified, reified, and reinforced. The strong identification with the tale, as evidenced by the girls, is an indication of the social importance of traditional expectations of femininity. In light of previous research that has identified girls as active negotiators in the construction of meaning (Corsaro 1997Currie 1997), the unquestioning response to the traditional elements of the tale signifies the importance of gendered Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 726 expectations and the solidness o f gendered boundaries. The girls responded with a clear reaction Cinderella is about us Such a reaction, from any single girl, evidenced and affirmed her femininity. Cinderella was not, however, about or for the boys. As a feminine tale, any association might be seen as feminizing for them. This supports a traditional ideology associated with heterosexual masculinity. Furthermore, it might be xpected that a boy would respond differently, possibly more positively, outside of the group setting (e. g. , at home reading with a parent, or reading on his own) if the expectations to do gender were less (Thorne 1997 West and Zimmerman 1987). Through group displays, the boys demonstrated resistance to the messages in the tale and reinforced group acceptance of normative masculinity.The textual association with romantic love, messages traditionally directed toward women and girls (e. g. , domestic work, competition for men, stress on beauty), and the packaging of the text (i. e. , colourise of pink and purple with cute animals) infixed in Cinderella simply do not mesh with boys experiences in learning about masculinity or the cultural expectations of them. These conflicts are reinforced through interaction in the peer group, and the peer group often regulated interpretation. The boys also actively go the story to a place that was more about them. In this way, they de-centered the central character and instead turned to other components of popular fairy tales that are more fire to them, such as chasing dragons and amiable in adventurous sword play. They also shifted the focus from the story in general to hallenging my authority as its reader. This is particularly interesting given the friendly and affiliative behavior I previously had experienced when interacting with the boys during in-class observation, when they were either doing assigned work or engaging in more routine (and less gendered) everyday activities.This is in keeping with their quick and decisive tr eatment of each other when gender boundaries were crossed. Davies (2003) identified similar responses in the preschool children she observed. Corsaros assertions concerning the influence of the peer group on the interpretation and production of meaning were evident in he reading groups conducted for the present study. The children actively participated in peer socialization through the use of encouragement, enticement, pleading, and, sometimes, ridicule. The children dealt with the messages and images together, often building on one another s sentences and gesticulate in agreement at the final product. At other times, their disagreement contributed to an understanding of the complexities of the questions raised. The boys and girls produced and affirmed meanings consistent with their gender, and actively worked to stop these processes.These findings indicate that the work of doing gender West and Zimmerman 1987) plays an essential role in the process of interpretation for children . Aydt and Corsaro (2003) argued that this is particularly the case for middleclass, American children. The highly formalized classroom may reify the gendered categories boys and girls, thereby constraining group interaction and the ability to engage freely in the negotiation process. 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