Factors Motivating Variation

The section â€Å"Factors motivating variation† of Chapter 2 of Introducing Sociolinguistics (Meyerhoff 2006) introduces four social factors that motivated people how to use language. Meyerhoff provides a rough introduction on these factors that would be discussed deeply in latter chapters. The first factor is speakers desire to show how to join in a group and separate from others. That means people use language to identify which group they belong to. Meyerhoff uses the Martha’s vineyard study to explain that vineyarder used different pronunciation to distinguish themselves from summer visitor.The specific linguistic variant is an identification to separate local group and visitor group. The second factor is speakers desire to be valuable in their group. Meyerhoff explains speaker use specific variant to raise their self image in the community, then to establish a positive image in their community. On the other hand, speakers desire to eliminate the negative by avoiding using a variant which their image would be downgraded. These three factors motivate speakers determine how to use language to achieve a â€Å"good† identity in the society.Compare to the other three factors, the final one is focused on the interaction between the speaker and group members. Meyerhoff states the speakers desire to test how in-group members are orienting themselves to those three factors. Communication accommodation theory is introduced to explain this factor in generally. It presents that the speakers depend on audience behaviors to choose the variant. Besides that the speakers will use language to test their hypotheses are workable or not. Therefore, variation is a result after these testing.

Superstition Speech

Superstitions To inform my audience about commonly practiced superstitions, their meaning, origins, and what affects they have on our lives and commonly practiced traditions. Hi! My name is Sarah & today I am going to talk to you about superstitions. According to blah blah superstition is defined as blah blah blah. How many of you have ever crossed your fingers for good luck, or got a little nervous about something bad happening on Friday the 13th? I would bet that all of you have said or have heard someone say â€Å"God Bless You† after a sneeze.Have any of you ever wondered where the traditions of Halloween came from? Or maybe why it is thought to be bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding ceremony? Today I am going to enlighten you with the answer to these questions and much more. I. For the most part superstitions can be placed into 2 categories, good or bad luck, many of them also have deeply religious meaning and use symbolism. A. Good Luck 1. You must knock on wood 3 times after mentioning good fortune or the evil spirits will ruin things for you. )The tradition traces back to an ancient pagan belief that spirits resided in trees and that by knocking on the wood, you were paying a small tribute to them by acknowledging them, and could call on them for protection against ill-fortune. Also, you were thanking them for their continued blessings and good luck. 2. Crossing two fingers (the middle and pointing fingers) on one hand as a sign of hopefulness or desire for a particular outcome. a)This is probably the superstition that is most widely used today. By making the sign of the Christian faith with our fingers, evil spirits would be prevented from destroying our chances of good fortune.It is also used as an expression: â€Å"Cross your fingers† is often told to someone hoping for good luck or a particular outcome. Sometimes, when someone tells a lie, they will cross their fingers (usually behind their back). This somehow ab solves them from the consequences or makes the lie not count. See a penny pick it up, all day long you will have good luck. b)Finding a penny and picking it up is believed to bring a day of good luck. Finding a penny with heads up is considered luckier. It is believed that this penny should not be spent; keeping it safe can bring you fortune.Any metal was considered God's gift to mankind 3. Saying â€Å"God Bless You† when someone sneezes. (1)†The blessing of those who sneeze started when the great plague took hold of Europe. Sufferers began sneezing violently, and as such, were bound to die. The Pope passed a law requiring people to bless the sneezer. At the same time, it was expected that anybody sneezing would cover their mouth with a cloth or their hand. This was obviously to stop the spreading of the disease, but many believed that it was to keep the soul intact.Sneezing ‘into the air' would allow the soul to escape and death would be imminent. Humankind has long been equating the soul with breath. It was thought that when one sneezed, the soul briefly flew out of the body, and this might allow an evil spirit to take up residence within. On the other hand, it is also said that blessing someone who sneezes is necessary because their heart skips a beat when they sneeze; it is wishing them continued good health B. Bad Luck 1. Breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck. a)Romans tagged the broken mirror a sign of bad luck.The length of the prescribed misfortune, 7 years, came from the Roman belief that man's body was physically rejuvenated every 7 years, and he became, in effect, a new man. One's reflection in a mirror is thought to be the representation of his or her soul or spiritual state. Breaking the mirror, and therefore the person's reflection, would bring damage to their soul and spiritual hardship. Taking the pieces outside and burying them in the moonlight could avoid this. 2. Open an umbrella indoors and bad luck will à ¢â‚¬Å"rain† on you. a)Origin can be traced back to when umbrellas were used as sun protection.Opening one indoors supposedly was offensive to the sun (or sun god) and would bring his wrath down upon the offender 3. Walking under a ladder will bring bad luck. a)Excluding the obvious – that something might fall on you from above – the belief that walking under a ladder will bring bad luck seems to stem from the ladder forming a triangle with the wall and the ground. This represents the â€Å"Holy Trinity†, and if you violate this by entering the space, it puts you in league with the devil, and you're likely to incur God's wrath. 4. Friday the 13thThe belief that thirteen brings bad luck is an extremely pervasive belief throughout many societies, and is strong enough that many major hotels and high rises traditionally either build only twelve floors, or, if they want to go higher, skip labeling the 13th floor entirely! Many people refuse to stay on the 13th f loor, or in room 13. People stay home from work, for fear of something bad happening. Most airports don't have a thirteenth gate. There are many theories as to why this belief is held. One is that Judas, known as â€Å"the Betrayer of Jesus†, was the 13th member present at the Last Supper.Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the official term for the fear of Friday the Thirteenth. Jesus was said to have been crucified on Friday and the number of guests at the party of the Last Supper was 13, with the 13th guest being Judas, the traitor. II. Superstition plays a role in several of our nationally celebrated Holidays and traditions. A. Halloween blah blah blah 1. Costumes- The people of Ireland at that time were pagans and spirits were a part of their religion. Their beliefs involved good and evil spirits and would strive to live in harmony with both.This is where the custom of dressing up in costumes came in. On All Hallows Eve the spirits of the dead, good and evil, were believed to wal k the streets until sunrise so anyone out might run into an evil spirit and become possessed. To keep from becoming possessed, the villagers would dress in animal skins and paint their faces to scare away the bad spirits. 2. Trick or treat- it began in Ireland as part of their end-of-summer festival. October 31st is the last day of the Celtic calendar and November 1st begins the new year.On this last day of the year it what a widely-held belief that on this one night the spirits of the dead could visit the living. Family members would leave a plate of food and a place set at the table to welcome their spiritual guests. People would also leave gifts of food out to keep from angering the evil spirits and causing them to do mischief. It was a preventative measure. The saying â€Å"trick or treat† was a question, because if you left no treat you may wake up the next morning to find you had been victim of a trick or some form of mischief B. Thanksgiving blah blah During Thanksgivi ng, it is traditional to roast a turkey.When it is served, it's also traditional for two people to take the wishbone (the bird's clavicle) each making a wish, they pull apart the bone to break it. The person ending up with the larger piece will supposedly get his or her wish. Although Thanksgiving is an American holiday, the wishbone custom was brought over to the new world by the Pilgrims from England, where it had long been in practice. The ritual of breaking apart the wishbone can be traced back to the ancient Romans, Etymologists claim that the expression ‘get a lucky break' initially applied to the person winning the larger half in a wishbone tug-of-war. III. There are many wedding traditions that may seem a little silly and far fetched, and even though most of us don’t know their origin or meaning, we still include them in our wedding day rituals. A. It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony. 1. During the time wh en arranged marriages were custom, the couple wasn’t allowed to see each other before the wedding at all. The wedding symbolized a business deal between two families and a father would have been pleased for his daughter to marry a man from a rich family.But he also feared that if the groom met the bride before the wedding and thought she wasn’t attractive, he’d call off the wedding, casting shame onto the bride and her family. Therefore, it became tradition that the bride and groom were only allowed to meet at the wedding ceremony so that the groom did not have the opportunity to change his mind. And that veil the bride wears? Its original purpose was also to keep the groom from finding out what the bride looked like until the last possible minute, when it was too late to back out of the transactionB. Ringer Finger 1. C. The person who catches the bride’s bouquet or garter when she tosses it over her head will be the next to get married. 1. The story behi nd this tradition is downright dirty. In medieval times, it was considered lucky to get a fragment of the bride’s clothing, so hordes of guests would follow the newlywed couple into their wedding chamber after the ceremony and stand around the bed, trying to rip pieces of the bride’s gown right off her body.Because dresses were often torn apart, brides searched for alternatives to preserve their gowns and began throwing their bouquets to distract guests while they made their getaway. When the bride and groom made it safely into their wedding chamber, the groom would then crack open the door and toss the bride’s garter to the throngs of people waiting outside as a way of saying that he was about to â€Å"seal the deal. † D.The groom must carry his new wife across the threshold of their new home to prevent bad luck. 1. In ancient cultures, the threshold of the home was considered to be a hotbed of lurking, unattached evil spirits, and since a new bride was particularly vulnerable to spirit intrusion, especially through the soles of her feet, the groom ensured that his wife would not bring any bad spirits into the house by carrying her inside. Conclusion

Manchester United Essay

We aim to increase our revenue and profitability by expanding our high growth businesses that leverage our global community and marketing infrastructure. The key elements of our strategy are: Expand our portfolio of global and regional sponsors: We are well positioned to continue to secure sponsorships with leading brands. Over the last few years, we have implemented a proactive approach to identifying, securing and supporting sponsors. In addition, we are focused on expanding a regional sponsorship model, segmenting new opportunities by product category and territory. As part of this strategy, we have opened an office in Asia and are in the process of opening an office in North America. These are in addition to our London and Manchester offices. Further develop our retail, merchandising, apparel & product licensing business: We will focus on growing this business on a global basis by increasing our product range and improving distribution through further development of our wholesale , retail and e-commerce channels. Manchester United branded retail locations have opened in Singapore, Macau, India and Thailand, and we plan to expand our global retail footprint over the next several years. In addition, we will also invest to expand our portfolio of product licensees to enhance the range of product offerings available to our followers. Exploit new media & mobile opportunities: The rapid shift of media consumption towards internet, mobile and social media platforms presents us with multiple growth opportunities and new revenue streams. Our digital media platforms, such as mobile sites, applications and social media, are expected to become one of the primary methods by which we engage and transact with our followers around the world. In addition to developing our own digital properties, we intend to leverage third party media platforms and other social media as a means of further engaging with our followers and creating a source of traffic for our digital media assets. Our new media & mobile offering s are in the early stages of development and present opportunities for future growth. Enhance the reach and distribution of our broadcasting rights: The value of live sports programming has grown dramatically in recent years due to changes in how television content is distributed and consumed. Specifically, television consumption has become more fragmented and audiences for traditional scheduled television programming have declined as consumer choice increased  with the emergence of multi-channel television, the development of technologies such as the digital video recorder and the emergence of digital viewing on the internet and mobile devices. The unpredictable outcomes of live sports ensures that individuals consume sports programming in real time and in full, resulting in higher audiences and increased interest from television broadcasters and advertisers. We are well positioned to benefit from the increased value and the growth in distribution associated with the Premier League, the Champions League and other competitions. Furthermore, MUTV, our global broadcasting platform, delivers Manchester United programming to 54 countries around the world. We plan to expand the distribution of MUTV by improving the quality of its content and its production capabilities. Diversify revenue and improve margins: We aim to increase the revenue and operating margins of our business as we further expand into our high growth commercial businesses, including sponsorship, retail, merchandising, licensing and new media & mobile. By increasing the emphasis on our commercial businesses, we will further diversify our revenue, enabling us to generate improved profitability. The five forces model of Michael Porter looks like the following if applied to Mu Ltd.: SUPPLIER POWER High diversity of suppliers Volume is important to supplier MU differentiates of inputs Inputs have a high impact on costs and differentiation Switching costs of firms in the industry are low There is a low Presence of substitute inputs BARRIERS TO ENTRY There is quite an easy access to inputs The is a government policy promoting quite free entry in case certain registration type of requirements are fulfilled There is economies of scale High capital requirements There are strong brand identity in the succer sector of the sports industry Switching costs are high Easy access to distribution Low expected retaliation THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES Low switching costs Buyers are not highly inclined to substitute Price-performance, to a certain level, has no influence on the preffered team Trade-off of substitutes DEGREE OF RIVALRY High exit barriers Low industry concentration High fixed costs/High value added Low industry growth Low product differences Low switching costs High brand identity High diversity of rivals BUYER POWER Bargaining leverage is neither high, neither low Buyer volume upon successful times are high Buyer information can be considered high Brand identity is strong Price sensitivity is not extremely high Product differentiation is very high Buyer concentration vs. industry is low Many substitutes are available Source: http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml Key Performance Indicators (KPI) The other, as mentioned before, is the KPI, or key performance indicators. As the Affiliated League Club lists, the KPI of a sports klubs must be the following( p.3,http://nemjfa.homestead.com/BUSINESSPLAN.pdf ): Sound business plan Stable administration, close communication between all levels of Club Management High quality coaches at both senior and underage levels High profile and acceptance within the community Strong Club presence in schools, both primary and secondary Sound oval management, high standard of club facilities Sound financial management, expenses kept in line with income base Development of Juniors, particularly local based players Manchester United Ltd. is a very professional company, and is in possession of these characteristics. It actually needs so, if it wants to achieve its declared goal, „to be the most successful teem in football† (http://ir.manutd.com/manutd/about/bustrat/). As to the last part of the question, identifying internal and external factors, please refer back to the Porter’s Five Forces Model above Major cost categories of the company, the drivers behind these costs, and the internal and external factors that influence costs the most There are three major cost categories, those related to the operation and development of the corporate Manchester United, the costs related to the operation and development of the sporting club, and other, related costs. The corporate costs include such costs as dept and maintance costs, and costs related to the commercial activities of the company. Examples of club related cost include the compensation of the players and staff, and purchase of new players and stuff. The other costs include, for instance infrastructural costs, such as the maintance and development cost of the stadium of MU, the „Old Trafford†. The drivers of the costs of Manchester United, and the internal and external factors that influence the cost structure and levels of these cost in all the three major categories can be observed in the second part of question 1, in the Porter’s Five Forces Model. What companies are comparable companies Other English football club corporations like Chelsea and Arsenal of London, Everton, and Liverpool. Companies operating football clubs are very dinstinct from companies of other industries, and the larger football clubs are probably very similar to each other in how they conduct their business, all having some income sources, tickets, clothing, that are the same. Method most appropriate to assess the value of the company, advantages and disadvantages of the relative and the DCF methods. If we are looking at the performance of the company, probably the profitability is the measure that should be used, because it measures the efficientcy of the financial performance of the company. DCF Method: Advantages: As DCF analysis is based on the assumptions of the CAPM, it is an analytically correct valuation method. In contrast to the Comparable Companies analysis, volatile market conditions do not have an impact on the results. DCF therefore is often used as an additional point of reference. Since the discount rate is usually derived from the WACC, the DCF takes account of the relative riskiness of the projected cash flow. Accounting rules do not influence this approach, as valuation is based on projected cash flow. growth period period of stable growth. Multiples appropriate for the comparison of the company with other comparative companies, what financial and non-financial measures should be a basis of compari Probably the best multiple to measure the success of a club is the games won to the sum of tied and lost games. This is important, because the more games a club can win, the more the corporate club can achieve in its merchadising, and the more sponsors it will be able to attract. This multiple would be considered to be a non-funancial measure. A financial measure applicable to football corporations would be profitability if the company, as it, though with limmitations, measures how efficiently the club is operating. Another financial measure would be the revenues per players in a complete season. Shortcomings: Since the terminal value often represents more than 50% of the entire DCF value it is therefore highly sensitive to the underlying assumptions, especially regarding the growth component in the terminal value and the discount rate. Using historical stock returns when estimating the beta depends heavily on the choice of the index. For volatile companies the beta is very high, resulting in a relatively high discount rate and a low net present value of cash flows. Estimating a â€Å"correct† value by applying the DCF approach therefore depends to a large extend on the expertise and industry knowledge of the person doing the valuation. Moreover, the DCF approach neither considers different management options nor future investment opportunities. It only works if cash flows are subject to little uncertainty and the company is managed by a static management team. It does not capture the â€Å"true† value if there are large initial losses, highly  volatile earnings or immense initial growth rates.† (WEITZEL, GELLINGS, BEIMBORN and KÃâ€"NIG, 2003, IS Valuation Methods- Insights from Capital Markets Theory and Practice –, p.5-6.) Relative method: Advantages: As the comparable companies method is based on public information, market moods and perceptions are reflected, since it measures the relative and not the intrinsic value. Relative valuation is based upon fewer assumptions and can be conducted faster than DCF valuation. Shortcomings: The simplicity of valuation by multiples is its deficiency [Benninga/Sarig 1997, 305]. Since no value determinants are analyzed, it is important to carefully select comparable firms. Also, outside variables like mergers and acquisitions in the respective sector can influence stock prices. Figures often fail to capture intangible assets, like quality of management. Hence, CC based valuation should provide a valuable â€Å"sanity check† to assure the validity of a DCF analysis, but it should not be the only valuation method used [Benninga/Sarig 1997, 305].† (WEITZEL, GELLINGS, BEIMBORN and KÃâ€"NIG, 2003, IS Valuation Methods- Insights from Capital Markets Theory and Practice –, p.7-8.) Limitations of applying the relative and the DCF methods to the evaluation of the company, what can be done to overcome this problem There are a number of limitations of applying the relative and the DCF methods to the evaluation of the company. For instance, purchasing new players and coaches cost a lot of money; it is not rare that that amount of money reaches one million euros. As it was seen in the above summary of the disadvantages of the DCF method. A possible solution to this problem, though not very humane, the cost of these players and coaches could be depreciated over the time frame of the contract involved, just as it is done in the case of new infrastructural expenditures. In the case of the Relative method, the problem is that the progression of the team in the national, that is in the Premier League, and in the international cups and championships, were much different both in the near past and will probably be in the future also. This increases the risk of the cyclicality of the business. This cyclicality can be much different in the case of the different corporate clubs, which makes the incomes and thus other results of the companies very difficult to  compare. Links for more information Porter five forces analysis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Porter’s five forces is a framework for the industry analysis and business strategy development developed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979. It draws upon Industrial Organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determi Performance indicator – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure of performance. Such measures are commonly used to help an organization define and evaluate how successful it is, typically in terms of making progress towards its long-term Manchester United Official Web Site The official site with news, transfer rumours, online ticket sales, live match commentary, video highlights, player profiles, mobile content, wallpapers and more. Manchester united  Manchester United (ManU) is one of the leading football clubs in the world. ManU has won many titles in the football competition making the club to be the most successful football club in the world. The success of this club is contributed by the good management of Sir Alex Ferguson who has been the manager since 1986 when Ron Atkinson left (Official website, ManU). Introduction The football industry in UK has become popular because of the first successes in the industry, an attribute that made it a viable business. The main aim of this report is to analyze the SWOT and PEST analysis of Manchester United. From this analysis, it will be possible to identify both the internal and external strengths of the company. SWOT analysis SWOT analysis can be used to know the success factors of ManU as well as to identify the strategies to be overcome the club’s weaknesses. Moreover, SWOT analyses will enable the company to identify the opportunities to improve performance. SWOT analysis of Manchester United is presented below: Strengths The key strength of Manchester United is its well recognized brand all over  the world. ManU has achieved such good brand name by heavy advertisement through the internet, TV and magazines (Andrews, 2004). This massive advertisement has made the club to get various sponsors. This means that whenever the company raises any merchandise in the market, indicating their name and symbol, it will be identified by its funs all over the world. Strength of the club is the presence of a big fan base which has improved the financial stability of the club. This big fan base has made a very high purchase figure whenever the tickets are being sold. Furthermore, Manchester United has various distribution channels which enable it to deliver new products introduced into the market. Furthermore, these channels can be used by the Manchester United to obtained feedback from the market concerning their products and performances. Weaknesses From the website of the company, it shows that the major weakness is the products and product variety. It is evident that the company has been introducing many diverse products at different occasions. All these diverse products have been introduced from the jersey to credit cards indicating that the company has exploited the available sources of income within the company. This action needs to be researched as soon as possible so as to help the company to situate and analyze it products, adopt the use of effective instruments such as the Boston Matrix which will help the company to identify that the products are doing well in the market. Lastly, the club has been so affluent, and it is still operating on such a high level, there is a worrying within the management of the company that it will loose its origin, which has a diverse concentration of the club from football to the proceeds. Such moves might have a great effect to its fans because the fans come from all over the world. Oppor tunities Penetration of the Manchester United to the American market has been one of the major opportunities to the company. The company will in future structure its club by entering into coalition with the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees is one of the well-off teams in the world. This will assist the company by ensuring that exclusive distribution channels are established in the United States of America. Through this the company will be in a position to enter and present their products in a new market. Furthermore, the  Manchester United will be in a position to lead all the football clubs in the America, though there will be superior height of risks concerned. The managers believe that by entering a coalition with the Yankees, this threat will be reduced (CNN, 2010). Threats Manchester United operates under a great threat in this field because other big teams like Manchester City and Arsenal which are currently improving in their performances. These and other teams have become very big competitors to the club. Furthermore, the Manchester United FC has been facing internal threats to the team. There is a frequent change of leadership in the company making the club to be disunited. Nonetheless, this will affect the sale of merchandise. Lastly, the club is lacking enough finances for financing academies and junior football, so that they can train the best footballers to ensure smooth succession in the future. PEST Analysis of the Manchester United The club’s decision has been affected by macro-environmental factors such as the changes in taxes, new laws, demographic changes and the changes in government policy. The managers of Manchester United can classify these as the political, economical, social and technological factors. Political factors This comprises of the laws which govern the issues affecting the activities of the club. Currently the team is undergoing a problem of paying out its debts which amount to $1.5 billion, a figure which was misappropriated by the greedy owners. The fans of Manchester United from England are preparing to join their efforts to force legislators to consider pro-football legislation in parliament which will aim at fighting the total arrears which has not being paid because of corrupt owners who misuse the funds of the club. Such an action has exploited the loyalties of fans of Manchester United. Economical factors The club has boosted the economy through employment opportunities which have been created to the players and the officials. The positive effect of Manchester United FC is felt globally because they employ the best players globally. Secondly, this soccer club has been a catalyst in the regional development because of the positive financial flows which are generated by the supporters of the team across the world. Lastly, the club has a positive influence on the economy because its officials are thrown from all over the world. These officials spend an average of 15on basic needs such as food, drinks etc. in a single match. If the supporters are from foreign countries they bring in foreign currencies which will eventually boosts the Balance of Payments in the country Technology Technology has contributed positively to the foot ball games since the players are capable of playing at night due to the availability of electricity. Furthermore, technology has facilitated various people from different parts of the world to watch football irregardless of there locations. Technology has facilitated fans of the club to obtain information from the internet concerning the performances of the company. This has benefited those Manchester United fans to get updates incase they had missed to watch the game. Social Manchester United just like any other football team has united many people especially the funs of football. People have interacted all over the world because of football. People from different age groups normally watch football because it is either their favorite game or because they want to watch just for leisure. Football has become part of the society in the current world, everybody in the world talks of football, either English Premier League or the world cup championships. This is very important since it has affected the society in a positive way i.e. it can create employment in the region. For example, the world cup will be in South Africa this year. The South African government will collect a lot of revue in terms of taxation, sales of tickets and any other taxable stuff. This will have close relationship with the social cultural factors though indirectly (Masterman, 2009). Manchester United has contributed a lot in the context of the social cultural factors as it employs play ers from different parts of the world. They normal select stars from different leagues and employ them. From a research done by Masterman, Manchester is the leading club in the payment package they offer to its employees. Business strategy The team has carried research concerning their product development in the market. This is very important as it will help the team to improve their performance in their product in the present market before strategizing on how to enter the new market. Conclusion Manchester United is the leading team in the football industry and to maintain this position, they have to focus on the market and the needs of its clients and followers. The company has further improved on their product through carrying research; these improvements have brought success in the club and improve the support of the team. The board of directors has also done their best by employing the best players to represent the club. This will make the team to perform well in the field whenever they have a game. Furthermore, these directors ensure that the discipline is well maintained in the company because the fans and its competitors are closely watching what is going on in the company. Bibliography Andrews, D. L. (2004) Manchester United: a thematic study. Routledge: UK. Barthold, D. 2009. The Business of European Football. GRIN Verlag, (3). Pp 36-38 Masterman, G. 2009. Strategic Sports Event Management: Olympic Edition Hospitality, Leisureand Tourism Series. Butterworth-Heinemann, (2). Pp 65-67 Manchester United. 2008. The Official Manchester United Annual 2009 Official Manchester The Manchester United Football Club is one of the most popular football clubs in the world. This English football club has its base at Old Trafford Stadium, which is located in Trafford, Greater Manchester. Manchester United is the founder member of 1992 Premier League. Being the second most successful team in the entire history of English football, Manchester United Football Club has over 330 million fans globally. The club has been participating in the top division English football since 1938. The Manchester United Football Club is also popular by its nickname, â€Å"The Red Devils†. In November 1986 when Alex Ferguson became the manager of the Club, Manchester United reached to the peak of success and won 20 major titles. The Manchester United Football Club has won the Premier League and First Division 17 times and is trailing behind Liverpool by just one title. Manchester United became the first English Football Club to win the European Cup in 1968. The Club has the record of winning maximum number of FA Cup titles. From late 90’s until date, Manchester United remains one of the richest football clubs with a total value of  £897 million. In 1998-99, Manchester United became the first ever and the only club to win the Treble. In the year 2000, the club became a founding member for the G-14 group. This is a group of the Big European football clubs. In the year 2005, American businessperson Malcolm Glazer took a controlling interest in Manchester United. With the Red Football Ltd as the investment vehicle, Malcolm took 75% control of the club and the club was de-listed from the Stock Exchange. Initially the jersey of Manchester United was yellow and green in color but in 1902, the club changed it to red jerseys with white shorts and black socks. Manchester United has sponsorship deals with various companies. AIG, Nike, Audi, Budweiser, Betfred, Xfm Manchester are some of the sponsors for the club. The Manchester United football club has its own football ground at Sir Matt Busby Way, Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The stadium opened on 19 February 1910 and the total capacity of the stadium is 76,212. It is a difficult job to determine the greatest rival of Manchester United Football Club. According to some people, Liverpool is the biggest rival of Manchester. Leeds, Manchester City and Arsenal are also the other known rivals of the Club. So far, the Club has bagged 3 European Cup/ UEFA Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup and 1 European Super Cup. Manchester United Football Club has also won 1 Intercontinental Cup/ World Cup Championship. Facts:  · 5% of the world population is the supporters of Manchester United Football Club.  · The Club has won 10 Premier leagues, 7 First division leagues and 2 Second division leagues.  · Manchester United won 11 FA Cups, 2 League cups and 16 FA Charity/Community Shield. In the next few articles, let us understand about the sports team’s brand-building strategies. The most common strategy followed by most of the teams is: Sponsorship with other global brands  Being associated with other international brand names lends global presence to brands as they go worldwide. If we talk about the most richest soccer club, Manchester United, they have 44 official sponsors associated with the club. One of the biggest tie up then in the year 2002 was Manchester United’s tie up with Nike. Both Manchester United and Nike gained in global stature after the announcement of their global tie-in 2002. Now such is the case that Nike has to discuss a  £303 million kit supply deal with Manchester United and they might well have to anyhow shell out this huge sum of cash if they want to maintain their association with Manchester United. One month from now, this strategically important meeting will be talking place and the American sport wear company will have to come up with an enormous sum to satisfy the club’s owners. The ‘Swoosh’ logo has adorned some of the greatest teams and players in the history of the game, including Manchester United legends Eric Cantona, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo. Of the current squad, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, the Da Silva twins, Chris Smalling, Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand all wear Nike boots along with the standard kits. In recent years, Manchester United has formed commercial alliances with a number of global players in other industries: Vodafone, Pepsi, DHL and Aon were all added to the clubâ₠¬â„¢s sponsorship list. Under these arrangements, the club gains from sponsors’ international reputations and sponsors gain from their association with a such big sports brand. And Manchester United is talking full advantage of this to reach out to new segment of soccer fans and in turn helping in strengthening its brand equity. In July, United announced a staggering  £357 million deal with General Motors for the Chevrolet logo to be worn on their shirts for seven seasons from 2014. Chevrolet’s eight-year partnership with Manchester United kicked off this summer with a series of friendly matches, bringing the world’s favourite football team to their fans in South Africa, Europe and China. The support for, and commitment to Manchester United and its passionate fans worldwide will go far beyond the pre-season games as General Motors look to join the fans in celebrating all that is beautiful about the game. One of the biggest logistics company which is present in 220 countries and territ ories worldwide has tied up United in 2011. DHL were made responsible to undertake a range of logistics services on behalf of Manchester United for three years. Just like DHL, Manchester United stands  for passion, teamwork and can-do spirit. And it’s those same characteristics that have enabled both DHL and Manchester United to remain at the top of their game and thus join together and build its brand. The last two deals done recently by Manchester United were with the two sponsors from China (Wahaha, a soft drinks manufacturer and China Construction Bank (CCB). Both have tied up for a three year deal. CCB will hold the exclusive rights to produce the official Manchester United branded credit card in Mainland China. Wahaha has been the largest beverage producer in China for the past 11 years and will be the club’s first official soft drinks partner in the country. This is just one of the many strategic decision taken by this 135-year-old soccer club from Britain. In the coming article, I would write about Manc hester United’s Asian Strategy, mainly highlighting its entry into the Indian market.

Pick and art work that is influenced by astronomy Essay

Pick and art work that is influenced by astronomy - Essay Example He was a Post-Impressionist artist, and like the Impressionists he could make use of the newly available ready prepared paints in tubes which made it much easier to paint outdoors, perhaps painting in the grounds of the asylum, but in this case he is looking east through an open window. In April 1888 Van Gogh wrote: - Although the image of the sky is exaggerated and unrealistic, yet it remains one everybody can relate to, as we have all been outdoors at night at some point in our lives, and gazed up a the wonders of the heavens, swirls of clouds, stars pricking the darkness, and the beautiful moon in all its stages. We were not however experiencing Van Gogh’s particular state of mental illness, in which realities were so exaggerated that it caused him to paint the stars so large and producing what Naifah and Smith ( page 762) refer to as :- This was painted of course long before space exploration or modern telescopes. Van Gogh did not know that the moon is just a lump of dusty rock. He may not have known that the light we see from the stars is historical, in that it has taken considerable time to reach Earth because of the immense distances involved. In this case each star is surrounded by a lesser light, a halo. This may perhaps indicate a very cold night, or it could have some significance to Van Gogh. The many swirls and curves are part of the attraction of this work. They carry the viewer’s eyes around the painting from one point to the next and round again. It is a painting of the imagination. Even the village of St Remy doesn’t look exactly as it really was, perhaps because it is not visible from the asylum windows, but some things are factual, in this case the very bright star depicted immediately right of the cypresses is actually the planet Venus, the rising morning star ( Whitney, page 356, 1966). Soth ( page 305,1996) states that Van Gogh wrote to

Earned Value & Forecasting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Earned Value & Forecasting - Essay Example The budgeted cost of work performed at end of period 8 comes out to be $868,000. The same is shown in Table 1. Cost Variance (CV) can be calculated as the difference between budgeted cost and actual cost of work performed which is equal to $(868,000-1,005,000) i.e. - $137,000. A negative cost variance here implies that the project is over-budget by the end of period 8. The Cost Performance Index (CPI) is given by the ratio of budgeted cost of work performed to the actual cost of work performed i.e. (868,000/1,005,000) which is equal to .86. As the Cost Performance Index is less than 1, it again implies that the project is over-budget. Schedule Variance (SV) can be found out as the difference between budgeted cost of work performed and the budgeted cost of work scheduled till the end of period 8 which is equal to $(868,000-955,000) i.e. - $87000. A negative schedule variance here implies that the project is behind schedule by the end of period 8. The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) i s given by the ratio of budgeted cost of work performed to the budgeted cost of work scheduled i.e. (868,000/955,000) which is equal to .91. As the Schedule Performance Index is less than 1, it gain implies that the project is behind schedule. ... 500000 1.3.2 60000 80 48000 1.4.1 120000 0 0 1.4.2 40000 50 0 1.4.3 75000 100 75000 1.5.2 15000 20 0 1.5.3 30000 0 0 1.6.1 45000 20 0 1.6.2 60000 50 0 1.6.3 30000 0 0 1.6.4 25000 0 0 Total 124500 (BAC) 868000 (BCWP/EV) The planned percentage of work completed can be calculated by dividing the planned work completed (in terms of number of periods) by the total work (in terms of number of periods). The total work periods can be calculated by adding the planned durations of each activity. This comes out as 26 periods. The planned work periods can be calculated by multiplying the planned percent of work completed for each activity by its planned duration. This is equal to 15. Hence, the planned percent of work completed is equal to 15/26 i.e. 57.7%. Similarly, the actual percent of work completed is computed as the ratio of actual work completed (in terms of number of periods) to the total work (in terms of number of periods). The actual work periods are calculated as 15.2 in the same fa shion as for planned work periods. The actual percent of work completed, therefore, comes out as 15.2/26 i.e. 58.46%. The percent cost completed is simply defined as the ratio of actual cost incurred till end of period 8 to the total planned cost of the project i.e. (1,005,000/1,245,000) which comes out as 80.72% Table 2: Calculating percent task completion Task Duration Actual Percentage of work completed at end of period 8 Actual work completed (in periods) at end of period 8 Planned percentage of work completed at end of period 8 Planned work completed (in periods) at end of period 8 1.2.1 3 100 3 100 3 1.2.2 1 100 1 100 1 1.2.3 2 100 2 100 2 1.3.1 3 100 3 100 3 1.3.2 2 80 1.6 100 2 1.4.1 3 0 0 66.66666667 2 1.4.2 1 50 0.5 0 0 1.4.3 3 100 3 66.66666667 2 1.5.2 1 20 0.2 0 0 1.5.3 2 0 0 0

Marc Chagalls Blue House Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marc Chagalls Blue House - Essay Example The essay "Marc Chagall’s Blue House" explores Marc Chagall’s "Blue House". One of the modernists describes the process of painting as an attempt â€Å"to make visible that there is something which can be conceived and which can neither be seen nor made visible†. This â€Å"something that can be conceived but not seen nor made visible† is often referred to as the sublime, a quality of transcendent greatness â€Å"with which nothing else can be compared and which is beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation†. The presence of this sublime element, then, inspires the imagination in a specific direction based on which elements remain visible or understandable. Its significance is in the way in which it brings attention to the uncertainty of meaning inherent in the work, such that no resolution makes itself apparent. To understand how this untouchable element can be communicated through visual art, Marc Chagall’s oil painting â€Å"Blue House†, currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Liege, Belgium, will be analyzed as an example. This â€Å"something that can be conceived but not seen nor made visible† is often referred to as the sublime, a quality of transcendent greatness â€Å"with which nothing else can be compared and which is beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation†. The presence of this sublime element, then, inspires the imagination in a specific direction based on which elements remain visible or understandable. It brings attention to the uncertainty.... e is also in a state of dilapidation that would make it completely unsuitable to live in as the roof does not seem structurally sound with large gaping holes in places, the boards are falling off the doorframes and windows and the very walls themselves seem be about to come disconnected. Despite its apparent abandonment, a small path remains leading down into the valley which is divided nearly down the middle by a small, concrete-grey river. This river marks the division point in the content of the painting as it helps to distinguish between the two sides of the valley floor. On the side nearest the house, the valley seems to be relatively desolate, with large dry areas and wild, new, light green grassy areas. On the other side of the river, though, there are dark green cultivated fields standing before a great city standing on the hill at the other side of the valley. The city is full of large white and red-tinged buildings, some of them long and blocky and others tall with spires. Some have red roofs and others have blue roofs, but all seem crammed together and, as a group, they block out the horizon. This city appears to have a wall around its base, separating it from the fields before it and protecting it from the unassuming opposition. All of this is depicted under a grey and somewhat threatening sky, which contributes to the dead grey of the river and gives an impression that there is smoke emerging from the top of the blue house's back chimney. With its emphasis on the long view, the painting immediately seems to be a landscape. This is mostly thanks to the concentration of the house and faraway city and view of the valley between (His, 1936: 30). There is a sense of overpowering nature involved in that the city must be protected even from its own

English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

English - Essay Example This is because, they never gets the chance to practise their visions due to fear of being victimized by the fellows who practise orthodoxy. It is also important to note here that, orthodoxy can even hinder the progress and development of a country, in that investors or business men who may want to invest in the country producing a unique commodity, may be blocked out of the market if the sale of the commodity goes against the generally accepted norms of the country’s citizens (Tipton & Witte, 2007). In the work of Shirley Jackson, the author affirms categorically the demerits of confining to the generally accepted norms of a people, a society, community or a country. He strongly proposes for the total discarding of such acts b individuals. If orthodoxy is not ignored in societies by individuals, then it becomes very difficult for the people to maximise their potentials, utilize the resources available at their disposal for their personal benefits and that of the whole society. Orthodoxy limits our visions, impairs our judgement and blocks our capabilities, I therefore strongly agree with Shirley that people should never accept to be defined by the mere rules and regulations which the older generations adhered to which made no progress in their lives (Fass, 2004). The family plays very vital roles in the discouraging the habit of orthodoxy. This is portrayed in Jackson Bill’s family where his family strongly discouraged orthodoxy by stating out the inhuman effects of orthodoxy practise. When a family discourages its members from engaging in such practises, their innocence is not victimized and their progress are not blocked. It is therefore very important that families stop their children from the blind confinement of some norms believed to be true without clearly realizing or finding out neither the demerits of such adherence nor the effects of

High School Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

High School Experience - Essay Example Therefore, my expectations in the International school have been a little different from my prior exposure. I encounter a new set of challenges. First, I had a problem getting along with my colleagues who I could see they were taken aback by my presence. In several occasion, I had been frustrated because I was unwelcome to join the groups. Every time I did, they would abruptly stop talking and stare at me. This made me run over weeks without making even a single friend. For this reason, I have had a problem learning about the programs and activities of my new school. In my former high school, learning was easy, and I could get along with my teachers. However, in my new school I have had a problem understanding the teachers. Learning has been different, as I have been used to writing notes on the chalkboard. Here, the teachers teach as student writes their note. This made my learning so difficult at first, but I have come to understand, and now things are much better. I took the time getting to know my new teachers. The school has a huge population and getting an appointment is much difficult. This made learning a bit difficult in the beginning, as I could not seek help from most of the teachers. Moreover, my new school is among the best performing in the State, and this is the reason that made my parent seek transfer from my former school. Therefore, the expectation of teachers from the student has been higher compared to what I have been used. This got me in trouble, as I could not perform well compared to another student. I felt like in the wilderness alone for a long period until I improved my grades. It is through class work that I first made friends. Out of sheer frustration to get my class work done, I had to consult my classmate. However, with time my new friends introduced me to sports. I have been a football player, but I could not get it easy in my new school. I resulted in playing basketball. It was my first time playing

Apology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Apology - Essay Example Yet another account of the trial is given by Aristophanes, a comic playwright. The philosopher was a member of the sub-council – the Council of Five Hundred – that ruled over the Assembly. His morals, way of thinking did not create much of a fuss at first. He did all that he thought was right, nothing more and then a time came when Athens was under attack and Sparta won the battle. The Greeks were humiliated and angry, especially when Socrates did not seem to approve of their form of government. He was considered as a critic of the then governmental system of Greece and due to this and other things he was accused against, he was put on trial by Anytus, Lycon and Meletus – the latter being the prosecutor who was mostly responsible for putting Socrates on trial. "Socrates does injustice and is meddlesome, by investigating the things under the earth and the heavenly things, and by making the weaker speech the stronger, and by teaching others these same things" (Plat o, West and West 66). The above were the charges placed against Socrates and he had to plead innocent or guilty for them. In simple words, Socrates’ thoughts were not similar to the thoughts the Greeks generally had. He believed that the gods knew everything, were present everywhere, one could not hide anything or anyone from them. The majority of the Greeks thought that the gods were partially present, that they knew some things and remained unaware about others. Their concepts of gods was different and it was not that much of a problem until Socrates actually refused to follow an order regarding to agreeing to allowing something illegal to happen. He had taken a vow and believed that the gods would know he had done wrong and for this he was being put on trial, for going against what they thought was god’s will when, in fact, it was just their own. The wording of this charge of impiety makes one assume that Socrates did not believe in the gods which were worshipped by the people of Athens, but also that he did not believe in the authority of gods at all. When, in fact, that was not the case and Socrates proves them wrong at several points in his apology. Socrates relates an incident in which Chaerephon, a friend of his and also quite a famous personality in the city, went to the Oracle of Delphi and actually questioned whether anyone was wiser than Socrates and the reply was in negative. The philosopher believed this to be a paradox in itself since he did not consider himself to be the wisest person, but thought it to be true, too, so he spent his entire life trying to prove the Oracle of Delphi correct. On questioning a few of the prominent Athenians who were thought to be wise, Socrates only managed to conclude that, indeed, he was the wisest of all of them. This was because he was aware of the fact that he was still ignorant of many things of life, whilst the others thought they were intelligent enough, they did not think that there might be room for further improvement, etc. and that was the paradox itself. The fact that he knew he was ignorant and the others did not proved that he was the Oracle was right. This point did seem to humiliate the respected men and only managed to turn them against him though. But it also shows that Socrates wanted the Oracle to be right and if he

Ritalin Abuse Essay Example for Free

Ritalin Abuse Essay The pharmaceutical industry, working with the government and organized psychiatry, claim that such drugs as Ritalin, are a safe treatment for ADHD. School systems and courts have pressured and even forced parents to give stimulant drugs to their children. But hidden behind the well-oiled public relations machine is a potentially devastating reality. The problem with ADHD or ADD is already not whether or not ADHD is a subtype of ADD, but rather the problem is whether or not we should be medicating our children with drugs such as Ritalin. Questions like the following often arise when discussing the issue: Are the side effects worth getting our children under control? Are all the children who are on Ritalin on it for just cause or are the drugs being abused? What does the future hold for these children who are using Ritalin and other stimulants? All these questions leave parents wondering if they should put their young child on medications and what it will do to their future. Millions of children are prescribed the stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and Metadate for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the hope of controlling behaviours described as hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. These medications decrease restlessness, improve attention span, increase the ability to focus, decrease aggressive outbursts and improve social interaction. They are thought to work by adjusting the brains chemical balance and reversing under-arousal, possibly by increasing the availability of certain neurotransmitters. About 75 % of children with ADHD respond well to stimulant medication with improved attention at school and increased academic productivity (Kidd, 2000). Ritalin, the most commonly prescribed stimulant for ADHD, peaks 1 to 2 hours after its taken and effects last about 4 hours. For maximum benefit its taken three times a day, seven days a week in order to sustain home as well as school interactions. (Some find that although the afternoon dose eases home relationships, it may exacerbate side effects such as poor appetite and insomnia. ) A slow-release form taken in the morning may last the day (at least 6 to 8 hours). A few develop drug tolerance and need increasing doses to suppress symptoms. (High amounts may have some growth-retarding effect, requring a drug change. ) Side effects of Ritalin can include headaches, insomnia, reduced appetite and weight loss, stomach aches, occasional tics (grimaces, nail biting), a zombie-like stare, obsessive over-focussing (becoming over-engrossed) and emotional constriction (for instance shown by drawings where everything is miniscule or shoved tightly into a corner). Omitting the 4 p. m. dose might overcome the sleep problems but at the cost of disrupting home and family life. Most side effects can be avoided by giving smaller doses. Some children object to the roller-coaster feeling while on the drug, and want to feel normal again, leading to a drop-off in drug-taking. Some hate the idea of having their behaviour controlled; and some parents oppose the idea of mind-altering drugs for their kids (Kidd, 2000, p. 20). In any case, there are always some ideals that do persuade parents into giving their children stimulants. The one of the appeals, and usually a selfish one, is that the drug gets their child under control. Parents who are fed up with their child and their behavior think that there is no other way of getting their child to behave and automatically look for a drug to get the situation changed sometimes when the child hasnt even been diagnosed with disorder yet. The appeal greatens when guilt settles in. Parents sometimes feel responsible for their childs outbreaks and by giving him or her a drug it makes the parents feel as if something chemically is wrong, and isnt because of the childs upbringing (Brink, 2004). Besides short-term benefits for Ritalin, some studies show that there are some long-term ones as well. In 1988 scientists found improvements in cognitive functions in reading performances. Though it wasnt positive, and is also very controversial if the drug itself was creating the improvement or if it was the drugs ability to reduce the disorders symptoms, which helps the child focus, but in the end, there still was an obvious increase in learning. Though frustration of child obedience, previously mention guilt, and hope for better grades often play a vital role in the decision of whether or not to put ones child on medication, there are some outstanding negatives that also make an impact on parents choices on the matter. One of the major problems with Ritalin is the side effects the medication causes its users. As mentioned before, these include effects as minor as stomach pains, sleep loss, loss or appetite and irritability. But side effects can be as serious as facial tics, anxiety, insomnia, and depression. (Hancock and Wingert, 1996) Other sever symptoms include increase in blood pressure, nausea, hypersensitivity, and temporary decrease in bone growth (White and Rouge, 2003). In February of 1996, the Food and Drug Administration released a study done on mice that showed that Ritalin might even have the ability to cause a liver cancer (Hancock and Wingert, 1996). It is being feared by many physicians that Ritalin is being overly prescribed to children. Some doctors are seeing patients that have been told to have ADHD, but in reality have other problems such as learning difficulties or depression. Parents often even ask doctors for Ritalin, even when their child does not have a need for it, but the childs parents want to see his or her grades rise. Some doctors even admit to giving children the drug without doing much background checking of the child or any psychological tests that may prove the child has other problems. (Hancock and Wingert, 1996). ADHD is diagnosed without much hoop jumping. There are sixteen different symptoms that ADHD is connected with, and if the child has eight of them then all too often he or she is automatically considered to have ADHD; often without taking any other disorders or problems into consideration such as anxiety or depression (Donnelly, 1998). It seems as though parents are able to get their children the drug almost at demand. If they feel their child is in need of the stimulant, there is little stopping them from receiving it. Skepticism of ADHD and stimulants continue getting more serious when taking in some of the statistics. One fact that may change someones thoughts on the disorder is that 8 in 10 children with ADHD are boys (Donnelly, 1998) But does anyone put into consideration that girls develop and become mature faster than boys? Or is it being forgotten that kids are just kids and are not always going to act as teachers and parents desire? Another issue relating to Ritalin is the possibilities of unknown long-term effects that have not yet been discovered. There have not been any long-term studies done on children who have taken Ritalin. Since ADHD cannot be tested by blood tests or any other kind of testing, there is always the chance that children are being misdiagnosed and receiving stimulants for a disorder that they do not have (Hancock and Wingert, 1996). Children sometimes have symptoms that seem like ADHD but arent at all. The child can have problems such as chronic fear, mild seizures or even chronic ear infections, all of which may make adults assume the child has the disorder, but in reality has something completely different. Often problems at home make children act up as well. There maybe an abusive parent at home that makes a child be difficult in the classroom. In cases like these the child is not in need of drugs, but needs counseling (White and Rouge, 2003). The concept of ADHD and its medications are really hard to justify. There are some very valid reasons for putting children on the drug, especially helping them pay attention in school and having the same opportunity as the rest of the children in their classes. But the side effects are just mind boggling. I think even the slightest chance of some of these side effects mentioned would want parents to search for alternatives for their children and keep them away from the drug. Another problem about ADHD is the fact that doctors cannot find anything psychically different from the children diagnosed with the disease from those that are normal. Dr. Thomas Millar, a retired Vancouver child psychiatrist, goes as far as to say that ADHD is a mythical disorder(Donnelly, 1998, p. 2). He also says that the problem is not hyper children, but rather its poor parenting. Children that act as children do- easily excited, short attention spans, and hyper (all symptoms of ADHD)- are not considered to be acting as normal children, but rather as children with a disorder . I think Dr. Millar put it best when he said, If Tom Sawyer was around today, hed be Ritalin, as would any other normal boy in literature. Today, parents dont have any idea of what child behavior ought to be. Parents who start giving their children this drug at ages as earlier as two, I think, are looking for quick fix and are being lazy. How can parent decide that a two year old is being hyperactive (White and Rouge, 2003)? Most two year olds are active and have little to no attention spans. I think this only teaches children that drugs are the answer to all our problems. By putting a child on a mind altering drug at such a young age, when he or she has not even started school yet, it leaves a parent with very little evidence or reason for their action. The child does not have schoolwork yet, and has little need for paying attention for long periods of time, so what does this child need the drug for? Because the child is difficult and more active than a parent wishes? It almost seems as if parents want to change their childs personality and make their childhood less interesting. I think its very important that parents do not view Ritalin as the first and only way of calming their child down. All in all, Ritalin is a very controversial drug in our country because of its side effects and the insecurities of diagnosing ADHD. The drug carries very important help for children who are struggling to pay attention and without a doubt do have a disorder. But the number of children who are on the drug for the wrong reason is a scary thought. Are we become so impatient with our children that we do not want to take the time to discipline or help them through their problems? Have our children become so bad that we are willing to risk their health so they calm down and do not embarrass us? Our society needs to learn more about this drug that too many of us are so quickly giving to our children.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Single-Sex Classrooms

Advantages and Disadvantages of Single-Sex Classrooms Single-Sex Classrooms Imagine attending an all boys or all girls school while you were growing up. For some people this was reality, but for most people they have always attended a coeducational school. There are many opinions on single sex classrooms, as the topic arises in areas as a potential solution to enhancing students performances. According to LynNell Hancock the author of, A Room of Their Own, critics worry that single sex classrooms will create more gender inequality and set us back further in time by creating unfairness in the classroom(Hancock, 1996).[1] However even though some may believe it will create a set back in gender equality, having single-sex classrooms may be exactly what America needs to boost international test scores and students performances.Although many critics think single sex classrooms are insufficient because they separate the sexes, they are efficient because there are many ways that they enhance student’s performances by focusing on gender needs and eliminating distractions.[2][3][4]Currently America is seeing a drop in the youth’s test scores in school and are seeking out options for solutions to these low scores. This poor performance has led to calls for changes in public school education. According to the Article Boys and Girls learn differently! A Guide for teachers and parents by Michael Gurian,Patricia Henley, and Terry Trueman, one solution the country may be thinking of to bring up the low scores in classrooms could be single sex classrooms (2001).The reason for this is because the country wants to see how single-sex classrooms would affect the youth’s scores and change their performance in school overall.For our young ones this may mean they will see less coeducational classrooms and more single sex classrooms being implemented around the country and possibly in their own school. Some believe the reason our youth generation are receiving such low scores is possibly because of the social pressure they face each and e veryday in the classroom. According to Peter Simon the author of, Single Sex Classrooms minimized Distractions at Two Buffalo Schools, Simons claims that boys and girls going through adolescents need their own rooms for teaching, so they can focus on school more and not just on each other(Simon,2008). For kids going through adolescence the only thing they fear is being judged and their self image. So being in front of the opposite sex and performing or presenting can create a lot of pressure and damper their scores. This is one of the many reasons people feel that single-sex classrooms are a very effective way to stop physical and mental distractions. Although many feel that single-sex classrooms can decrease distractions, there are many different views people have when it comes to this topic. Smithers and Robinson the authors of, [5][6][7]The paradox of single-sex and coeducational schooling,had conducted a study of reviewing girls and boys together in classrooms and separately to see how it affects the students(2006).They looked at studies from New Zealand, the U.S., Ireland, Canada,the United Kingdom, and Australia and from their findings the two authors had concluded that single sex classrooms does not bring an advantage or disadvantage to the students or the schools. [8][9][10]This is an example of a point of view where they may feel that single-sex and coeducational classrooms make no difference because it all depends on the students in the study and how the teachers are also making a difference for these students. In this study they found that they believe both single-sex classrooms and coeducational classrooms have advantages and disadvantages but neither is considered better or worse. Single-sex classrooms do have their advantages to a child’s performance. In respect to the previous claim there is a beneficial outcome from single sex classrooms. For example at Houghton Academy in Buffalo, New York in a single-sex classroom the amount of students who had passed the states eighth-grade math exam went from 30.8% of students to 60% of students due to the single sex classrooms implemented into the school(Peter,2008). Also there was a rise in english too. The passing rate improved from 28.6% to 40% of the students passing(Peter,2008). This means because of the single-sex classroom the test scores alone improved almost 50% for both subjects.That is a big improvement from coeducational to single-sex classrooms to show that they can make a difference in students’ performances. Many proponents of single-sex education believe that separating boys and girls increases students’ achievement and academic interest. One of those proponents being â€Å"girl power† and encouraging girls to participate more in subjects that are seen as more masculine. According to the article, Still failing at fairness: How gender bias cheats girls and boys in school and what we can do about it, by David Sadker and Karen Zittleman, teachers and schools worry that subjects seen as more masculine decrease young girl’s interests in pursuing these subjects because they feel intimidated(Zittleman and Sadker,2009)[11][12][13]. This means that when girls are in coeducational classrooms they feel less interested in the traditionally masculine courses such as mathematics, technology, engineering, and science because the boys make the classroom setting seem as if it is very competitive and do not allow for girls to participate as much. Author Erin Pahlke explains this in her article, The Effects of Single-Sex Compared With Coeducational Schooling on Students’ Performance and Attitudes,she claims that sin gle sex classrooms empower girls because it allows them to enjoy those masculine classes such as math and science without being intimidated by the boys and feeling that they are in a masculine based classroom(Pahlke,2014). This shows that girls have better confidence and can build their performance in mathematics and science when in single-sex classrooms. Although girls feel more comfortable separated from boys in the classes seen as more masculine, boys may not always benefit as much as girls. Nancy Protheroe author of,Single Sex Classrooms, claims that some teachers explain that they feel that boys feel uncomfortable in this type of classroom setting and that teaching in a single sex classroom of all boys is a demanding job for the teachers(Protheroe, 2009). One of those reasons may be because boys always like to compete with one another so the classroom is just a big competition between those students.This shows that even though one gender may feel more comfortable alone,that boy s may not feel as comfortable, and may not be able to perform better because of the pressure they feel in a masculine based classroom. One factor that can affect whether the student’s performance enhances in a single-sex classroom is the teacher. Some teachers may be willing to adapt to the new single-sex classroom. On the other hand some teachers may not want to teach single-sex classrooms so if they are being forced to teach a class they do not want then the children’s performance will suffer because the teacher doesn’t want to give 100%. For example Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens explain in their writing,Single Sex Classrooms are Succeeding, that if teachers feel uncomfortable teaching a single sex classroom and feel that it goes against their beliefs they have the option to say no(Gurian Stevens, 2005). This means that if a teacher does not feel that single-sex classrooms is the right idea for the children then they will they have the option to say no. If the teacher can not have a say in the decision and is forced to teach single-sex classrooms that is when you will see no benefits comin g from the children’s performance because of the teachers lack of want to be there. Although for those teachers who would like to teach single-sex classrooms there are training sessions they can take. According to Michael Gurian, Kathy Stevens,Patricia Henley, and Terry Trueman,the authors of,Single Sex Classrooms are Succeeding,there are multiple trainings that teachers have already attended through the National Association for Public Single-Sex Education and the Gurian Institute, so that the teachers can be taught and be aware of the naturally different ways that boys and girls learn in the classroom.(Gurian, Stevens, Henley, Trueman 2009). This means for those teachers who would like to experience teaching in single-sex classrooms that they have a chance to be taught how so that there will be a positive atmosphere in the classroom. Overall the country is trying to find an effective way to help improve students’ scores and performances in school. Some schools are tr ying to implement single sex classrooms. However in single sex classrooms it does not just depend on the children’s willingness to participate. The teachers willingness and positive attitude in the classroom will play big role in how the students’ grades will improve. For those who are in single sex classrooms it will take away their social pressure and hormonal distractions for adolescents. It will also help girls succeed more in masculine seen classrooms because they will not feel the social pressure that those programs are just for boys. The feeling of not being judged or pressured helps students’ scores dramatically because while growing up kids are so worried about self image and not embarrassing themselves that they sometimes forget how important school really is. Author’s Note As a whole my strengths in my paper I believe were integrating many different sources and presenting a counter argument. Also I feel I had very strong sources. Some weaknesses my paper has is I had trouble breaking up the paragraphs because I had sources in them and I was explaining them in depth so it made them very long. Also another weakness is my word choice I feel that I could have used better words to describe certain situations. At this point as I turn in my paper I have revised it about 2-3 times and cut down on paragraphs and switched the format so it made more sense. Some of the paragraphs are now moved around to flow better.However, this has been a work in progress since I made my outline during spring break.My request for feeback is do you think I presented my argument very well or do you believe I jumped all over the place? Regardless of what is written above I spent 2 hours changing and paraphrasing my work so that I did not plagiarize. I feel that I paraphrased what th e authors said instead of copied it now that I went back and changed my paper. I Thank you very much for letting me revise and not failing me right away. This is my 4th revision so it should be okay now. Works Cited Page: Gurian, Michael, et al. Boys and Girls Learn Differently. Ebscohost. Ed. Michael Gurian et al. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015.http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/ bm[emailprotected]sessionmgr4002 vid=0format=EBrid=1>. Gurian, M., K. Stevens, and P. Daniels. Single Sex Classrooms Are Succeeding. Ebscohost. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. . Hancock, LynNell. A Room of Their Own. Ebscohost. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/pov/detail/[emailprotected]vid=0hid=4214b data=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwhAN=9606187719>. Pahlke, Erin, Hyde Janet, and Allison M. Carlie. The Effects of Single-Sex Compared With Coeducational Schooling on Students’ Performance and Attitudes: A Meta-Analysis. Ebscohost. N.p., 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/ehost/detail/[emailprotected]vid=1hid=110bdta=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCxjcGlkJmN1c3RpZD1zNTgwNTA4MyZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2 NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=pdhAN=2014-03898-001anchor=c170>. Peter, Simon. 1. Single-sex classrooms minimize distractions at two Buffalo schools: Principals separate boys and girls in grades seven and eight. ProQuest News and Magazines. N.p., 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.https://ezproxy.uwc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/ 455627612?accountid=42411>. Protheroe, Nancy. Single-Sex Classrooms. Ebscohost. N.p., May 2009. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/ pdfviewer?sid=e933715f-f864-4ca4-8e7a-3ca094fec92a%40sessionmgr110vid=1hid=110>. Sadker, David, and Karen Zittleman. Still Failing at Fairness: How Gender Bias Cheats Girls and Boys in School and What We Can Do about It. Ebscohost. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/ pdfviewer?sid=9068df59-cbc5-4a39-a0ba-5cf10b5d5796%40sessionmgr4004vid=1hid=42 Smithers, Alan, and Pamela Robinson. The Paradox of Single Sex and Coeducational Schooling. Alansmithers. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. http://www.alansmithers.com/reports/Paradox27Jul2006.pdf>. [1]_Re-opened_ [2]Easily identified, and, I think, is a good thesis. [3]_Marked as resolved_ [4]_Re-opened_ [5]Words taken directly from Words taken from https://www.naesp.org/resources/2/Principal/2009/M-J_p32.pdf [6]_Marked as resolved_ [7]_Re-opened_ [8]Words taken directly from Words taken from https://www.naesp.org/resources/2/Principal/2009/M-J_p32.pdf [9]_Marked as resolved_ [10]_Re-opened_ [11]This is taken directly from: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-a0035740.pdf [12]_Marked as resolved_ [13]_Re-opened_

School Counsellors for Gifted and Talented Students

School Counsellors for Gifted and Talented Students This paper critically reviews previous studies that have explored the role of school counsellors for gifted and talented students. School counsellors in Saudi Arabia receive little specific training in the needs of gifted students, and it is very rare for counsellor training programmes to require counsellors to take courses on gifted students as part of the degree requirements. Therefore, this article considers theories of counselling, and the role of school counsellors, and gifted student programmes in the USA, the UK and KSA. This review considers the counsellors role in different contexts and discusses it in the Saudi context. In doing so, the psychological, educational and professional skills of counsellors need to be understand in order to meet the needs of gifted and talented students so that they can live up to their ambitions and aspirations. Background of the study The role of the school counsellor is complicated and one of the most demanding careers when compared with other educational professions. It involves interaction with students from different cultural, economic and social backgrounds. The primary responsibility of the school counsellor is to develop the skills that will enable them to meet the challenges of this technological era. In the era of globalization, this objective is more important than ever, where we have to search for and develop the skills of talented students. In 1981, the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia established the General Directorate of Guidance and Counselling for Gifted Students. Since that time, guidance and counselling has become formalized and recognized as a profession, and counsellors have been appointed to deal with psychological, social, educational and vocational problems and to deliver protective counselling (Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, 1999). For this reason the current paper will highlight the historical background of school counselling and counsellors of the gifted and talented in the USA, UK and KSA. In the 1955 Yearbook of Education, reference is made to counselling as a process of helping individuals through their own efforts to discover and develop their potentialities both for personal happiness and social usefulness (Hall Lauwerys, 1955, cited in Milner, 1974). A more recent definition is that counselling is to help an individual to make his own decisions and choices in the light of his feelings and needs (Milner, 1974). Jones (1970) suggested that counselling Is an enabling process, designed to help an individual come to terms with his life as it is and ultimately to grow to greater maturity through learning to take responsibility and to make decisions for himself. The American School Counsellor Association (ASCA, 1999) defines counselling as an interactive process as follows: it is a confidential relationship in which the counsellor meets with students individually and in small groups to help them resolve or cope constructively with their problems and developmental concerns. In Coreys (2002) words, the central function of counselling is to help clients recognize their own strengths, discover what is preventing them from using their strengths, and clarify what kind of person they want to be. Counselling is a process by which clients are invited to look honestly at their behaviour and lifestyle and make certain decisions about how they want to modify the quality of their life. McLaughlin (1993) mentions that effective school counselling has three elements: an educative function whereby attention is focused on the social development of the student within the school context; a reflective function which explores the possible impact of the school practices and societal conditions on the personal and mental health of the student, and a welfare function which is concerned with planning for and reacting to issues that affect the students welfare. Saudi Arabia has conducted research to find out the best approach to gifted education, but of course for females who are severely restricted in the subjects they are allowed to study, these moves are somewhat academic. An interesting survey of computer use in Arabic countries was made by a Jordanian, Subhi (1997). He recommended that gifted pupils records should be computerised for easier monitoring of their progress, and he has designed a programme to help this. The problem, he found though, is that although there are computers in Jordanian schools, there are very few of them and the teachers do not generally know how to use them. It looks as though most, if not all, Arab countries are willing to recognise and help the gifted, and several have made forays into out-of-school activities, but the overall outcome is still difficult to define. Some authors (such as Sternberg et al., 1986, Ziegler and Heller, 2000) believe that a consensus is yet to be reached on what is meant by the term (gifted), and yet multiple efforts have been made to establish criteria for this, which include components such as motivation, creativity, task commitment, and problem solving. However, personal talent is described by Renzulli (1999a, p.4) as exceptional ability to select and achieve difficult goals that fit ones interests, abilities and social contexts. In his view, personal talent is a capability developed in the field of self-management that is concentrated by the individual in the direction of selected outcomes that contain well-being, happiness, personal relationships, hobbies as well as career achievements. He proposes that personal talent can be referred to as a range where those in the centre of this continuum can be explained as personally competent, while those at the high end of the range can be categorized as personally talente d. On the other hand, Masten et al. (2002) argue that resilient individuals learn how to overcome obstacles in order to achieve their anticipated goals, and that this can be described as personal talent. Also, Bland et al. (1994) refer to specific characteristics of resilience as an indicator of exceptional abilities and talent regarding children from poor backgrounds. In this regard, Marker et al. (1996) propose that numerous of the principles of distinguishing curriculum for gifted and talented learners support the development of personal talent. They refer to learning environments that foster independence, flexibility and high mobility as being potentially more promising for fostering personal talents than the more traditional teacher-centred classrooms that concentrate on lectures with academic content. However, some researchers regret the fact that research on giftedness has been somewhat biased, having mainly concentrated on IQ-related abilities that address academic skills, and b y-passing or simply ignoring other basic skills such as vocational skills (Bals, 1999), practical intelligence in everyday life (Sternberg, 2000), and, most importantly, social skills (Persson, 1997). Motivation is another issue that has been the focus of research with regard to gifted children. According to Sternberg (2000), some theories depict motivation as an assisting internal factor in the expansion of giftedness. One of these theories is Gages dynamic theory of giftedness which depicts motivation, volition and self-management as interpersonal catalysts that help convert gifts into talents. However, these theories have failed to provide guidance in assisting youths of high ability to develop motivation. For this reason, some researchers (for example, Colangelo et al. 2000; Alrasheed, 2001) believe that talented students should be identified and given tasks at a higher level than the normal school curriculum. Renzulli (1999b) is of the opinion that gifted students should be pro ducers of knowledge rather than mere consumers of existing information. He believes that specific programmes and services for the talented and gifted are the only solution to allow them to live up to their potential. This idea is further supported by Reis et al (1995) who argues that it is not fair to make a gifted child sit in a classroom where learning something new will not happen until the second half of the year. According to Alhossaini (2000), the effectiveness of the educational process could be seen in table (1): The above figure of methods of interactions could be interpreted in this table. If these roles are all positive, we get the creative outcome. And it is mines, mines, mines, it is less creative. Pattison (2006) suggests that, counselling is an activity that takes place behind closed doors in privacy, the nature of client confidentiality requires this. However, this can make counselling practices and processes mysterious and misunderstood. In placing this research in the public arena, it is hoped that counselling practices and processes have been made a little more transparent and that the case for including young people with learning disabilities in counselling has been strengthened. Bor et al. (2002) state that school counselling is an interaction in a therapeutic setting, focusing primarily on a conversation about relationships, beliefs and behaviour (including feelings), through which the childs perceived problem is elucidated and framed or reframed in a fitting and useful way, and in which new solutions are generated and the problem takes on a new meaning . Research Problem There have been few programmes for gifted students offered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Even though there has been programmes existing, it is new and is for further evaluation to be able to develop it more for the students. It has been believed that if there has been more developed programmes for gifted children then they will be more enhanced and so, benefiting the country. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have put up programmes for gifted students but is new and rare. There has been studies regarding the support of the authorities in the schools on how to support gifted students. 1.5 The research questions Based on the aims articulated in the previous section, the following specific research questions have been formulated: How does the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia support gifted students? Does the authorities in the schools help in the development of the programmes? How do we determine the effectiveness of the programmeswith the school counsellor, principal, and teachers help? 1.6 Sub-questions Two sub-questions will also be explored: Do the teacher, student counsellor and principal who work with gifted students have special qualifications? What is the level and nature of the response of gifted students to these programmes? Historical review of school counselling in USA Schmidt (1999) suggests that the development of school guidance and counselling in the United States has its roots in the vocational guidance movement, which started in 1898 when a Detroit school principal, Jesse Davis, introduced a guidance curriculum that was delivered in each English class in his school to help students develop character, avoid problem behaviour, and relate vocational interests to the solution of their vocational and social problems. Gysbers (2001) argues that in the 1920s and 1930s, the concept of guidance evolved from vocational to educational guidance. Educational guidance was viewed as a set of activities that would address not only occupational concerns but also the personal and educational aspects of individuals. However, although school counselling remained focused on secondary schools, counsellors were beginning to appear in some elementary schools in Boston in the 1930s. Yet, it was not until the 1960s that the need was generally recognized and funds were provided for the training of counsellors in elementary schools (Schmidt, 1999). However, Baker (2001) suggests that despite the progressive movement of the 1960s, school counselling did not fare well in the 1970s. During the 1970s and into the 1980s, a number of school counselling positions were eliminated and fewer jobs were available for newly trained school counsellors due to school budget cuts and financial problems across the US. At the same time, concern was being expressed about the programmes of guidance and counselling and the services offered by counsellors in school (Baker, 1996; Schmidt, 1999). On the other hand, Herr (2001) says that attempts to define the role and functions of the schools comprehensive developmental models w ere better suited to meeting the development needs of students. In 1997, the American School Counsellor Association (ASCA) (1999) adopted the National Standards for School Counselling Programmes. According to these standards, school counsellors are required to address the needs ofstudents comprehensively through the implementation of a developmental school-counselling programme. Historical review of school counselling in the UK School counselling in the United Kingdom dates back to 1913 when London County Council appointed a psychologist to examine backward children and advise their parents and teachers on methods of treatment (Milner, 1974). However, it was not until the 1960s that school counselling began to emerge as a discipline in its own right (Bor et al., 2002). At the time, the American school counselling model which was based on the client-centred approach proposed by Rogers (1961) was influential. Rogers produced a report in which he recommended that counsellors should be appointed to look into the needs of low achieving children. As a result, counselling courses were set up for experienced teachers, and several hundred counsellors were employed by local education authorities throughout the country (Bor et al., 2002). However, according to the Department of Education and Science (1989, cited in Bets et al. 1995) pastoral care is concerned with promoting pupils personal and social development and f ostering positive attitudes. Confronted with pervasive and traumatic social problems such as the collapse of the extended family and increases in rates of violence, the need for school counselling attracted the attention of local education authorities. However, in the light of limited budgets, the 1980s witnessed a shift of emphasis on counselling, and it was felt that counselling should be integrated into teaching practice, so that teachers themselves should take responsibility for pastoral care (Bor et al., 2002; Mclaughin, 1999). Jones (1970) says that, in the absence of government backing, enthusiasm for counselling courses began to fade, and the majority of schools were left without counsellors. To exacerbate the situation even further, cuts in education funding at thehands of the Conservative government in the 1980s resulted in a reduction in the number of existing counsellors (McLaughlin, 1999). According to one estimate, only fifty counsellors were left in schools in England and Wales following the introduction of the local management of schools in 1987 (Robinson, 1996). Bor et al. (2002) argue that since the 1980s and despite heavy workloads, growing social problems and immense psychological pressure, teachers in the United Kingdom still continue to play a major role in counselling their students. To add to their problems, they have recently fallen under pressure to fulfil all of the criteria of an over-demanding National Curriculum. As a result, teachers now find it difficult to fulfil a pastoral role, and schools are beginning to feel the need to employ counsellors to meet the educational, psychological and emotional needs of students. To provide teachers with the necessary counselling skills, a sizeable number of studies in the field of pastoral care began to appear (e.g. Raymond, 1985; Watkins, 1994; Hamblin, 1984; Marland, 1989). In general, these studies focused on good student-teacher relationships (Mclaughlin, 1999), emphasized the importance of assisting children to improve their lives, and used study skills to guide them in making their own decisions (Raymond, 1985). Nonetheless, although the literature on counselling and pastoral care in the United Kingdom is vast, it is still not integrated and provides only a few guidelines on practice (Al-Rebdi, 2000). On the other hand, some still argue that teachers have to manage complicated and demanding situations, channelling the personal, emotional and social pressures of 30 or so youngsters (Black et al., 1998). The debate is still raging between those who argue that counselling should be provided by specialists and those who suggest that teachers should bear the burden. Inthis context it is worth listing the duties and responsibilities of the school counsellor as outlined by the British Association for Counselling (1997). These are: Â · To offer pupils, parents and staff individual or group counselling. Â · To provide information on the counselling service, the role of the counsellor and boundaries of confidentiality. Â · To cooperate with head teachers, governors, parents and, where appropriate, the local education authority, in setting up a suitable appointment system. Â · To keep suitable case records of counselling conducted in a secure place. Â · To report back to management on a regular basis on the numbers that use the service and to give a general overview of the types of problem encountered. Â · To liaise with the pastoral management team, year tutors, class teachers, governors, parents and caring agencies. Â · To network with personnel from other agencies with a view to easing referrals and accessing specialist consultants. Â · To devise and, where appropriate, deliver a programme of training to support and develop the counselling service. Â · To attend supervision with a suitably qualified supervisor. Historical review of school counselling in the KSA Initially, in 1981, the Ministry of Education established the General Directorate of Guidance and Counselling. Since that time, guidance and counselling has become formalized and recognized as a profession, and counsellors have been appointed to deal with psychological, social, educational, and vocational problems and deliver protective counselling (Ministry of Education KSA, 1999). It should be mentioned here that the model for and practice of guidance and counselling in SaudiArabian schools was derived from western sources, mainly the United States. More than two decades have passed since the guidance and counselling programme was established in Saudi schools. Its development has progressed at a slow rate and, currently, it faces various problems. The major difficulty relates to the definition of the role and function of the school counsellor (Al-Gamdi, 1999) which is unclear to principals, teachers, parents, students and school counsellors themselves. Due to this problem, counsell ors have found themselves overly involved in paperwork and administrative tasks and duties not related to school counselling. Additionally, counsellors often complain about lack of support and cooperation from others involved in the counselling service, especially parents (Al-rebdi, 2000). In this situation, if school counsellors in Saudi Arabia are to provide better services for students, their role must be clearly defined. It is also necessary for those involved in counselling to have a clear view of what counsellors should and should not do. Added to this, counsellors must choose carefully how they spend their time and energy. As the role and functions of the school counsellors become clearer, they should be able to respond better to the needs of their students. Furthermore, in 1981, following decree number 216/k issued by the Ministry of Education, the Social Educational Administration was replaced by the Student Guidance and Counselling Service, and guidance and counselling in Saudi schools became formalised. That same year, the name was changed again to the General Administration for Guidance and Counselling (Ministry of Education, 1999). The responsibilities of this administration are as follows: 1- To plan, prepare and develop the programme and services of guidance and counselling. 2- To provide professional staff who are capable of delivering such services to all students at various stages of education. 3- To provide students with the appropriate care applicable to their ages and their psychological, educational and social needs. 4- To assist students to develop their capabilities, potentialities and talents, to allow them to face their problems and to help them feel comfortable with themselves and with the community in which they live. 5- To attain a high standard of mental health in a way that reflects the targets and goals sought by educational guidance in general (Ministry of Education, 1999). Saleh (1987) pointed out that, due to the immediate need for professionals to monitor and guide the counselling service in schools, the Ministry of Education sought personnel from among the existing social education supervisors to act as the supervisors; counselling and guidance programmes in addition to carrying out their normal duties. The Ministry of Education also sought personnel from within the existing teaching force, provided they had the relevant experience, to work temporarily as counsellors in schools. To meet the need for school counsellors in all schools, the General Administration for Guidance and Counselling allowed those with a Bachelors degree in psychology, social work or sociology to perform the role of the school counsellor until enough trained professional counsellors could be provided. In order to meet the need for trained full-time counsellors to work in schools, universities in Saudi Arabia were requested to offer guidance and counselling programmes at masters level. Statistical information for the year 2000 shows that there were 229 counselling supervisors and 3381 school counsellors overall (Ministry of Education, 2000). By 2003, the number of counsellors had increased rapidly toabout 4000(Al-Rebdi, 2004). The Ministry of Education (1999) defined the term counselling as the interactive process though which the counsellor assists the student to understand himself and recognise his capabilities and potentialities and gives him a more enlightened approach to his problems and how to face them. Counsellors also help students to enhance their responsible behaviour and to show conformity with their community. Counselling gifted students Landau (1990) noted that gifted students might become isolated and alienated. Moreover, Rogers (1983) pointed out that in an egalitarian system children not only lack the opportunity for confirmation and social acceptance, but they also often lack the freedom to learn. The need for confirmation and emotional support is well known in the literature which focuses on giftedness and talent (Csikszentmilalyi et al., 1993; Kelley, 1999; Stednitz, 1995). Donna (1999) suggests that teachers and counsellors need to encourage minority students to consider a teaching career in general and gifted student education in particular. Ford (1995) however, believes that from an historical point of view, the counselling of gifted students has not been an important part of educational and counselling discourse. He points out that misconceptions and stereotypes of gifted students as being immune to social, emotional, and academic problems have contributed to the lack of counselling for these students, and in cases where counselling is available it is only limited to academic, assessment and placement issues. According to Ford, the fact that more children are entering school with serious personal and academic problems should entail an expansion in the responsibilities and roles of counsellors to meet the needs of all children who seek guidance andassistance. But nonetheless according to Alrasheed, (2001) the limited availability of counselling services has failed to meet the enormous need for counselling services and research regarding gifted individuals. In this respect he endeavoured to provide counsellors, classroom teachers and educationalists as well as parents with advice regarding the understanding of the academic and social needs of gifted and talented students. Persson (2005) considers mentorship as a possible solution to aid the immediate psychological and intellectual needs of gifted individuals, particularly received mentorship. According to Person, mentorship could be direct or indirect by cooperating with the student to find a mentor of his choice, given the fact that not al l gifted students would be likely to choose their counsellors to be their mentors. Person expresses the conviction that mentorship is the only viable counselling solution in an egalitarian context, which lacks recognition and particular provision for gifted individuals. Ford (1995) outlines the goal of counselling as that of promoting healthy self-concepts and ensuring psychological growth. Bearing that in mind, counsellors must have an awareness and understanding of the many issues that hinder gifted students and affect their psychological, social and emotional well-being. He recognises the role of counsellors in ensuring that such students remain in gifted programmes once identified and placed. Finally the concept of counselling needs to be defined within a context where it is not a task assigned merely to a particular group. Instead, as Brown et al. (1992) suggest the task has expanded from an initial concern with educational and vocational guidance to the remediation and prevention of personal, interpersonal, vocational and educational concerns. Consequently, according to Persson (2005), the aim of the intervention is for the individual to gain an understanding of self and context, in which case individual differences become a sensitive and even problematic issue, particularly in cases where gifted individuals are involved. Research Design The design of the study is intended to determine: first, the relationship of the roles of student counsellor, teachers, and principals to the performance of the gifted students; second, the effectiveness of the programmes in developing the capacity of the gifted students. Instrumentation and Data Collection The researchers visited the [Insert name of University Library or City Library] for journals, articles and studies needed for the research paper. The researchers gathered time-series data from different physical training institutions to assure of its validity and consistency. The primary data will be gathered using quantitative method, as this is best useful with questionnaires. The use of quantitative method will be appropriate for the research because the results in the questionnaires consist of numerical information, mostly based from the ratings included in the questions. Quantitative methods are used to provide reference to numeric calculations and are often used with questionnaires that have a specific goal and a target to achieve. This is helpful in the research, and its instigation in the process needs to be further culminated so that the problem is solved with efficiency and precision. In gathering data, the researcher would like to clear certain ethical issues that might hinder the processing of data. First, confidentiality will be kept at all costs. As the main reason why questionnaires will be used in the research is for the respondents to feel secure and to be assured that their answers will not be related to who they are. There may be instances wherein the respondent will divulge information that will be detrimental to the company, or to its competitors, depending on the case. Hence, there is a better chance at more responsive respondents if they can be assured of their confidentiality. Second, the Data Protection Act will be followed at all costs. The compliance with the act will be transparently said to the respondents so that they are further assured that anything they say in response to the questions asked them will only be used for the benefit of the research and not in any other practices. It should also be clear to the researcher that any information regarding the respondents cannot be released to anyone who is not immediately connected with the research unless permission from the subject respondent has been secured beforehand. Third, the research must always bear in mind the objectives of the study and never stray away from them. A researcher who has no definite purpose in doing the research is going nowhere and is exerting effort in a research that is not delimited properly and punctually. The purpose of the research is explicitly stated at the beginning of the research and is implied in every step of the realization of the research so as to not delineate the researcher from his goals. Lastly, the researcher must opt to practice objectivity. As the researcher, he is expected to keep an open-minded approach to the topic, keeping from his mind and personal bias in the subject matter or on the people involved. The reason for doing research is to test existing information, validate, prove or disprove existing ideas, or to test the limits of a certain prospect. Given this simple definition, it is clearly seen that in no form is the personal opinions of the researcher expected to hinder in the subject. Any act that might be biased or subjective will hint of the researchs failure to achieve its goals. Planned Method of Analysis The researchers plan to analyze the different test conducted through constant evaluation of the gifted students and how they perform. There will be a weekly evaluation in terms of how the programmes and the role of the authorities, and the effect of it to their performance. The performance in the field will be evaluated by the gifted students progress and development. Time Schedule Literature Review History of programmes for gifted students in KSA Observation Questionnaires Evaluation of performance Analysis of performance of the students Findings and Recommendation Conclusions Conclusion The role of school counsellors for gifted and talented students has been discussed widely in the literature. However, school counsellors urgently need to be provided with the appropriate skills in the areas of education and psychology so that they are capable of providing guidance to talented students and thereby respond to their needs in a way that will boost the educational process in the school. Counselling gifted students and their relatives is one of the mainly challenging and satisfying functions for a counsellor. Gifted students have wonderful variability, not only in their cognitive capability, but in their affective progress. While there are obviously frequent themes in the social-emotional issues tackling gifted students, there are also reflective individual differences amongst them. The talented student faces numerous problems that make life hard for him at school. However, anxiety and tension may affect his social life as well as forcing him to live in isolation. Moreover, decisions in relation to gifted learners should be part and parcel of a wider programme. This implies the identification of the task as being one which helps children conform with their culture, or empowers children to advance in their society, or challenges social, political and economic inequalities. Schoolcounsellors receive little specific training on the affective needs of gifted students and it is rare for counsellor training programmes to require counsellors to take a course on gifted students as a degree requirement. The role of the school counsellor is to develop the skills of the pupils in general, giving special attention to those who are talented and innovative by discovering their areas of interest, and by responding to their needs in a way that will achie