New York Demographics and the Economy Term Paper

New York Demographics and the Economy - Term Paper ExampleIn coming years, the population is set to increase at a rate of 1-1.5% that cannister be a source of worry for the government. It was further found that 51.5% of the entire population of the state are female and the remaining 48.5% are male. 53% of the total population identify themselves as Caucasian, 18% as Hispanic, 8% as Asians, and remaining as native individuals.The health status of New York State operates a state-based marketplace that is known as the NY State of Health. It is designed to help and support people to shop and enroll for health insurance coverage along with comparison insurance coverage and costs. The marketplace also helps people to check their eligibility for healthcare programs such as Medicaid. The marketplace helps people to know about the financial aid that plays an important role in availing relevant medical and healthcare services. 2The state seems to be expanding its medical and healthcare cov erage for low-income adults in order to enhance their wellbeing. monetary capacity of a state can be defined as the ability of a governmental jurisdiction to transform economic activities within its geographical boundaries into the public spending. The idea is to raise revenue along with keeping a transparent approach in terms of presenting data and information to the public. 3 Thus, the economic capacity of states is based on taking into the account the income produced, income received from the residents, and total property wealth along with relevant expenses on the public needs and demands. found on the State Health Facts, it was found that the state fiscal capacity for the year 2013 fell short by $2,000 million and that was around the total shortfall of 3.4%. This was mainly because of the expenses that affected the total earnings and thus the shortfall.

Politicians and religious leaders Essay Example for Free

Politicians and religious leading EssayWhat is courage and how do muckle define it? A quite a little of sight have their own definitions of courage and a lot of them see it in many different ways. According to Websters dictionary courage implies firmness of mental capacity and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty (Courage). But in my own opinion having courage takes a lot of self confidence and audaciousness to be able to face angiotensin converting enzyme thing or do something that is very challenging and difficult. A lot of people define courage in lots of various ways.For other people such as soldiers, it may mean like fighting on a battle and facing all their enemies without any feeling of fear or hesitation to be able to serve their country and other people spontaneous to sacrifice their lives for the true of mankind and benefit of their country. In many circumstances, each and either individualist in the world has courage. Different types of courage c an be seen in their actions, words, works and other aspects of every humanss life. There be different kinds of courage and it depends on how an individual wants to illustrate it.There are physical types of courage and moral ones. Physical courage could pertain to facing or dealing with something that has something to do with being valiant and not feeling terror-struck of getting physically hurt and willing to face any kind of danger that can cause an individual to suffer physically or redden face death. On the other hand moral courage is related to becoming brave and the act of doing something that is deemed to be well(p). It shows the readiness of an individual to demonstrate the right act despite of different consequences such as being put into shame or scandal.Two different kind of courageousness yet they both(prenominal) share only one thought and meaning, which is being fearless and ready to face anything whatever consequence it may lead one person (Welsh). mass manifest the act of courage everyday as they live their life. From infants to adults, courage is always present and can be observed to each and every individual on earth. For instance, a one year old child should have courage to be able to learn to walk, children needs courage to go to their foremost day of school and meet new people, teachers, classmates and friends, even an adult should have courage to apply for a job and start working on a company.Another example is a man who loves a woman should have courage to tell her what he feels to achieve what he wants and he should also be ready for whatever consequence it may lead him, like knowing that the girl loves him too or it could be the other way around. Courageousness is the one who pushes somebody to do something no matter what outcome may be. Furthermore, sick people such as those who have serious illness who wants to live extended should have a lot of courage to fight for their lives and survive to be able to live longer. Politicia ns and religious leaders are also a good example of people who demonstrates courage.As for politicians, they have the courage to lead people and do their best to make things in order while religious leaders teaches people lessons in life and encourage people to do good and to be closer to God. They serve people and they are brave enough to do their tasks no matter what consequence they may get and experience out of their courageous act such as false accusations, mockery and scandals. Simple things in life require courage in order for somebody to do and face it. The true meaning of courage can be seen in every individuals heart. Being brave is to stand up for what one person believes and act on it.It is something that can be seen in every human being. Courage may sound a very simple word but it has a great meaning and value to every person in the world. Without courage the world would be chaotic and the world will not be a better world. Works Cited Courage. Merriam-Webster Online Di ctionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 2 April 2009 http//www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/courage Welsh, Bill. definition of Courage. 116acw. acc. af. mil. 14 September 2006. 2 April 2009 http//www. 116acw. acc. af. mil/news/story. asp? id=123027106

“The Death and the Maiden” D. 810 by Franz Schubert Essay Example for Free

The oddment and the Maiden D. 810 by Franz Schubert EssayFranz Peter Schubert was born on the 31st of January 1797 in Lichtental, Austria which is near Vienna. He has fifteen brothers and sisters, except only five of them live to see their low birthday. The father, Franz Teodor is the Principal in a local school. The mother, Elizabeth Viets was a cook in a Viennese family. When Franz Schubert was on the nose five-year-old he started act uponing the fiddle and his teacher was his own father. Three years later, Michael Holzer, who was the parish priest in the town, started to teach the eight-year-old composer how to play the organ. Franz Schubert composed his start parting at the age of conscionable ten. In 1808, he started singing in the courtier choir. Not only he was a soloist in the choir scarcely did he play in the section of flake violins in the orchestra. This way, he came to know the music of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At this time, Shubert was tau ght by Antonio Salieri.After graduating from a teaching seminary in 1814, Schubert worked as a teacher alongside his father until 1818. The three year period among 1818 and 1821 is probably the toughest test in the composers life. Shubert was trying to earn enough liberal private lessons but the m one and only(a)y was really insufficient. He was not able to find a full-time job either, so he had to live with rough of his fri abolishs other composers and poets. In 1818 and 1820 as a musical teacher of count Esterhazys daughters, the young composer had the chance to visit Hungary. Schubert learnt a lot about the Magyar national music and the Gypsy music during these visits.Suddenly and unexpectedly, his crys become really popular in Hungary and Austria after 1821 when he managed to publish around of his works with his friends help. Franz Schubert is the composer of some of the greatest classical master pieces ever written such as The Unfinished Symphony No. 8 D 759, the piano quintet The Trout D. 667, the wander quadruplete The Death and the Maiden D 810 and of course his more than 600 songs. Schubert is also the pioneer of the song cycle genre, composing pieces such as break-dance Winterreise D.911, and Die Schone Mullerin D. 795. The composer died on November the 19th 1928 in Vienna.This essay has been prep ared to examine several different aspects of Franz Schuberts chamber music by of importly giving examples from the sop up quartet Death and the Maiden D. 810 and the song Der unaccompanied und Das Madchen D. 531. Analyses and connection in the midst of the verse Der Tod und Das Madchen by Matthias Claudius, the song and the string quartet The Death and the Maiden by Franz Schubert will also be included. Also, the extent to which Schubert has taken the verbal melody and made it idiomatic for the string instruments will be explored.Most of the Schuberts songs are really connected with poetry. He used to work with poets such as Goethe and Sch iller, who had a huge impact onto the composers works. Christoph Wolff suggests that the things which Shubert loosely liked in the Matthias Claudius poems were the purity and relief of the poetic language. (Bandura-Skoda, Branscombe, 1982, 144). The song The Death and The Maiden D. 531, which was composed by Franz Schubert in 1815 is found on the poem Der Tod und Das Madchen by Matthias Claudius which was written in 1775. The poem consists of two stanzas as example one generates.Das MadchenDer TodVoruber Ach, voruberGib deine Hand, du schon und zart Gebild Geh, wilder Knochenmann lay in Freund, und komme nicht, zu strafen. Ich salt away noch jung Geh lieber,Sei gutes Muts Ich bin nicht wild, Und ruhre mich nicht an.Sollst sanft in meinen Armen schalfenThe Maiden DeathPass me by Oh, pass me by Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form Go, fierce man of cram I am a friend, and come no to punish. I am still young Go, rather, Be of good cheer I am not fierce, And do not tou ch me. Softly shall you sleep in my armsExample 1 The poem Der Tod und Das Madchen.It is clear to see that the poem is in a form of a dialog between The Maiden and The Death. A describe feature in the first stanza is the short sentences, result with an exclamation mark. This shows that the girl is frightened and afraid of The Death. On the other hand, The Death in the second stanza is meant to be scary and dangerous, but instead of that it sounds virtuous and evening makes a compliment in the opening words Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form. Anyhow, in that respect is an enkindle item about the cognomen of the poem Der Tod und Das Madchen, therefore the names of the song and the string quartet by Schubert The Death and The Maiden, which is the reverse order of the two stanzas match with the title which shows the serious presence of Death even before the opening words.The song The Death and The Maiden D. 531 by Schubert is logically as contrasting as the poem which it is based on. The opening eight bars of the song are just an introduction to the following piece. From bar nine onwards, Schubert uses very smart resources to sanction the scary and anxiety atmosphere such as chromatism and quicker metric rhythm, as it piece of ass be seen on example two.Example 2 the song The Death and The Maiden D. 531 It can be said that the Maiden is giving up resisting the Death between bars sixteen and twenty-one and there are few evidence supporting this idea. Firstly, the vocal line is going downwards which is a sign of humility. Secondly, the metric rhythm in these six bars is take root and uninterested, exactly as it was in the very opening of the song. Lastly, the fermata in bar twenty-one could be the final clue that the Maiden is already given up fighting. After this really dramatic moment for the listener, Schubert introduces the second character in the piece The Death. (Bandura-Skoda, Branscombe, 1982, 152) The composer sets the tempo of the introduction as a tempo for the second actuate of the song. thither is a little dynamic detail, however really important.The dynamic in the first let out of the song (the part of The Maiden) is p while in the second part (the part of The Death) is pp. By using this technique, Shubert makes the lyrics of the Death sound even more shocking. The opening words in the second stanza are so important that the composer keeps the vocal line on the tonic of D minor for nearly six whole bars. The words Gieb deine Hand, du schon und zart Gebuild, which translates as follows Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form are accompanied by quite a simple harmony posture. Schubert uses the tonic of the D minor in the first bar of the second part of the song and then the sub-dominant is used in the second bar which develops into its first inversion in the following bar. The composer goes stick out to the tonic in the four-spotth bar, but just to set a much more interesting harmonic pat tern for the second verse of the stanza Bin Freud, und komme nicht, zu strafen, which means I am a friend, and come not to punish.In the fifth bar of the second part of the song the chord existence used is the first inversion of the supertonic seventh which changes to the second inversion of the same chord in the first part of the following bar. However, the chord used in the second part of the bar in question, which is bar six of the second part of the song, is the seventh of the sub-dominant. The composer uses bar seven for a transition to the new key of F major, which is established in the eighth bar. The harmony is being changed from sub-dominant to the tonic of F major and back to the first inversion of the sub-dominant in the frames of the conterminous bar. During the next two bars ten and eleven, the tonic sub-dominant movement in F major continues.The Death ends with the words Sollst Sanft in Meinen Armen Schafen which translates as Softly shall you sleep in my arms. Sch ubert goes back to D minor in this last passage also, the composer uses the French augmented 6th for the word Schlafen. This chord seems to be the perfect one to finish the idea of the Death with, as it sounds unsure, uncomfortable and probably harmless. Immediately after that, in the last seven bars, Schubert unexpectedly uses D major, as if to show the public that the Death has no bad intentions. These harmonic patterns and the lack of melody movement in the second stanza can only characterize the Death piece as supernatural and really contrasting to the active voice part in the first stanza. (Bandura-Skoda, Branscombe, 1982, 153)As already said above, the song is based on the poem, which is the reason for some absolutely striking similarities between the two of them. For example, Schubert clearly differentiates the two stanzas and the two dialogue partners by various terms such as the dynamics and declamatory gestures. The piano dynamic, crescendo and diminuendo in the first par t of the song correspond to the short and disjunct phrases in the Maiden part of the poem. Likewise, the pianissimo dynamic in the second part of the song is in harmony with the long and conjunct phrases in the Death part of the poem (Bandura-Skoda, Branscombe, 1982, 150).However, an interesting fact is that Schubert does not use two different voices for the two stanzas. This perhaps was his way of making the dramatic dialogue between the Maiden and the Death even more effective. In fact, Schubert uses a material which was antecedently written by him quite often. For example, the famous piano quintet in A major D. 667 is based on the song the Trout D. 550. Similarly, the Wanderer D. 493 supplies with material the C major fantasy D. 760. As it was already mentioned above, the twine four D. 810 The Death and the Maiden is based on the song D. 531. More precisely, the second movement of the string quartet, which consists of one main reputation and five transformations, is completel y based on that song. The main theme can be divided into three parts A, B and C.Example 3 comparison of the first eight bars of the second movement of the string quartet (above) and the song (below) The A section, which is shown on example three above, is almost directly taken from the song. Afterwards, between bars nine and sixteen, which is section B, the music is getting livelier and vivid, just to correspond perfectly to the Maidens feelings. The C section of the main theme, between bars seventeen and twenty-four, is again calm exactly as the Death in the Claudiuss poem is. The first twenty-four bars are probably the most beautiful and angelic, yet incredibly simple, in the Romantic era. However, the simplicity of the whole passage is what makes it so genuine. For example, the note G is repeated thirteen times between bars seventeen and twenty-four in the part of the first violin, while the note B is repeated fourteen times in the viola part. Anyhow, the feature which makes th ese bars sound so perfect is the harmony pattern which is shown on example four.Example 4 Harmonic analysis of bars seventeen to twenty four of the second movement of the string quartet The first variation starts in bar twenty-five. Basically, the harmony pattern is the same to the one in the original theme. This time, however, the second violin and the viola provide the harmony which was previously played by the whole quartet. The inner-voices sustain the key feature in this variation in triplets throughout. The violoncello is providing the foundation of the whole passage by contend soaked quaver pizzicato notes.The first violin part is really interesting in this variation, because it has very much a supporting role, something unusual, especially at the beginning of a piece. The notes played are part of the chord played by the rest of the group. This first of five variations is somehow more tensed and worked up compare to the original theme in the movement. This is probably to underline the Maiden fright when she tries to escape the Death at the beginning of the poem. In the second variation, there is a lead singing part the cello. It is interesting to see how this melody corresponds to the original theme, which can be seen on example five.Example 5 Comparison between the cello part in the 2nd variation (above) and the original theme (underneath) The second violin provides a second voice, which supports the main tune. It is a fantastic accompaniment because of its multitasking. The dotted quavers form the supporting voice which was mentioned above, while the semi-quavers complete the first violin and the viola accompaniment roles, as it can be seen on example six.Example 6 The unique, multitasking second violin part in the second variation. The role of the viola throughout this variation is to provide a strong base part. Schubert achieved that with very simple but incredibly effective rhythm quaver, quaver rest and two quavers. This pattern repeats f or twenty-four bars. The first violin part has an ornamental function again, likewise in the first variation.It can be said, that the harmonic patterns remains similar to these at the beginning of the piece, however, there are scarce more notes played in this variation which is the reason for the more tensed and excited feelings. The third variation is an absolute shock for the listener. It is a kind of pass completion of the feelings which have been building up so far in the movement. This variation is unlike both of the rest in terms of role playing of the four instruments. The key feature in the third variation is the rhythm which is presented mainly by the second violin and the viola, while still reminiscing about the main theme with all the quavers, as example seven shows.Example 7 Strong rhythmic second violin and viola parts, which still reminisce about the main theme. The first violin and the cello have a similar job of playing big three-part chords later on, which creat e additional tension in the music. There is an interesting fact that the original theme and the previous two variations finished in the key of G major. In the third one, however, all four instruments answer to a single G note. The composer surprises the listener again with the fourth variation. Having listened to the previous really tensed and exciting variation, Schubert introduces very light and beautiful music in G major. A similarity to the main theme has been found in this variation, as shown on example eight.Example 8 Similar material in the fourth variation and the main theme. The first violin is playing an accompanying role again in this variation, but this time, so lyrical and smooth, that it can be described as a counter-melody. The last part of this variation is in C major, which is the first significant change of tonality so far in the movement. By going back to the more relaxed music in this variation, the composer hides the return to the home key of G minor perfectly , as he prepares the listener for the end of the movement. In this final fifth variation, the second violin and the viola play a version of the main theme which has been played in the first variation, but this time much more lyrically. Schubert uses some voice exchange between the two of them as well. This time the cello part has the job of providing the base. It is a very simple ostinato movement, but again, incredibly effective for the listener as example nine shows below.Example 9 The ostinato movement of the cello in the last variation The first violin has a very limited part. Starts off with a very long G note, just to continue with a passage, which strongly emphasizes the G minor chord as shown on example ten.Example 10 The first violin line at the beginning of the fifth variationOf fussy interest is the note of the cello in bar one-hundred and thirty which is shown on example eleven. There, the cello reaches the lowest note of the whole piece. This note is greatly aroused for the listener, because this is the point where all the tension and excitement, which has been building up throughout the movement, finally resolves.Example 11 Bar 130, where the cello reaches the lowest note in the piece The coda of this movement starts in bar one-hundred and forty-four. Schubert uses the material from sections B and C of the original theme. This can be seen in the parts of the second violin, viola and cello while the first violin part is more variative and ornamental then any of the other instruments. It is an interesting fact, that Schubert finishes this movement the same way he finishes the song, with a restatement of the introduction but this time in a major key.Having written more than six-hundred songs, Franz Schubert has a huge contribution to the developing of this genre. His creativeness as a song composer, of course pervade some of his instrumental music as well. It is very difficult to reproduce in great detail what the composer had in principal abo ut his vocal and instrumental works, in order to the fact that the singing techniques and the instruments some two-hundred years ago were so different to what they are nowadays. An interesting fact is the use of slurs in Schuberts instrumental music. He is the composer who has rarely written a slur which is longer than a string player could manage.The slurs in a string player part correspond to the breaths a singer would take. This proves that even when composing pieces for a string quartet or even a symphony, Schubert uses his vocal techniques all the time. (Montgomery, 2003, 11) Unlike the classical string quartets, the Schuberts works can be described as genuine according to the violinist Louis Spohr. This means that there is no one leading part, as it used to be during the Classical era, but all four parts are equally important. Therefore, the first violin should not aim to distinguish himself above the other three players by style of delivery or strength of tone. (Montgomery, 2003, pp.12-13)In conclusion, the String Quartet in D minor, D. 810 is one of the greatest chamber music pieces in the classical repertoire nowadays. After listening to such music, the genius of Franz Schubert cannot be questioned in any way. There is a striking fact that, this piece was not published while the composer was still alive. Anyhow, this essay analysed the poem Der Tod und das Madchen by Mathias Claudius, the song The Death and The Maiden D. 531 and the second movement of the string quartet D. 810 by Franz Schubert, by exploring mainly harmony patterns and instrumental voice leading.The strong link between the song and each of the variations from the second movement of the string quartet with the poem by Mathias Claudius has been explained. Schubert himself, in an often-cited letter, refers to the String Quartet in A minor, D. 804 and the D. 810 in D minor as well as the Octet D. 803, in a specific context I intend to pave my way towards grand symphony in that manner ( Bandura-Skoda, 1982, 171). There can be no doubt that the D minor Quartet is really experimental and adventurous, which can easily be in the dimensions of the symphonic format in terms of cyclical form and expressive content.Bibliography1. Bandura-Skoda, E. Branscombe P. (eds.) (1982) Schubert Studies Problems of style and chronology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-25, 143-173, 327-347. 2. Brown, C. (2010) Performing 19th- century chamber music the yawning chasm between contemporary practice and historical evidence. Oxford Oxford University Press. 3. Montgomery, D. (2003) Franz Schuberts Music in Performance. Compositional Ideals, Notational Intent, Historical Realities, Pedagogical Foundations. New York Pedagogical Press. pp. 65-173. 4. Somervell, A. (1927) Schubert Quartet in D minor and Octet. London Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press. pp. 5-30. 5. Rink, J. (ed.) (2002) Musical Performance, A Guide to Understanding. Cambridge Cambridge University Press.Discography1. Sch ubert, F. String Quartets Nos. 13 and 14, Death and the Maiden (Alban Berg Quartet) EMI Classics, Compact disc, 0077774733359. 2. Schubert, F. String Quartet Nos. 10 and 14, Death and the Maiden (Britten Quartet) EMI Classics, Compact disc, 0724357327350.Music Scores1. Schubert, F., 1981, String Quartet in d minor Death and the Maiden D. 810, Eulenberg Edition, Leipzig. Music Score. 2. Schubert, F., 1989, String Quartet Death and the Maiden D. 810, Barrenreiter Edition, Kessel. Music Score.Web-sites1. Claudius, Matthias. Der Tod und das Mdchen / Death and the Maiden. Trans. Emily Ezust. The Lied and Art Song Texts Pages Texts and Translations to Lieder (2007) http//www.recmusic.org/lieder.

Monastic spirituality in the 21st Century Essay Example for Free

Monastic spirituality in the twenty-first ampere-second EssayIn the twenty-first Century, it could be verbalize that monastic spirituality in an outdated plan. In the contemporary world we decease in today, it has become increasingly difficult to live obedient to the Churches teaching. Some people would argue that there should be no real set of moral codes, and that the Church should not have such in high spirits authority. This contrasts to the Gaelic Monks belief that Nothing must be refused in their obedience to be Christs true discipleit will not be pleasing to the Lord. In order today, people dont see a need for a moral code. They make their own subjective decisions about what is right and wrong from them, and dont accept religious or government law. Grove argues People do not see the Church as having a real relevance in their everyday lives, and therefore do not recognise its authority in everyday matters.Some sociologists have said that it is this belief that has led to religious organizations watering down their beliefs to accommodate some(prenominal) beliefs, in the hope that this would make their religion more popular. However, in actual fact this can often blend in to the religious organization becoming little popular, as they may lose the devoted members, who bent looking for a watered down religion. Pope Benedict said that relativismdoes not recognise anything as organism certainits highest goals are ones own ego and desire. Relativism is the belief that concepts such as right and wrong, goodness and badness, or truth and falsehood are not definite and that they alter in different cultures and situations.It could be described as the cherry picking for faith. An caseful of this would be ignoring the rule of no contraception, for promiscuous reasons. An other common example would be the issue of sex before marriage. The Celtic monks had a huge sense of Divine Will that had to be obeyed. Saint Columbanus reminded us of this by trui sm by strict obedience shall the monk show his love of perfection. Many of these traits, that the monks found so admirable, have been lost in todays society. Monks believed that community was better than the individual, and that when we do something, it should be for the sake of the community, rather than for the sake of the individual themselves.The monks saw obedience as responding to Gods call. We can see a huge lack of obedience to God by looking at the large decline in vocations in recent years. In 2008, in Dublin, only three people were ordained into the priesthood. thither are many reasons for this, a main possibility being the recent scandal the Church has been involved in in recent years. In 1968, 95% of Catholics went to mass. By 2004 this amount had dropped to a mere 50% (BBC Newsline). These figures support the spatial relation that as Christians, we no longer feel compelled to be obedient to God. This can fix back to what Pope Benedict described as The Culture of Rel ativism.Another debated issue is the importance of chastity and sexuality in our society today. Saint Columbanus said a monks chastity is indeed judged by his thoughts. He said that they were not only judged by sexual relations, but by the purity of the mind, and the sexual desires that they experienced. This view contrasts greatly to the view of society today. In our modern society, people are often sexually objectified. An estimated average of 75% of prime television shows include field of study of a sexual nature, and in soap operas it is estimated that extra-marital sex is referred to two out of three times every hour. This is because the television companys know that in todays society, sex sells. It is no longer thought of as a big deal, and there has been a massive subjoin in sexual promiscuity.This has led to a big increase in sexually transmitted diseases, which are becoming increasingly difficult to control. It also meant a big increase in the amount of unwanted pregnanci es. contradictory monastic living which promoted the selfless giving of ones self to the community, we have adopted a hedonistic, narcissistic attitude. We have become our own lust. Michael Maher points out that the standards in Celtic monasteries are severe, particularly in the area of sexual morality. For many today, the idea of chastity is an outdated concept and is problematic for the future of the priesthood in the Catholic Church. This would lead me to believe that in regard to this aspect of monastic life, monastic spirituality could very easily be perceived as outdated in the 21st Century.Brigid of Kildare had a preferential option for the poor. She vowed to the king of Leinster, If I had all your wealth, I would take it and give it away to the poor, So Brigids monastery in Kildare, became known as the urban center of the poor. Aidan of Lindesfarm also expressed solidarity to the poor, when he gave away the kings gift of a horse to the first beggar he met saying Surely thi s son of a female horse is not more important to you than that son of man. However, the Church didnt always share the same view. Leondardo Boff argues that the Church became an abstract speculation removed from the original spirit of the credo message, and out of touch with real life.The Church has been criticised for siding with the vested interest, and in its history has even been involved in colonisation and the removal of land from the peasantry, in its freight to obeying the laws of the land. Richard Woods reminds us that justice and chastity were the main hinges of Celtic social action. This is another way, in that it could be said that monastic spirituality is an outdated concept in the 21st Century. Views that should be had today have slowly died off, and have left places worse off.However, Bishop Casadaliga reminds us that as long as there are poor people in the world, and as long as there is a God who cares for the poor, there will be a need for a theology of Liberation . The spirit of Liberation Theology is very much evident in Celtic Monasticism in many ways, from the care of the poor and the sinner, to the welcoming of the stranger. hospitality was always extremely generous in the monasteries, and any stranger who came was very well looked after. In 2004, 19% of asylum seekers were allowed to find refuge in Britain, opus 78% were turned away. The Celtic monks in their openness to all, especially the weakest turned no one away. This shows another way that Monastic Spirituality could be considered an outdated concept in 21st Century life.In conclusion, it would appear that Monastic Spirituality is in fact an outdated concept in 21st Century living, with our lackadaisical views on chastity and sexuality, and our selfish views on poverty, it seems that Monastic Spirituality has been lost, and I believe it would be in the Catholic Churches interest to try and get some of this monastic spirit.

Foxmeyer Case Study Analysis Information Technology Essay

Foxmeyer Case Study Analysis Information Technology EssayFoxMeyer worked on idea of inst each(prenominal)ing an ERP body to demonstrate the million order requests comp each received each day. ERP transcription ordain manage the packaging and routing of pharmaceuticals from various vendors to thousands of hospitals, clinics, drug stores, and other stakeholders. To pursue with the installation, Company hire Andersen Consulting and other consultants to overhaul with the installation.Together with ERP, FoxMeyer decided to install a bare-ass warehouse-automation system, increasing the complexity of its plan. FoxMeyer bought the software from well experienced vendor. These systems were designed to automatically tweak more than 80% of outgoing orders from shelves in warehouses.Ans1a. FoxMeyer pharmaceuticals had certain critical issues in the change management because of poor planning and not putting on senseless efforts in implementation of ERP system. There were certain issues i nvolved with employees with implementation for two systems in a bulky scale which military issueed them jeopardise over there business organization assurance.At FoxMeyer, bailiwicks revealed ripened management was high uply committed in the starting phase but also most users were not as committed. There was some morale problem among the warehouse employees as the projects Pinnacle warehouse automation integration threatened their jobs. The closing of three warehouses and the transition to the first automated warehouse as disaster. Sabotage done by the employees was huge loss to company. Disgruntled workers damaged inventories, orders were not filed and also there were huge mistakes occurred since a sweet system struggled with the high level of volumes. A total, amount of around $34million worth of stemma were lost as sabotage.Ans1b. Change caution is one of the critical steps an brass instrument has to take while implementing an ERP system. Since one the major problem arises in the FoxMeyer was the loss of confidence among employees in their job security. One of the main contributing factors to this loss in the FoxMeyer case is the automation of processes and main contributor being the computerization of tasks. Implementing change without earlier planning or proper strategy in FoxMeyer not solo created disaster but also chaos and unrest among workers.Being the Boss of FoxMeyer, I would suggest following strategies in ERP implementationCommunication Strategy Management in FoxMeyer should be assigned to discuss future strategies- to ensure a thorough approach. This Strategy will include preparing project plan, project progress report and trainings for employees. FoxMeyer presented the case of one-end communication where Management were seen forcing their decision to workers which created chaos and workers were not committed to change. Having proper communications from both side had resulted in break up cooperation and motivation for employees. s queeze analysis This is a method thoroughly determined the current system and analysis how the ERP system will affect the Human Resource and business environment. FoxMeyer workers were not provided information with the reason for change and nor was consulted for the willingness of ERP system implementation. Business processes needs to be systematically documented especially for the area which may be affected by new system. Information will be documented is job description and job history which will construct organises comparison on how the real business processes may vary from what has been documented. This analysis will help FoxMeyer to lose it how significantly the ERP system may affect the system, which will be the most affected by the implementation and what raining might be required to ensure the smoothness for the implementation of new system.Skills analysis Major issues during ERP implementation is training. AS the FoxMeyer workers were not dexterous properly for the new sy stem, which resulted in poor order processing, inventory lost and greater chaos. This also killed the interests of workers towards change and made them less committed. This strategy will help FoxMeyer to analyse, who needs training to pursue jobs purposes, to find out that needs to be trained and what skills company need to developed. FoxMeyer will pick up and train stave from internal departments accordingly and train them to work with new system.Ans2a. FoxMeyer Project of implementing ERP system hoped to save $40 million annually and project cost estimated to be $65 million and also with complete installation ERP system and Automation system was another $18 million.Ans 2b. The Project return to Bankruptcy for FoxMeyer. FoxMeyer had a figure of $65 million for implementation of jack oak but the final implementation bill was more that $100million. Extra cost also includes 34million loss of uncollectable shipping an inventory be. Other costs that FoxMeyer paid was loss of custome rs, market reputation, Loss of employees, structure and Loss in Share values.Ans2c. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system covers the techniques and concepts busy for the integrated management of businesses as a whole from the viewpoint of effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise. They have some advantages both contain and indirect. The direct advantages include improved efficiency, information integration for better decision making, faster response time to customer queries and so on The indirect benefits include better corporate image, improved customer goodwill, customer satisfaction, and so on. (Sourced from http//www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/a-recipe-and-ingredients-for-erp- ill luck-124383.html)FoxMeyer advocate ERP solutions as a part of their strategic development plan which would help to re-engineer their business processes in order to accomplish long-term goals.Actual cost for organisations does not only include i nstallation cost, human cost and licensing cost. There are other costs with the implementation of ERP which as following. These costs are hard to measure but are way higher than actual costs.Project Costs FoxMeyer had perception that keep back perception will produces large payoffs i.e. the company expected a saving of $40 million annually.Psychological Costs the consultants had prior records and history of success which encourages organisations to continue the project and generate high expectation with project, resulting uneven investments. FoxMeyer had more like this with what it could chew but embarking on a fast track project with botchy staff.Social Costs The consulting company did not externally justify projected. De-escalating the project through abandonment would have meant bad publicity.Organisation Costs Organizations pay huge losses over delay in projects or lack of usage techniques which results undue investments without any outputs. Lack of change management might als o result in order to control the increasing costs of trading operations and staff issues.Managers must realize other opportunity cost involve in the ERS system implication for example cash outflows which might result in better outputs in investing in other areas.Ans3. FoxMeyer had researched and analysed ageing population of America which presented causa to expand their business and opportunity to grow monumentalger.Ans3a. FoxMeyer signed the contract to supply University Health System Consortium (UHC)Ans3b. FoxMeyer expected a growth in business due to an aging population and anticipated a growth in the pharmaceutical Industry. FoxMeyers long-term goals were to lower their operating expenses, manage the inventory more efficiently, earnings greater share by expanding market and sales. FoxMeyer after developing and implementing new ERS system wanted to enhance more operations and efficiency and generate more order processing systems.Ans4. Risks involved in the project Implementat ion in Fox Mayertechnical foul Risk High technology always requires extensive big(p) for development. In Addition high technology needs research and development. It needs extensive testing which takes more time and funding. FoxMeyer tried implementing software with a big bang theory without extensive research or trials.Organisational Size FoxMeyer being $5 billion Company working as wholesale distributor and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals product. Company extensively implemented EPR system thought-out its organization as whole instead trying and monitoring success in particular department or area. This resulted in sudden change in business operations and giving employees more tough time with their job without extensive training and skill assessment.Technical Novelty saphead system employed by FoxMeyer was presented with high performance and saving company with a $40million per year on its operational costs. Though the technologies were new and have not been implied or tested any where in pharmaceuticals. FoxMeyer made a quick decision without reviewing or proper analysis of SAP which after on created havocs and problems for FoxMeyer after implementation. Even the SAP software was not compatible with current computer hardware and systems used by FoxMeyer. Company even forget to analyse the efficiency of usage in future of large orders since it has plans of expansion.Technical Expertise SAP was new technology for FoxMeyer workers and they lack necessary skills to operate the businesses using new technology. SAP was introduced with big bang theory to the workers without proper training and skills assessment.Ans5a. FoxMeyer used a theory called big Bang Adoptions theory. This theory describes the adoption type of the wink changeover, when everybody with new systems moves to the fully functioning new systems on given date.Ans5b. FoxMeyer project Risks of customer mandate which relies on commitment from both top management and users. Although senior management c ommitment was high, reports reveal that some users were not as committed. There was a morale problem among workers especially in warehouse employees as they got threatened with three warehouse closures because of automation of warehouse. With the Big bang adoption theory, FoxMeyer changed all the EPR systems with SAP and also introduced new software for warehouse automation without any prior information to the workers. Workers were threatened by this approach and also felt lack of commitment from FoxMeyer as the company did not informed, revealed its future plans considering its workforce.Ans6. It can be disputable and quite out of understanding, when a FoxMeyer give allegation to SAP that the bankruptcy is because of the failure of their ERP system. After all how can a software package altogether bring a large company down, which already had around 15000 satisfied users around the world? Thus, I believe the companys management are the reasons for their demise.On reversal their ca n be various point that can be established over the demise of FoxMeyer. I would briefly discuss certain points which I hope is relevant and to conclude who is responsible for the project failure leading to bankruptcyDrawbacks of ERP system used by FoxMeyerImplementation complexityProblems with business Strategy and competitive advantageOver Budgets and Late projectsIntegration ProblemOrganisational Change and resistance to changeHaving analysed case I felt the demise was firstly architect by FoxMeyer management. Though even highly committed to this approach but they lack understanding of the consequences of implementation. Company had planned and had well established long term goals. still the vision is not effective unless it is strategically planned and implied. FoxMeyer management relied heavily on the outer sources of consultancies and software without researching any other alternatives or even checking any compatibility with its operations and system hardware. Project implem entation was introduced with a big bang approach without even conducting certain trials or effective planning. There were so many risks involved with the project implication.However, I would not like to blame FoxMeyer for their poor planning SAP and Anderson Consulting are similarly responsible for the failure. It can be argued that SAP had made false promises to the FoxMeyer highlighting that SAP is capable of high level order processing for FoxMeyer current system and is compatible with current Business operations and hardware. SAP being very complex software with complex functioning and with certain disability of integration of operation among different departments. Also, With Anderson Consultancy, Company was promised to provide all services, skills and training by consultancy. Which made the FoxMeyer relied heavily on the Consulting services and resisted to developed their skills or implement any change by them selves. Failure of services lead to chaos in FoxMeyer, resulting e xtensive loses in terms of customers, workers and productivity.Ans 7. Critical points among SAP and FoxMeyerFoxMeyer had expectation with SAP, so much that it started building contracts with other companies like UHC considering high and efficient operations in future. Which resulted a heavy workload in computing of order processings when SAP was still being implemented and servers or hardware were not much compatible with such a work load.SAP too presented that hardware are compatible and SAP can be installed and will provide better techniques of order processing. However system failed to process 10000 audits per night where as previous ERP system could process up to 4000o orders each nights.SAP was much inexperienced into foray of high distribution technology and the system was not able to handle large volume of orders.The automation control too had constant bugs and FoxMeyer had to deploy hundreds of workers to work around the issues.The whole operations between the combined issue s snowballed. Thus giving errors in order processing, inventory losses, resentment among workers etc. Which resulted in heavy loses of money, production, market reputation and brand.According to my Opinion, SAP wasnt efficient to such a high distribution and order processing ERP which resulted in failure of all operations and leading FoxMeyer to bankruptcy and even to there demise.

The Reduction Of The Carbon Emissions

The Reduction Of The Carbon EmissionsAs we know that most of the least- developed countries (LDC) or called exploitation countries are in the areas with harsh natural conditions. To some extent, poor natural resources typeset those countries developments. It is different from the least-developed countries that the developed countries have favorable geographical and environmental advantages. They have emitted greenhouse gases for everywhere 200years without any limitations. The average spherical temperature during the 1980s exceeded that of any other decade since reliable temperature recording began a century ago, and 1990 was the warmest year on record (Hansen, 1991). The consensus among temper scientists on the threshold marker for dangerous climate change that consensus identifies 2C (3.6F) as a reasonable upper-bound (UNDP, 2008). The issues above explain the global calefacient problem is becoming more serious and threat human survival in the twenty-first century. And the first measurement to decline the global warming is bring d confess the sack of greenhouse gases. Therefore, we have placed a challenge in front of the least-developed countries. How do they balance development and reduction of carbon dismission is a fine-looking problem. Therefore, I think the reduction of carbon emission is the most serious obstacle to development faced by most least-developed countries in the 21st century. In this paper, I discuss this problem from two sides one is the internal causes of large carbon emission, and the other is the conflicts with developed countries on reducing of carbon emission.The global warming seems like a collective problem which faced by all the people in the world. However, for different interests both of the developed democracy and least-developed country are not willing to bring down their carbon emission. Although both of the two camps face the kindred problem, they still have some conflicts are inner of them. Because, contain t he emission of greenhouse gases will constraint the development of a country in some degrees. At the meanwhile, the reduction emission of greenhouse gases has been becoming a hot potato.In the least-developed countries, if agricultural productivity were drastically reduced by climate change, the cost of living would rise by one or two percent, and at a time when per capita income will likely have doubled. In growth countries, in contrast, as much as a third of gross national product and half the population currently depends on agriculture. They may still be vulnerable to climate change for many years to come (Schelling, 1997). However, agriculture contributes only when a small percentage-three percent in the United States-of national income. unless agriculture is practically the only sector of the economy impact by climate (Schelling, 1997). So the growing countries will concern more about the effects of climate change on agriculture, if the developed countries have large emiss ion of greenhouse gases which makes the climate becoming worse and worse.Another problem for the least-developed countries is the great amount of population. The large population will have more consumption of carbon productions. In other words, larger population will cause more emission of greenhouse gases. For such amount of population, the developing countries will make a man-sized expense on the improvement of climate. So where the money comes from is a problem. Furthermore, a large population will cause poverty which will cause greater waste of resources and larger emission of greenhouse gases.For the developed countries, the problems are more complex. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution the concentration of CO2, the principal greenhouse gas affected by mans actions, has risen by 25 percent (Bongaarts, 1992). The developed countries have very high level of industrialization which means they have very big emission of greenhouse gases. Bongaarts article discombobula tes the evidence that in 1985 per capita CO2 emission from the developed world was more than five times higher than in the developing world. It seems the developed countries have fewer problems be faced than the developing countries, because the developed countries have basically eradicated poverty in their countries. However, it is not all the case, because the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) asks the contracting countries to fulfill their obligations. And the obligations of the developed countries are delivering the fund assistances to the developing countries. But few of the developed countries will to give fund assistance to the developing countries, because it would affect those countries GDP in a certain extent. Therefore, the least-developed countries will become much harder on reducing the carbon emission without any assistance from the developed countries.Also the least-developed countries are lost in the transfer of carbon emissions from the developed countries. For example, the vast majority of the worlds MP3 players are made in China, where the main power source is coal. Manufacturing a single MP3 player releases about 17 pounds of planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon leakagethis is the idea that countries can reduce their own emissions by sending dirty industries abroad. The same countries may still import the finished goods from the developing world, creating a situation in which global carbon emissions rise, even up as individual nations meet their targets (Spencer, 2007). For the least-developed countries, on the surface, their GDP has increased, but actually their environment was damaged permanently.So here both of the least-developed countries and developed countries are bend the core to the agreement which can deal the conflicts of greenhouse gases emission, funds, and distribute the responsibilities. The suggested measurement given by Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nat ions says the world urgently needs to flavor up action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Industrialized countries need to make deeper emission reductions. There needs to be further engagement of developing countries, as well as incentives for them to limit their emissions while safeguarding economic growth and efforts to eradicate poverty.(UNDP, 2007) Although Bans words give the suggested solutions to the global warming, he doesnt give precise standards for the developed countries. Either, this is the bargaining topic in Copenhagen Climate Talks.China, India and other developing countries are currently exempted from the Kyoto Protocol, because they did not have large-scale emissions of greenhouse gases in the industrialization which caused by the current global climate change. However, some critics argued that China, India, and other large developing countries will soon become the large-scale greenhouse gas emissions countries. Also, if the Kyoto Protocol doesnt limit these co untries who are outside the agreement now, it cannot achieve greenhouse gas reductions, and even accelerate the warming because it is possible that developed countries will move their carbon-intensive industries outside to the developing countries. For example the developed country invested in a developing country, and builds their carbon-intensive economy in the developing country which equals the developed country transfers their carbon emissions to the developing country. Although the treaty allows the developed countries can buy the carbon emissions from the developing countries, the developed countries prefer to investment because the costs of labor are cheaper and the environment of their countries wont be polluted. But for the developing countries, these kind of investments most likely harms to their development in the long-run.As conclusion, although it is difficult to find a balance between reduction of carbon emission and development for the least-developed countries, but the sustainable development is a long-run plan for every country. In the short run, the investment on the improvement of technology to reduce carbon emission will be paid in the future. And either developed countries or developing countries should strengthen international cooperation because we have a same target, and I hope the farce of Copenhagen wont repeat itself in the future.

Video Games And Children Education Essay

goggle box Games And Children Education EssayVideo adventures, children love them, still youre not so certain(p). Here you can find out about the risks and bene equalises of scene gamys, plus some ideas for choosing appropriate grittys and managing your childs interest in cheering them.did you knowAccording to a 2005 survey76% of families set rules about which types of games their children could act.Games with car in any casen-style violence can send the message that violence is a good way to solve conflict. They can besides make kids less sensitive to real-life violence, or make them overly fearful about violence in their own world.What ar word-painting games?Playing it undecomposedBenefits of playing video gamesProblems of playing video gamesWhat about violence in video games?What atomic number 18 video games?Video games are electronic, interactive games that come in numerous forms CDs, DVDs, internet downloads and online games. They can be played on a private home c omputer (PC), tele mental imagery or portable hand-held device. round games are controlled by a separate joystick or console, while others exercise the computer keyboard and/or mouse. Many games (including those online) can be played by several tribe at once.The big name brands for video games are Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox and Nin godo.Playing it safeThe best way for your child to f solely upon from video games is when you play together. An added bonus is that youll spend some prison term with each other and have fun Here are some ideas for making the most(prenominal) of video games with your child. confine ground rules of mavin hour aim for this recommended dailyscreen timefor children under s steady or eight.Moderate aim for balance in your family activities, so that each wiz has a go at physical activity, creative activitiesand interactive companionable games. Work together to prioritise indoor play time, outdoor fun, homework and time spent with friends.Get invol ved ask your child to show you how a game works its the best way to tune into what your child is information. Make a psychical note of the kinds of games your child enjoys and finds challenging. So if your child is really enjoying a game about dinosaurs, for example, you can broaden his knowledge by finding books or movies on the topic.Discuss talk to your childabout the games he is playing. Find out what your child likes or dislikes about the games and ask what he would change or add to make them better. This leave develop his analytical and critical skills.Be informed read critiques of the games you think might be suitable for your child. Make sure you carefully read the blurb on the games cover. And dont forget to check the games rating games rated G or PG are more likely to suit young children. take up before buying if possible, borrow games from a library or a friend before making a purchase. You might find that your child isnt raise in a particular game, or you dont a pprove of the games message or concepts.Dr. Mona warned left a consulting psychology of the many children watching the kid cartoons and played video game in the primary three eld of age, where it may lead to decreased levels of intelligence and the ability to communicate and collection.Said Dr. Mona left in the chopine Good Morning Egypt on Monday morning said the research proved that watching television in the early age of the child lead to a lack of focus makes the child as untold movement, the child besides Tbehrh colors and speed of movement in the cartoon tends and loves to watch a lot, which it at the age of nursery tired of explaining the lessons is a modern teacher to receive information.And recommended Mona Yousry mothers need to identify the assets of the childs education from birth through the reading, or search the electronic information network, or the use of a specialist in psychology for child-rearing in a scientific way so that it can avoid the mental and neu rological problems they face in old age.She consultant child psychology that the American Academy of Children recommended in a recent non-exposed children under three years for any electronic games or watch cartoons.She noted that if the Mona return the child to sit for several hours in front did not respond kindly to slash the period, the mother use a physician for treatment of addiction, net and to increase communication with friends and family to keep him on the damage that addiction.AbstractThe ability to balance reconciling and competitive behaviors has important implications for a childs overall development. While socially competent children appear to learn highly successful strategies for entering peer groups and negotiating access to expressage resources, the development of this level of social competence can be challenging for preschool-aged children. Early childhood educators may therefore have to intervene to develop the childs social competence and promote the use of n egotiation and effective conflict steering strategies. Using theories of social exchange and human sociobiology, this paper reviews literature on cooperation and competition involving limited resources and highlights the implications of this research for early childhood education. Results suggest that a variety of individual and social-contextual factors might influence a childs development of socially competent behavior. The review highlights the importance of teaching children to negotiate effectively with peers.IntroductionMany educators view school-age students attraction to video and computer games with envy. If save we could harness the power of video games in education, some say, with a wistful expression. Some equate the attraction of the game to the computer, and hope that any educational possess that occurs on a computer forget somehow capture that magic. Some delve deeper, designing extensive educational simulations that adopt conventions of popular game design and valuable production values co-ordinated with educational bailiwick. In this paper, I suggest how these attitudes combine with foodstuff forces to strongly reinforce bad design and curtail innovation, rather than support a vision of compelling, immersive educational experiences. at that place is no doubt that video and computer games have positive educational outcomes for the users. In an in-depth literature review, Alice Mitchell and Carol Savill-Smith conclude that there is the use of such games can stimulate the enjoyment, motivation and engagement of users, aiding recall and information retrieval, and can also encourage the development of various social and cognitive skills. (Mitchell Savill-Smith 2004).In this paper, educational games are games designed for youth in the age range of compulsory school, approximately ages 5 to 18 that contain overt attempts to teach school-related subjects. Video games are commercial games designed for a specific ironware console such as Nin tendo GameCube and GameBoy, Microsoft X-box, and Sony PlayStation. Computer games are designed for use on personal computers, either by running application software system on the computer or playing a game online. As time goes on these distinctions blur, but the commercialises are dissentent enough to make this distinction.This paper, written by an educator who also designed video games and computer software for the home and school grocerys, evaluates attempts to harness the lure of these games for educational purposes. The paper offers an analysis of why the nature of video and computer games is antithetical to traditional forms of school course of instruction, content and assessment, and why market forces, two consumer and educational, drive these design decisions.Why Are Games An Attractive Model For Education?When educators look at video and computer game players, they see young people suddenly transformed into attentive learners, bequeathing to spend inordinate personal t ime learning to master complex situations. These same students, however, may not compensate mistakable dedication to school-related activities. Educators wonder what it is about these games that could be used to make these game players devote the same attention to the goals of school.Educational software developers deconstruct the elements of video games and come to the conclusion that the game play can be extracted from the context. Therefore, the thought goes, mere substitution of educational content and context while leaving game play elements untouched will produce educational games with great benefits for learners and stockholders alike.In engaging computer and video games, the player must master a appearively challenging set of skills to advance each step in the game progression to ultimately win and end the game. This advancement through challenges is seen as a direct correlation to advancing through a course of study. In a classroom, the teacher guides the acquisition of skills and the students are able to progressively tackle harder problems, learn new facts and produce higher quality products solicitd by the subject. It seems obvious that if an educational game led players through a similar process, similar results would be achieved, with the added benefit that students would pay attention and be engaged more than in a traditional classroom environment.Learning vs. ContentMastering skills comes in many forms. Game designers know that at some point, learning new skills has to end and you need to let the player start to play. Some games have a first level where skills are introduced, and then you start the real game. The actual content of the game, how to shoot your weapon, how to navigate your vehicle, how to throw the football, or any of the multitude of variations of game play is actually very limited. The game consists of becoming an expert in quickly selecting which of these skills are appropriate to your contemporary situation. Learning in the game is a process, much of which ends in misadventure. Game designers know that there is a very special feeling that gamers get when they are being challenged at the right level. If you fail too quickly and too often, the gamer will give up. If the challenges are too easy, they will lose interest. Its not fun to simply win all the time. Frustration and failure result in the eventual euphoria of wining at a new level, and provides incentive to keep going.The secret of a videogame as a teaching appliance isnt its immersive 3-D graphics, but its underlying architecture. Each level dances around the outer limits of the players abilities, seeking at every point to be hard enough to be just doable. In cognitive science, this is referred to as the regime of competence principle, which results in a feeling of simultaneous pleasure and frustrationa sensation as familiar to gamers as sore thumbs.James Paul Gee, a reading professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and LiteracyEducational game developers have different design goals thrust on them. Any educational game designed for schools must meet demands for increased accountability and test scores. The content of games must tie to mandated curriculum standards, which list the things that students must know in a certain grade level. The game therefore correlates to these standards and provides assessment vehicles so the students progress through these standards can be measured. If this does not happen, the game will have a very limited market in schools. These standards are likely to differ from state-to-state and between nations, making development of these games even more overpriced.In building these games, designers must often make sacrifices in creativity to allow content to fit into the game environment. Game play becomes rote, and graphics must be reused to accommodate the game elements that are channelisen from a content pool. As much as the designers try, they are bound by the requirements of mandated content and simultaneous assessment to create a repetitive experience. These games may (or may not, depending on the research you read) increase regulate test scores, but they arent something that a student will devote time and energy to voluntarily like a video game. Some educational games go to great efforts to substitute the made-up worlds of video games with realistic educational worlds built to reproduce curriculum content. However, most educational games focus on low-level topics of naive literacy and arithmetic. The analytical rigor, ingenuity, and passion reserved for the most popular video games are seldom invoked by educational computer games.What is best about the best games is that they draw kids into some very hard learning. Did you ever hear a game advertised as being easy? What is worst about school curriculum is the fragmentation of knowledge into little pieces. This is supposed to make learning easy, but often e nds up depriving knowledge of personal meaning and making it boring. Ask a few kids the reason most dont like school is not that the work is too hard, but that it is utterly boring. (Papert, Easy Doesnt Do It.)Some commercial games do contain a lot of content, for example, sports simulations. Memorizing player statistics, playbooks and game statistics can help a player win the game. The difference is that the game is also playable without learning that content, but advancing in the game is easier when you do. There is no amount of content that is mandatory, in fact, some players will do very well by simply being skilled in game-play, while others may excel because they have memorized vast amounts of sports statistics. The game makes no judgement however, about which skills or content is more important than others, and offers all kinds of players many different ways to succeed.As another example, chess is a complex game with limited content. Chess is also well regarded as supporting educational goals such as promoting critical and logical thinking skills. Yet the content of the game of chess is fairly minimal. There are only a few pieces with special moves to learn, the rules are straightforward and the game board is simple. Most people can function at a beginner level with less than an hour of instruction. What is it about chess, then, that attracts brilliant people to devote their lives to it? Its that the rules are tuned so that highly complex and difficult problems are created relatively quickly. In chess, the process and resulting strategies for winning provide challenges that automatically escalate as players (and their opponents) become more adept at extending and complicating the game. As curriculum, chess could be through in a few weeks, with a test at the end assessing the students knowledge of chess moves, board set up, and perhaps some names of far-famed players. But anyone who would portray that as educationally appropriate would be laughed at.Ma rket ForcesVideo and computer game designers face constraints placed on them by the market realties that exist in todays retail world. When a company makes a decision to create a game, they want to put their money into games that will make them the most return on their coronation. Game designers work to create a game that will look great, play well, be engaging and offer the player an experience that surpasses anything else they have done before.Educational game designers have additional market forces thrust upon them that video game designers dont have to worry about. These market forces tend to unless constrain educational game design in ways that are contrary to what game designers know makes a game fun and engaging.Consumer MarketThe consumer market for video and computer games is undergoing extreme pricing pressure that makes it very risky for publishers to invest the enlarged amounts of money it takes to produce, market and sell these games. In the past ten years, the retai l price of childrens computer games has dropped from over $40 (US) to less than $10 (US) due to many factors, including competition from free Internet sites.The market for video games has remained more or less more stable with less price erosion. For video games to be commercially viable, the development costs range from 5-60 million dollars (US). (Williams 2004) This does not include the costs associated with selling and putting the product on retail shelves. These costs can exceed the development budget. To make matters worse, games sales are tracked by major retailers weekly, and a game that does not sell well within a few weeks will be pulled off the shelves to make room for something that will make more money. This does not allow for a game to develop a word of mouth or build a reputationthe game must be promoted with expensive marketing to make sure that the early sales are high. If not, the game will be unavailable or in the bargain bin in a matter of weeks. For a company t o invest tens of millions of dollars in a new game, they want to be assured of success.Edutainment games, although less expensive to build, also are pressured to sell copies quickly. Retailers are often reluctant to put any box on the shelf that they do not instantly recognize as a potential hit, so they will tend to direct software for children, educational or not, based on licensed characters from popular television shows. Retailers see that parents will purchase games with familiar characters rather than ones with strong educational content.For video game systems, there are no educational games being developed. This market is controlled by the hardware console manufacturers. These manufacturers, Nintendo (Game Cube and Game Boy), Sony (PlayStation), and Microsoft (Xbox) control all games developed and produced for their platforms. Every game design must pass through their approval process. Their goal is to market their game systems to hard-core gamers because they are the ones w ho spend the most money. These manufacturers cannot allow their systems to be perceived as being for children, it confuses the brand message. They therefore actively discourage all games that are designed primarily for children. The only ones that pass the approval process are tie-ins with licensed characters currently starring in hit movies or TV shows. Without the approval of the game system manufacturer, there is no way to bring a game to market. These manufacturers also require a large royalty for every unit sold, further reducing any chance of profitability.In addition, video games labelled educational have sold so dismally that no one is making them anymore. Parents do not think of video game systems as being educational, they prefer their children to have fun and view these electronic games as a break from school and homework.Finally, proprietary consoles like the Leapfrog systems have temporarily replaced educational game purchasing for many parents. Unfortunately, these con soles only allow simple games that are little more than multiple choice drills.The School MarketThe school market for educational software provides some hope for educational game designers. Schools will pay more than consumers for software, and therefore, there should be more money to develop good educational games.However, looking closely at the numbers provides a more sobering conclusion. Simply by looking at the U.S. school market, you can see the economies of scale break down. There are approximately 115,000 K-12 school buildings in the U.S. (public and private.) At normal videogame pricing, sales of 500,000 units is required to breakeven (DFC Intelligence, 2004). Every school in the U.S. would have to purchase 4 units of any educational videogame for it to just to make the publishers investment back.Clearly, this is not a market that will by itself support the development and production of educational videogames. Traditional publishers, especially publicly traded ones, simply c annot tell their investors and shareholders that they take up to spend their money on something with a low, slow return on their investment when there are other choices that make more money.For this reason, educational software companies are concentrating their development and sales efforts on the sales of large instructional learning systems that can cost schools tens of thousands of dollars, even up to a million dollars for large installations. It is more efficient to make one sale for a hundred thousand dollars than to sell a thousand units of an educational game for $100 each. native in the sale of these large systems is the promise that they will cover massive amounts of content and provide assessment data for the school system. This drives the design of this software towards the management of the content pool and reduces both the game play and the educational value of the software. Fear of government sanctions is responsible for revenue generated by these systems, not qualit y.Conclusioneducationally meaningful edutainment software requires substantial shifts in attitudes towards education both in the consumer and designer community. Its not as easy as plugging school content into a video game engine. In addition, success would necessitate changes in the retail environment or non-traditional sources of keep for game development.The current system of publishers working with retail and institutional purchasing works to reward the best-selling games in a very traditional capitalistic way. This makes it unlikely that games that do not fit into the current market expectations will be able to survive without an alternate source of funding for both development and airing.There are certainly non-profit organizations that can choose to avoid these channel. However, it is not even enough to give games away for free. Schools especially are hard pressed for time, and bringing in new programs that do not promise to fully meet every goal of the set curriculum is j ust not worth it. There may be instances of individual teachers consolidation a game into their classrooms, but the come to would be very small relative to the dissemination effort that would be required.Likewise, busy parents will not even bother taking a free game, especially if it does not fit into their perception of their needs. Their own time is more valuable than that. Publishers recognize that reaching the mass-market parents is an expensive proposition. Unlike the entrenched audience of hard-core gamers who regularly disseminate information very efficiently through their own fan discussion boards, read similar magazines, and pay a lot of attention to new game releases, parents are much more difficult to reach.Given these facts, the difficulty of educational game dissemination would most likely be pretty demoralizing to any institution that would have to devote millions of dollars and years of effort in the hope that it would significantly impact education. That kind of in vestment would require at least some hope of reaching a wide audience for even the most benevolent non-profit to claim it a success.Educationally meaningful game software will require substantial shifts in attitudes towards education both in the consumer, publisher, and designer community. No one assumes it will be as easy as plugging school content into a video game engine. But it is daunting to grasp that success would require changes in the retail environment, a change in the current content-based assessment focus in schools, or need to rely on massive funding and patience from non-traditional sources of funding for game development and dissemination.Does this mean that it is impossible? Of course not. These markets are changing rapidly and there is a high likelihood that channels that are small or even not invented yet will become mainstream. The key is to understand how current market forces work to impact game design, and decide how (or whether) a game design will conform to these expectations. The best news is that if we accept that non-traditional publishing is required for revolutionary educational game design, designers do not have to feel constrained by current rules. Freeing educational game designers from mandated curriculum, outdated assessment practices, and mass-market cartoon characters may be the only way that educational games can make that paradigm shiftcreating the marriage of fun, engagement and academic legitimacy that innovative educational game designers envision.