Purpose of Schools Essay Example for Free

Purpose of Schools Essay School is an institutional mechanism that tries to share knowledge and/or be an agent for social action. Looking back to the ancient history of schools, some schools of ancient Israel for example feel that the main purpose of education was to ‘produce faithful members of a nation – a son who would bring pride to his family and his people and glory to God. ’ In ancient Greece, the school was to produce a productive citizen, wise and mature and Rome followed the example of Greece. However, there are some schools which are just for education, where basic knowledge is shared based on the age through a planned curriculum. There are schools which apart from providing knowledge through planned curricula do bring in social change through actions. I believe that a school has got to play the role of both i. e. sharing knowledge and also be an agency for social action. An example that can be cited following both is the ancient Hindu school called ‘gurukul’ , where apart from knowledge through planned curricula, there are learning sessions on various social norms and values that are normally practiced in the society. The purpose of a school is thus to orient students to socialize by understanding the background, culture and values of that area which would further add to their individual growth and understanding for nurturing good citizens. Apart from this, there is a need for the schools to see to it that students are able to gain proper knowledge which should further help them to able to attain further education and employment. Thus, we can say that the main purpose of schools is to provide education which would enhance the knowledge, skills and attributes of students and make them responsible citizens of the country. Even though schools as educational institutions have their own limitations of access to knowledge, funds to provide the services to students etc. based on the need and following the goal that the educational institution wants to achieve, teachers have to redesign their teaching strategies/pedagogy.

The Ethics of File Sharing Software Essay -- Computers Technology Soft

The Ethics of File Sharing Software Introduction The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ethical problem that file sharing software creates when used to transfer copy written material. It is contested that the very existence of this software promotes piracy. The paper will focus on the creators of the file sharing software, knowing that the user employs their product illegally. The software creators (Kazaa, Grokster, Morpheus, etc) are claiming that they cannot control what the end user does with its product. In fact, this point has been upheld by a recent court ruling. As music and movies are now available almost exclusively in digital formats (CD and DVDs), the ease of copying them to computers is easy. And with the Internet, the ability to share via Napster, or Kazaa, is just as easy. How File Sharing Works[i] File sharing popularity increased with the birth of Napster. It allowed users to connect to each other through a central server. Napster pioneered the concept of peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P). With Napster, individual people stored files that they wanted to share (typically MP3 music files) on their hard discs and shared them directly with other people. Users ran a piece of Napster software that made this sharing possible. Each user machine became a mini server. By installing Napster software, your computer becomes a small server in the Napster universe. You can now contact the main Napster server for your request, but if your request was not available on the main server, then a search is conducted on all the computers connected to the Napster main server at that time. The song or file is downloaded directly from the resident computer. Napster evolved into this approach after i... ... Alpha Books, 2002) James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003) James Fieser PhD., Bradley Dowden PhD., The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003, University of Tennessee at Martin, 17 November 2003 http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/ [i] Marshall Brain, How File Sharing Works, Nov. 2003 [ii] Ibid [iii] Ibid [iv] Claudia Roda, Usenet (Usegroups), Sept. 2003 [v] David Bruce Ingram, PhD, Jennifer Parks, PhD, The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Ethics, (Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002) 138 [vi] James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003) 92-93 [vii] Ibid 77 [viii] Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness, (New York: Penguin Books, 1961) 27

‘Satyam †the Enron of India’

INTRODUCTION The case study ‘Satyam – the Enron of India’ looks at Satyam Computer Services Limited and its involvement in corporate fraud leading to one of India’s largest white-collar crimes. The Satyam scandal marks as one of India’s biggest corporate scandals where its stakeholders were continually fed misleading financial information from its late chairman Ramalinga Raju. This once promising, global IT company provided its services for some of the largest companies in Australia and the United States, such as Telstra, Suncorp and Qantas, to mention a few.The following case study analysis looks at the failure of Satyam Computer Services Limited due to fierce competition and the need to impress stakeholders, along with inaccurate, misleading accounting statements, unethical behaviour and poor leadership. PART 1: Management issues in the Satyam case study From reviewing the case, the management issues in the case study are unethical behaviour and po or leadership. As there was no approval needed form shareholders it gave Raju and his brother the ability to make all managerial decisions.The lack of leadership and abuse of power let independent directors and audit committee feel intimidated enough to trust in the managerial decisions without question. The need for power and money led to negligence of fiduciary duties and inaccurate deceptive accounting on Raju’s behalf. Raju’s total disregard for managerial ethics just to make short term figures to impress Satyam’s stakeholders resulted in a complete lack of corporate social responsibility.Raju’s greed led to the manipulation of financial records to show increased earnings, payment of salaries to ‘ghost staff’, diversion of funds to purchase property in family member names and fabricated profits ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬. It is believed PricewaterhouseCooper failed to perform its role correctly and therefore this failure to follow fiduciary responsi bilities lead to Raju’s manipulation of the businesses statements and cash flow was go undetected. PART 2: Why the issues are problematic? In the first instance we examine the unethical behaviour and the conflict of interest with family members in high company roles.Since the company was founded and owned by Raju himself, the chairman, and his brother occupying the role of managing director, which gave them and overwhelming majority and a psychological advantage into the decision making of the company. This advantage is how the company books were able to be cooked and inflated profits by selling inflated stakes for went undetected for so long. Without the approval of from the shareholder the directors were able to use company funds to be diverted into family real estate investments.Raju’s expectations for power and ambitious corporate growth also contributed to the fraud. Whist there is no right or wrong way to behave due to Raju’s lack of moral leadership Satya m’s stakeholders, clients and employees were also greatly affected by the demise. Rationalisation and justification lead to negative emotions which could have caused Raju to act emotionally and unethically without any regard for his stakeholders. The damage to the credibility of the company forced the cancellation of projects which in turn lead to the employee’s loss of wages, jobs and self esteem.The mistrust would have had clients question accountability and would have sought business with Satyums competitors. Shareholders would have lost money in the form of investments. Deceptive reporting practices and complete lack of transparency in the finances damaged the company’s future credibility. As PricewaterhouseCooper failed to detect the discrepancies I believe they also hold some accountability in the downfall of the company. As the falsifying of Satyam’s books would lower its stock values, which inturn would lead lower profits and less investors.Howeve r to leave the auditor out of the equation would be a mistake. As a result of negligence with both PricewaterhouseCooper and Raju, the outsourcing company suffered a massive blow in trust and leave further investment in the company questionable. However whilst the scandal put pressure on the Indian government and other Indian outsourcing, this type of scandal wouldn’t be limited to just India as a culture, as It comes down having a good global manager that exercises good ethical behaviour.As all mangers are human it’s the ability of mangers to be self disciplined and handle pressure to provide total quality management. PART 3: Recommendations. In Satyam’s case the need to merge or sell the company would be the first step to restore some faith in the company. What happened with Satyam served as a reminder that a universal, quality corporate governance mechanism is needed to ensure future companies don’t follow in Raju’s footsteps. Complete transpare ncies in finances would also avoid any temptation for unethical behaviour along with more deterring punishments for frauds of this scale.This would ensure higher loyalty and trust from stakeholders. Henri Fayol’s contribution to management thinking would be a great concept to start with, his five principles; I. Planning – Establishing objectives and goals. Recognising obstacles, these can be internal or external, and how to control them. Forming, implementing and following up of plans. II. Organising – Identification, classification, coordination III. Commanding – The delegation of duties to correct workers, successful leadership. IV.Coordinating – Make decisions and ensure all information is shared and to monitor the works involved. V. Controlling – Monitoring and making sure all things are running according to plan. Employee performance reviews Whilst policing manager personality traits would be a perfect solution the reality of policing t his is near impossible therefore management accountability and responsibility would be a good start. Having a universal Code of Ethical Conduct and setting out universal teachings or courses in global ethics may also provide a solution.By obtaining a better understanding of cultural diversity, understanding the abilities, vales and personality types of different cultures ultimately it is up to the manager to be fully accountable. REFERENCE LIST Schermerhorn, Davidson, Poole, Simon, Woods, Chau, 2011, Management Foundations and Applications http://www. mahindrasatyam. com/investors/documents/Annual-Repor-for-the-year-2011-12. pdf http://www. vrl-financial-news. com/accounting/intl-accounting-bulletin/issues/iab-2009/iab441/satyam-scandal-where-to-from. aspx http://www. telegraph. co. uk/finance/4161198/Satyam-accounting-scandal-could-be-Indias-Enron. html

The Book 1984 By George Orwell - 961 Words

The book 1984, by George Orwell, takes place in country named Oceania, where their government is under a totalitarianism rule. The characters in the book are basically stripped of every right that citizens, in the United States, are guaranteed under the US Constitution. Some examples of the Bill of Rights Amendments that were absent in the book would be the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Sixth Amendment, as well as the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendment, and also many others. Under the First Amendment in the United States Constitution, it is stated, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances† (US Constitution). This amendment gives citizens the right to have freedom of speech, press, religion, petition and assembly. These basic ri ghts of expression are one of the biggest rights taken away in the book. Without the right to freedom of speech there would be a lack of opinion. With a lack of opinion, the citizens become uniform, which makes it easier for a dictator to control. As seen in the book, taking away this right will cause the citizens to only be aloud to say what the government wants to hear. The book also shows examples as to why freedom of press is an absolute necessity. Without the freedom of press, the government canShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1362 Words   |  6 PagesKathie Tejada Professor Antonio Tomà ¡s Guerrero Dà ­az COLI 214B 1984 This novel, 1984, is a dystopia and takes place in Oceania where people live in a totalitarian society. The author, George Orwell, wrote this as if he was looking into the future and what it was going to turn in to. This group of people, called The Party, have control over everything and everyone, and they have a leader, known as Big Brother, who is everywhere throughout the novel and the people look up to him. They invented a languageRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell968 Words   |  4 PagesThe book, 1984 by George Orwell, is about the external and internal conflicts that take place between the two main characters, Winston and Big Brother and how the two government ideas of Democracy and totalitarianism take place within the novel. Orwell wrote the novel around the idea of communism/totalitarianism and how society would be like if it were to take place. In Orwell’s mind democracy and communism created two main characters, Winston and Big Brother. Big Br other represents the idea ofRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1084 Words   |  5 Pages1984 was written by British author George Orwell. The main character is an average man by the name of Winston Smith. Winston does not agree with the ideals of the party; this gets him arrested by the thought police. 1984 proclaims what could happen if people just let the government do all their thinking for them. 1.In the world of 1984, what is considered orthodox is not the same as the actual world. In the book in order to be considered orthodox one must never question the party or have any individualRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1228 Words   |  5 Pagesnovel, 1984, there is a large focus on the Inner and Outer Party; the book focuses on one particular member in the party. It is easy to forget that there are actually more members in Oceania, they are cast over and it seems to be they are often forgotten. This third group of citizens are the proles. They make up the rest of the population. Oceania can function just as fine without them, they are rather just ghosts roaming the streets and taking up space. They are rarely mentioned in the book and whenRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1493 Words   |  6 Pagessteadily bringing us closer to the world of Big Brother because the government has the ability to collect information from devices that are constantly being in use such as cell phones, televisions, and computers without our consent. In the book entitled 1984, George Orwell reveals how Oceania was a world where no one could be trusted; an action as simple as thinking was considered a violation of the law and you could be arrested for it. Individuals were living in a society where their own thoughts, evenRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1253 Words   |  6 Pagesno point of trying to live a regular life. In the book 1984 by George Orwell nearly everyone in the book is brainwashed and given a lot of false information. Winston and other characters only provide a little bit of hope. With a little bit of hope in the brainwashed world there is still absolutely no chance for any recovery unless the upper management screws up. This hope provides nearly no chance of humanity going back to normal. In the book, 1984, Big Brother is watching over everyone at all timesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1288 Words   |  6 PagesControlled freedom Present day society is very much like society in the book 1984. Although, some of the procedures have diminished slightly, they still do exist, and are still current in today’s society. it’s a shame that most people fail to see that our â€Å"free† nation is actually still controlled. we are being manipulated in such a manner that we do not see by propaganda, media, lies, and yes even torture. Many citizens can say that here in America we are free nation or have freedom, but do weRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1088 Words   |  5 Pages1984 The book that I chose for my first book report was 1984 by George Orwell. The story begins by introducing a man named, Winston Smith, a simple man from the country known as Oceania. He lives in a small flat within London, on the Island known as Airstrip One. Winston is a part of the outer party, which is a part of the ruling party within Oceania, and is a low ranking member who works for the Ministry of Truth as a propaganda officer. The people of the ruling party are constantly being watchedRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1369 Words   |  6 Pages Present Day 1984 The book 1984 by George Orwell takes place in the fictitious dystopian country of Oceania. Orwell warns readers of the grim future that will occur if the government continues to use surveillance, propaganda, and manipulation. The world that Orwell paints is one that is greatly dystopian. The citizens of the state have no control over their actions to the point where the government even invades on their thoughts and emotions. Although the date of 1984 has long passed the idealsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1804 Words   |  8 Pages1984, by George Orwell - Book 1, Chapter 7 1. Winston continues to write in his diary, but this time he reflects on the idea of a possible revolution consisting of the proles due to its large makeup of the population of Oceania. At the same time, he knows that the revolution cannot happen from within the Party or by the Brotherhood’s efforts. This is because he realizes that the massive size of the proles is enough to supply the strength and power to overcome the Party’s oppressive rule. Unfortunately