Vouchers and School Choice are Not Necessary :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The issue of "choice", like so many other novel educational reform attempts, serve once again to highlight the fact that something is desperately wrong with the current educational system. While everyone seems to be fully aware of the need for change, no one really knows where to start. In the process of making sense of this need to pin down the problems that beset education, many end up latching on to any novel idea that even vaguely offers the hope of finally bringing that educational calm and success everyone so desperately longs for. The problem with this hit-and-run approach is that it almost always ends up fragmenting the communities and societies that should in fact be pooling their energies and resources on the issue of educational reform. Name me ANY reform movement, and I'll show you at least two camps for each of them - one "for", and one "against". The proponents of educatonal choice have, over time, carefully built up their pool of arguments in support of its implementation. To fully understand this perspective, and before I share mine, I have selected a collection of quotes from various proponents of educational choice which should present, albeit statically, the central issues underlying the concerns of these and many other students, parents, and teachers. In the process of reading them, please try to focus on the issues they represent rather than the emotions that presently drive them. "It is time to develop political muscle for parents and children. We know that our urban public school systems are hopelessly broken. We know that unless the parents of children in public schools are able to threaten to enroll their children in competing private schools, the public schools will never be held accountable." "Lessons must be learned from Voucher Bill Defeat", Joseph Walsh "The most recent National Assessment of Education Progress reading test reports that 30% of high school seniors, 31% of eighth graders, and 42% of fourth graders couldn't reach "basic" reading levels. Those students who have spent from four to thirteen years in school, don't have even "partial mastery" of the reading skills expected at their grade level." "The High Cost of Rationing Literacy", Martha C. Brown "There is no more important issue today than the education of our children. We could possibly disagree that our society - crippled by gang violence, teen pregnancy, and welfare dependancy - would experience a Renaissance if every child received quality education?

Brazil Economy Essay

1. What are some of the advantages that a strong Brazilian currency does for its population, and what are some of the challenges of having a strong currency relative to another currency? Global economic forces have served Brazil well in recent years. As a leading exporter of raw materials such as Soya and iron ore, the South American nation has benefited from the Chinese-fueled commodities boom. The instability in exchange rates between currencies creates difficulties for international trade and investment, for business planning, and for national economies, with impacts on prices and inflation. 2. Explain why the Brazilian government is concerned about its balance of trade with China? They are concerned because more Brazilians are buying in China now which could damage businesses in Brazil. Brazil remains a complicated place to do business for foreign-based companies. Challenges include a highly complex and expensive tax and labor environment, burdensome bureaucracy, costly credit, lingering corruption and deep social imbalances. 3. What does a higher external demand for goods and services in a country do for the standard of living of its citizens? This would help them have a better standard of living so that they are able to buy their own homes. 1. Explain the role of capitalism in the 100-year growth of Nederlander concerts. Individual industry growth differ from each other in many ways. Indeed, no two are exactly alike. Some industries are dominated by booms. After a short recession, there is a rapid recovery that leads to a prolonged boom. Over a 100-year life of such a cycle, there might be twenty years of recession and depression followed by eighty years of prosperity accompanied by lesser fluctuations. The Nederlander’s have managed to stay in business for over 100 years which shows that being a small business with a well grounded foundation could be the key to success. 2. Why is Nederlander able to charge higher prices for small theater performances when audiences could pay less at stadium concerts? Because the space has limited seating but big name entertainment they are able to monopolize off of the consumer by charging higher prices to see a big name  entertainer. As a consumer I would pay the higher prices so that I am able to be in a smaller concert environment in my opinion less people mean less problems. 3. Would you expect the current slump in the U.S economy to affect Nedelander’s ticket sales? Why or Why Not? I don’t think it would have any affect on ticket sales, because even though the economy is in a slump we still crave entertainment, and socialization therefore people would find the money to do something that they would enjoy.

Causes and Consequences of Reduced Biodiversity Essay

Causes and consequences of reduced biodiversity in tropical rain forests In many tropical countries, the majority of deforestation results from the actions of poor subsistence cultivators. However, in Brazil only about one-third of recent deforestation can be linked to cultivators. A large portion of deforestation in Brazil can be attributed to land clearing for pastureland by commercial and speculative interests, misguided government policies, inappropriate World Bank projects, and commercial exploitation of forest resources. For effective action it is imperative that these issues be addressed. Focusing solely on the promotion of sustainable use by local people would neglect the most important forces behind deforestation in Brazil. Brazilian deforestation is strongly correlated to the economic health of the country the decline in deforestation from 1988-1991 nicely matched the economic slowdown during the same period, while the rocketing rate of deforestation from 1993-1998 paralleled Brazil’s period of rapid economic growth. During lean times, ranchers and developers do not have the cash to rapidly expand their pasturelands and operations, while the government lacks funds to sponsor highways and colonization programs and grant tax breaks and subsidies to forest exploiters. Clearing for Cattle Pasture Cattle ranching are the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. This has been the case since at least the 1970s: government figures attributed 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching. However, today the situation may be even worse. According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe’s processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent and by 2003 for the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production 80 percent of which was in the Amazon was largely export driven. Factors * CURRENCY DEVALUATION—The devaluation of the Brazilian real against the dollar effectively doubled the price of beef in reals and created an incentive for ranchers to expand their pasture areas at the expense of the rainforest. The weakness of the real also made Brazilian beef more competitive on the world market [CIFOR]. * CONTROL OVER FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE—The eradication of foot-and-mouth disease in much of Brazil has increased price and demand for Brazilian beef. * INFRASTRUCTURE—Road construction gives developers and ranchers access to previously inaccessible forest lands in the Amazon. Infrastructure improvements can reduce the costs of shipping and packing beef. * INTEREST RATES—Rainforest lands are often used for land speculation purposes. When real pasture land prices exceed real forest land prices, land clearing is a good hedge against inflation. At times of high inflation, the appreciation of cattle prices and the stream of services (milk) they provide may outpace the interest rate earned on money left in the bank. * LAND TENURE LAWS—In Brazil, colonists and developers can gain title to Amazon lands by simply clearing forest and placing a few head of cattle on the land. As an additional benefit, cattle are a low-risk investment relative to cash crops which are subject to wild price swings and pest infestations. Essentially cattle are a vehicle for land ownership in the Amazon. Colonization and subsequent subsistence agriculture A significant amount of deforestation is caused by the subsistence activities of poor farmers who are encouraged to settle on forest lands by government land policies. In Brazil, each squatter acquires the right (known as a usufruct right) to continue using a piece of land by living on a plot of unclaimed public land (no matter how marginal the land) and â€Å"using† it for at least one year and a day. After five years the squatter acquires ownership and hence the right to sell the land. Up until at least the mid-1990s this system was worsened by the government policy that allowed each claimant to gain title for an amount of land up to three times the amount of forest cleared. Poor farmers use fire for clearing land and every year satellite images pick up tens of thousands of fires burning across the Amazon. Typically understory shrubbery is cleared and then forest trees are cut. The area is left to dry for a few months and then burned. The land is planted with crops like bananas, palms, manioc, maize, or rice. After a year or two, the productivity of the soil declines and the transient farmers press a little deeper and clear new forest for more short-term agricultural land. The old, now infertile fields are used for small-scale cattle grazing or left for waste. Infrastructure Improvements Road construction in the Amazon leads to deforestation. Roads provide access to logging and mining sites while opening forest frontier land to exploitation by poor landless farmers. Brazil’s Trans-Amazonian Highway was one of the most economic development programs ever devised, and one of the most spectacular failures. In the 1970s, Brazil planned a 2,000 mile highway that would bisect the massive Amazon forest, opening rainforest lands to settlement by poor farmers from the crowded, drought-plagued north and development of timber and mineral resources. Colonists would be granted a 250-acre lot, six-months’ salary, and easy access to agricultural loans in exchange for settling along the highway and converting the surrounding rainforest into agricultural land. The plan would grow to cost Brazil US$65,000 1980 dollars to settle each family, an amazing amount for Brazil, a developing country at the time. Commercial agriculture Recently, soybeans have become one of the most important contributors to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Thanks to a new variety of soybean developed by Brazilian scientists to flourish in rainforest climate, Brazil is on the verge of supplanting the United States as the world’s leading exporter of soybeans. High soybean prices have also served as an impetus to expanding soybean cultivation. Logging In theory, logging in the Amazon is controlled by strict licensing which allows timber to be harvested only in designated areas. However, there is significant evidence that illegal logging is quite widespread in Brazil. In recent years, Ibama Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency has made several large seizures of illegally harvested timber including one in September 2003 when 17 people were arrested for allegedly cutting 10,000 hectares worth of timber. Logging in the Amazon is closely linked with road building. Studies by the Environmental Defense Fund show that areas that have been selectively logged are eight times more likely to be settled and cleared by shifting cultivators than untouched rainforests because of access granted by logging roads. Logging roads give colonists access to rainforest, which they exploit for fuel wood, game, building material, and temporary agricultural lands. Fires Virtually all forest clearing, by small farmer and plantation owner alike, is done by fire. Though these fires are intended to burn only limited areas, they frequently escape agricultural plots and pastures and char pristine rainforest, especially in dry years like 2005. Many of the fires set for clearing forest for these purposes are set during the three-month burning season and the smoke produced creates widespread problems across the region, including airport closings and hospitalizations from smoke inhalation. These fires cover a vast area of forest. In 1987 during a four-month period, about 19,300 square miles of Brazilian Amazon were burned. The burning produced carbon dioxide containing more than 500 million tons of carbon, 44 million tons of carbon monoxide, and millions of tons of other particles and nitrogen oxides. An estimated 20 percent of fires that burn between June and October cause new deforestation, while another 10 percent is the burning of ground cover in virgin forest Mining Mining in the Brazilian Amazon presently results in limited deforestation due to crackdowns on informal miners known as garimpeiros. The pig iron industry may have the largest role in mining-driven deforestation by consuming wood to produce charcoal to fuel steel production.

Election of 2000 essays

Election of 2000 essays Bill Clinton, as a president was a major paradox in and of himself. People loved him, yet they hated him. Americans, as a whole loved the prosperity, and capitalist growth that was brought by Clintons years in the Oval Office. They loved the stocks ownership, the money, the way our country was flourishing. Clinton was very good at what he did-soothing lines drawn between parties, even going so far as to sign a Republican-sponsored welfare bill. He moved the country from right to left, and back again. Clinton was a talented politician, yet he missed the opportunity to be an exceptional president. The biggest paradox may be Clinton becoming the focal point for the revival of ideological politics; people wanted the government to be a friend, not an enemy, whilst many people saw Clinton as the flailed president. Clinton did a lot of good, but he also made many mistakes, that made many people see him as a failed president. For every American that liked Clinton, one didnt. Many of those who didnt see eye-to-eye with him were the uneducated, rural white males. Moreover, this then, sets the stage for the 2000 election. Clintons vice president; Al Gore had the best shot at winning the democratic presidential nomination simply for being vice-president. Whatever the reason, being the vice president seems to be one of the single most advantages when running for president. Not only did Gore have connections with powerful democrats; he had Clinton backing him. Gore was in the publics eye as vice-president, and people generally agreed that he had been an excellent vice president. Gore was also favored by democrats at a high rate of 73% of the American public. Just as Gore became the Democratic favorite, Bush soon became the Republican favorite, largely due to a famous name, a remarkable network of sup ...

The Line is for the Toe

The Line is for the Toe The Line is for the Toe The Line is for the Toe By Simon Kewin The Washington Times recently printed an editorial about H1N1 flu calling the disease tow-the-line flu. The use of the phrase tow the line is a common mistake; what the paper should have written was toe the line. To toe the line means to conform to some rule or standard, to fall into line. Politicians, for example, often have to toe their party lines. People may imagine that the spelling tow the line is correct as it perhaps derives from some nautical activity. Ropes are often called lines aboard ship and a tow-line is just a line used to tow something on the water. But the phrase is probably nothing to do with ropes. In fact, the exact source is unclear but the phrase is generally taken to derive from the idea of lining up for a sporting activity, i.e. to place your toe on the line for the start of a race. By doing so you are following the rules set out for the activity. There are other theories as to the origins of the phrase. It may derive from boxing, with early prize-fighters having to stand with one foot on a scratched line on the ground to fight. Others have claimed that it derives from the British House of Commons, where lines are marked on the ground to prevent more adversarial debates from getting out of hand. Whatever the true origin of the phrase, the spelling should be toe and not tow. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?15 Words for Household Rooms, and Their SynonymsHow to Address Your Elders, Your Doctor, Young Children... and Your CEO

Zatwsho LLC Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Zatwsho LLC - Case Study Example The report also discusses about the kind of ownership that family business should have. Target market of the product has also been defined along with a memo to promote the company’s offerings in a better way. In the end of the report, recommendations have been given to improve the website of Zatswho. QUESTION # 1: Tips for Making Family Business Successful: There are several things that are to be considered in order to make a family business successful. One of the main tips to make a family business successful is that the roles and responsibilities of the partners or family members should be clearly defined and every family member should know what their responsibilities are and what they are supposed to do. Pitfalls That Should Be Avoided To Make Family Business Successful: It is important for every business to grow with the passage of time and in a family business, a stage comes when the growth of the business becomes static and at this point of time it is important to seek a dvices from outside advisors or people who are not in the family so that the business could have some fresh ideas and it could start growing again. QUESTION # 2: Because there are two people involved in the business therefore it is recommended to have a partnership rather than sole proprietor. As the business would be a partnership therefore the agreement of both Cooper and Schwinoff would be required while taking important decisions. QUESTION # 3: The target market of Zatswho would be parents and grandparents as they would be using these cards to teach their kids about their family members. However other target markets of the product could be day care centers and schools as they could use these cards to make kids recognize different important personalities and even cartoon characters. Along with this the target market of the company also includes the fundraising organizations, special needs children, and adults with the problem of memory loss. QUESTION # 4: Zatswho LLC January 20, 2012 To: Cooper and Schwinoff From: Subject: Proposing Guerrilla Marketing Strategy for Zatswho LLC Guerrilla marketing strategy has become important for the businesses in this highly competitive world, especially for the businesses which are targeting specific and small market segments (Levinson, 2007), as in the case of Zatswho. The company is mainly targeting the grandparents and parents who like to play with their grandchildren and children and the same time wants to increase the memory of the children. Apart from this other target markets include children with special needs, day care centers, schools, fundraising organizations, and seniors with the problem of memory loss. In order to capture the target markets and attract them it is essential for the company to come up with some unique and out of box marketing strategies. The company can go for price discount and cheaper goods strategy, as the target market will not be willing to spend much on such playing items. This strategy of price discount can be supported by different limited time promotional activities like: Placing colorful sticky notes consisting information about the game in the children stores and shops. Holding competition through social media for suggesting best game which can be played using these cards. Different posters can be placed at schools, day care centers, and playing grounds in order to attract more market. Hold different competitions at shopping malls, schools, and playing grounds in which judging the children on the ability of their quickly identifying the pictures. Partnership with some chocolate or confectionary company and come up with special packages. All these promotional acti

CNET article reviews and reflections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CNET article reviews and reflections - Essay Example Google plan is to make the region open for business since with increased circulation of information Africa will become more viable as market. In retrospect, Google has worked in Africa on the mobile platform; in 2009, it allowed cellphone users in Uganda to get information of weather and sports through text queries. It has also collaborated with France mobile to cut down the cost of SMS services in the region. In my opinion, this is a progressive move, and it shows that Google as a company is capable of combining a profit making venture with its social responsibility of ensuring Africa is opened to the world in terms of telecommunication. Furthermore, it will have indirect impacts by forcing the telecommunication companied to lower their SMS costs because of competition from Google. Ultimately, while Google will stand to make a tidy profit, it has considerably increased Africa’s networking potential. The space shuttle endeavor, which has been in orbit 25 times since it was constructed two years ago, is set to take its valedictorian flight perched on the back of a jet. This is to give the public a chance for one last viewing before it takes its place in the museum. The endeavor is set to fly across Houston landing in Ellington refuel at the Field Army Airfield in El Paso White sands then proceed to S Francisco, NASAs Ames Research Center, Sacramento until it is finally returns to California on a three days trip. The endeavor, was commissioned in 1978 to replace the challenger which was destroyed in a takeoff accident, after that, it made 24 more trips many of them to assemble the international space station. The first ever trip by a spaceship through a metropolitan area. It is a complex process which is going to involve a sizeable team of engineers, who will be ensure the route used is the best possible, without too much disruption. It is going to involve a lot of restructuring and moving