Well known organization

Well known organization Introduction HSBC is well known Organization in banking sector. It is a largest banking and financial organization in the world. HSBC is an international company which has around 8500 offices in 86 countries and territories. It is an international bank, which is spread all over the world. It has a lot of branch in the London. HSBC has recently full grown through a further achievement. The HSBC banking group has become the biggest bank in the UK. Approximately half of all people in the UK now bank with HSBC banking group. The group has the largest branch network of any UK bank. The achievement also means that the new group has a broader range of expertise with multiple varieties under its banner. It is a more multicultural business, with stronger market attendance in areas such as mortgages, insurance, finance and investment. HSBC is using variety of advance technologies to make an international network, including a rapidly growing e-commerce capability; HSBC provides a comprehensive commercial range of financial services corporate service, personal services, private banking and other activities. They offer many other services including Braille, large print statement and sign language interpretations. HSBC working since 145 years, they are providing Internet banking, disabled customer account, mortgage, house loan etc. It is totally financial company but the company is providing insurance service as well. History of HSBC HSBC was established in 1865, as a small concept and idea; a local bank to serving local needs. It was based in Hongkong?s territory when it was born but at the current period of time HSBC welcomes customers from all over the world. It has centuries of banking experiences in china. Their experience has created its core strengths of resilience, flexibility and capability for improvement. A peek at its history explains why it believes in capital strength, strict cost control and in building long-term relationships with customers. HSBC has weathered change in all forms ? insurgency, economic crises, new technologies ? and has adapted to survive .Growth has come organically and through strategic achievement, and these purchases have brought their own strengths and cultures to the Group. The resulting corporate character of HSBC enables it to meet the challenges of the financial world of today and tomorrow .This brief history introduces the major events, decisions and personalities that h ave made HSBC what it is today. Even though it was at the centre of the sub prime hurricane, the wider group has weathered the economic crisis better than other global banks. According to Bromberg HSBC is one of world?s strongest banks by some measures. When HM treasury required all UK banks to increase their capital in October 2007, the group transferred ?750 million to London within hours, and announced that it had just lent ?4 billion to other UK banks. In March 2009, it announced that it had made US$9.3 billion of profit in 2008 and announced a ?12.5 billion (US$17.7 billion) rights issue to enable it to buy other banks that were struggling to survive. However, uncertainty over the rights issues implications for institutional investors caused volatility in the HongKong stock market on 9 march 2009 share of HSBC price fell 24.14%, with 12 million shares sold in the last few seconds of trading. SWOT Analysis Strengths HSBC, as a successful international financial company, provides advices and suggestion to other companies regarding international business. It has branches all over the world has got client from different environment and cultural but never beaten n this area.. HSBC knows how to follow structural and effective growth. It was mostly an Asian bank until it took over a UK bank in 1992 and now has become the worlds second-largest bank by profit. HSBC has different idea and concept about how to get more return from investments. HSBC provides qualitative services in an easier ways than other banking and financial sectors. If you open your account with HSBC you will receive every thing within few working days e,g; debit card and cheque book etc. HSBC is primarily listed on the London and HongKong stock exchanges, which saves the company much sorrow in to agree with new American Sarbanes-Oxley laws. To talk about current economic recession, it was at the higher position than recession while many banks and financial companies collapsed. Weaknesses While it is definitely a global company, HSBC came late to the game on deciding to perform an included marketing strategy and profit from on its international brand. Because it had set up so many different banks in different countries at different times over a hundred year period, it set them up under different names HongKong Bank of Canada, British Bank of the Middle East, HSBC Banco Roberts. Not even all of these Banks, prior to 1998, carried the HSBC logo. In 1998, they were all branded together, but the previous lack of branding and the name changes may have hurt HSBC in brand recognition. Customers may have thought that HSBC was taking over their local bank and not realized that HSBC had already been serving them for decades. In any case, the re-branding was an overdue move that should have occurred before 1998. The main weaknesses i found by research in this case study that its bad debts is increasing every year, which can be loophole for its better progress and success. As is frequently the case, proof profits can only last so long. Opportunities Other banks are running frightened of this region. However, HSBC has run its regional business locally and been rewarded for its attempt with abundant awards and tribute for the Middle East market. HSBC is a reliable name there, and the company has engaged advantage of Iraqs new democracy by creating an attendance in the country. HSBC is the biggest international bank in the Middle East. In totalling to the growing Chinese middle class, Brazilians and Indians are opening to appear as growing consumers, and therefore growing consumer spenders. Some denizens of these countries previously did not even own a bank account, but companies like HSBC are prepared to move in and take advantage of the growing middle class in these areas. In places like Argentina and Turkey, HSBC experienced pre-tax profits of 50% last year. This is where it is growing the most. By investing in these countries, HSBC can counterbalance problems it may have as spending in the US and UK declines. Threats As interest rates grow and the housing explosion ends, Americans are fore cast to rely less on consumer credit and more on their saving expertise to get by. The plunge in American spending will be bad for the global economy as a whole, and HSBC will positively be pretentious. In 2005, HSBC pre-tax profits rose 5% to $10.64bn (?6bn) for the first six months of the year, largely on grow in consumer finance for growing consumer spending. At that moment they increase the interest rates that are why company faces lot of problem. Last year, British employees held a strike involving 1,500 workers at HSBC branches in London. At its annual meeting, striking workers stand outside, handing out bags of nuts and saying that they are paid ?Peanuts? while HSBC experiences record profits. Strikes such as this, above all in union-conscious Europe, are bad for image reasons and HSBC needs to take action to ensure that its workers are happy just as its customers are. With a trillion dollars in managed assets, taking over HSBC is a crackers dream. HSBC has to remain on the front lines of safety and look after its customers, at the same time supportive them that online banking is safe. In August 2006, HSBC was accused, although it?s claimed airtight security; of having left its online customers open to a safety anomaly for two years without fixing. Researchers at Cambridge University claimed that any HSBC account could be broken into within nine attempts. Last year, HSBC Company?s Chief Executive Officer published our HSBC Company got thousand of email viruses. At that moment HSBC Company spent lot of money to stop these from causing systemized damage. As most banking is done on computers, even one virus could cripple HSBC. PESTEL Analysis Political HSBC is operating across different geopolitical landscape. It has its presence on every continent of the world with countries having varying political ideology. Economical Recently, HSBC had survived without any government aid, -the worst financial crisis since the great depression in 1929. Social HSBC operates in a highly diversified cultural environment due to its global banking presence. It highlights in its advertisement about the ?THE USE OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGE? and ?THE WORLDS LOCAL BANK? as a way to connect to all its Target Market. Technological HSBC had intensified its campaign to encourage its customers to use the online banking facilities. It has also made its branches have cash counting and pay bills kiosk or machines which greatly improve its operational efficiency. Environmental As a major global bank, HSBC is also at the epicentre of the carbon footprint reduction commitment because of it global and large scale operation. Legal The move by G8 spearheaded by the UK and United States Government to put a limit on the Banker?s bonus will cause significant negative effects on its ability to attract and retain highly skilled and talented workforce especially on its investment banking group. Marketing strategy of HSBC Brand: Make HSBC and its hexagon symbol one of the worlds leading brands for customer experience and corporate social responsibility. Personal Financial Services: Drive growth in key markets and through appropriate channels to make HSBC the strongest global player in personal financial services. Consumer Finance: Expand to arrive of this business to existing customers through a wider product range and to get into new markets. Commercial Banking: Make the most of HSBC international customer base through effective relationship management and improved product offerings in all the Groups markets. Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets: To hasten to progress or incidence of growth by enhancing capital markets and advisory capabilities straight focused on client service in defined sectors where HSBC has critical relevance and strength. Private Banking: Serve the Groups highest value personal clients around the world. People: Attract, develop and motivate HSBC people, rewarding success and rejecting poorness. TSR: fulfil HSBC TSR target by achieving strong aggressive performances in earnings per share growth and efficiency. HSBC target at anyhow they want to increase our per share growth. Conclusion: HSBC has 140 years experience of china. It has 8500 offices in 86 Countries and Territories. HSBC, as a major bank, provides a wide range of services to support new businesses from initial idea to running the business. When it was born it has a small idea to serving local needs. Nowadays it welcome to all over the world customers. It has been using a huge technology to connect international market. It has a good strategy to make sufficient money. It provides the faster services than other financial organizations. HSBC know how to succeed in MA organic and effective growth. It is definitely global company; it has a so many competitors. In my view HSBC?s market segmentation and market penetration is good part of the organization. I recommended HSBC what they are doing; keep continuing but customers needs and desires are dynamic. HSBC has to try to fulfil the customer?s needs. BARCLAYS, NATEWEST, HALIFAX are main competitor of HSBC. They are also serving the same kind of service and using same kind of marketing strategies. If HSBC does not attention about these competitors it should bear huge loss in future. HSBC has won the customers faith so I recommended keeping it up. Watch the global market competitors and try to provider better service than other organization. References: P. Kotler, marketing management Analysis, planning, implementation and control, 7th edn, prentice-hall, Englewood cliffs, NJ, 1991, p.129.s F.A. Russ and C.A Kirkpatrick, marketing, Little, Brown C., Boston, MA 1982, p.24. C.R Darwin, on the origin of the species, 1859. M.E porter, Competitive strategy, free press, New York 1980. http://www.hsbc.co.uk F. Buttle, Relationship Marketing: Theory and practice, Paul Chapman, London 1996, p.13. http://www.wikipedia.history.//hsbc.co.uk.

Life of Paul Cuffee Essay

More than for 500 years, people of African origin have shaped the course of not only American but the history of the whole world. We are proud of many African-Americans that had put so much hard work to make our society as good and developed as it is nowadays. There are lots of Blacks, who are very famous for their deeds and deserve to be remembered as honorable society members, such as Phyllis Wheatley, Benjamin Banneker, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Jacobs and others . The main objective of this paper will be the analyses of life and work of Paul Cuffee. Paul Cuffee was born on the 17th of January on Chuttyhunk Island in Southeastern Massachusetts, as a free child and a son of an African father and Native American mother. His father, named Kofi, was a member of the West-African tribe known as Ashanti tribe in Ghana. He was captured there and brought to America when he was ten. He was made a slave of Ebenezer Slocum, a Quaker of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, but the skills of good carpenter helped Kofi (Cuffe) to buy his freedom. He even managed to educate himself and later married to Ruth Moses, who was a Wampanoag Indian from Massachusetts. The Native Americans were not enslaved, so their children were born free. Paul did not want to take the name of his father’s possessor and chose his father’s name, which was Cuffe (or Cuffee). His family also owned a 116-acre farm in Westport, which was very rare at that time as most of the other African people were enslaved. The family was large and counted ten children: six daughters and four sons (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). After the death of his father, Paul Cuffee, at the age of 16 and with the knowledge only of an alphabet, already had many ambitious dreams such as getting an education and having a career in shipping industry. The boy always showed a kinship to navigation, boatbuilding and trade. When he was a teenager he constructed small boats. This hobby ended in trading among the islands of Massachusetts (â€Å"Paul Cuffee (1759-1817)†, 2013). He started to do the job of an ordinary seaman on fishing and whaling boats – this was in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was caught and held as a prisoner by British soldiers for three month during the Revolutionary War, but once he was released, he managed to start minor coastal trading. Paul bought some ships together with his sister’s husband Michael Wainer, who was a Native American. Because of his partner was afraid to sail big sea distances, in 1779 Cuffee tried to deliver the cargo to Nantucket alone, but he was waylaid by pirates. He continued to ship aboard a whaler owned by the Quaker merchants, prominent Rotch family and whalers of New Bedford. Despite the fact that pirates were very active those days and have attached the local sailors a lot, Paul’s business was prospering (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). Cuffe’s business started to grow and he had enough money to built bigger vessels and successfully traded north to Labrador and south to Virginia (â€Å"Petition for Relief from Taxation†, 2013). Paul gathered rather big capital that helped him to expand his ownership and to get a fleet of ships. He commissioned the closed-deck boat, which could ship around 14-15 ton known as Box Iron. Just after that, another achievement that followed was a18-20 ton schooner. In the 1780s Paul already owned schooner Sun Fish and schooner Mary, which in total could transport cargo of approximately 65 tons. In 1796, just right after the mentioned schooners Sunfish and Mary were sold, Cuffee’s shipyard in Westport launched a 69-ton schooner known as Ranger. Eventually he could afford to buy a large farmstead and in 1799 he bought property in Westport for $3,500. Later he bought a half of the 162-ton barque Hero. Paul was so wealthy, that he maybe was one of the richest man among all Native American and African American of the in the United States of the 19th century (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). Just a couple of weeks before the Revolution ended, Paul married Alice Pequit, who was also Wampanoag Indian, the same as Cuffee’s mother. This marriage brought seven children to Cuffe’s family: David, Sarah, Jonathan, Mary,John, Phebe, Ruth, Lydia, Freelove and Paul. On the 17th of January the youngest son was born. The child was biracial, but born free, as the two parents were not enslaved (Cordeiro, 2004). The Roch family and other successful merchants have inspired Paul to build his own empire, which was very successful. The crews that he employed were mainly African American and  Native American people. Eventually his ships were on both sides of the Atlantic. He opened an outlet in New Bedford, where he sold the goods that he imported (â€Å"Paul Cuffee (1759-1817)†, 2013). Being a businessman with an African American and Native American crews, Paul managed to earn the respect of many white Americans through the relationships in the Quaker faith. When Cuffee was twenty-one he refused to pay taxes. This protest was done along with his brother and lasted from 1778 till 1780. The main motivation for that was that free black Americans did not have the right to vote, but according to the governmental laws of that time, African Americans were taxed. He even petitioned the council of Bristol County in 1780, Massachusetts to put such taxation to an end. Despite the denial, later his petition was one of key factors that led to granting voting rights to all free male citizens by Legislature in 1783 (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). Cuffee built a schoolhouse for African American children on his own property. He spent his money on that and it took him a couple of months to finish. After the school was built, Paul hired a knowledgeable teacher and opened the institution to the Westport residents. It was for kids, who were denied to visit other public schools. He implemented his own policy to the school’s administration, according to which children of all races were allowed to attend the studies, so the school was multiracial. This was just a beginning of a future fight against unfair treatment of the US and other governments towards the black people (Cordeiro, 2004). The majority of Anglo-Americans and English origin people considered African as lower race in comparison to Europeans, even in principally Calvinist and Quaker New England. Unfortunately the slavery continued, but some decent men like James Madison and Presidents Thomas Jefferson thought that colonies emigration of Blacks outside the US was the best and the easiest way to the fight the race problem in America (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). Cuffee was involved not only in local activities. He played a crucial part in national and international events related Blacks in that time. Because of his successful business, Cuffee had contact all over the Atlantic seaboard, which connected the three important continents: Europe, North American and Africa (Cordeiro, 2004). Americans and Europeans put many efforts in all the parts of the world to colonize Black, but they were all unsuccessful. One of such attempts was related to Sierra Leone colonization. The Sierra Leone Company  was a main sponsor of 400 people departure from Great Britain to Western African colony. The colony was rebelling and wanted to create a working and competitive economy and a government, which would be strong enough to resist the outside pressure. Eventually the Sierra Leone Company collapsed and another institution known as African Institution was offering migration to the released slaves, which have settled in London and Nova Scotia after the American Revolution. The institution’s sponsors were hoping to get some economical benefit by fostering the educated trades of Blacks (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). Despite the fact that it was very difficult to colonize Sierra Leone, Cuffee really believed that it was a vital option and supported the movement. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Paul started to cooperate with the mentioned African Institution, which was based in London (Cordeiro, 2004). In U.S. the organization was very active in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. This all started in March 1807, when members of the institution encouraged him to help them. The main objective was to promote the immigration to Sierra Leone, a colony of Britain in West Africa. Cuffee was among those who recruited African Americans so they can settle there; he transported a big amount of families and explored the local economy trying to find ways of its improving. This was all mainly done for his own funds (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biog raphy†). Paul Cuffee wrote in his letters, that he really felt like going to Sierra Leone, he wanted to see the situation in the country. He believed that the inhabitants of that colony were talented people, which, as well as he did, deserved to feel the true light of Christianity and be benefited thereby (â€Å"Captain Paul Cuffe’s Logs and Letters†). Paul obtained a bill, given by the Committee of the Whole from the Senate and the President of the United States, which gave him a right to leave US with the cargo and come back with a cargo from Sierra Leone. He was nominated by government and had all the privilege to be treated properly (â€Å"History of Congress†). Cuffee studied all the logistics and the possible outcome, when finally on December in 1810 he left U.S. for his first voyage to Sierra Leone. He managed to get to the colony on the 1st of March in 1811. He was travelling all over the place to explore the local habits and economy in order to find the possibilities to development. He met the officials there, but they were against of the colonization idea, as they were afraid of American merchants, because this could create a lot of  unfair competition. Moreover, the cargo, which Cuffee intended to trade off, did not sell well as the tariff charges implemented by British trading system were too high. Eventually this did not stop Cuffee and on the 7th of April 1811 he made an appointment with key Black entrepreneurs. An outcome was that a special petition for the African Institution was written, which stated that people in the colony wanted to work in merchanting, whaling industry and agriculture. This indicated that those three areas were the main objective of the future growth and development of the colony. Cuffee together with the black businessmen set the Friendly Society foundation in Sierra Leone. Its main aim was to ensure further prosperity and industry development among all free peoples. Another area to work on was related to breaking the strong merchants trade established there by British. Cuffee decided to go to UK in order to make sure that colony will get further aid. He arrived to Liverpool in July 1811. There he met the officials of the African Institution in London, who collected some funds for the Friendly Society. He also obtained further required governmental license and permissions to continue his delegation in Sierra Leone. Paul was happy to come back to the West African colony where he shared the ideas of the Friendly Society with the local merchants. Together they elaborated plans for Sierra Leone to grow by building a saw mill, grist mill, salt works and rice-processing factory. Later Cuffee was involved with similar venture, which was backed by Americans and let to creation of the American Colonization Society and colony in Liberia (Cordeiro, 2004). During that period of history the relations between the Great Britain and United States were strained, which led to embargo establishment on British goods in 1811. This had somehow a negative outcome on Cuffee’s voyage, as when in April 1812 he reached Newport on his ship, it was usurped by U.S. customs officers along with all its cargo. This case was not being resolved locally, so Paul Cuffee left to Washington, D.C. to file an official appeal to his case. In the White House he met with the President James Madison and Albert Gallatin, who was a Secretary of the Treasury in that time. Cuffee was warmly welcomed and treated there. Madison was on his side and later ordered to release the goods, based on the information that Cuffee did not know about the political disagreements and did not deliver the goods with the intention to violate any laws. Cuffee shared his observations and experience, which he gained  during his trip to Sierra Leone. First the President seemed to be very interested in further expansion of the colony in Africa, but eventually he refuses to participate in Cuffee’s further investigations, as he saw this mission not possible because of too many problems and obstacles that U.S. will be facing during further attempts of Sierra Leone colonization. This was all related to the fact that it was initially fully British project. Still Cuffee obtained a legal permission to become an official authority on Africa in the United States. Cuffee had clear intentions to visit Great Britain’s colony of Sierra Leone on a regular basis, but his plans were interrupted because of the sudden War of 1812, which started in June and was a war between the British Empire and the United States. This prevented Paul from visiting the colony for a while. Despite the fact that Cuffee was opposed the war because of his Christian beliefs, he was really against any interruptions that could have been caused by war and resulted as an impact on trading and goods delivery from Sierra Leone. The war continued, so Cuffee took a change to convince U.S and Great Britain to ease restrictions on trading. Unfortunately this was unsuccessful and he waited until the war ended in 1815 (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). Meanwhile, Paul remained an active political life and paid a couple of visits to Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York, where he spoke to groups of free African Americans about the colony. He encouraged Blacks to create organizations within their cities, to talk to each other and to have a correspondence with the Friendly Society at Sierra Leone and the African Institution. A special pamphlet with the ideas of Paul Cuffee related to Sierra Leone was printed at that time and distributed to general public. He rebuilt the Westport Friends’ Meeting House in summer of 1813, which was a meeting house for the multi-racial members of the Society of Friend, where Cuffee spoke and preached regularly on a Sunday meetings. Most of the money for that was coming from Cuffee’s personal funds. It is important to mention that war impacted Cuffee’s business and during that year he facial financial crisis. He has a number of unprofitable ventures related to ships. One vessel was considered unseaworthy and has never returned from Chile. Luckily the war ended and the Treaty of Ghent was signed at the end of 1814. After some time taken to recover, Paul was prepared to go back to Sierra Leone (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). The first ship with thirty-eight Blacks shipped from Westport  on December 10, 1815. Among the passengers were 18 adults and 20 children (Cordeiro, 2004). The price of organization of that expedition was $5000. Eighty percents of those expenses were covere d by Cuffee. The rest was paid by passengers and with the help of donation by William Rotch from Massachusetts. The colonist arrived to the colony with their own belongings such as hoes, axes, wagon and a plow, but they were not treated as well as it was expected by Cuffee. This was related to the fact that Governor was facing difficulties in keeping the existing population in order, which could have even worsen the situation if more emigrant have arrived. Moreover, the act known as the Militia Act was imposed upon the colony and obliges males to swear of loyalty to the Crown. People had concerns, because it could have been an obligation to go to military service. Despite the negative outcome related to economical benefits and sales, the positive was the fact that colonist have finally settles in Freetown. Cuffee spent lots of money by supporting the new inhabitants with money for the first year’s provisions. It was planned initially that Cuffee will be reimbursed by the African Institution, but due to heavy tariff duties there was a big deficit in the budget. Actually Paul was never given money by the African Institution in Britain. After coming back to USA in 1816, Cuffee searched for financial support from New York’ division of the American Institution and has eventually obtained $439.62 for further investments into Sierra Leone’s colonists (â€Å"A Paul Cuffe Biography†). Soon in1816, Cuffee proposed a newly-designed emigration plan for African Americans, which was related not only to Sierra Leone but also possibly to Haiti. Provide funds. Congress did not approve the petition to provide funds for that. People all over U.S. have started to show more and more interest in immigration to Africa, believing that it would help to solve the racial problems. Cuffee was trying to find support from other institutions, but some of them were not honest, such as American Colonization Society (ACS) , which was alarmed as a racist organization. The ideas were supported by many other Americans, but later they turned in favor of emigration to Haiti, where the immigrants were welcomed and supported by the President Boyer Since 1817 Cuffee was not feeling himself well and has never visited Africa again. He died in September of that year surrounded by his family and friends. Cuffee was buried at the Quaker Meeting House near Westport (Cordeiro, 2004). To  conclude, it should be mentioned that Cuffee was and is considered one of the greatest persons in African-American history. He was a first African-American who had a success in implementation of ideas of Blacks. He fought the existing racism of that time with the help of tolerant and Christian methods. Not only he opposed himself, but he also managed to dwell public attention to the current situation with Blacks, which helped people a lot. He was a successful businessman, who could have had just a happy and calm life, but spent his time and effort to explore Sierra Leone, donated his own money to make the life of immigrants there as good as possible and helped in many other ways to people. I think this person is worth to be admired and remembered thought all future generations of the world. References A Paul Cuffe Biography. (n.d.) SlideShare, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/rbgstreetscholar1/a-paul-cuffe-biography Paul Cuffee (1759-1817). (2013). Paul Cuffee School. Retrieved from http://www.paulcuffee.org/about/mission-history/paul-cuffee/ Petition for Relief from Taxation. (2013). Abstract. Pearson Education. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/cuffe-taxation-petition/ Cordeiro, B.N. (2004). Paul Cuffe: A Study of His Life and the Status of His Legacy in Old Dartmouth. Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Boston. Retrieved from http://paulcuffe.home.comcast.net/~paulcuffe/Paul_Cuffe_Thesis_by_Brock_Cordeiro.pdf Captain Paul Cuffe’s Logs and Letters. (n.d.). Estimed froends John James and Alexander Wilson. Westport 6 mo 10th 1809. Paul Cuffee. Retrieved from http://atlanticslaverydebate.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/shared/ASD/Module2/InitialCrrspdnceCuffe1809.pdf History of Congress. (n.d.). A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Co ngressional Documents and Debates, 1774 – 1875. The Library of Congress. Retrieved from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac&fileName=027/llac027.db&recNum=221

Critique: Effects of Class Size and Instruction on Kindergarten Achievement Essay

Introduction This article discusses some very important points that will affect many children as they begin the first steps of their education. It is fairly clear that the authors have done quite a bit of research on the effects of the classroom size and the achievement of kindergarten students. Both authors are affiliated with the same school, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In reviewing the article, the authors point out some important details pertaining to the quality of the teacher as well as their method of teaching in an effort to keep in line with the NCLB Act(No Child Left  Behind Act). The main aim of the authors is to prove that the size of the class may affect a student’s academic progress because there have been mixed findings in the past as to the validity of this issue. Literature Review One of the main sources used by the authors in their review of literature was an experiment done by students in Tennessee in the 1980’s called STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio). â€Å"Researchers have referred to STAR as: â€Å"one of the great experiments in education in U. S. history (Mostellar, Light, & Sachs, 1996). † The variables are mainly the  Kindergarten class size and the teacher’s instruction methods which are well defined throughout the article. Statement of Problem This research study was conducted to determine whether teacher quality is more important than class size for achievement. The hypothesis is explicitly stated in this article and gave sufficient understanding of the specific variables that were to be studied in the article. An example of the hypothesis would be â€Å"teachers may teach differently in larger and smaller classes, Experimental Design 3 some instructional practices may be more effective than others in a smaller class, students may  behave differently in larger and smaller classes†. (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 291-293) The authors have made a very convincing argument concerning the stated hypothesis because they used reading and math data collected from children’s classroom experience, classroom size and their teacher’s instructional methods to come up with their definitive conclusion. Methodology The kindergarten class size was measured from a sample of 21,260 children that were enrolled in approximately 1,000 kindergarten programs. It also consisted of children from various racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as socio-economic backgrounds. Some of the children studied were from private kindergartens and others were from public school kindergartens (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 293-294). Data was collected twice throughout the year, during the spring and the fall. Most of the authors mentioned used data that was supplied at the beginning and at the end of the student’s kindergarten year. The parents were asked questions concerning their socio-economic background. In determining the student’s cognitive achievement, information was gathered from the children using a one-on-one computer assisted interview. Data in the areas of reading, math and general knowledge was used to assess the students. In evaluating the teachers, they were interviewed in the fall and in the spring of a particular kindergarten year (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 291-293). There was some concern about the validity of the study because there were some limitations on how the data was gathered from the teachers. There were questions as well as interviews which investigated the teacher’s instructional methods because it captured more of what a teacher’s intentions were as opposed to the teacher’s accomplishments through the year. Experimental Design 4 The authors had a few limitations but if they wanted to use the descriptive method to demonstrate whether or not the quality of a teachers’ instructional method versus the size of the class played a larger part in a kindergartner’s achievement, it was a necessary step (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 296-297). Results The researchers presented very descriptive statistics for all the student levels and class level variables that were used in the analysis. There were descriptive statistics presented for large and small classes. The researchers weighed the statistics at the student level but not at the class levels but they used descriptive statistics for both the original and the mean-imputed variable (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 299-306). Discussion The researchers have offered no evidence that the class size affects reading or math achievements for kindergarten. The major findings were that class size does not affect the achievement of kindergarteners on an average nor does it affect any particular group of students. The researcher’s findings for the class size differ from those of Project STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio). It was not determined whether the same teachers use different instructional methods in classes of different sizes (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 299-309). Experimental Design 5 References Mosteller, F. , Light, R. J. & Sachs. J. A. (1996). Sustained injury in education: Lesson from skilled grouping and class size. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 797-842. Retrieved on February 17, 2011 from ERIC. Milesi, C. , Gamoran, A (2006). Effects of Class Size and Instruction on Kindergarten Achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28:4, 287-313. Retrieved on March 17, 2010 from http://eepa. aera. net.

Hamilton vs. Jefferson Political Philosophies of the 1800s

Two competing political philosophies have always existed throughout the United States’ relatively short history: one seeking to increase the power of the central government, and one seeking to decrease it. During the 1800s these two conflicting philosophies were acted out by the Federalist and the Democratic Republican parties, respectively. The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, advocated the importance of a strong central government in leading the country forward, while the Democratic Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, promoted increasing the common man’s role in government. Although both political parties had good intentions for the future of the United States, the Federalist Party was much more effective at uniting the American†¦show more content†¦In contrast, the Democratic Republicans put large amounts of power directly in the hands of the people. Jefferson believed â€Å"in the common sense of mankind in general† and distrusted the centra l government. Democratic Republicans feared the tyranny of an all-powerful national government capable of operating unchecked and unchallenged without the consent of the people. However, their fears were largely unwarranted; the Constitution would not allow for such an oppressive government to exist—even if interpreted loosely—because of the numerous checks and balances put into place by the Founding Fathers. They ensured that the Federal government would always perform the will of the people. However, Jefferson would not compromise and insisted on preaching his outmoded conspiracy theories. Jefferson even went so far as to say, â€Å"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers†¦alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.† Unfortunately, this apprehensive philosophy did not work very well for the American people at all; it encouraged the development of factions, anShow MoreRelatedEssay Comparing Strict and Broad Constructionism7 55 Words   |  4 PagesComparing Strict and Broad Constructionism It was 1800, when vice president Jefferson succeeded Adams in the role of president. Jefferson stressed republican virtues of independence and equality and his belief in a frugal government. With his inauguration, the transfer of power to the Republican from the Federalists intensified a political conflict between the two political parties. Even though Jefferson stated in his inaugural address that we are all Republicans, we are all FederalistsRead MoreHamiltonian vs Jeffersonian Democracies5550 Words   |  23 PagesAlexander Hamilton, advocated the importance of a strong central government in leading the country forward, while the Democratic Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, promoted increasing the common man’s role in government. Although both political parties had good intentions for the future of the United States, the Federalist Party was much more effective at uniting the American people, avoiding domestic faction, and keeping the best interests in mind for the future of the United States. Hamilton saidRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesE SSAYS ON TWENTIETH-C ENTURY H ISTORY In the series Critical Perspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and CultureRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesConsequences of Political Behavior 426 Factors Contributing to Political Behavior 426 †¢ How Do People Respond to Organizational Politics? 429 †¢ Impression Management 430 The Ethics of Behaving Politically 434 Summary and Implications for Managers 435 S A L S A L Self-Assessment Library Is My Workplace Political? 412 glOBalization! Power Distance and Innovation 420 An Ethical Choice Should All Sexual Behavior Be Prohibited at Work? 423 Myth or Science? â€Å"Corporate Political Activity Pays†