Piaget And Vygotsky Essays - Constructivism, Child Development

Piaget And Vygotsky Everyday life is characterized by conscious purpose. From reaching for food to designing an experiment, our actions are directed at goals. This purpose reveals itself partly in our conscious awareness and partly in the organization of our thoughts and actions. Cognition is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory and problem solving. Much past and present theory has emphasized the parallels between the articulated prepositional structure of language and the structure of an internal code or language of thought. In this paper I will discuss language and cognition and two famous theorist who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analyzing the process of cognitive development. Jean Piaget There are those that say that Jean Piaget was the first to take children`s thinking seriously. Although Piaget never thought of himself as a child psychologist his real interest was epistemology, the theory of knowledge, which, like physics, was considered a branch of philosophy until Piaget came along and made it a science (2000). Children and their reasoning process fascinated Piaget. He began to suspect that observing how the child`s mind develops might discover the key to human knowledge. Piaget`s insight opened a new window into the inner workings of the mind. Jean Piaget has made major theoretical and practical contributions to our understanding of the origins and evolution of knowledge. Stages of Childhood Development In his work Piaget identified stages of mental growth. He theorized that all children progressed through stages of cognitive development. He discovered that children think and reason differently at different periods in their lives. Piaget believed that everyone passed through a sequence of four qualitatively distinct stages. They are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. In the sensorimotor stage, occurring from birth to age 2, the child is concerned with gaining motor control and learning about physical objects. This stage promotes that thought is based primarily on action. Every time an infant does any action such as holding a bottle or learning to turn over, they are learning more about their bodies and how it relates to them and their environment. Piaget maintains that there are six sub-stages in the sensorimotor stage although children pass through three major achievements. In the preoperational stage, from ages 2 to 7, the child is preoccupied with verbal skills. At this point the child can name objects and reason intuitively. Piaget has divided this stage into the preoperational phase and the intuitive phase. In the preoperational phase children use language and try to make sense of the world but have a much less sophisticated mode of thought than adults. They need to test thoughts with reality on a daily basis and do not appear to be able to learn from generalizations made by adults. In the intuitive phase the child slowly moves away from drawing conclusions based solely on concrete experiences with objects. However, the conclusions drawn are based on rather vague impressions and perceptual judgments. It becomes possible to carry on a conversation with a child. Children develop the ability to classify objects on the basis of different criteria. At this stage children learn to count and use the concept of numbers. In the concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 12, the child begins to deal with abstract concepts such as numbers and relationships. It is here that children learn mastery of classes, relations, numbers and how to reason. In this stage a person can do mental operations but only with real concrete objects, events or situations. Logical reasons are understood. For example, a concrete operational person can understand the need to go to bed early when it is necessary to rise early the next morning. A pre-operational child, on the other hand, does not understand this logic and substitutes the psychological reason, "I want to stay up. Finally, in the formal operational stage, age 12 to 15, the child begins to reason logically and systematically. The last stage deals with the mastery of thought (Evans, 1973). A formal operational thinker can do abstract thinking and starts to enjoy abstract thought. The formal operational thinker is able to think ahead to plan the solution path. Finally, the formal operational person is capable of meta-cognition, that is, thinking about thinking. A central component of Piaget`s developmental theory of learning and thinking is that both involve the participation of the learner. Knowledge is not merely transmitted verbally but must be constructed and reconstructed by the learner. Piaget asserted that for a child to know and construct knowledge of the world the child

The U.S. History Essay - Should You Write Your Own?

The U.S. History Essay - Should You Write Your Own?Taking a U.S. History class can be a bit intimidating, especially if you haven't taken one in a long time. You have to decide whether you want to be a historian or if you will try to learn some more about the past by studying the history of a country or topic. A good introduction to the topic for history students is the Old West, which is very famous from movies and plays. It's a typical Western Theme and it's interesting.There are actually two U.S. History topics; one is the Civil War and the other is the Progressive Era. I would recommend picking the topics you are most interested in if you were to do an essay. For example, if you are more into the Progressive Era, then you would choose the Civil War. If you are more into the Old West, then you could choose the Old West. It's up to you.Most people that read U.S. History do not necessarily like the topics they are assigned, but are just being graded for an assignment. I would encour age all U.S. History students to be a little bit more creative and think outside the box. Write your own essay about any topic you want, as long as it's interesting and worth writing.An article from The Washington Post highlights the importance of research when writing an essay for U.S. History. The reason is that if a student is not willing to do some work, then they may not finish the assignment. A little research is very important.Do you know that most people who've actually done U.S. History really enjoy doing it? The reason is because they get to learn a lot of different things, they meet some fascinating people, and they also have a very good sense of humor. It's definitely a great experience.Writing an essay is very important, but it's also a major part of the curriculum. You need to be able to express yourself to those outside of your classroom. Also, you need to be able to turn what you've learned in class into an essay.One of the best things about writing a history essay i s the fact that it's a topic that everyone is familiar with. Everyone knows what a Civil War is. Even though everyone is familiar with a major U.S. History topic, it is still considered a useful and relevant topic. So, don't worry, you'll be learning something good.

South Korea †A Role Model For The Developing Nation

South Korea – A Role Model For The Developing Nation Free Online Research Papers South Korea A Role Model For The Developing Nation During the 1988 Seoul Olympics, visitors from worldwide had the opportunity to witness the prosperous and modernized Seoul city. Hardly for anyone can imagine that thirty-five years ago Seoul was just a place with ashes and rubbles. For all South Koreans, the transformation from post war ruined land to a well-developed nation was considered their national pride. During the 30 years recovery span, the Gross National Product (GNP) raised from $100 in 1960 to astonishing $2800 in 1987 (Eckert). Also, the per capita income had increased from $700 in 1976 to $1624 in just three years (Eckert). Many economists and scholars were very surprised by such achievement as they considered such transformation as â€Å"The Miracle on the Han River†. As of today, many developing countries began to view South Korea as their role model: â€Å"Korea is now regarded as an economic model to be emulated by other nations†. (Steinberg 124) However, such tremendous achievement would never happened without president Park Chung Hee’s establishment of a solid government guidance system, precise foreign policy decision and efficient use of compare advantages of the country. His thinking and ideological approach were very similar to the Japanese colonial government in Korea. As of today, although many Koreans disagree with President Park’s dictatorship, however, his contribution in modeling the strong Korean economy had always been admired. Thus, he was addressed as the â€Å"father of Korean economy.† On May 16, 1961, when general Park’s overthrown the new popular elected government. By the time he assumed the power, the United States government was uncertain what had taken place in South Korea. There were suspicions that South Korea might have fallen to a crypto-communist. After his succession overthrown the previous government, Park took his first step in building a solid network to control his people by established a military style supervision system [Guide Capitalism]. He appointed retired military staff to serve as local government leaders thus his command will be carried from top officials from the central government to the local officials in every single township. After consolidate his central power, Park also began to introduce his new economic development. He established three powerful agencies to support his development plans: The Economic Planning Board (EPB), The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), and The Ministry of Finance (MoF). His development pla n began with obtaining control of the enterprises across the nation. The government persecuted business leaders who were profiting from the corruption in the South Korean government. Twenty-four leading businessman were arrested. The leader of Samsung, Lee Byung Chull avoided the persecution because he was out of the country at the time. After Lee returned to Korea he met with Park and agree to follow Park’s economic developing program. Lee and other business leaders ended up with paying fines to keep their businesses. After obtained control of large enterprises, Park began to ensure his government’s dominance of financial sectors by nationalized all the banks from South Korea. The government was able to supervise the transaction flow from every bank in the country and it has the authority to set the interest rates. The government even had power to intervene all commercial loans induced from foreign banks. Park then established the Office of National Tax Admin istration (ONTA). This is an agency to insure that the flow of expenditures and profits distribute to the approved sectors. The agency also had the authority to shut a business down if such firm violated the official guidelines and regulations. Park also established the fourth agency, Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), which is responsible when discovered any worker, began to demonstrate his/her suspicion towards the labour law he/she will be putdown by the police and other security forces. Park’s thinking and ideological orientation was decidedly Stalinist. However his predilection for central planning and autocratic control probably came from his experiences in the Japanese army. The Japanese army had no sympathy for notions of free markets and in Manchukuo undertook a Stalinist-style development program. Park’s style of governance emphasised on military control that can be traced from the Japanese colonial period where Japanese colonial government also relied on its military power to govern Koreans. When the Japanese occupation began in 1904, Japanese government have stationed troops in Korea. These troops served as peacekeeper in Korea and as punisher to ensure Koreans would follow instructions given by the Japanese colonial government. Similar to president Park’s centralized banking system, the government took full control of the Korean currency and introduced Japanese banking into Korea to protect the Japanese enterprises to invest in Korea. They established the Oriental Development Company (ODC) to sell low interest loads to the Japan businesses in Korea to help these companies to grow. The colonial government also took away the military, imperial and untitled land in Korea and distribute them to the Japanese enterprises in Korea (total of 380,926 acres). In o rder to ensure the tax revenue, the Japanese took land survey and established property fixed taxes. In addition, similar to Park’s military government, the colonial government established also had its police system (Seirei) to govern Koreans. Seirei’s responsibility included regulating local court, ensure the operation of tax system and provide surveillance of communities. The idea of Park’s military surveillant government, centralized financial and commercial sectors are very similar to the plans that Japanese colonial government implemented. The establishment of foreign relation played a very significant role during President Park’s regime: â€Å"The influence of foreign powers in shaping the country’s economy has been extraordinary. Korea’s crucial geopolitical position at the crossroads of northeast Asia has brought the peninsula into intimate and sustained contract with the two most dynamic and expansive economies of the twentieth century, Japan and the United States†. (Eckert 389) Over the years, there had been continues debate related to the co-operation between South Korea-U.S-Japan. Many Koreans claim that the Korean economy can still maintain a stable growth even without outside assistance. However, it is obvious that President Park’s export strategy had indeed became a boost for the Korean economy. Since the Korean War ended in 1953, the Korean peninsula suffered the humongous damage that cast by the war. Since then, because of the help from the U.S, which provided large amount of economic assistance, the First republic was able to rebuild. Between 1946 and 1976, the U.S supplied a total of $12.6 billion economic and military assistance to Korea (Eckert). Also, the U.S government had financed about 70% of South Korea’s imports and 80% of fixed capital in transportation, manufacturing and electric power (Eckert). It also helped with the growth of textile industry that in the 1950’s the average growth of textile industry reached to 24% per year (Eckert). During the second republic, the U.S government also provided significant help to Park’s government. For example, it helped to establish the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in order to provide trainings to Korean economic and industrial technocrats. In addition, the U.S AID Mission in South Korea had also taken a role in tutoring president Park in economics and served as his economic advisor at that time. The most important is that U.S military led Koreans to participate in the Vietnam War and brought to the Koreans with unexpected economic bonanza. During the war, Korean military have received a huge amount of foreign exchange (estimate $660 million to $926 million) from U.S compensation to participate in the war, which accounted for 20% of foreign exchange and 4.4% of GNP in 1970 (Eckert). Not only the military had benefit by the war, business sectors also received huge revenue during the war. For example, the private businesses (Chaebols) such as the founder of Hanjin Cho Chung-Hun, who set up a land and marine transport company in South Vietnam. His company assumed the responsibility of the operation from U.S army and received huge amount of profit from the service. Similarly, another chaebol Hyundai, was able to benefit though the Vietnam War by serving as a major contractor for the U.S army in South Vietnam. The company later was able to grow and expand their international construction business in Middle East countries. Between 1974 and 1979, the top ten chaebols were able to earn estimated revenue of $22 billion (Eckert). Such â€Å"construction export† had also benefit the Korean government where the foreign reserved had grown from $2,961 million into $4,937 million between 1976 and 1978 (Eckert). On the other hand, Japan had also played a significant role in the economic growth during Park’s era. In 1965, President Park established the c ontroversial normalization relationship with Japanese government. Japanese brought in a total of $1.4 billion investment over ten years which accounted for more than half of the total foreign investment in Korea (Eckert). President Park’s efficient use of comparative advantage of the nation was another important factor for the rise of the South Korean economy. In the beginning of 1960’s, president Park began with a series of five years plans for his re-construction plan. He began with focusing on the light industry for the first and second five years plans. Park chose his investments priority into industries that had short capital turnover and require manpower instead of heavy machinery. This is because he understands that Korea had great comparative advantage in labour force but has fairly short capital and poor technology. Then, during the early 1970’s, Park’s government witnessed the U.S force retreat from the Korean peninsula and he also noticed that the relationship between United States and People’s Republic of China had been vastly improved. Park’s government felt the urgency to develop their own self-reliant military support thus he began to his Heavy and Chemical Industry (HCI) plan. â€Å"Park government felt that it could no longer rely completely on the United States for its supply of sophisticated arms for its defence. It also believed that if it could manufacture arms, it could also export them.† (Steinberg 136) In order to achieve the industrialization in South Korea, Park began to invest extensive funds to develop heavy, chemical and defence industry such as production of steel, machinery, automobile, electronic, and shipbuilding. As a result, the outputs of heavy chemical industry have changed from 28.6% of total production in 1962 into 56.8% in 1986 (Eckert). Such dramatic change provided a clear path for Korea marching towards a semi-advanced nation. On the other hand, the Japanese colonial government also took advantage of Korean labour force during their occupation in Korea. The Meiji restoration had not only re-shaped the Japanese political structure but also helped with the development of economy. The average income in Japan increased and Japanese enterprises began to seek for cheaper labour elsewhere. These enterprises then began to recruit cheap labours from Korea to work in Japan. Also, during the occupation period, the rice production in Korea was also relatively cheaper than Japan. The Japanese colonial government thus recruited a large amount of tenants to participate in rice production and ship these rice back to Japan. â€Å"It was thus Japanese colonialism that ultimately laid the foundations for a modern transformation of the economy. To appreciate how far reaching they were, one need only compare photographs of Seoul in the late Choson period with similar photographs taken in the mid-1930’s†. (Eckert 190) In conclusion, the result of Korean economy transform was astonishing. The total export increased from less than $30 million in 1960 into huge $47,280 million in 1987 (Eckert); and $41, 020 million import accounted in 1987, which occupied 75% of the GNP (Eckert). Also, the total employment rate climbed from 30.6% in 1964 to 52.4% in 1985 (Eckert). These numbers provided a strong evidence of how successful Korean economy has transformed under President Park Chung Hee’s era. Meanwhile, his strategies can also be traced from the Japanese colonial period. As of today, Korea became a role model for many developing countries from the Third world. President Park Chung Hee indeed was a nation hero who changed the South Korea from devastation to a prosperous nation after the Korean War. As it states in the World Bank Report: â€Å" [Park] has transformed (South) Korea from one of the poorest developing countries, which heavily dependence on agriculture and a weak balance of payments financial almost entirely by foreign grates, to a semi-industrialized middle income nation with an increasingly strong external payment position and the prospect of eliminating the current account deficit in the next 5-10 years† (Koh 34) Work Cited Eckert, Lee, Lew, Robinson, Wagner, Korea Old and New: A History, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1990 Gills B.K Korea Versus Korea: A Case of Contested Legitimacy, Routledge, New York, London 1996 Koh, B.C The Foreign Policy Systems of North and South Korea, University of California Press, Berkeley, L.A, London ,1984 Peattie, Mark R. Japanese Attitudes Toward Colonialism 1895-1945 (Essay), Steinberg, David I. The Republic of Korea: Economic and Social Change, Western Press, Boulder and London, 1989 A Comparative Study of South and North Korea, National Unification Board, Seoul, Korea, 1988 A Handbook of Korea, The Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service, Seoul, Korea Research Papers on South Korea - A Role Model For The Developing NationBringing Democracy to AfricaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeQuebec and CanadaNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceDefinition of Export Quotas19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Analysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThe Effects of Illegal Immigration

Portrait of a Teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Portrait of a Teacher - Essay Example rtunities to express opinions, as well as share stories and experiences; inviting students to speak up and ask questions; and even to express contentions and disagreement to arguments. The educational environment in the U.S. perfectly encourages principles of democracy in education through voicing out what is in one’s mind whether or not, it is supportive of the educators’ points of views and perspectives. Critical and analytical thinking and expressing of one’s thoughts, concepts, and ideas are frequently encouraged. Nothing conflicted with this standard as compared to a culturally diverse elementary school I went to over 20 years ago. There was no democracy in the classroom back then. The teacher would always be the one to choose what we do and how to do it. Critical thinking was not encouraged at all. When an educational structure or any educator imposes one’s thoughts and actions to another, the principles of democracy would be deemed violated. However, one must realize that democracy in education must be practiced while adhering to rules of conduct and discipline along the standards enumerated within a learning environment. As emphasized in the discourse on Democratic Principles in Education, â€Å"discipline in an educational institution is closely related to the behaviour of both teachers and pupils, their motives and their understanding of each other† (Unit 4: Democratic Principles in Education 55). Therefore, as early as elementary education, molding the appropriate princip les of democracy in education should be inculcated by teachers to establish the appropriate foundation for respect, understanding and discipline. As a future teacher, the methods by which a classroom climate would promote the standard of adhering to the principles of democracy in education are: (1) respecting that each student is unique and diverse whose needs and competencies differ and therefore should be addressed according to the development of a â€Å"balanced and harmonious

ITEC 9 activity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

ITEC 9 activity - Assignment Example The essay will explain about one of the many known security breaches. There are various security breaches, which needs to be understood for one to be able to secure a computer system. One of the main security breaches includes physical breach. Physical breach regards the physical theft of equipments or documents that contains cardholder account data like files, cardholder receipt, and point of sale terminals or personal computers. The second type of breach is the electronic breach. Electronic breach denotes the deliberate attack or unauthorized access on a network or system environment where the cardholder data is stored, processed or transmitted. Electronic breach is as the result of gaining access through web sites or web servers to a vulnerable system via application level attacks. The final attack is Skimming. Skimming is the recording or capture of magnetic card stripe data with the use of an external device that is sometimes installed on the customer’s system point of sale. The data obtained from skimming is used in the manufacture of cou nterfeit debit and credit cards (Roebuck, 2012). Electronic breach is the common security breach as a result of the increased internet access. However, there are steps that can be used to prevent from electronic breach. The various ways of preventing from electronic breach includes the use of a secure database or web server. The use of secure database or web servers guarantees that all system, including database and web servers are regularly modernized with the present merchant security patches (Roebuck, 2012). The use of a strong, up-to-date anti-spyware or antivirus and anti-malware software is a way of preventing the security breach. Users should also use passwords that are not easily guessed to prevent from unauthorized persons (Dark, 2011). One of the physical security breaches that hit the news was the white house attack, which can be accessed via www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPU3ia7Zaog

Whole Foods †Strategic Plan Essay Example for Free

Whole Foods – Strategic Plan Essay Whole Foods Market, Inc. which is headquartered in Austin, Texas, is an American foods supermarket chain it was founded by John Mackey who currently serves as the CEO of Whole Foods. To sum up their mission and vision statement, Whole foods as a company strives to help out in promoting positive health and well-being of people, this includes team-members, customers and the whole planet in general. Some of their core values include: Selling the highest quality natural and organic products available Satisfying, delighting and nourishing our customers Supporting Team Member happiness and excellence Creating wealth through profits and growth Serving and supporting our local and global communities Whole foods market is known for being a supermarket chain that strictly prides itself in being the largest natural and organic foods supermarket chain. In addition to that Whole Foods is regarded as Americas first national certified organic grocer. Whole Foods Market now owns and operates 335 retail stores, of which 322 stores are located in the US and the District of Columbia, seven in Canada, and six in the UK. (Our Values and Mission, 2014). Whole Foods competitive advantage is its broad product offerings; it offers broad selection of perishable foods which is designed to appeal to both natural foods and gourmet shoppers. In addition to that the company prides itself in offering a wide variety range of products that include a range of produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, specialty (beer, wine and cheese), coffee and tea, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care, educational products such as books, floral items, pet products and household products. Whole Foods ability to be able to offer these range of products at all its locations has enabled the company to continue to stay competitive and maintain a  significant advantage over its competitors. In addition to Whole Foods Markets ability to continue to stay forerunner in the natural and organic grocer business, the company has also made remarkable contributions to its employees and the community. In 2009 the company received the Natural Products Associations ‘2009 Socially Responsible Retailer Award’, after which in 2010 Fortune magazine ranked Whole Foods Market at number 18 on its list of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For.’ During the same period, the company was recognized on the Ethisphere Institutes 2010 ‘Worlds Most Ethical Companies’ list. The International Association of Culinary Professionals named the company as ‘Culinary Youth Advocate of the Year’ for its effort to help improve school lunches for children nationwide with its ‘School Lunch Revolution’ campaign. The contributions discussed above has enabled the company to maintain a positive image in the community and more importantly among its own employees, I believe that these various contributions has enabled Whole Foods to remain a forerunner among its competitors. (Whole Foods, n.d). SWOT ANALYSIS Strength: Brand Recognition: This company is well known in the United States, As a result of which, anytime a whole-foods plans on opening up at a particular location, they will almost immediately start to develop a customer base. Unique Category: While organic food is creating quite a buzz worldwide, it still is fairly a new entrant in the produce world; and whole foods continues to be one of the only store that sells all organic products under one roof. Weaknesses: Lacks Global Integration: Whole-foods does well in the US, however, even though it has managed to open up a few stores in UK and Canada, it is still not as well-known elsewhere around the world. Organic Food : Even though organic food is beginning to gain popularity, I find that this is still a weakness for wholefoods, they only sell organic food items at their store, and not to mention organic food is usually more expensive than regular food we would get at the grocery store. Opportunities: International Market: Whole Foods is only in 2 other countries, UK and Canada. They always have the option of looking into some of the world’s faster growing markets or even the fact that they could look into expanding throughout UK and Canada. IT Influence: Competitors of Whole Foods and even some other grocery have been striving for various ways to enrich the customer experience at their stores, one such way, is the introduction of â€Å"self-checkouts†, which enables the customer to spend less time waiting in line for a cashier. This is an area, where whole foods could look to capture the opportunity and excel in. Threats: Competitors: The list of competitors for Whole Foods keeps on increasing, most grocery stores are starting to introduce a section of organic/healthy foods section at their store, as a result of which this could begin to influence Whole Foods customer base. Gas Prices: When gas prices rise, the cost of shipping food rises, and when the cost of shipping the food rises, so does Whole Foods’s operating costs. (Whole Foods, 2014). Implementation of IT into the Whole Foods Business As discussed above with the SWOT Analysis of the company, Whole Foods certainly is a very financially sound and a major player in the organic food industry, however, it is important for Whole Foods, to continue striving upon increasing/ bettering the customer experience at all of its stores. Whole Foods, has a strong customer base, however, we need to make sure that they continue to retain the customers and take measures to grow its customer’s base. There are at least a couple IT implementations that could be integrated with our current business model, to increase Whole Food’s Customer Experience. Rewards Program: Most of Whole Foods customers currently have some type of rewards program for its customer. Consequently, if Whole Foods were to introduce this Whole Foods customers will be able to earn points that can be redeemed for discounts and store experiences, such as cooking classes, tickets to locally held Organic Trade Shows etc. (Turner, 2014). Self- Checkout Counters: Most grocery/retailers have started to have self- checkout registers, this would decrease customer wait time, and thereby, enhance the customer experience at the store. Furthermore, other advantages of self-checkout include, it takes up less  space, it is estimated that up to six self-checkout kiosks, can take up to the same amount of space a single traditional checkout with a cashier would take. (BusinessBee, n.d.) IT’s assistance would be needed to implement the rewards program, we would first need to create a way that customers could access the Whole Foods Rewards Card using a mobile/tablet app, a physical card ( with barcode) and on the website. Customers could earn points/ coupons, for every dollar spent at Whole Foods, you would earn 1 â€Å"Organic Point†, after you have accumulated a certain number of â€Å"Organic Points†, it could be redeemed for various different things at the store, some of which include, tickets to Whole Fo ods Quarterly Organic Trade Shows, Cooking classes, Discounts/coupons at the store etc. Whole Foods as a company continues to excel, although we need to ensure that we as a company are staying ahead of our times and continuing to keep our focus on enriching our customer’s experience when they visit their local Whole Food’s store. References BusinessBee-The Pros and Cons of Using Self-Checkouts (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014. Company Info. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info Our Values and Mission. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/careers/our -values-and-mission Turner, N. (2014, September 15). Whole Foods to Test Rewards Program as Competition Grows. Retrieved September 20, 2014. Whole Foods Market: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014.

Gender Roles in Classical Greece Essay examples -- Term Papers Researc

Gender Roles in Classical Greece Missing Works Cited In Classical Greece, roles played by males and females in society were well-defined as well as very distinct from each other. Expectations to uphold these societal norms were strong, as a breakdown within the system could destroy the success of the oikos (the household) and the male’s reputation—two of the most important facets of Athenian life. The key to a thriving oikos and an unblemished reputation was a good wife who would efficiently and profitably run the household. It was the male’s role, however, to ensure excellent household management by molding a young woman into a good wife. Women were expected to enter the marriage as a symbolically empty vessel; in other words, a naà ¯ve, uneducated virgin of about 15 years who could be easily shaped by a husband twice her age. Through the instruction of her husband, the empty vessel would be filled with the necessary information to become a good wife who would maintain an orderly household and her husbandâ⠂¬â„¢s reputation, thereby fulfilling the Athenian female gender role for citizen women. In order for a young woman to be marriageable—unadulterated, inexperienced, and unknowing—she had to have been raised in an extremely sheltered environment, given little contact with the world beyond her father’s household. In Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, the husband, Ischomachos describes his new wife to Socrates: How Socrates . . . could she have known anything when I took her, since she came to me when she was not yet fifteen, and had lived previously under diligent supervision in order that she might see and hear as little as possible and ask the fewest possible questions (Oeconom... ...imately men were in command in all situations: Ischomachos’s wife says, â€Å"For my guarding and distribution of the indoor things would look somewhat ridiculous, I suppose, if it weren’t your concern to bring in something from outside (Oeconomicus, VII 39).† This suggests that even though the wife was the indoor household manager, she was still obeying her husband’s orders that were the driving force of her own agency within the oikos. Making the transition from living a naà ¯ve existence under the protection of the father to presiding over the oikos under the supervision of the husband was the essential social norm for youthful citizen Athenian women. It is unsurprising, then, that in a patriarchal society, the young female could only fulfill her societal role as manager of the oikos when her assumed empty vessel was filled by her husband with the proper knowledge.