Economics and monopoly introduction Essay

Characteristics: Single seller: One firm produces all the output of a particular product No close substitutes: Product is unique and if consumers want to buy it they must buy from the monopolist. Price maker: Since the monopolist is the sole supplier of the product, it can change the price by changing output. The firm faces a downward sloping demand curve, so increasing output lowers the price, decreasing output increases the price. The firm will set a price that maximizes its profits. Blocked entry: Entry to the market is totally blocked, meaning the firm has no immediate competitors. Barriers to entry may be economies of scale, legal, technological or another type. Nonprice competition: Since it has no competitors a monopolist cannot compete on price. Therefore, to attract new consumers the firm must engage in non-price competition such as advertising and public relations campaigns to promote its product’s attributes. Examples of Monopolies? www. welkerswikinomics. com 3 Unit 2. 3. 3 Pure Monopoly Monopoly Demand as seen by a Monopolist. Three assumptions: 1) Entry is totally blocked 2) The monopolist is unregulated by any government so can charge whatever price it wants. 3) The firm is a single price seller. It sells all units of output at the same price. †¢ A monopolist faces a downward sloping Demand curve. The firm D curve is the market D curve! †¢ A monopolist can sell additional output only by lowering its price (due to the law of demand). †¢ A monopolist must lower the price of all of its output, not just the marginal units, since it is a single-price seller. †¢ As a result, as output increases, the firm’s marginal revenue falls faster than the price. www. welkerswikinomics. com 4 Unit 2. 3. 3 Pure Monopoly Monopoly Demand as seen by a Monopolist Demand and Marginal Revenue Q 0 1 P1 2 3 4 5 P2 6 7 8 9 P3 10 P 172 162 152 142 132 122 112 102 92 82 72 TR=PxQ) 0 162 304 426 528 610 672 714 736 738 720 Demand and MR for a Monopolist P MR=? TR/? Q P1 P2 P3 D=AR=P Q1 Q2 Q3 Q MR Based on the above graph, over which range of output would a monopolist NEVER produce? Why? What information is needed to determine the profit maximizing level of output for this monopolist? www. welkerswikinomics. com 5 Unit 2. 3. 3 Pure Monopoly Monopoly Demand as seen by a Monopolist Elasticity and the monopoly Demand curve: †¢ Identify the elastic range of the demand curve. †¢ Identify the inelastic range of the demand curve. P Demand and MR PED>1 P1 PED=1 Question: Why won’t a monopolist ever produce at a level of output where it is in the inelastic range of its demand curve?

Many of the characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’ have dreams Essay

Many of the characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’ have dreams. What are their dreams and how near are any of them to achieving what they want? ‘Of Mice and Men’, written by John Steinbeck is a classic novel set in a ranch town in Salinas Valley, California. The novel may have been set here as a result of most of Steinbeck’s childhood being spent on his father’s farmland. His descriptions of the setting will have been aided by his first hand experience of the ranches of the area. The novel itself documents the lives of Lennie Small and George Milton. With Lennie being mentally challenged he has the psychological capabilities of a five year old. This means he has to be cared for by George because he acts childish and irresponsibly. For this reason, he often causes commotion within the ranch he is working. On many occasions disruption has occurred and occurs, George and Lennie are forced to leave their current ranch and start again at a new one. As they are always moving around, they never have a secure job and are always staying in temporary accommodation. With each time they move to a different ranch they dream more and more of having their own piece of land where they can be their own bosses and live off the crops they grow. This is shown by this quote, â€Å"†¦and we can live off the fatta the lan'† said by George. This is only one of the many dreams that feature in ‘Of Mice and Men’, however not one of the dreams featured in this novel are achieved. This reflected the harsh reality of the ‘Great Depression’ and the racial prejudice in society at the time. Steinbeck set ‘Of Mice and Men’ during the ‘Great Depression’, in the late 1920’s and the 1930’s. Many migrants came to California, from other parts of the world looking for work as America was seen as the ‘Land of Opportunity’. This glimpse of hope inspired many Europeans to emigrate as Europe, at the time, was overcrowded and disease ridden. America was believed to provide cheap land and no rigid class structure existed. These characteristics gave Europeans the chance of a completely different way of life to what they were used to. In 1929, America entered a prolonged period of economic deprivation due to the collapse of the New York stock exchange, ‘The Wall Street Crash’. Following ‘The Wall Street Crash’, many Americans who had invested great deals of money into stocks and shares lost almost all of their investments. In some cases, people would have lost their houses and life savings. During ‘The Great Depression’, failed businesses and long-term unemployment were of the norm. The hopes of those immigrants, who came to America looking for a new life, were dashed by this tragic event. America was certainly not the ‘Land of Opportunity’. George and Lennie travelled from ranch to ranch together. This was unusual as most ranch workers would only usually work at one ranch for no longer than a month or two. They would literally not have the time for friendship. This was one of the reasons that the average workers dream was for some sort of companionship. The fact that George and Lennie had travelled together so long is significant as they lived the dream of so many other workers. It would give them the chance of having an alternative dream, one of owning their own land on which they could live off. When travelling from ranch to ranch workers could not carry many possessions and so had nothing to show for their years of working. They would work and work but not really achieve much. They would spend the money they earned and then earn some more and repeat. This is illustrated in the quote, â€Å"..work up a stake and blow the stake†. A dream would be important as it would give a worker something to work towards instead of working with no real direction in their life. Many of the characters in the novel have dreams. The dream is a form of escape from reality of life. As previously stated, George and Lennie’s dream is to have a piece of land that they can call their own, tend it, grow crops and raise animals. However, Lennie specifically dreams of caring for rabbits. This shows his immaturity. He says, â€Å"†¦An’ have rabbits!† George is always repeating this ‘dream’ to Lennie. When he does depict the dream to Lennie, he uses exaggerative language and gets involved in the dream almost as much as Lennie. Both George and Lennie become excited when the dream is recalled. They swear, â€Å"†¦We’ll just say the hell with going to work†¦Ã¢â‚¬  , animating their eagerness to fulfil their dream. George and Lennie’s dream eventually fails. This is for a number of reasons. It is mainly because Lennie is such a burden to George. Because of Lennie’s mental incapability, he has no idea that he is making George’s life miserable. George says, â€Å"Course Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time, but you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him† George is being held back by Lennie as they are constantly forced to change jobs, because of situations the Lennie gets them in to and therefore they can’t stay in work long enough to build up any sort of savings. The result of this is that they can not save up the money to achieve the ‘dream’. Lennie has limited social skills and so does not know how to interact with people. Instead, he finds comfort in touching things and is too tactile. This causes trouble as Lennie often touches women’s clothes and is misunderstood and seen to be abusive. For this reason, George has to keep a constant eye on Lennie. When Candy makes the proposal of entering their ‘dream’ in exchange for three hundred dollars, George suddenly sees some possibility of the ‘dream’ succeeding. Before, he had merely used the ‘dream’ as a pacifier for Lennie and had lulled himself into believing that it may happen so that he could continue bringing hope to Lennie. I think that sub-consciously he always knew that the ‘dream’ would never be a reality. With Candy’s financial input, the ‘dream’ could realistically be achieved within the month. However, an abrupt end to their hopes arrives. Lennie, in his childlike way, cannot conceive of the line where stroking stops and hurting begins in terms of petting, and he ends up accidently killing two animals by petting them violently. Most horrifically, at the climax of the story, he kills Curly’s wife in the same way. The fact that he killed her was the final blow to the ‘dream’. â€Å"I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her†, George says as he realizes the dream is inevitable. Lennie was inevitably going to be hunted down and shot on site. George, who is forced to join the manhunt for Lennie, decides that the kindest way out for both him and Lennie is to kill him when he finds him. He does this by luring Lennie into a false state of trust by reciting their ‘dream’ to him one last time. This sends Lennie off into death with his dream in his head. You can argue in some way Lennie has achieved his dream. Curly’s wife has a dream common to the period and today. She believes that she has the talent to become a Hollywood actress. She was convinced of this as when she was younger; she acquainted herself with a Hollywood director who deemed her suitable to be an actress in the ‘movies’. This is shown in a quote taken from a passage spoken by Curly’s wife, â€Å"An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..An’ all them nice clothes they wear. Because this guy said I was a natural.† This ‘guy’ told her she would receive a letter from him explaining where to meet to develop her acting career. Her explanation of why she didn’t become an actress is idealistic at best. She believed that her mother stole that letter. However, this is an optimistic justification. It just so happens that shortly after Curley’s wife was given the hope of becoming an actress, she met Curley. When she realised that her dream of becoming an actress was truly over, she decided to marry Curley. She may have done this as, at the time, it was very difficult for a woman to get a job and live on her own. The main profession of women then was housewife. Most women would marry a modest worker but marrying a rich man who owned a ranch was a bonus. Life would be easy for Curley’s wife as she would not have to ‘lift a finger’. As there was such discrimination towards women, Curley’s wife found herself being ignored by the men on the ranch. She was not paid much attention by Curley and was seen by him as more of a trophy than a wife. These are the main reasons that Curley’s wife is not happy. She openly expresses that she does not even love Curley. â€Å"I don’t like Curley†. She regrets that she married him in the first place. She was not able to speak to anyone during the day as all of the men were out on the fields working. This causes her to be extremely lonely. At any chance she can she will speak to someone. When she speaks to Lennie in the barn, she says, â€Å"Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.† This shows that she craves friendship. She is often prying on the men just looking for someone to talk to. She justifies this by saying to Slim â€Å"Hi, good lookin’. I’m tryin’ to find Curley, Slim.† The fact that she does not even have a name and is instead referred to as Curley’s wife shows her status on the ranch. It shows that she is so insignificant that she is not even deemed important enough to warrant a real name. She is looked down on and shown no respect by most of the men on the ranch. She also has the dream to be treated as equal to the men on the ranch. This is similar to Crooks’ dream. He just wants to be accepted by everyone else on the ranch. However, both Crooks and Curley’s wife have similar dreams which would lead you to think that they would sympathise with each other. The reality is quite opposite. Curley’s wife approaches Crooks in an aggressive manor and speaks to him in a demoralising way. She says, â€Å"Well you keep your place, then Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny!† She perhaps speaks to Crooks with no respect as he is the only person on the ranch over whom she has a higher status. Crooks and Candy try to enter George and Lennie’s dream. They both do this for their own reasons. Candy is worried about his future on the ranch. He believes that is nearing the point of becoming useless to the ranch owner. He needs some security so that when he does become of no use, he can settle down somewhere. Crooks feels socially isolated and needs to go somewhere that he will be treated as an equal. George, Lennie and Candy do not discriminate against Crooks as much as most. This is the reason that he would feel comfortable living in a house with them. Candy, when he enters the dream, provides financial power. He has three hundred dollars that he is willing to invest in the dream. When he first tries to join the dream, George responds in a negative and coy way. He says â€Å"You know a place like that?† [Candy] â€Å"S’pose I do? What’s that to you?† [George]. However, when George considers Candy’s proposition, he starts to think that the dream may actually become a reality. Candy is afraid that if he does not get somewhere that he can retire to, he may have no one to care for him. Eventually he will be seen of no use and disposed of, much like his dog. Crooks joins the dream as he feels he needs a ‘shelter from society’, somewhere that he is accepted for the person that he is and not judged by his skin colour or his disability. Crooks has no status and is treated with no respect on the ranch. He is frustrated with all of the racism directed towards him. He says, â€Å"If I say something, why, it’s just a nigger saying it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Crooks had a taste of equality when he was a child. He was accepted by white children and has perhaps not accepted the fact that he is now a social outcast. He says,† The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice† He remembers what it was like to be an equal and wants to experience that feeling again. This is one of the reasons the Crooks joins the dream. Candy will soon be too old and frail to keep his job at the ranch. The fact that he only has one hand means that his job opportunities are very limited. He, much like Crooks, has no one in his life. He just watches workers come and go from the ranch. He would have somewhere to belong if he joined the dream. This is a very important psychologically as having a ‘place to call home’ can give Candy a reason to carry on living. All of these characters have dreams and their dreams are important to them. They all give their character some sort of goal to aim for and a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. I believe Steinbeck is trying to make a point by including all of these dreams. I think he is trying to say that without dreams, we are all lost in our lives. We all need some sort of dream to keep us motivated. I think the novel was written to show the stranglehold that the ‘Great Depression’ had on America in the 1930’s. It also shows how hard the life of an itinerant worker was. ‘Of Mice and Men’ was very a descriptive and informative book. It made me realise that dreams, however small or big, are vital in life.

Entrepreneurship Education as the Emerging Trend in Pakistan Essay

For the developing world, the emerging trend is entrepreneurship education in itself. It is significant and considered a powerful tool for propelling economic growth, as significant as venture capital and incubators. The youth today is exposed to a world of information and rapid change. He is prone to be the captain of his ship more than ever before. Hence the objective is to create awareness of trends and issues being faced in Entrepreneurship Education programs and see how Pakistan can gain from the experience of the developed world. It is also the objective to see how programs have to be designed for teaching and learning by the new generation of the future. The research methodology has been to examine relevant literature of other regions and compare this to the work done in Pakistan. Its been observed that it has acquired its own field of research methodology and finally is a standalone discipline, with ample work to show its breath and depth. Our finding is that it’s going to be a different world, calling for planning for a world unknown? Our conclusion is that it is significantly important to make the youth of today gainfully employed after imparting education to them. And Pedagogy is one of the issues that deserve attention in the Entrepreneurship Education. It is a question of evolving knowledge and evolving pedagogy to impart knowledge. Local experience and theory has to be evolved building the subject. Developing countries will have a host of issues far different from the developed countries. Education policy will play very significant role to resolve these issues. The authors conclude with suggestions that there is now a need to develop theory of entrepreneurship education based on the education theory and not on the theory of management and economics. There should be all out effort to build the ‘entrepreneurship capital’ and to give it central place in the education place. Keywords:Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurial Generation, Pedagogy, Entrepreneurship Capital Entrepreneurship Education as the Emerging Trend in Pakistan: Confronting the Issues I. Introduction: a. Background: The field of entrepreneurship education is in the process of growing and gaining legitimacy and being recognized in the developing countries. In Pakistan it has been an up-hill task and despite efforts it is still an unknown academic field. But it is somewhat different in USA and in Europe and Japan. There it has recognition and there it has immense recognition as an important factor to keep pace with the economic growth and change required for economic efficiency. It is nurtured to impact the economies of the ‘technological tripod’ of economic growth. No doubt USA leads the way but European Council through the Lisbon Proclamation 2000 had launched itself in pursuit of economic growth through Entrepreneurship. The then President of EC committed the European Union to become the Entrepreneurship Leader as it was acknowledged that new economic growth, and productivity is generated by entrepreneurial activity (as cited by Audretch 2008). The statement is proclamation of the significance and importance of Entrepreneurship for economic development. In pursuit of entrepreneurship what is required is Entrepreneurship Education and the observation is that the trail it leaves behind is host of the emerging trends and issues which need to be examined and evaluated and worked out. Entrepreneurship Education is the path and road to developing an enterprising environment, building ‘social capital’ and ‘Entrepreneurship Capital’. â€Å"This refers to institutions, culture, and historical context that is conducive to the creation of new firms. This involves a number of aspects such as social acceptance of entrepreneurial behavior – – – – the activity of bankers, venture capital agents – – – – – â€Å"(Audretsch 2008). The rationale of this paper evolve around the spirit of these terms and the process of evolving this capital is entrepreneurship education. The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of entrepreneurship education in the light of compelling evidence surrounding us that it produces an enterprising society or ‘The Entrepreneurial Society’ and economic development. There is significant evidence about the impact of entrepreneurship on economic development (Wennekers et al 2005, Verheul & Thurik 2003, Caree et al 2002, Audretsch et al 2006). â€Å"The way entrepreneurial activity has an effect on economy is that it is reflected in the macro-economic growth, value addition, employment generation, export growth, industrialization and poverty reduction†. (Wagha 2010) Entrepreneurship in the last two decades has achieved a central place in all recent discourse and debate and policymaking on education. There is a need for appropriate educational program at all academic institutions, universities, business schools and secondary schools. â€Å"So significant is the role of Entrepreneurship Education that it is considered a powerful tool for propelling economic growth as significant as venture capital and incubators†. A look at policy on education recently framed in different countries around the world reveal that there is emerging need to focus on entrepreneurship education and research. (Lee & Wong 2005, Khan 2006) We realized through this research that there is a need to look at Entrepreneurship Education from the teaching and learning perspective. And of importance is how Entrepreneurship Education should be taught and the paradigm of research should be education and not merely economic and management. Bechard & Gregoire (2002). It was also observed through empirical research and interviews that there is also the need to focus on the faculty of Entrepreneurship Education. There is an acute shortage of such teachers who are well versed in the pedagogy of Entrepreneurship Education. And according to Dr. Hasan Sohaib Murad, Rector, University of Management and Technology Pakistan (while addressing the audience at a Junior World Entrepreneurship Forum Pakistan (July 2011) : â€Å"The problem is our faculty, those who are teaching in business school today. They are teaching in business schools because they were not entrepreneurs. The other factor that has to be taken in consideration is the role of entrepreneurship in economic development. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) entrepreneurship and economic development are exclusively mutual â€Å"GEM is based on the following premise. An economy’s prosperity is highly dependent on a dynamic entrepreneurship sector. This is true across all stages of development. Yet the nature of this activity can vary in character and impact. Necessity-driven entrepreneurship, particularly in less developed regions or those experiencing job losses, can help an economy benefit from self-employment initiatives when there are fewer work options available. More developed economies, on the other hand, can leverage their wealth and innovation capacity, yet they also offer more employment options to attract those that might otherwise become entrepreneurs†. (GEM 2010) It goes onto explain that the capacity of an economy is dependent upon highly competent individuals and positive societal perception about entrepreneurs. â€Å"An economy’s entrepreneurial capacity requires individuals with the ability and motivation to start businesses, and requires positive societal perceptions about entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship should include participation from all groups in society, including women, a range of groups and education levels and disadvantaged populations. Finally, high-growth entrepreneurship is a key contributor to new employment in an economy, and national competitiveness depends on innovative and cross-border entrepreneurial ventures†. (GEM 2010) b. Objectives of the Study: So significant is the role of entrepreneurship that the developed countries are perusing it by adopting new educational policies and by introducing strategies to create an ‘Entrepreneurship Capital’. For the developing world that has lagged behind, this is a wakeup call. Therefore the Objective is: to be aware of the issues and see how Pakistan can gain from the experiences of the developed world and evolve a suitable strategy for implementing entrepreneurship education effectively. It is assumed that, some of the best practices if disseminated will have an impact. c. Justification: As can be seen that it is essential for all developing countries and Pakistan in particular to undertake various studies pertaining to entrepreneurship, simply because this era of entrepreneurship is as potent as the era of Industrial Revolution. It has the potential for developing countries to catch-up with Developed Countries if the national economic agendas are prudently organized. d. Statement of the Problem: However some issues surrounding Entrepreneurship Education are: How should entrepreneurship education courses be designed, what should be the structure of courses? What should be the balance between activity based and text based teaching? What should be the ethical domain, and what disciplines would fall in the entrepreneurial ambit of subject? What pedagogy would be considered appropriate to teach entrepreneurship? In the midst of this expansion of courses, these emerge as a challenge how to make teaching entrepreneurship effective. Years of research and considerable debates has dispelled earlier doubts that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, and it was Drucker (1985) who said, â€Å"like other disciplines it can be taught†. But the emerging trend of Entrepreneurship Education is compounded by such factors as IT revolution and globalization. The youth today is exposed to a world of information and rapid change. He is prone to be the captain of his ship as he sees opportunities far beyond his imagination. He can evaluate the advantage of going for his own venture. He can see that Entrepreneurship is about change and competition, changing in its wake markets and ushering in technologies that entrepreneurship binds as the ‘social glue’ high-tech and ‘main street’ activities (SBA 1998). e. Research Question: Therefore the research question that we will attempt to find answer to is: – 1. What issues and trends are being faced by Pakistan in Entrepreneurship Education and what adoption is required to benefit from this trend? II (a)Research Methodology: My goal is to determine the current status of the subject, by looking at the theory based on the published articles of other regions by leading authorities such as Bechard, Audretch Fayolle, Dana, Plaschka, Hindle & Kuratko. This will help guide future research, but beyond literature review, I also recorded empirical findings and interviews and survey of literature to see the emerging trends in Entrepreneurship Education in Pakistan. The literature reviewed has been some grey literature and some conference papers as these were very current and contemporary thinking on emerging issues and trends. Furthermore the research has been enhanced by visiting foreign conferences for gathering data at doctoral seminars in Europe and America on Entrepreneurship Education. In that sense this is rather epistemological analysis of educational theories and reports on Entrepreneurship Education Trends and Issues. But the problem encountered was that there is not much data available on this subject in Pakistan. This paper therefore undertakes the qualitative approach based on survey, interviews and literature review of this region and of the academic body that has taught the subject and also of others who have written papers on the status of Entrepreneurship Education in Pakistan. â€Å"Primary data include such facts collected from observation, surveys, and even interviews. When secondary data are unavailable and our research questions are unanswered, we have to collect data from primary sources. This proves useful because they are collected specifically for the particular study† (Ghauri & Gronhaug 2002). This is obvious in the case of Pakistan where there is no secondary data on this subject. The investigation attempts to determine differences between the developed and developing countries, describing conditions that already exist, (Say in Pakistan) and why conditions in European and America are different from it. The collection of data is ongoing and eventually synthesized and conclusions are drawn. II (b)Limitation: The fundamental limitation is that hardly any journals are available in Pakistan on Entrepreneurship Education. No doubt that recent support provided by HEC for library data bases and resource centres has been greatly useful. The other fundamental handicap that the Pakistani researchers or students seeking to adopt this as their subject of specialization would face is lack of faculty. Currently there is no known or accessible faculty available in Pakistan having a PhD Degree in Entrepreneurship Education. Hence there are no doctorates of Entrepreneurship Education available to supervise or act as advisers to students desiring to do a PhD in Entrepreneurship. III. Literature Review: Discussing the Definition of Entrepreneurship Education as Emerging Trend: The subject of entrepreneurship education begins with the entrepreneur. The study of the Entrepreneur goes beyond the study of the characteristic and the traits of the entrepreneur which is the psychological profile. The entrepreneur is part of the complex process of new venture creation (Gartner 1988). And new venture creation is new economic growth which brings the importance of entrepreneurship and the education process for developing entrepreneurs. Say (1816) defined the entrepreneur as the economic agent. Hence the entrepreneur is one of the dimensions of economic growth. If we were to examine the quotation by Cole (1946) we realize that this unleashes a host of issues and trends associated with entrepreneurship and the promotion of Entrepreneurship Education. Cole (1946, p.3) states that Entrepreneur is one who â€Å"Unites all means of production – the labor of the one, t he capital or the land of the others – and who finds in the value of the products which results from their employment the reconstitution of the entire capital that he utilizes, and the value of the wages, the interest, and the rent which he pays, as well as the profits belonging to himself†. This statement explains the process of new venture creation which the entrepreneur is prone to do. It is a complete picture of the role which an entrepreneur performs as an economic player in an economy. Whereas the behavioral view of entrepreneur defines the entrepreneur as a very special person but calling for investigation to understand and define Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship. They even cropped up when Gartner (1988) examined in what way do we define the Entrepreneur. According to him since the entrepreneur causes entrepreneurship you could explain Phenomenon of Entrepreneurship through traits approach or explain Phenomenon of Entrepreneurship through Behavioral approach. Subsequently this leads to disseminating the knowledge of entrepreneurship education. We are once again confronted with trends to adopt in Entrepreneurship Education and issues to deal with to establish the infrastructure of Entrepreneurship Education e.g. there is no evidence to support successful or unsucc essful leaders. The new trend is to focus on behavior of the leader. What they do as a leader, and not on what they are, and this aptly applies to research on entrepreneurship and hence the definition which explains and determines for us what influences behavior and performance which define entrepreneurship. (Van de Ven 1980 p.86) We have been amply warned that we should study the behaviors and activities of entrepreneurs. This brings us to the performance of an entrepreneur, the dynamism by which he proceeds as an entrepreneur and hence we call it entrepreneurship. We have come to realize that entrepreneurship can be enhanced by entrepreneurship education. Hence our question is what is entrepreneurship education. According to Bechchard & Toulouse (1998) the definition of Entrepreneurship Education is â€Å"A collection of formulized teaching that informs trains and educates anyone interested in participating in social economic development through a project to promote entrepreneurship awareness, business creation or small business development†. Jones & English (2004) define Entrepreneurial Education as: â€Å"Entrepreneurial Education can be viewed broadly in terms of the skills that can be taught and the characteristics that can be engendered in individuals that will enable them to develop new and innovative plans†. The creation of a discipline confronts trends and issues: Therefore the emerging trends and issues are related to multi-dimensional aspect of entrepreneurship education. The gathering of information and knowledge of this aspect is the fundamental activity of research and education to understand the behavioral phenomenon of entrepreneurship (Gartner 1988).Following the line of reasoning if personality traits could define entrepreneurs, the question of education, training and development would seem irrelevant and the foregone conclusion would be that those who possess the requisite traits should be successful entrepreneurs. As that is not the case we seek constantly ways of educating the entrepreneur to behave in a particular way to become successful. The contemplation of this fact has created a series of issues and trends required for the development of entrepreneurship education programs. In our quest for this answer we get a response from Gartner (1988) that we should follow Mintzbe rgs advice. Issues that confront entrepreneurs should be resolved to develop a profound entrepreneurship program along with its multiplicity of dimensions. Each question throws up a new philosophy and search for truth that could be developed into an answer to the issues confronting entrepreneurship education. What roles does the entrepreneur perform in moving information, in making decisions, in dealing with the people? How and why do individuals enter a new venture? The other emerging issue from this kind of reasoning is to what extent is entrepreneurship a science? To what extent is the entrepreneurs work programmable? All such questions resolve the issue of designing new branches of education in the domain of entrepreneurship. These would have to be dealt in accordance to the trends in development, competitiveness, economic growth and resource allocation.

Methods in IR Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Methods in IR - Assignment Example minist methodology in international relations research have had low progress, in the past, its inclusion in international relations research was of plausible significance. Power relations are dependent on diverse perspectives including feminist research methods. Feminist methodologies are significant in determining the ontology and epistemology of critical social thinking. This research seeks to address the extent to which Selimovic et al (2012) applie the question of feminist methodology in their research. How does Selimovic et al (2012) use feminist methodology to depict the skills of critical social scientific reasoning in their research? Social research plays a vital and central role in improving the academic field of political science. Research is an academic investigation in a field of knowledge of a researcher’s interest. A research aims at creating a solution to the identified hypothesis. The validity of a hypothesis formulated in the field of international relations is verifiable using qualitative research. It involves a through, comprehensive and structured inquiry using qualitative research methods. The integration of the diverse research methods is of valuable importance in conducting social research. International relations topics are among the diverse social research topics in political research. A well-conducted research in international relations applies impartial reasoning skills, based on premises use research methods. Selimovic et al (2012) use valid qualitative research methods to address the role of women in instilling peace in countries and regions experiencing war and violence. The development of the academic discipline in international relations started notably after the Second World War. Most countries adopted initiatives to enhance the development of research  in international relations. America was among the countries that contributed highly in the development of research in international relations after the end of the war (Jackson

Human Relations in the Criminal Justice Organization Essay

Human Relations in the Criminal Justice Organization - Essay Example The police act not only at the call of duty, but also perform with a sense of mission. The former, known for its unity of command and delegation of duty, is addressed as the classical approach, and the latter, characterized by attitudes, feelings and beliefs, as the human relations approach (Greene, 2006). The human relations approach effectively breeds a sense of suspicion on one hand, and mission and a moral imperative, on the other (Reiner, 2002). For example, police officers rue the fact that they develop an attitude of suspicion that cannot be switched off as it is innate to the type of the work they do (Reiner, 2002). The police come across two kinds of highly specialized communications; internal and external. Communication in police force can also be classified as formal and informal. The duty of the police calls for interplay of the two kinds of communication vertical (internal) and horizontal (external) with the external environment. The nature of administrative communicatio n is strictly formal and involves a lot of paper work. The very formal nature of communication can, at times, become an impediment in the flow of information. Through job design, the administrators try to increase the productivity of the workplace by creating a routine of work for an employee that checks dissatisfaction, monotony, and prevents employee alienation. Freeman (1999) uses the metaphor of ‘environment design’ to increase the extent and scope of job design. Job design helps to tone down the mundane reality of everyday policing, which is often boring, messy, petty, trivial and venal (Reiner, 2002, p 277). The ideal job design makes the police personnel generalists, adept at a range of activities, rather than specialists, trained in one or two disciplines. According to Freeman (1999), the job design in a correction is influenced by the activities of staff,

Creative Writing (Introduction to Nursing and its fields of Practice.) Essay

Creative Writing (Introduction to Nursing and its fields of Practice.) - Essay Example What is clear however is hatred. None seems to care about each other anymore. So the war went on. So fierce and so long with all sides wanting to win it badly that all resources, both material and human were directed to the war effort. It had gone too long that once the rich countries of United States and Europe had become destitute and so are those in the Gulf Countries. Nobody seems to win the war but the very idea that the hatred of both sides is fed with destruction and maim, is already enough to justify the war effort. Everybody seems to be a soldier. Except for the nurses. They were not part of the destructive aspect of war for they are assigned to heal the wounded and the dying. They also find no reason to join in the war nor have the stomach for the killings which is reduced to barbarism. With all the despair, killing around them, the nurses just comforted themselves with their profession working diligently with the consolation that they are able to touch those who are under their care which is a big relief in a time when people no longer care about each other. It is because hate seems to become the norm and the air that people breathe. Hate became so thick one can almost touch it and anything beyond it such as love, compassion, care and humanity seemed to be consumed all by hate. Then there was Florence and her friend Nightingale. Probably the aberration in the present order of things. The two of them were the head nurses of two opposing forces in the world, the western part of the world now dubbed as Sodom and the eastern part of the world known as Gomorrah. Both Florence and Nightingale were friends when they were still in nursing school but were separated when the war broke out the very day after their graduation. Florence had to go back to her home country in the United States while Nightingale had to go back to the United Arab Emirates. Their regions who used to be friends suddenly became at war and they did

The Legitimacy Question Surrounding the Death Penalty Research Paper - 1

The Legitimacy Question Surrounding the Death Penalty - Research Paper Example The literature on the topic of the death penalty reflects the polar nature of the debate, but oddly, both sides utilize statistics to support their respective positions. This is odd because the clichà © â€Å"statistics don’t lie† does not seem to apply. However, primarily, the problem is how both sides use their statistics. An argument such as â€Å"death penalty deters future murders†, after all, cannot both be true and be false at the same time. However, a quick glance at the literature shows it is indeed possible for both a claim and its negation to find statistical support. Additionally, research is often done into the statistics of death penalty with a specific argument in mind. For instance, two very important articles in the history of the debate try to give an answer to whether there is a racial bias against certain minorities in how the death penalty is handled.   The first article was written by Isaac Ehrlich and published in 1975 dealing primarily with the deterrent effect of the death penalty. In it, he remarks that the deterrent argument against the death penalty is one of many arguments put favor in support of the practice: namely, that the thought the death penalty will make a potential killer â€Å"think twice† about committing a violent crime. This is an â€Å"economic† approach and defense to murder, which justifies the incentive-based approach Ehrlich takes in analyzing the deterrence effect. The model he creates is designed to represent an economic model of murder to test against available data for validation. The model he creates is designed to represent an economic model of murder to test against available data for validation. The model he generates during the course of his article analyzes earning opportunities, employment, the probability of apprehension, the probability of conviction, and frequency of violent crim e against actual violent crime rates.  

Failed bill on education in Texas Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Failed bill on education in Texas - Term Paper Example The Texas education bills passed in the recently were on the expected economic constraints. The recent global economic shortfalls too have affected governance and political engagements in policymaking and legislation. A bill to cut expenses on education in Texas faced rejection from the teachers since it would reduce their salaries and they would be laid off without compensation. In addition, the appropriation bill had a shortfall in students allocation per head this affected the number of entries of new students and the it was seen as if it would compromise on output by teachers (Collegedegrees.com, 2011). Apart from that the political differences also affected the bills since different positions were taken not to give more money to the financially derailed schools and hoping for organizations to chip in and sponsor some programs. Whilst most legislators were interested in maintaining their strength in the house, the bills were falling back. Legislation is all polices and the game o f politics is never a clan game but various personal interests are vested upon at the expense of the commoners, hence, you find that implementations of bills don’t meet the threshold so as to bring actual enactment required since the politicians played their cards close to their chests. The bill that failed to pass in Texas was that which could allow concealed weapons on campuses. Proponents of the bill argued that responsible armed students can make campuses safer than before and assist in preventing shootings like the one witnessed in Virginia Tech in 2007. It had a lot of support from the public, the governor, eighty eight co- sponsors, two thirds of the senate and one hundred and fifty members from the house of representatives, the public were sure it will become a law but the bill faced several procedural roadblocks and could not reach the governor’s desk and be passed. In addition, those who proposed the bill argued that this bill was based on matters of self-def ense in cases where harmless students are attacked. On the other hand, opponents of the bill argued that if guns were allowed on campus, it could lead to increased violence (Austin, 2011). The school voucher bill was viewed as one that will take away money from the public schools and that this would work contrary to their favor as much as the bill gave parents a choice and liberty for their children to enjoy private schools at the expense of taxpayer’s money. The charter bill also did favor the military and treat children of the rich families as very special. Citizens must be treated equally without favor or prejudice. In addition, level of abilities must be known and those of less ability should be given better terms while enjoying their liberty of choice. Some bills would give parents unwarranted powers, for example, to close down a low performing school. This was viewed as a self-gun shot in the leg since parents would peck their fingers and over demand. Parents cannot be trusted with some powers, given to them, this would bring undue unrest and hatred amongst the students and teachers as scenarios of students accusing the teachers would be witnessed. This bill was ill motivated and was not guaranteed to succeed for the sake of teacher-parent relationship and coexistence between the teachers and students (Austin, 2011). One of the failed bills was to favor charter schools in which they would be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities at traditional schools. The approach to win it was tactful but it failed since it was acquired that this would be more work for the public schools as those in charter schools made their choice at the expense of co curricular activit

ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

ART - Essay Example Probably, this is to contrast the main carving from its environment with the intention of making it stand out and appear more visible. In addition, the man is extremely muscular with a clean-shaved head, which aligns well with his shining entire body. The illuminating light from the upper front prompts the man appear as if he is working during a sunny day, mostly evident from his shinny muscular physique. The image’s texture is supremely smooth besides the sculptor making the entire image appear tactile. This is evident from the shininess aspect of the entire carving from the clean-shaven head to the material he is working on with a chisel and hammer. This image is asymmetrical though the sculptor has utilized space well, which comprises it surroundings, hence emphasizing the aspect of proportionality. This is also evident in its scale, which is comparable with the base, hammer and the stone is hewing to produce the desired size or shape. From observation, the sculptor has carved this image intentionally to be a closed form; hence, its appearance does not lose the viewer’s attention or admiration. This is because eyes after observing at one point of the image tend to shift towards the central point where the man is focusing. The choice of carving’s color is also another sculptor’s technique to draw and hold the attention of the viewer. This is because it c ontrast’s with human’s ordinary skin color besides being more exaggerated than it ought to be so, that the image stands out well. By observing this image, I think the sculptor has put more exaggeration than necessary to draw his or her audiences’ attention and admiration. This is evident from the heavy black and shiny color on the entire carving. The sculptor has ignored the application of diverse shades meant to reveal certain distinct parts of the image like eyes, nose, hair, hammer and the stone he is hewing. Besides,

International Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

International Terrorism - Essay Example This report stresses that the internal unrest is the best recipe for the global menace of terrorism in the modern day. It can be overcome through the steps that are aforementioned. Also the global community has got its role cut out that will enable them overcoming the turbulence that shows up in one form or the other all in the farce representation of protecting the locals and local land from outside forces. There are still number of countries that are considerably distant from the true democracy. The global community must learn from the past precedence that have prevailed over last few years. This can be done so through number of steps. The first is the fact that the global community must ensure for negotiating the methods through gradual change and through political means. The use of force in bid to oust a given tyrant must be used as the last option. This paper makes a conclusion that the cases of Middle East and few other countries including those in African continent need to be pulled along the lines which will reduce the agent of radicalization. In this course of struggle, the United Nations, along with the various other super powers have got their role cut out and they need to revamp the structural deficiencies. This can be done so through more active and collaborative partnership and participation between the different countries which will enable fostering the mindset that is directed towards self awareness, demanding the basic rights and ingraining the basic concept of human rights along with the democratic norms, principles and ideologies.

Girl by Jamacia Kincaid Essay Example for Free

Girl by Jamacia Kincaid Essay I read Girl first and I felt that the mother as a nagging soul who was hard on her daughter. I thought that the advice that she gave her was useful in her culture, yet she just gave her so much information at once. I believed that the mother was pushing her daughter toward becoming a bad person because she kept repeating that she knew her daughter would become a slut. People will live up to the standards that are expected of them, and I worried that the character would finally become a slut since her mother felt she would become one. However, when I listened to the monologue, I was shocked. I realized that it was humorous and tongue in cheek. It was a much better piece when I heard it read aloud. B. The mother is wanting to make sure that her daughter is well prepared for life, and she is convinced that the daughter will not figure out what to do in life if she does not tell her time and time again. This allows the mother the sense of being important to her daughter. The daughter is typical of young people in that she is only half listening. She is thinking â€Å"Here we go again. † I feel that she sees her mother as a nagging person even though she loves her. References Kincaid, J. Girl. Turkshead Review. Retrieved October 2, 2008 from http://wwwlturksheadreview. com/library/texts/kincaid-girl. html.

Games to Life Essay Example for Free

Games to Life Essay Pong, Super Mario Bros. , and Pac-Man are a couple classic games most everyone has played. These games were some of the first video games ever made and had very little to no violence in them. These video games have now evolved into more graphic, gory, and violent games. This increased violence in video games has caused more aggression in society. On April 20th, 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado a shooting occurred killing 12 students, 1 teacher and also injured 24 other students. Two students were the cause of this shooting. The two seniors played video games religiously and were big fans of a game named Doom. Doom is a game where players is a space marine who must fight his way through hordes of invading demons from Hell. The two shooters liked and played this game so much that even designed their own based off of it. Eric and Dylan’s, the two shooters, game was created based on the Columbine High School’s floor plan. Their game contained characters based off student at their school whom they did not like. When students, in their game, that believed in God would die they would say â€Å"My Lord, why did you do this to me? † which is what Eric and Dylan believed they would say as they would kill them. When a newer game called Duke Nukem came out, a similar game to Doom, Eric and Dylan were quick to design another levels based on Columbine High School. In this game they had more realistic guns and bombs, which the shooters liked. They also mapped out how they would invade the school and whom they would target in these levels they created. Through both these games, that Eric and Dylan loved to play, inspired them to create there own games using their school as a layout and students as the characters. They planned out how they would approach their shooting and where they would place their bombs based on what they did in their games. They knew whom they would kill first and where they would be. They also placed bombs around the school as they would in the game that thankfully did not go off. Video games have become a big part of our culture in today’s society. When video games first came out they were simple, friendly, and non-violent. Since then video games have become more sophisticated, completive, and especially more violent. Eric and Dylan’s shooting on their school was an act of aggression supported from the violent videos games they played.

They Travel For Sightseeing For Tourists

They Travel For Sightseeing For Tourists Tourists. They travel for sightseeing, recreation, visiting and non-business activities. They want to learn about the customs, the history and the language of every place they visit. They usually travel in groups. We have to provide them with any information that may need about the area, the transportation, any local events that may take place in the surround area etc. and to make them feel at home. They are looking for recreational facilities, food and beverage services and interior design. That kind of guests are usually very price sensitive. Families. They usually travel on weekends and they want a short break from their everyday routine. They are looking for a quiet place to relax and enjoy their time. They are looking for recreational facilities, food and beverage services and the hotel should offer baby-sitting facilities, special meals for kids and an animation team. The elderly. They cant look after themselves as the years pass, so they are looking for a hotel with pleasant and friendly environment. We have to be kind and patient with them and to look after them without giving them the impression that we behave on them like children. Business travelers. They are almost the most important travel market for many city hotels and this is the reason why the hotels who target this market have designed specific products and services to cover their needs such as a quiet environment. Most of business travelers do not like to stay in hotels because after a hard day they prefer to stay in a quiet place to rest and to relax rather than a noisy room in a hotel. Another thing that they worry about is their messages and how well the hotel can handle this. We have to offer them facilities such as: meeting space, computer services, internet access etc. Business travelers are usually not very price sensitive and often utilize hotels food (especially room service), beverage and recreational facilities. They considered desirable and profitable market and is an important segment because of its steady level of demand at high room rates. Delegates. Meeting and conventions usually attract hundreds of people and this is the reason why we have to convince the meeting planner to choose our hotel. They are looking for fast service and they dont like to stay in queues. Meeting and conventions have to do with people who attending seminars, trade association shows etc. The length of stay for meetings ranges from 3 to 5 days. We have to provide them a conference center for the meetings, computers services, internet access and when we have a large group some discounts are necessary because in this way we can attract them to visit again our hotel as leisure travelers. We have also to provide them in house banquet and cocktail receptions. Describe the importance of welcoming a guest and the techniques that should be used. Always the first impression plays the most important role when a guest arrives at the hotel and influences the rest of his stay. The receptionists should always be warm and friendly when they checking in the guests to make them feel comfortable like at home. A good greeting can make a guest feel better. A well-spoken receptionist by giving a smile of welcome from a charming succeeds to create a warm and friendly atmosphere also has to be able to recognise the guests personality and to adapt in order to satisfy the guests expectations. Some techniques that should be used are: keep eye contact and smile, be clear in your speech and use a pleasant tone of voice, avoid speaking too fast or too slow, use the guests names, always be polite and kind, always start and end with a positive note, always be: friendly, interested, helpful, never mechanical, never different and never impatient. There is a big possibility that when a guest leaves from the hotel with a good impression he will come b ack and he will be a good advertiser for our hotel. Describe the guest registration process and explain its importance. We have to follow several steps for the registration process. The guest registration process begins with the pre-registration activities which accelerate the registration process, guests can verify personal data and the time of the check-in the guests have only to sign the registration form. When the guests arrive we greeting and welcoming them and after we create the registration record and verify the guests identity name, the permanent address and the telephone number, the date of arrival and the departure, number of registered persons, method of payment, passport and signature. After this process we assign the room rate and we establish the method of payment. We continue by issuing the room key and ask the guests for any special requests. When all these finish we escort the guest to his/her room. The guest registration is important because by completing this form let us know who stays in our hotel, especially during in an emergency situation. With guest registration we can also learn if a guest is a repeater, if he has already visited another hotel of our company. Also with this form we can find some information about the guest needs (in case that he is repeater), such as smoking or non-smoking room, allergies, any special requirements that he use to have. Explain what guest history files are and why hotels keep them. Guest history files are files in which the management records important information of all his regular guests and show any special requests and expectations that a guest have in case that the guest has stay once at the hotel. Hotels use to keep guest history files because these files help the management to improve the guest service and also to remind personal data of its repeater guests. These files contains details of credit cards, the date of the first stay, how many times a guest has stay at the hotel and how many nights, how much the guest spent in the different departments, how much he has spent on each stay and the room types that he prefers to stay. Also these files record any special needs (newspapers) and preferences that guests might have. Explain up-selling and the techniques that can be used Up-selling is the use of specific words and phrases that will lead the guest to buy something he would not otherwise have bought. We can succeed in up-selling if we think that is a way of helping out the guest by offering him a satisfying solution to cover his needs. Some techniques that we can use when we selling a room are: Qualify the lead. Asking questions and try to understand exactly what your prospective guest is looking for, keep an eye contact and let him talk without interrupt him. Built a relationship and make your guest feel comfortable. By doing this you create a friendly atmosphere and gives you the advantage for a better sale. Make a presentation of your property. Provide brochures and prospects for what you offer and convince your guest that you know what you sale. You have to know your product inside and out and also to know your market area and your competitors rates. Close the sale by asking for the sale. Dont be in rush for giving any discounts that probably your guest will ask, just focus on value. Follow up the sales visit by sending questionnaires. This is a good way to find out if your guest left satisfied from your hotel and gives an indication that this guest might return in the future and also bring and other guests with him. A satisfied guest is an advertisement for our hotel.

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight :: Essays Papers

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Text Analysis: Passages 203-278 Summary Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes place early in the career of King Arthur. Young and naive, Arthur presides over a court that has great wealth and few problems. The Green Knight is a mysterious and magical character who presents a challenge to the pride and wealth of Arthur's kingdom. However, this challenge is not to the battle-strength of Arthur's court, but to its values. The Green Knight disrupts a Christmas celebration taking place in Camelot, and offers a contest: an exhange of ax-strokes. Gawain takes up the contest and chops off the head of the Green Knight who survives through magical means. Gawain sets forth to accept the return blow which is to take place a year and one day from the first. While Gawain is searching for the Green Knight's chapel, he is taken in by a great lord named Bercilak who puts Gawain's honesty and integrity to the test. In parrying Bercilak's wife's attempts at seduction with gentlemanly skill, Gawain passes this moral test. Finally, we discover that the lord is in fact the Green Knight himself. Instead of being killed at the Green Knight's hands, Gawain returns to Arthur's court with a green girdle: representative of Gawain's only failure. By accepting the girdle from Bercilak's wife and not surrendering it as the wager demanded, Gawain fails in his promise. With love for his own life as his only failure, Bercilak and A rthur find little fault with Gawain, and Gawain's reputation as the most virtuous of the Knights of the Round Table remains unblemished. The following analysis is of a passage early in the story. The Green Knight has just made an impressive entrance into Arthur's court, and is ready to issue his challenge. Passage Synopsis: Passages 203-207: The Green Knight is on his horse in Arthur’s court, and his appearance is being described. He is not wearing battle-gear, and has no armor or shield for defense. He is holding a holly bob which is a symbol of peace. Passages 208-220: He is carrying one weapon: a huge green ax. Many lines are used to describe this awesome looking ax. It’s wound with iron and lace, and tassels and buttons of bright green hang from it. Passage 221-232: The Green Knight rather rudely ignores all the guests and goes directly to look for Arthur, referring to him as "The captain of this crowd. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight :: Essays Papers Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Text Analysis: Passages 203-278 Summary Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes place early in the career of King Arthur. Young and naive, Arthur presides over a court that has great wealth and few problems. The Green Knight is a mysterious and magical character who presents a challenge to the pride and wealth of Arthur's kingdom. However, this challenge is not to the battle-strength of Arthur's court, but to its values. The Green Knight disrupts a Christmas celebration taking place in Camelot, and offers a contest: an exhange of ax-strokes. Gawain takes up the contest and chops off the head of the Green Knight who survives through magical means. Gawain sets forth to accept the return blow which is to take place a year and one day from the first. While Gawain is searching for the Green Knight's chapel, he is taken in by a great lord named Bercilak who puts Gawain's honesty and integrity to the test. In parrying Bercilak's wife's attempts at seduction with gentlemanly skill, Gawain passes this moral test. Finally, we discover that the lord is in fact the Green Knight himself. Instead of being killed at the Green Knight's hands, Gawain returns to Arthur's court with a green girdle: representative of Gawain's only failure. By accepting the girdle from Bercilak's wife and not surrendering it as the wager demanded, Gawain fails in his promise. With love for his own life as his only failure, Bercilak and A rthur find little fault with Gawain, and Gawain's reputation as the most virtuous of the Knights of the Round Table remains unblemished. The following analysis is of a passage early in the story. The Green Knight has just made an impressive entrance into Arthur's court, and is ready to issue his challenge. Passage Synopsis: Passages 203-207: The Green Knight is on his horse in Arthur’s court, and his appearance is being described. He is not wearing battle-gear, and has no armor or shield for defense. He is holding a holly bob which is a symbol of peace. Passages 208-220: He is carrying one weapon: a huge green ax. Many lines are used to describe this awesome looking ax. It’s wound with iron and lace, and tassels and buttons of bright green hang from it. Passage 221-232: The Green Knight rather rudely ignores all the guests and goes directly to look for Arthur, referring to him as "The captain of this crowd.

The Talloires Declaration :: French History Essays

The Talloires Declaration The Talloires Declaration was born in Talloires, France in 1990 at a conference attended by presidents and chancellors from universities around the world. They believe universities have a duty to take care of the land in order for it to be sustainable and support future generations. The intention of the creators was to find a way to incorporate environmental sustainability in all aspects of educational institutions. They came up with the Talloires Declaration which is an official statement comprised of ten how-to steps to create sustainability. It is supported by universities around the globe who want to incorporate sustainability and environmental literacy in the classroom, in research, in system operations, and in outreach programs. The claim of the Talloires Declaration is â€Å"University leaders must initiate and support mobilization of internal and external resources so that their institutions respond to this urgent challenge.† Already more thanthree hundred university presidents and chancellors from over forty countries have signed the declaration and have incorporated sustainability into their universities by following the framework set by the ten steps. To understand the Talloires Declaration, one must know what sustainability is. The dictionary definition of sustain is â€Å"to keep going: prolong.† Environmental Sustainability is a way of using resources so that they are not depleted and it is a way of living that uses environmental methods such as recycling, solar panels, and little use of resources. In universities across the globe, sustainability has not been incorporated in everyday campus life and this has caused concern about the environmental impacts of those institutions. Each of the ten steps of the Talloires Declaration is open for individual interpretation by each university. The creators purposefully wrote the steps this way because each campus has its own circumstances and environment. These guidelines ensure that universities follow through with sustainability because they motivate and inspire the establishment of a better world. It is good that the same steps are followed by all the universities, that they are dedicated to creating a sustainable future, and that they are held accountable for their actions. The first step of the Talloires Declaration is to spread the word of sustainability and the ways to develop it at the university.

Religion in American Film Essay -- Essays Papers

Religion in American Film American’s nation-wide did a disbelieving double take when they were heard that Jim Carrey was going to be playing the role of God in Universal Pictures summer 2001 movie Bruce Almighty. Millions of American’s have found themselves near-obsessed with the engrossing epic Lord of the Rings, Dogma has been welcomed into the Cult Films Hall of Fame, and Mel Gibson’s The Passion stirred an overwhelming amount of religious, cultural, and ethnic criticism. When looking at the recent array of films that either present or suggest religious themes – whether it be allegorically, evangelically, or satirically – we find ourselves asking the question â€Å"why now?† Is the reason for this upsurge sociological, psychological, philosophical, or historical? Is there perhaps a political or economic reason as to why American’s today are so eagerly consuming films that are looking at the timeless battle between good & evil, questioning organized belief s ystems, or presenting religion in new and contemporary ways? From critical analysis and research done on this subject, as well as much pondering and theorizing, it could be said that the question of â€Å"why now† is more philosophical, and value oriented, than anything else. The religious content that is present in modern American films is indicative of a more general discussion & questioning of values and resonates with the post-modern, religiously pluralistic mindset that American’s have come to embody. It is a common mis-conception that films are merely entertainment, and serve no other purpose than to provide for the viewer a two-hour escape from reality. This is a serious under-estimation of the power, purpose, and potential of film, because film, upon reflection, revea... ...garet R. Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. Johnston, Robert K. Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2000. Stone, Bryan P. Faith and Film: Theological Themes at the Cinema. St.Louis: Chalice Press, 2000. Valenti, F. Miguel. More Than a Movie : Ethics in Entertainment. Colorado: Westview Press, 2000 Detweiler, Craig, and Barry Taylor. A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003. Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000 http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/bruce_almighty.htm For the purposes of this study, it is helpful to look specifically at the way in which Christ and Christianity are being presented, through the various methods, in contemporary film.

Lg Hr Policies

LG ELECTRONICS LTD {draw:frame} A great working environment will allow you to exercise and develop all of your skills, and you'll be duly rewarded too! LG Electronics creates working environments that enable all its employees to demonstrate their capabilities, focus on their own work, and create value. HR Principles {draw:frame} Creativity and autonomy An individual's creativity is the basis for value creation. LG Electronics respects diversity and autonomy, allowing each of its employees to exercise their creativity to the full. Emphasis on competence Competence is the basis for performance. LG Electronics sees competence as the most important factor in its personnel decisions. Performance-based rewards Rewards based on performance are essential for human motivation. LG Electronics evaluates performance results fairly and rewards them accordingly. Equal opportunities Equal opportunities build trust among people. LG Electronics ensures equal opportunities regardless of gender, race, age, religion, or nationality. Long-term perspective Maintaining a long-term perspective is the foundation for LG's human resources policies. LG's human resources programs are designed with a long-term perspective and implemented with dedication and persistence. {draw:frame} Training Through its education centers worldwide, LG Electronics offers diverse educational programs to its employees according to rank and job to encourage growth and development and mold them into â€Å"the right people† for the company. They do this by equipping them with the professional capabilities that the company needs and enabling them to apply the latest technologies to their work. Rewards LG Electronics offers its employees a competitive, unique rewards system that takes account of their working situations by nation, region, and job. This rewards system motivates employees to perform better by helping them to enhance their quality of life. LG's rewards system consists of fixed salaries and flexible salaries. Fixed salaries are determined every year through a fair evaluation process. Flexible salaries are immediate rewards given to individual employees for their performance and competence.

Acct Mid-Term Solutions Essay

Examination I I will select five of the following questions for the mid-term exam. You should be able to answer all of them. You may work together in study groups and analyze and answer the questions. Obviously, the exam will be an individual effort. 1Accounting and Control The controller of a small private college is complaining about the amount of work she is required to do at the beginning of each month. The president of the university requires the controller to submit a monthly report by the fifth day of the following month. The monthly report contains pages of financial data from operations. The controller was heard saying, â€Å"Why does the president need all this information? He probably doesn’t read half of the report. He’s an old English professor and probably doesn’t know the difference between a cost and a revenue.† Required: a. What is the probable role of the monthly report? Ans: The monthly report is the report card for the University’s internal accounting system, these monthly reports are a formal part of the University’s information system, that provides data and knowledge for decision making (pg.2 of text). These reports are part of a system of controls, these controls force the organization to account for their monthly transactions and the president needs to know this so that he can defend and reconcile the position of his company. These reports are useful to the president so that he can manage the in-and-outflow of resources that keep the University’s board members and employees interests aligned. For the president, the role of these monthly reports are to provide information for necessary planning and decision making and to also help motivate and monitor people within the university (pg. 3 of text). b. What is the controller’s responsibility with respect to a president who doesn’t know much accounting? Ans: It is the controller’s responsibility to ensure the President understands what the reports say/symbolize and based upon those results, make suggestions on decisions. Their responsibilities involve assuring the reports are accurate, meet accounting standards by following accounting principles and procedures, and having a strong fiducial understanding of the business so that the numbers in his report tell a story about the University’s position in the market and the current state of its operational drivers (pg.10&11 of text). 2Cost, Volume, Profit Analysis Leslie Mittelberg is considering the wholesaling of a leather handbag from Kenya. She must travel to Kenya to check on quality and transportation. The trip will cost $3000. The cost of the handbag is $10 and shipping to the United States can occur through the postal system for $2 per handbag or through a freight company which will ship a container that can hold up to a 1000 handbags at a cost of $1000. The freight company will charge $1000 even if less than 1000 handbags are shipped. Leslie will try to sell the handbags to retailers for $20. Assume there are no other costs and benefits. Required: a. What is the break-even point if shipping is through the postal system? Ans: Break Even Point = Total Fixed Costs / (Unit Price – Unit Variable Costs) BEP = $3000 / ($20 – $12)= 375 handbags b. How many units must be sold if Leslie uses the freight company and she wants to have a profit of $1000? Ans: Total Revenue – Total Costs= Profit TR-TC=1000: $20x-($3000+$1000+$10x) =$1000 $10x=$5000; x=500 handbags. c. At what output level would the two shipping methods yield the same profit? Ans: Ï€=TR-TC; Freight: Ï€=$10x-$4000; Postal: Ï€=$8x-$3000 ( Two equations same unknown, set equal: 10x-4000=8x-3000( 2x=1000 ( x=500 handbags d. Suppose a large discount store asks to buy an additional 1000 handbags beyond normal sales. Which shipping method should be used and what is the minimum sales price Leslie should consider in selling those 1000 handbags? Ans: At a 1000 handbags, freight shipping should be used because the UVC to ship a bag would be $1 as opposed to $2 through postal. The minimum price of the bag should cover Leslies VC just to break even, VC=10(1000)+1000=$11,000/1000bags = $11.00. 3Asset Replacement The Baltic Company is considering the purchase of a new machine tool to replace an obsolete one. The machine being used for the operation has a tax-basis book value of $80,000, with an annual depreciation expense of $8,000. It has a resale value today of $40,000, is in good working order, and will last, physically, for at least 10 more years. The proposed machine will perform the operation so much more efficiently and Baltic engineers estimate that labor, material, and other direct costs of the operation will be reduced $60,000 a year if it is installed. The proposed machine costs $240,000 delivered and installed, and its economic life is estimated at 10 years, with zero salvage value. The company expects to earn 14 percent on its investment after taxes (14 percent is the firm’s cost of capital). The tax rate is 40 percent, and the firm uses straight-line depreciation. Any gain or loss on the sale of the machine at retirement is subject to tax at 40 percent. Should Baltic buy the new machine? 4Transfer Prices The Alpha Division of the Carlson Company manufactures product X at a variable cost of $40 per unit. Alpha Division’s fixed costs, which are sunk, are $20 per unit. The market price of X is $70 per unit. Beta Division of Carlson Company uses product X to make Y. The variable costs to convert X to Y are $20 per unit and the fixed costs, which are sunk, are $10 per unit. The product Y sells for $80 per unit. Required: a. What transfer price of X causes divisional managers to make decentralized decisions that maximize Carlson Company’s profit if each division is treated as a profit center? Ans: The minimum price Alpha can accept is $40+$20** = $40. The maximum Beta can pay is $80-$20-$10** or $60. **To have â€Å"sunken fixed costs† a firm would have to be operating in the short-run, the sunken fixed costs are unrecoverable and are already paid, these costs shouldn’t be considered when determining whether or not to shut down. The transfer price must be set in such a way as to induce the two parties to make the transfer. In essence, the transfer price must give incentives to the Alpha Division to want to make the transfer and give incentives to the Beta Division to buy (b/c they’re both profit centers, decentralized decision makers). In other words, the following two constraints must be satisfied: Alpha:TP > $40 (variable cost) Beta DivisionTP < $60 (selling price ($80) – variable costs to complete ($20)) where: TP = transfer price ( $40

Management Accounting Change Essay

Describe the ‘Challenge of Management Accounting Change’ in light of recent research findings and discuss, how can this change help an organisation, in getting its strategic, tactical and operating objectives? Management accounting change and the continuously changing roles of management accountants have dominated accounting literature for the past few decades and the theme of management accounting change procedures has been a topical issue of many studies such as Baines and Langfield-Smith, 2003; Kapla, 1985 and Granlund and Lukka, 1998, just to name a few. In order to understand the relationship between a firm’s strategy and objectives with its management accounting systems, it is necessary to first define the latter. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) define Management Accounting as â€Å"the process of identification, measurement, accumulation, analysis, preparation, interpretation and communication of information used by management to plan, evaluate and control within an entity and to assure appropriate use of and accountability for its resources. Management accounting also comprises the preparation of financial reports for non-management groups such as shareholders, creditors, regulatory agencies and tax authorities. † It is important to explore the extent to which management and strategic concerns are driven by accounting practices, and also how accounting practices are mediated by the views that managers have of the role of accounting (Burns et. al, 1999). Changes in Management Accounting can be viewed as an inevitable process, and they are also intrinsically interlinked to not only changes in a firms strategy, but also with environmental changes. Both internal and external changes in our economic and business environment are the dominating factors in the change of management accounting practices within organisations. This view that change is inevitable has been supported by Kaplan (1985), where he details the change as a â€Å"cause-effect relationship. † In short, management accounting systems have to change whenever there is any sort of change in an organisations business or economic environment. Organizational change is frequently a response to environmental change; such as changes in competition, or changes in laws and legislation. So if Management Accounting change occurs due to organizational change, it is important to note the indirect link between environmental change and management accounting change (Burns et. al, 1999). Wijewardena and De Zoysa (1999) support this idea by detailing that the success of an organisations strategy can be determined by how quickly and effectively management accountants can adapt to their systems to ever changing environmental and economic conditions, thereby supporting the link between management accounting practices and the business environment. It is fair to state that there are a number of factors that can influence change in management accounting and these factors are both internal and external. A research project on management accounting change in the UK, that was funded by CIMA and the Economic and Social Research Council was conducted between 1995 and 1998 by Burns et. al (1999). The study aimed to investigate changes in management accounting systems, the changing role of management accountants and the adoption of modern accounting techniques. The study initially sought to settle the claim that management accounting had not changed in more than 60 years (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). The initial stages of the research found that management accounting practices use traditional accounting systems and modern techniques such as Activity-Based Costing and Strategic Management Accounting were not being used as much as expected. One reason for management accounting changes is the general economic factors such as the globalisation of markets. Changes in technology are another key factor, especially changes in information systems and methods of production. It is in this context that changes in management accounting have taken place. Changes in information technology have allowed for accounts and information to be dispersed around the organisation and managers have a more profound and hands on role within a firm. This in turn indefinitely has an impact on how objectives are met and how strategies and tactics are implemented to achieve, said objectives. This has led to a decentring of accounting knowledge, meaning that it is not only specified accountants who have knowledge of a company’s accounts, but also managers and their subordinates. This gives managers a greater ownership of information and it also means that they have to have an increased knowledge of accounting systems. Ezzamel (1997) states that a â€Å"lack of change in accounting practices is presented as being not only detrimental to business interests but also threatening to corporate survival. † However we must also look at external environmental factors and how they affect management accounting systems. A definition stated by Macy and Arunachalam (1995) define an external environment as â€Å"a phenomenon that is external and have either potential or actual influence on organisations†. However we must reiterate the fact that organisations of no control whatsoever over external factors. It is in an organisations best interest to take any external factors that could affect their operations, into consideration and to recognise them for their long term survival. External factors create a lot of uncertainty for firms. This uncertainty means that companies have to learn to adapt to sudden changes in external environmental business factors. Research by Mia and Patiar (2001) show that organisations must have more refined management accounting practices in order to operates successfully in uncertain business environments. There are also a number of views that contradict the idea that management accounting systems are directly influenced by external environmental factors. The idea of uncertainty, according to Chapman (1997), can be linked to internal factors as well as external factors. More research shows that external factors affecting management accounting can be dealt with in the way internal managers and accountants actually perceive the external variables. Despite the vast amount of advantages to management accounting and organizational change, there are also downsides to such changes. Burns, Scapens and Ezzamel (1999), show that accounting change can challenge existing routines and institutions within an organisation. This can then lead to conflict and resistance within employees, managers and perhaps even board members. Goal congruence may disappear, and an organisations strategy to achieve objectives may be hindered with the lack of an aligning view from all the members who have succumbed to the initial accounting change. Burns et al. (1999) also state that it can be a difficult process for previous systems to be unlearned. A major role for management accounting systems is to motivate behaviours of employees and managers in line with the desires of the organisation as a whole. A great problem is that many managers try to implement new accounting systems without taking into consideration the behavioural implications and consequences of employees with regards to these systems. The lack of goal congruence and effective communication can lead to low motivation and dysfunctional behaviour of employees. A change in an existing system will reduce employees’ knowledge and skill thereby affecting the effectiveness to achieve company objectives. Implementation of new techniques has to be orchestrated with great care and communicated thoroughly throughout the organisation. Accounting practices and emerging routines can be said to be institutionalised when they become widely accepted in the organisation such that they become the unquestionable form of management control. In which case, they are an inherent feature of the management control process, and represent expected forms of behaviour and define the relations between the various organisational groups (Burns and Scapens, 2000). Burns et. al study of â€Å"CHEM†, a small chemicals manufacturer showed that a change in the accounting and organisational systems had little impact on the company as a whole and it did not change their previous ways of thinking. This led to conflict between individual members of the chemical manufacturing company. Later, the new accounting systems were scrapped as they offered little benefits to the company; there had been very little change in the routines, institutions and systems of the firm. There are also claims that management accounting does not always change or respond to environmental or business changes. For example Kaplan (1984) suggests that despite significant changes to the business environment, such as increased competition and continuous changes in technologies and production processes, there has been no signicant changes in management accounting to match since 1925. Research conducted by Horngren (1995) and Burns et. al (1999) show that firms still tend to use traditional management accounting methods instead of adopting new techniques such as ABC. It is also important to note that their has also been a lack of implementation of non-financial measures such as Total Quality Management, Strategic Management Advice or Internal Financial Presentation and Communication. The absences of â€Å"modern† accounting methods support the claim that there is indeed in some cases little change within organisations from traditional accounting systems to new techniques. It is a difficult process to draw a set conclusion on the effectiveness of management accounting change. It is evident that there are vast pools of research both supporting the idea that management accounting hange is beneficial in aiding an organisations strategy but there is an equal amount of research to support the idea that change in accounting systems is derogatory to the success and progress of a business. It is fair to say that further external factors can determine how successful accounting change can be for a firm. For example we must take into account cultural and political factors of the country a particular organisation resides in to fully understand the implications of strategic, and management accounting change. It is impossible to apply findings from research to every company, because in short, every company is different; be it it’s strategy, its structure, its ethics or its objectives. We must be liberal in what we determine is successful implementation of management accounting change. The change that has taken place in organisations cannot be pinpointed to solely a change in management accounting systems and techniques but it is in fact the change in how these new systems are used and implemented (Burns et. al 2000) and these changes are more often than not part of wider changes of the organisation as a whole.

Importance of arts Essay

Now we must study the following questions: What significance does art acquire if we assume that our interpretation of it is correct? What is the relation between aesthetic response and all other forms of human behavior? How do we explain the role and importance of art in the general behavioral system of man? There are as many different answers to these questions as there are different ways of evaluating the importance of art. Some believe art is the supreme human activity while others consider it nothing but leisure and fun. The evaluation of art depends directly on the psychological viewpoint from which we approach it. If we want to find out what the relationship between art and life is, if we want to solve the problem of art in terms of applied psychology, we must adopt a valid general theory for solving these problems. The first and most widespread view holds that art infects us with emotions and is therefore based upon contamination. Tolstoy says, â€Å"The activity of art is ba sed on the capacity of people to infect others with their own emotions and to be infected by the emotions of others. †¦ Strong emotions, weak emotions, important emotions, or irrelevant emotions, good emotions or bad emotions – if they contaminate the reader, the spectator, or the listener – become the subject of art. This statement means that since art is but common emotion, there is no substantial difference between an ordinary feeling and a feeling stirred by art. Consequently, art functions simply as a resonator, an amplifier, or a transmitter for the infection of feeling. Art has n6 specific distinction; hence the evaluation of art must proceed from the same criterion which we use to evaluate any feeling. Art may be good or bad if it infects us with good or bad feelings. Art in itself is neither good nor bad; it is a language of feeling which we must evaluate in accordance with what it expresses. Thus, Tolstoy came to the natural conclusion that art must be evaluated from a moral viewpoint; he therefore approved of art that generated good feelings, and objected to art that, from his point of view, represented reprehensible events or actions. Many other critics reached the same conclusions as did Tolstoy and evaluated a work of art on the basis of its obvious content, while praising or condemning the artist accordingly. Like ethics, like aesthetics – this is the slogan of this theory. But Tolstoy soon discovered that his theory failed when he tried to be consistent with his own conclusions. He compared two artistic impressions:  one produced b y a large chorus of peasant women who were celebrating the marriage of his daughter; and the other, by an accomplished musician who played Beethoven’s Sonata. The singing of the peasant women expressed such a feeling of joy, cheerfulness, and liveliness that it infected Tolstoy and he went home in high spirits. According to him, such singing is true art, because it communicates a specific and powerful emotion. Since the second impression involved no such specific emotions, he concluded that Beethoven’s sonata is an unsuccessful artistic attempt which contains no definite emotions and is therefore neither remarkable nor outstanding. This example shows us the absurd conclusions that can be reached if the critical understanding of art is based upon the criterion of its infectiousness. Beethoven’s music incorporates no definite feeling, while the singing of the peasant women has an elementary and contagious gaiety. If this is true, then Yevlakhov is right when he states that â€Å"‘real, true’ art is military or dance music, since it is more catchy.† Tolstoy is consistent in his ideas; beside folk songs, he recognizes only â€Å"marches and dances written by various composers† as works â€Å"that approach the requirements of universal art.† A reviewer of Tolstoy’s article, V. G. Valter, points out that â€Å"if Tolstoy had said that the gaiety of the peasant women put him in a good mood, one could not object to that. It would mean that the language of emotions that expressed itself in their singing (it could well have expressed itself simply in yelling, and most like ly did) infected Tolstoy with their gaiety. But what has this to do with art? Tolstoy does not say whether the women sang well; had they not sung but simply yelled, beating their scythes, their fun and gaiety would have been no less catching, especially on his daughter’s wedding day.† We feel that if we compare an ordinary yell of fear to a powerful novel in terms of their respective infectiousness, the latter will fail the test. Obviously, to understand art we must add something else to simple infectiousness. Art also produces other impressions, and Longinus’ statement, â€Å"You must know that the orator pursues one purpose, and the poet another. The purpose of poetry is trepidation, that of prose is expressivity,† is correct. Tolstoy’s formula failed to account for the trepidation which is the purpose of poetry. But to prove that he is really wrong, we must look at the art of military and dance music and find out whether the true purpose of that art is to infect. Petrazhitskii assumes  that aestheticians are wrong when they claim that the purpose of art is to generate aesthetic emotions only. He feels that art produces general emotions, and that aesthetic emotions are merely decorative. â€Å"For instance, the art of a warlike period in the life of a people has as its main purpose the excitation of heroic-bellicose emotions. Even now, military music is not intended to give the soldiers in the field aesthetic enjoyment, but to excite and enhance their belligerent feelings. The purpose of medieval art (including sculpture and architecture) was to produce lofty religious emotions. Lyric appeals to one aspect of our emotional psyche, satire to another; the same applies to drama, tragedy, and so on †¦ Apart from the fact that military music does not generate bellicose emotions on the battlefield, the question is not properly formulated here. Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii, for example, comes closer to the truth when he says that â€Å"military lyrics and music ‘lift the spirit’ of the army and ‘inspire’ feats of valor and heroic deeds, but neither of them leads directly to bellicose emotions or belligerent affects. On the contrary, they seem to moderate bellicose ardor, calm an excited nervous system, and chase away fear. We can say that lifting morale, calming nerves, and chasing away fear are among the most important practical functions of ‘lyrics’ which result from their psychological nature. It is therefore wrong to think that music can directly cause warlike emotions; more precisely, it gives bellicose emotions an opportunity for expression, but music as such neither causes nor generates them. Something similar happens with erotic poetry, the sole purpose of which, according to Tolstoy, is to excite lust. Anyone who understands the true nature of lyrical emotions knows that Tolstoy is wrong. â€Å"There is no doubt that lyrical emotion has a soothing effect on all other emotions (and affects) to the point that at times it paralyzes them. This is also the effect it has on sexuality with its emotions and affects. Erotic poetry, if it is truly lyrical, is far less suggestive than works of the visual arts in which the problems of love and the notorious sex problem are treated with the purpose of producing a moral reaction. Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii is only partly correct in his assumption that sexual feeling, which is easily excited, is most strongly stirred by images and thoughts, that these images and thoughts are rendered harmless by lyrical emotion, and that mankind is indebted to lyrics, even more than to ethics,  for the taming and restraining of sexual instincts. He underestimates the importance of the other art forms, which he calls figurative, and does not remark that in their case also emotions provoked by images are counteracted by the nonlyrical emotion of art. Thus we see that Tolstoy’s theory does not hold in the domain of the applied arts, where he thought its validity to be absolute. As concerns great art (the art of Beethoven and Shakespeare), Tolstoy himself pointed out that his theory is inapplicable. Art would have a dull and ungrateful task if its only purpose were to infect one or many persons with feelings. If this were so, its significance would be very small, because there would be only a quantitative expansion and no qualitative expansion beyond an individual’s feeling. The miracle of art would then be like the bleak miracle of the Gospel, when five barley loaves and two small fishes fed thousands of people, all of whom ate and were satisfied, and a dozen baskets were filled with the remaining food. This miracle is only quantitative: thousands were fed and were satisfied, but each of them ate only fish and bread. But was this not their daily diet at home, without any miracles? If the only purpose of a tragic poem were to infect us with the author’s sorrow, this would be a very sad situation indeed for art. The miracle of art reminds us much more of another miracle in the Gospel, the transformation of water into wine. Indeed, art’s true nature is that of transubstantiation, something that transcends ordinary feelings; for the fear, pain, or excitement caused by art includes something above and beyond its normal, conventional content. This â€Å"something† overcomes feelings of fear and pain, changes water into wine, and thus fulfills the most important purpose of art. One of the great thinkers said once that art relates to life as wine relates to the grape. With this he meant to say that art takes its material from life, but gives in return something which its material did not contain. Initially, an emotion is individual, and only by means of a work of art does it become s ocial or generalized. But it appears that art by itself contributes nothing to this emotion. It is not clear, then, why art should be viewed as a creative act nor how it differs from an ordinary yell or an orator’s speech. Where is the trepidation of which Longinus spoke, if art is viewed only as an exercise in infectiousness? We realize that science does not simply infect one person or a whole society with thoughts and ideas, any more than technology helps man  to be handy. We can also recognize that art is an expanded â€Å"social feeling† or technique of feelings, as we shall show later. Plekhanov states that the relationship between art and life is extremely complex, and he is right. He quotes Tairfe who investigated the interesting question of why landscape painting evolved only in the city. If art were intended merely to infect us with the feelings that life communicates to us, then landscape painting could not survive in the city. History, however, proves exactly the opposite. Taine writes, â€Å"We have the right to admire landscapes, just as they had the right to be bored by it. For seventeenth-century man there was nothing uglier than a mountain. It aroused in him many unpleasant ideas, because he was as weary of barbarianism as we are weary of civilization. Mountains give us a chance to rest, away from our sidewalks, offices, and shops; we like landscape only for this reason.† 6 Plekhanov points out that art is sometimes not a direct expression of life, but an expression of its antithesis. The idea, of course, is not in the leisure of which Taine speak s, but in a certain antithesis: art releases an aspect of our psyche which finds no expression in our everyday life. We cannot speak of an infection with emotions. The effect of art is obviously much more varied and complex; no matter how we approach art, we always discover that it involves something different from a simple transmission of feelings. Whether or not we agree with Lunacharskii that art is a concentration of life, we must realize that it proceeds from certain live feelings and works upon those feelings, a fact not considered by Tolstoy’s theory. We have seen that this process is a catharsis – the transformation of these feelings into opposite ones and their subsequent resolution. This view of course agrees perfectly with Plekhanov’s principle of antithesis in art. To understand this we must look at the problem of the biological significance of art, and realize that art is not merely a means for infection but something immeasurably more important in itself. In his â€Å"Three Chapters of Historic Poetics,† Veselovskii says that ancient singing and playing were born from a complex need for catharsis; a cho rus sung during hard and exhausting work regulates muscular effort by its rhythm, and apparently aimless play responds to the subconscious requirement of training and regulation of physical or intellectual effort. This is also the requirement of psychophysical catharsis formulated by Aristotle for the drama; it manifests itself in the  unsurpassed mastery of Maori women to shed tears at will, and also in the overwhelming tearfulness of the eighteenth century. The phenomenon is the same; the difference lies only in expression and understanding. We perceive rhythm in poetry as something artistic and forget its primitive psychophysical origins. The best repudiation of the contamination theory is the study of those psychophysical principles on which art is based and the explanation of the biological significance of art. Apparently art releases and processes some extremely complex organismic urges. The best corroboration of our viewpoint can be found in the fact that it agrees with Bucher’s studies on the origins of art and permits us to understand the true role and purpose of art. Bucher established that music and poetry have a common origin in heavy physical labor. Their object was to relax cathartically the tremendous stress created by labor. This is how Bucher formulated the general content of work songs: â€Å"They follow the general trend of work, and signal the beginning of a simultaneous collective effort; they try to incite th e men to work by derision, invective, or reference to the opinion of spectators; they express the thoughts of the workers about labor itself, its course, its gear, and so forth, as well as their joys or sorrows, their complaints about the hardness of the work and the inadequate pay; they address a plea to the owner, the supervisor, or simply to the spectator.† The two elements of art and their resolution are found here. The only peculiarity of these songs is that the feeling of pain and hardship which must be solved by art is an essential part of labor itself. Subsequently, when art detaches itself from labor and begins to exist as an independent activity, it introduces into the work of art the element which was formerly generated by labor: the feelings of pain, torment, and hardship (which require relies are now aroused by art itself, but their nature remains the same. Biicher makes an extremely interesting statement: â€Å"The peoples of antiquity considered song an indispensable accompaniment of hard labor.† From this we realize that song at first organized collective labor, then gave relief and relaxation to painful and tormenting strain. We shall see that art, even in its highest manifestations, completely separate from labor and without any direct connection thereto, has maintained the same functions. It still must systematize, or organize, social feeling and give relief to painful and tormenting strain. Quintilian puts it this way: â€Å"And  it appears as if [music] were given to us by nature in order to make labor bearable. For instance, the rower is inspired by song; it is useful not only where the efforts of many are combined, but also when it is intended to provide rest for an exhausted worker.† Thus art arises originally as a powerful tool in the struggle for existence; the idea of reducing its role to a communication of feeling with no power or control over that feeling, is inadmissible. If the purpose of art, like Tolstoy’s chorus of peasant women, were only to make us gay or sad, it would neither have survived nor have ever acquired its present importance. Nietzsche expresses it well injoyful Wisdom, when he says that rhythm involves inducement and incentive: â€Å"It arouses an irresistible desire to imitate, and not only our legs but our very soul follow the beat. †¦ Was there anything more useful than rhythm for ancient, Superstitious mankind? With its help everything became feasible – work could be performed magically, God could be forced to appear and listen to grievances, the future could be changed and corrected at will, one’s soul could be delivered of any abnormality. Without verse man would be nothing; with it, he almost became God.â €  It is quite interesting to see how Nietzsche explains the way in which art succeeded in acquiring such power over man. â€Å"When the normal mood and harmony of the soul were lost, one had to dance to the song of a bard – this was the prescription of that medicine †¦ First of all, inebriation and uncontrolled affect were pushed to the limit, so that the insane became frenzied, and the avenger became saturated with hatred.† Apparently the possibility of releasing into art powerful passions which cannot find expression in normal, everyday life is the biological basis of art. The purpose of our behavior is to keep our organism in balance with its surroundings. The simpler and more elementary our relations with the environment, the simpler our behavior. The more subtle and complex the interaction between organism and environment, the more devious and intricate the balancing process. Obviously this process cannot continue smoothly toward an equilibrium. There will always be a certain imbalance in favor of the environment or the organism. No machine can work toward equilibrium using all its energy efficiently. There are always states of excitation which cannot result in an efficient use of energy. This is why a need arises from time to time to discharge the unused energy and give it free rein in order to reestablish our equilibrium with the rest of the  world. Orshanskii says that feelings â€Å"are the p luses and minuses of our equilibrium.† These pluses and minuses, these discharges and expenditures of unused energy, are the biological function of art. Looking at a child, it is evident that its possibilities are far greater than actually realized. If a child plays at soldiers, cops and robbers, and so on, this means, according to some, that inside himself he really becomes a soldier or a robber. Sherrington’s principle (the principle of struggle for a common field of action) clearly shows that in our organism the nervous receptor fields exceed many times the executing effector neurons, so that the organism perceives many more stimuli than it can possibly attend to. Our nervous system resembles a railway station into which five tracks lead, but only one track leads out. Of five trains arriving at this station, only one ever manages to leave (and this only after a fierce struggle), while the other four remain stalled. The nervous system reminds us of a battlefield where the struggle never ceases, not even for a single instant, and our behavior is an infinitesimal part of what is really included in the possibilities of our nerv ous system, but cannot find an outlet. In nature the realized and executed part of life is but a minute part of the entire conceivable life Oust as every life born is paid for by millions of unborn ones). Similarly, in our nervous system, the realized part of life is only the smallest part of the real life contained in us. Sherrington likens our nervous system to a funnel with its narrow part turned toward action, and the wider part toward the world. The world pours into man, through the wide opening of the funnel 154), thousands of calls, desires, stimuli, etc. enter, but only an infinitesimal part of them is realized and flows out through the narrowing opening. It is obvious that the unrealized part of life, which has not gone through the narrow opening of our behavior, must be somehow utilized and lived. The organism is in an equilibrium with its environment where balance must be maintained, just as it becomes necessary to open a valve in a kettle in which steam pressure exceeds the strength of the vessel. Apparently art is a psychological means for striking a balance with the environment at critical points of our behavior. Long ago the idea had been expressed that art complements life by expanding its possibilities. Von Lange says, â€Å"There is a sorry resemblance between contemporary civilized man and domestic animals: limitation and monotony. Issuing from the patterns of bourgeois  life and its social forms, these are the main features of the individual existence, which lead everybody, rich and poor, weak and strong, talented and deprived, through an incomplete and imperfect life. It is astonishing how limited is the number of ideas, feelings, and actions that modern man can perform or experience.† Lazurskii holds the same view when he explains the theory of empathy by referring to one of Tolstoy’s novels. â€Å"There is a point in Anna Karenina where Tolstoy tells us that Anna reads a novel and suddenly wants to do what the heroes of that novel do: fight, struggle, win with them, go with the protagonist to his estate, and so on.† Freud shares this opinion and speaks of art as a means of appeasing two inimical principles, the principle of pleasure and that of reality. Insofar as we are talking about the meaning of life, these writers come closer to the truth than those who, like Grant-Allen, assume that â€Å"aesthetics are those emotions which have freed themselves from association with practical interests.† This reminds us of Spencer’s formula: he assumed that â€Å"beautiful is what once was, but no longer is, useful.† Developed to its extreme limits, this viewpoint leads to the theory of games, which is accepted by many philosophers, and g iven its highest expression by Schiller. The one serious objection against it is that, in not recognizing art as a creative act, it tends to reduce it to the biological function of exercising certain organs, a fact of little importance for the adult. Much more convincing are the other theories which consider art an indispensable discharge of nervous energy and a complex method of finding an equilibrium between our organism and the environment in critical instances of our behavior. We resort to art only at critical moments in our life, and therefore can understand why the formula we propose views art as a creative act. If we consider art to be catharsis, it is perfectly clear that it cannot arise where there is nothing but live and vivid feeling. A sincere feeling taken per se cannot create art. It lacks more than technique or mastery, because a feeling expressed by a technique will never generate a lyric poem or a musical composition. To do this we require the creative act of overcoming the feeling, resolving it, conquering it. Only when this act has been performed – then and only then is art born. This is why the perception of art requires creativity: it is not enough to experience sincerely the feeling, or feelings, of the author; it is not enough to understand the structure of the work of art; one must also  creatively overcome one’s own feelings, and find one’s own catharsis; only then will the effect of art be complete. This is why we agree with Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii who says that the purpose of military music is not to arouse bellicose emotions but, by establishing an equilibrium between the organism and the environment at a critical moment for the organism, to discipline and organize its work, provide appropriate relief to its feelings, to chase away fear, and to open the way to courage and valor. Thus, art never directly generates a practical action; it merely prepares the organism for such action. Freud says that a, frightened person is terrified and runs when he sees danger; the useful part of this behavior is that he runs, not that he is frightened. In art, the reverse is true: fear per se is useful. Man’s release per se is useful, because it creates the possibility of appropriate flight or attack. This is where we must consider the economy of our feelings, which Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii describes thus: â€Å"The harmonic rhythm of lyrics creates emotions which differ from the majority of other emotions in that such ‘lyric emotions’ save our psychic energies by putting our ‘psychic household’ into harmonic order.† This is not the same economy of which we talked earlier, it is not an attempt to avoid the output of psychic energies. In this respect art is not subordinated to the principle of the economy of strength; on the contrary, art is an explosive and sudden expenditure of strength, of forces (psychic and otherwise), a discharge of ene rgy. A work of art perceived coldly and prosaically, or processed and treated to be perceived in this way, saves much more energy and force than if it were perceived with the full effect of its artistic form in mind. Although it is an explosive discharge, art does introduce order and harmony into the â€Å"psychic household,† of our feelings. And of course the waste of energy performed by Anna Karenina when she experienced the feelings and emotions of the heroes of the novel she was reading, is a saving of psychic forces if compared to the actual emotion. A more complex and deeper meaning of the principle of economizing emotions will become clearer if we try to understand the social significance of art. Art is the social within us [55], and even if its action is performed by a single individual, it does not mean that its essence is individual. It is quite naive and inappropriate to take the social to be collective, as with a large crowd of persons. The social also exists where there is only one  person with his individual experiences and tribulations. This is why the action of art, when it performs catharsis and pushes into this purifying flame the most intimate and important experiences, emotions, and feelings of the soul, is a social action. But this experience does not happen as described in the theory of contaminati on (where a feeling born in one person infects and contaminates everybody and becomes social), but exactly the other way around. The melting of feelings outside us is performed by the strength of social feeling, which is objectivized, materialized, and projected outside of us, then fixed in external objects of art which have become the tools of society. A fundamental characteristic of man, one that distinguishes him from animals, is that he endures and separates from his body both the apparatus of technology and that of scientific knowledge, which then become the tools of society. Art is the social technique of emotion, a tool of society which brings the most intimate and personal aspects of our being into the circle of social life. It would be more correct to say that emotion becomes personal when every one of us experiences a work of art; it becomes personal without ceasing to be social. â€Å"Art,† says Guyau, â€Å"is a condensation of reality; it shows us the human machine under high pressure. It tries to show us more life phenomena than we actually experience.† Of course this life, concentrated in art, exerts an effect not only on our emotions but also on our will â€Å"because emotion contains the seed of will.† Guyau correctly attributes a tremendous importance to the role played by art in society. It in troduces the effects of passion, violates inner equilibrium, changes will in a new sense, and stirs feelings, emotions, passions, and vices without which society would remain in an inert and motionless state. It â€Å"pronounces the word we were seeking and vibrates the string which was strained but soundless. A work of art is the center of attraction, as is the active will of a genius: if Napoleon attracts will, Corneille and Victor Hugo do so too, but in a different way. †¦ Who knows the number of crimes instigated by novels describing murders? Who knows the number of divorces resulting from representations of debauchery?† â€Å"Guyau formulates the question in much too primitive a way, because he imagines that art directly causes this or the other emotion. Yet, this never happens. A representation of murder does not cause murder. A scene of debauchery does not inspire divorce; the  relationship between art and life is very complex, and in a very approximate way it can be described as will be shown. Hennequin sees the difference between aesthetic and real emotion in the fact that aesthetic emotion does not immediately express itself in action. He says, however, that if repeated over and over again, these emotions can become the basis for an individual’s behavior; thu s, an individual can be affected by the kind of literature he reads. â€Å"An emotion imparted by a work of art is not capable of expressing itself in immediate actions. In this respect aesthetic feelings differ sharply from actual feelings. But, since they serve an end in themselves, they justify themselves and need not be immediately expressed in any practical activity; aesthetic emotions can, by accumulation and repetition, lead to substantial practical results. These results depend upon the general properties of aesthetic emotion and the particular properties of each of these emotions. Repeated exercises of a specific group of feelings under the effect of invention, imagination, or unreal rnoods or causes that generally cannot result in action do not require active manifestations, and doubtless weaken the property common to all real emotions, that of expression in action. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I Hennequin introduces two very important corrections, but his solution of the problem remains quite primitive. He is correct in saying that aesthetic emotion does not immediately generate action, that it manifests itself in the change of purpose. He is als o correct when he states that aesthetic emotion not only does not generate the actions of which it speaks, but is completely alien to them. On the basis of Guyau’s example, we could say that the reading of novels about murder not only does not incite us to murder, but actually teaches us not to kill; but this point of view of Hennequin’s, although it is more applicable than the former, is quite simple compared with the subtle function assigned to art. As a matter of fact, art performs an extremely complex action with our passions and goes far beyond the limits of these two simplistic alternatives. Andrei Bely says that when we listen to music we feel what giants must have felt. Tostoy masterfully describes this high tension of art in his Kreutzer Sonata: † Do you know the first place? Do you really know it?† he explains. Oh! †¦ A sonata is a frightening thing. Yes, this part, precisely. Music, generally, is a frightening thing. What is it? I don’t understand. What is music? What does it do? And why does it do whatever it does? They say that music elevates our  soul. Rubbish, nonsen se! It does work, it has a terrible effect (I am talking for myself, but it certainly does not lift the soul. It does not lift the soul, nor does it debase it, but it irritates it. How can I put it? Music makes me oblivious of myself; it makes me forget my true position; it transfers me into another position, not mine, not my own: it seems to me, under the effect of music, that I feel what I don’t feel, that I understand what I actually don’t understand, can’t understand. †¦ â€Å"Music immediately, suddenly, transports me into the mood which must have been that of the man who wrote it. I become one with him, and together with him I swing from one mood into another, from one state into another, but why I am doing it, I don’t know. That fellow, for instance, who wrote the Kreutzer Sonata, Beethoven, he knew why he was in that state. That state led him to certain actions, and therefore, for him, that state was sensible. For me, it means nothing, it is completely senseless. And this is why music only irritates and achieves nothing. Well, if I play a military march, the soldiers will march in step, and the music has achieved its purpose; if dance music is played, I dance, and the music achieves its purpose. Or, if Mass is sung and I take communion, well, here too the music has achieved its purpose; otherwise, it is only irritation, and no one knows what to do with this irritation. This is why music occasionally has such a horrible,terrifying effect. In China music is an affair of state, and this is how it should be †¦ â€Å"Otherwise it could be a terrifying tool in the hands of anybody. Take for instance the Kreutzer Sonata. How can one play its presto in a drawing room, amidst ladies in decollete? Play it, and then busy oneself, then eat some ice cream and listen to the latest gossip? No, these things can b e played only in the face of significant, important circumstances, and then it will be necessary to perform certain appropriate acts that fit the music. If it must be played, we must act according to its setting of our mood. Otherwise the incongruity between the place, the time, the waste of energy, and the feelings which do not manifest themselves will have a disastrous effect.† This excerpt from The Kreutzer Sonata tells us quite convincingly of the incomprehensibly frightening effect of music for the average listener. It reveals a new aspect of the aesthetic response and shows that it is not a blank shot, but a response to a work of art, and a new and powerful stimulus for further action. Art requires a reply, it incites  certain actions, and Tolstoy quite correctly compares the effect of Beethoven’s music with that of a dance tune or a march. In the latter case, the excitement created by the music resolves itself in a response, and a feeling of satisfied repose sets in. In the case of Beethoven’s music we are thrown into a state of confusion and anxiety, because the music reveals those urges and desires that can find a resolution only in exceptionally important and heroic actions. When this music is followed by ice cream and gossip amidst ladies in d’collet, we are left in a state of exceptional anxiety, tension, and disarray. But T olstoy’s character makes a mistake when he compares the irritating and stimulating effect of this music to the effect produced by a military march. He does not realize that the effect of music reveals itself much more subtly, by means of hidden shocks, stresses, and deformations of our constitution. It may reveal itself unexpectedly, and in an extraordinary way. But in this description, two points are made with exceptional clarity: First, music incites, excites, and irritates in an indeterminate fashion not connected with any concrete reaction, motion, or action. This is proof that its effect is cathartic, that is, it clears our psyche, reveals and calls to life tremendous energies which were previously inhibited and restrained. This, however is a consequence of art, not its action. Secondly, music has coercive power. Tolstoy suggests that music should be an affair of state. He believes that music is a public affair. One critic pointed out that when we perceive a work a work of art we think that our reaction is strictly personal and associated only with ourselves. We believe that it has nothing to do social psychology. But this is as wrong as the opinion of a person pays taxes and considers this action only from his own viewpoint own, personal budget, without bearing in mind that he participate the huge and complex economy of the state. He does not reflect that by paying taxes he takes part in involved state operations whose existence he does not even suspect. This is why Freud is wrong when he says that man stands face to face with the reality of nature, and that art be derived from the purely biological difference between the principle of enjoyment toward which all our inclinations gravitate, and that of reality which forces us to renounce satisfaction and pleasure. Between man and the outside world there stands the social environment, which in its own way refracts and directs the stimuli acting upon the individual and guides all  the reactions that emanate from the individual. applied psychology it is therefore of immense significance to know I as Tolstoy puts it, music is something awesome and frightening to average listener. If a military march incites soldiers to march proudly in a parade, what exceptional deeds must Beethoven’s music inspire! Let me repeat: music by itself is isolated from our everyday behavior; it does not drive us to do anything, it only creates a vague and enormous desire for some deeds or actions; it op ens the way for the emergence of powerful, hidden forces within us; it acts like an earthquake as it throws open unknown and hidden strata. The view that art returns us to atavism rather than projecting us into the future, is erroneous. Although music does not generate any direct actions, its fundamental effect, the direction it imparts to psychic catharsis, is essential for the kind of forces it will release, what it will release, and what it will push into the background. Art is the organization of our future behavior. It is a requirement that may never be fulfilled but that forces us to strive beyond our life toward all that lies beyond it. We may therefore call art a delayed reaction, because there is always a fairly long period of time between its effect and its execution. This does not mean, however, that the effect of art is mysterious or mystical or that its explanation requires some new concepts different from those which the psychologist sets up when he analyzes common behavior. Art performs with our bodies and through our bodies. It is remarkable that scholars like Rutz and Sievers, who studied perceptual proc esses and not the effects of art, speak of the dependence of aesthetic perception on a specific muscular constitution of the body. Rutz was the first to suggest that any aesthetic effect must be associated with a definite type of muscular constitution. Sievers applied his idea to the contemplation of sculpture. Other scholars mention a connection between the basic organic constitution of the artist and the structure of his works. From the most ancient times, art has always been regarded as a means of education, that is, as a long-range program for changing our behavior and our organism. The subject of this chapter, the significance of applied arts, involves the educational effect of art. Those who see a relationship between pedagogy and art find their view unexpectedly supported by psychological analysis. We can now address ourselves to the last problems on our agenda, those of the practical effect of art on life  and of its educational significance. The educational significance of art and its practical aspects may be divided into two parts. We have first criticism as a fundamental social force, which opens th e way to art, evaluates it, and serves as a transitional mechanism between art and society. From a psychological point of view, the role of criticism is to organize the effects of art. It gives a certain educational direction to these effects, and since by itself it has no power to influence the basic effect of art per se it puts itself between this effect and the actions into which this effect must finally resolve itself. We feet therefore that the real purpose and task of art criticism is different from its conventional one. Its purpose is not to interpret or explain a work of art, nor is its purpose to prepare the spectator or reader for the perception of a work of art. Only half of the task of criticism is aesthetic; the other half is pedagogical and public. The critic approaches the average â€Å"consumer† of art, for instance, Tolstoy’s hero in The Kreutzer Sonata, at the troublesome point when he is under the incomprehensible and frightening spell of the music and does not know what it will release in him. The critic wishes to be the organizing force, but enters the action when art has already had its victory over the human psyche which now seeks impetus and direction for its action. The dualistic nature of criticism obviously entails a dualistic task. The criticism which consciously and intentionally puts art into prose establishes its social root, and determines the social connec tion that exists between art and the general aspects of life. It gathers our conscious forces counteract or, conversely, to cooperate with those impulses which have been generated by a work of art. This criticism leaves the domain of art and enters the sphere of social life, with the sole purpose of guiding the aesthetically aroused forces into socially useful channels. Everyone knows that a work of art affects different people in different ways. Like a knife, or any other tool, art by itself is neither good nor bad. More precisely, it has tremendous potential for either good or evil. It all depends on what use we make of, or what task m sign to, this tool. To repeat a trite example: a knife in the hands surgeon has a value completely different from that of the same knife the hands of a child. But the foregoing is only half the task of criticism. The other half consists in conserving the effect of art as art, and preventing the read spectator from wasting the forces aroused by art by  substituting for its powerful impulses dull, commonplace, rational-moral precepts. Few understand why it is imperative not only to have the effect of art shape and excite the reader or spectator but also to explain art, and to explain it in such a way that the explanation does not fill the emotion. We can readily show that such explanation is indispensable, our behavior is organized according to the principle of unity, which is accomplished mainly by means of our consciousness in which any emotion seeking an outlet must be represented. Otherwise we risk creating a conflict, and the work of art, instead of producing a catharsis, would inflict a wound, and the person experiences what Tolstoy when his heart is filled with a vague, incomprehensible emotion of depression, impotence, and confusion. However, this does not mean that the explanation of art kills the trepidation of poetry mentioned by Longinus, for there are two different levels involved. This second element, the element of conservation of an artistic impression, has always been regarded by theoreticians as decisively important for art criticism but, oddly enough, our critics have always ignored it. Criticism has always approached art as if it were a parliamentary speech or a non-aesthetic fact. It considered its task to be the destruction of the effect of art in order to discover the significance of art. Plekhanov was aware that the search for the sociological equivalent of a work of art is only the first half of the task of criticism. â€Å"This means,† he said when discussing Belinskii, â€Å"that evaluation of the idea of a work of art must be followed by an analysis of its artistic merits. Philosophy did not eliminate aesthetics. On the contrary, it paved the way for it and tried to find a solid basis for it. This must also be said about materialistic criticism. In searching for the social equivalent of a given literary phenomenon, this type of criticism betrays its own nature if it does not understand that we cannot confine ourselves to finding this equivalent, and that sociology must not shut the door to aesthetics but, on the contrary, open it wide. The second action of materialistic criticism must be, as was the case with many critic-idealists, the evaluation of the aesthetic merits of the work under investigation †¦ The determination of the sociological equivalent of a given work of literature would be incomplete and therefore imprecise if the critic failed to appraise its artistic merits. In other words, the first action of materialistic criticism not only does not eliminate the need for  the second action, but requires it as a necessary and indispensable complement.† A similar situation arises with the problem of art in education: the two parts or acts cannot exist independently. Until recently, the public approach to art prevailed in our schools as well as in our criticism. The students learned or memorized incorrect sociological formulas concerning many works of art. â€Å"At the present time,† says Gershenzon, â€Å"pupils are beaten with sticks to learn Pushkin, as if they were cattle herded to the w atering place, and given a chemical dissociation of H20 instead of drinking water.† It would be unfair to conclude with Gershenzon that the system of teaching art in the schools is wrong from beginning to end. In the guise of the history of social thought reflected in literature, our students learned false literature and false sociology. Does this mean that it is possible to teach art outside the sociological context and only on the basis of individual tastes, to jump from concept to concept, from the Iliad to Maiakovskii? Eichenwaid seems to believe this, for he claims that it is impossible as well as unnecessary to teach literature in the schools. â€Å"Should one teach literature?† he asks. â€Å"Literature, like the other arts, is optional. It represents an entertainment of the mind. †¦ Is it necessary that students be taught that Tatiana fell in love with Onegin, or that Lermontov was bored, sad, and unable to love forever?† Eichenwald is of the opinion that it is impossible to teach literature and that it should be taken out of the school curriculum because it requires an act of creativity different from all the other subjects taught at school. But he proceeds from a rather squalid aesthetic, and all his weak spots become obvious when we analyze his basic position, â€Å"Read, enjoy, but can we force people to enjoy?† Of course, if â€Å"to read† means â€Å"to enjoy,† then literature cannot be taught and has no place in the schools (although someone once said that the art of enjoyment could also he taught). A school that eliminates lessons in literature is bound to be a bad school. â€Å"At the present time, explanatory reading has as its main purpose the explanation of the content of what is being read. Under such a system, poetry as such is eliminated from the curriculum. For instance, the difference between a fable by Krylov and its rendition in prose is Completely lost.† From the repudiation of such a position, Gershenzon comes to the conclusion: â€Å"Poetry cannot and must not be a compulsory subject of education; it is time that it again become a guest  from paradise on earth, loved by everyone, as was the case in ancient times. Then it will once again become the true teacher of the masses.† The basic idea here is that poetry is a heavenly guest and it must be made to resume the role it played â€Å"in ancient times.† But Gershenzon does not concern himself with the fact that these ancient times are gone forever, and that nothing in our time plays the same role it played then. He ignores this fact because he believes that art is fundamentally different from all the other activities of man. For him, art is a kind of a mystical or spiritual act that cannot be recreated by studying the forces of the. According to him, poetry cannot be studied scientifically.† One of the greatest mistakes of contemporary culture,† he says, â€Å"application of a scientific or, more precisely, a naturalistic method to the study of poetry.† Thus, what contemporary scholars consider to be the only possible way of solving the riddle of art is for Gershenzon the supreme mistake of contemporary culture. Future studies and investigations are likely to show that the i creating a work of art is not a mystical or divine act of our soul, I real an act as all the other movements of our body, only much complex. We have discovered in the course of our study that a creative act that cannot be recreated by means of purely conscious operations. But, by establishing that the most important elements in art are subconscious or creative, do we automatically eliminate any and all conscious moments and forces? The act of artistic creation cannot be taught. This does not mean, however, that the educator cannot cooper ate in forming it or bringing it about. We penetrate the subconscious through the conscious. We can organize the conscious processes in such a way that they generate subconscious processes, and everyone knows that an act of art includes, as a necessary condition, all preceding acts of rational cognizance, understanding, recognition, association, and so forth. It is wrong to assume that the later subconscious processes do not depend on the direction imparted by us to the conscious processes. By organizing our conscious, which leads us toward art, we insure a priori the success or failure of the work of art. Hence Molozhavy correctly states that the act of art is â€Å"the process of our response to the phenomenon, although it may never have reached the stage of action. This process †¦ widens the scope of our personality, endows it with new possibilities, prepares for the completed response to the phenomenon, that is, behavior, and also has educational  value †¦ Potebnia is wrong to treat the artistic image as a condensation of thought. Both thought and image are a condensation either of the conscious with respect to the phenomenon involved or of the psyche, which issued from a series of positions preparatory to the present position. But this gives us no right to confuse these biological elements, these psychological processes, on the basis of the vague argument that both thought and artistic image are creative acts. On the contrary, we must emphasize all the ir individual peculiarities in order to understand each as a part of the whole. The tremendous strength that arouses emotions, inspires the will, fortifies energy, and pushes us to action lies in the concreteness of the artistic image which is in turn based upon the originality of the psychological path leading to it.† These considerations need one substantial correction if we move from the field of general psychology into child psychology. When we determine the influence exerted by art, we must take into account the specific peculiarities facing one who deals with children. Of course this is a separate field, a separate and independent study, because the domain of child art and the response of children to art is completely different from that of adults. However, we shall say a few brief words on the subject and trace a basic line along which child psychology intersects this field. There are remarkable phenomena in the art of children. First, there is the early presence of a special structure required by art, which points to the fact that for the child there exists a psychological kinship between art and play. â€Å"First of all,† says Biihler, â€Å"is the fact that the child very early adopts the correct structure, which is alien to reality but required by the fairy tale, so that he can concentrate on the exploits of the heroes and follow the changing images. It seems to me that he loses this ability during so me period of his development, but it returns to him in later years. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Apparently art does not perform the same function in a child as it does in an adult. The best example of this is a child’s drawing which in many cases is on the borderline of artistic creativity. The child does not understand that the structure of a line can directly express the moods and trepidations of the heart and soul. The ability to render the expressions of people and animals in different positions and gestures develops very slowly in a child, for various reasons. The principal one is the fundamental fact that a child draws patterns, not events or phenomena. Some claim the opposite, but they  seem to ignore the simple fact that a child’s drawing is not yet art for the child. His art is unique and different from the art of adults, although the two have one very interesting characteristic in common. It is the most important trait in art and we shall mention it in conclusion. Only recently was it noticed that certain absurdities or amusing nonsense which can be found in nursery rhymes by inverting the most commonplace events play a tremendously important role in child art. Most frequently the required or desired absurdity is achieved in a nursery rhyme by assigni ng certain functions of object A to object B, and vice versa. †¦ â€Å"The hermit asked me how many strawberries grow at the bottom of the ocean. I answered him: ‘As many as there are red herrings in the forest.’ To understand this nursery jingle the child must know the truth about life: herrings exist only in the ocean, and strawberries only in the forest. He begins to look for the absurd only when he is absolutely sure of the facts.† We, too, feel that the statement, that this aspect of child art comes very close to play, is true; as a matter of fact, it gives us a good explanation of the role and the significance of art in a child’s life. â€Å"We still do not quite understand the connection which exists between nursery rhymes and child’s play. †¦ When evaluating books for small children, critics frequently forget to apply the criterion of play. Most folk nursery rhymes do not issue from games but are play, a game in themselves: a play of words, a play of rhythms, sounds; †¦ these muddles always maintain some sort of ideal order. There is system in this folly. By dragging a child into a topsy-turvy world, we help his intellect work, because the child becomes interested in creating such a topsy-turvy world for himself in order to become more effectively the master of the laws governing the real world. These absurdities could be dangerous for a child if they screened out the real interrela tionships between ideas and objects. Instead, they push them to the fore, and emphasize them. They enhance (rather than weaken) the child’s perception of reality.† Here, too, we observe the same phenomenon of the dualism of art. In order to perceive art, we must contemplate simultaneously the true situation of things and their deviation from this situation. We can also observe how an effect of art arises from such a contradictory perception. Since absurdities are tools for the child to use in understanding reality, it becomes suddenly clear why the extreme leftists in art criticism come up with a slogan: art as a method  for building life. They say that art is building life because â€Å"reality is forged from the establishment and destruction of contradictions. When they criticize the idea of art as the cognition of life and advance the idea of a dialectic perception of the world through matter, they reach agreement with the psychological laws of art. â€Å"Art is an original, chiefly emotional †¦ dialectic approach to building life.† Now we can envision the role of art in the future. It is hard to guess what forms this unknown life of the future will take, and it is even harder to guess what place art will take in that future life. One thing is clear, however: arising from reality and reaching toward it, art will be determined by the basic order of the future flow of life. â€Å"In the future,† sa ys Friche, â€Å"the role of art is not likely to change substantially from its present role. Socialist society will not be the antithesis of capitalist society, but its organic continuation.† If we regard art as an embellishment or ornament of life, such a viewpoint is admissible. However, it basically contradicts the psychological laws of art. Psychological investigation reveals that art is the supreme center of biological and social individual processes in society, that it is a method for finding an equilibrium between man and his world, in the most critical and important stages of his life. This view of course completely refutes the approach according to which art is an ornament, and thereby leads us to doubt the correctness of the above statement. Since the future has in store not only a rearrangement of mankind according to new principles, not only the organization of new social and economic processes, but also the â€Å"remolding of man,† there seems hardly any doubt that the role of art will also change. It is hard to imagine the role that art will play in this remolding of man. We do not know which existing but dormant forces in our organisms it will draw upon to form the new man. There is no question, however, that art will have a decisive voice in this process. Without new art there can be no new man. The p ossibilities of the future, for art as well as for life, are inscrutable and unpredictable. As Spinoza said, â€Å"That of which the body is capable has not yet been determined.†