Response Paper

Blue Collar Workers Have Brains Too Throughout our modern society there has always been a cultural divide between the upper class of white collar workers who have received higher education, and the blue collar workforce who make up the middle and lower class of society. It is the assumption of the white collar class that the blue collar force are a simple minded group who rely on manual labor jobs because they don’t possess the intelligence necessary to make it in the white collar world.In his article â€Å"Blue Collar Brilliance,† Mike Rose discussed how the working class of blue collar workers is often underestimated and not given enough credit from their white collar counterparts. He states that through his research and observations, the blue collar workers indeed exercise significant intelligence in their work, and that they shouldn’t be shrugged off by those of a higher social class simply because of their placement on the occupational ladder. Rose described that he was raised in a blue collar family, but that he sought a higher education a means for fulfillment and to make a solid living.What I found interesting were his observations through his studies after graduate school. Rose states, â€Å"Intelligence is closely associated with formal education-the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long-and most people seem to move comfortably from that notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence† (Rose, 247) I agree with Rose in this statement because of my experience growing up, I was always taught that success in this life is tied directly with a formal education.If I wanted to make something of myself, I better go to college. Much to the chagrin of my parents, I put off college and entered the workforce as an apprentice meat cutter. Over the years I have worked my way up and was eventually made the manager of a meat department. I have found that through my experience in that occupati on that I have learned more about business hands on than in any of my business classes. Rose makes an interesting point about the hands on application of such important tools in the working class.He states, â€Å"Though many kinds of physical work don’t require a high literacy level, more reading occurs in the blue-collar workplace than is generally thought, from manuals and catalogues to work orders and invoices, to lists, labels and forms† (Rose, 253) Rose is surely right about that because I have learned more about what it takes to make a successful business with things like how to manage costs and labor, how to regulate your purchases as to meet your sales needs while keeping shrink or loss to a minimum, and how to increase your gross profit margin by streamlining merchandising methods than I ever could in a classroom.He described observing his mother Rosie as a waitress in a diner and all of the mental juggling she displayed in order to keep her customers’ orders organized, the food delivered properly in a timely manner, and make sure they were satisfied and felt important. He also noticed that she was not only a waitress, but often times wore the hat of psychologist in listening to the personal stories of her guests, and catering how she treated them and responded to them as though she was their friend and support system.I agree that the blue collar workforce is often looked down upon by those who have chosen the path of higher education and belong to the white collar workforce because I have been a member of the blue collar crowd for over ten years and can testify that it indeed requires significant skills in order to fulfill those jobs. I have worked in a restaurant for several years and have experienced how difficult it is to multitask and keep every customer happy while juggling several tables and keeping multiple orders organized in my little filing system in my head.It truly requires a special brain to be a server in a restaura nt, to possess the necessary skills as Rosie did with the ability to group tasks together in order of priority and work efficiently in a flowing motion rather than running around in circles barely keeping your wits about you because you can’t keep your proverbial balls juggling in the air. From experience, when you drop one ball or make a mistake, all your other balls usually come crashing down on you. That is what we in the business call â€Å"crashing,† or â€Å"being in the weeds. I have seen such a high turnover of staff that couldn’t manage all the responsibilities and possess the customer service and people skills necessary for when things go wrong. I agree with Rose’s point of how the hat of psychologist is worn while performing those duties because you can completely screw up a persons’ food order but give them exceptional customer service and make them feel special by listening to them, show them genuine empathy and they will tip you well no matter what mistakes are made in their dining experience.I have had several regular customers come into my restaurant and request me as their server because I make them feel special, and I engage in real conversation with them and have subsequently built real friendships with people because of the way I treated them as their server. Nothing made a regular customer feel special like having their beverage of choice delivered to them as soon as they sat down without needing to ask for it. I have had many coworkers ask me how I consistently made better tips than they did, when we are serving essentially the same demographic of clientele.I explain to them the key is to be a good listener such as Rose’s mother was to both verbal and non verbal messages, and do the little things in order to make them feel special and not simply be a robot delivering their food and drinks. Many people assume that servers in restaurants belong to a lower social class, but because of my experience in that industry I agree with Rose that it takes a special person to fulfill those positions.I appreciated Rose’s recognition of the blue collar force as one who possesses significant intelligence; because I am a member of that class and feel that I have often been judged as someone who lacks the necessary intelligence to make it in the white collar world. I applaud his arguments that the blue collar force should no longer be looked down upon as inferior. Works Cited Rose, Mike. â€Å"Blue Collar Brilliance. † â€Å"They Say/I Say†: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing : With Readings. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel K. Durst. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2012. N. pag. Print.

Portrayals of jesus in the gospels Essay

Each of the four gospels contained in the New Testament portrays a different and unique portrait of Jesus. Mark’s gospel represents Jesus as the suffering servant, while Matthew shows Jesus as the new Moses. Luke stresses Jesus’ inclusion of the outcasts and then John’s non-synoptic gospel shows Jesus as God’s presence and as an otherworldly figure. Mark portrays Jesus as a powerful yet unrecognized and suffering Messiah. Stories throughout the gospel show Jesus to have control over storms, water and demons. He is able to heal lepers, cripples and people with withered limps. He also has undaunted authority over everything including sin and Sabbath laws. Yet the theme of the messianic secret is major within this gospel. Jesus often tells people â€Å"to tell no one† of the miracles he performs. This theme is part of the climax of Mark’s gospel when Peter proclaims that Jesus is Christ and Jesus responds by giving him strict orders to tell no one. He therefore is the unrecognized Messiah. Mark wrote his gospel to a suffering and fearful faith community. He wrote to inspire faith in them. That is why Mark emphasizes Jesus’ suffering to his readers so that they can relate and see that there is no glory without suffering. He therefore shows that in order to have true dominance one must first encounter suffering, just as Jesus had. Matthew writes his gospel from a Jewish standpoint. He is careful to connect Jesus as the legitimate heir to the royal house of David in order to establish Jesus’ Hebrew roots. Matthew often refers to Hebrew scripture to show Jesus as the fulfillment of the scriptures. He says that Jesus is God present with us. Jesus is portrayed as the new lawgiver in this gospel. He is a teacher who concentrates on the overall being of a person, meaning their actions as well as their thoughts. Matthew stresses that it is just as bad to think impurely as it is to act impure. Jesus has come to perfect the law and to provide ethical teachings to guide his followers. Matthew shows Jesus to pity the under privileged in his interpretation of the Sermon on  the Mount where Jesus gives us the Beatitudes. He also shows Jesus scolding much of the upper class, especially the Pharisees whom Jesus is shown to argue with numerous times throughout this gospel. Luke does the opposite of Matthew by writing from a Gentile point of view and directing his gospel toward a Greco-Roman audience. Luke concerns himself with showing that in Jesus the Gentiles are included in the promise of God’s covenant. The major theme of this gospel is that Jesus is savior. He is the savior of the whole world not just the Jews. Luke portrays Jesus as a passionate messiah by stressing his inclusion of the outcasts. Jesus associated with the tax collectors, woman and physically disadvantaged. Jesus denounces the rich and comfortable in this gospel during the Sermon on the Mount. Luke also downplays Jesus’ suffering by excluding much of it from his gospel. An example of this is the absence of the crown of thorns in his gospel. Luke does this to once again portray the more compassionate Jesus. He instead exclusively included Jesus’ praying for the forgiveness of the crowd and for the criminal next to him on the cross and to give more attention to Jesus’ resurrection and the appearances of the risen Jesus. John’s whole gospel is a portrait of Jesus. He includes new titles and truths that are not contained in any other gospel. Two important titles John quotes Jesus using are â€Å"I am† and â€Å"the word.† By using the term â€Å"I am† John is saying that the kingdom of God has come and that Jesus has always been. â€Å"The word† is God’s â€Å"logos.† This represents the basic idea of God revealing himself to mankind. It says that Jesus is the one whom God the father used to create the world. John therefore stresses Jesus’ incarnation and emphasizes the faith factor of believing without seeing. The four gospels are all very unique in portraying Jesus. They cover much of the same material but see Jesus from different point of views because of their different backgrounds. Luke and Matthew are perfect examples because they both believe so dearly in Jesus yet have different views because of their different cultures. The evangelists show that no matter who you are you can relate to Jesus just as they did. By studying the gospels you can see Jesus through your own lens and therefore paint your own portrait of the  messiah.

The Military and Freedom of Speech essays

The Military and Freedom of Speech essays Freedom of expression in the military, is it really freedom when it has limits? Many people might not take into consideration what one gives up when they join the military. Its not just ones freedom, its also the freedom to speak ones mind. Now I do understand that a certain amount of secrecy is needed in order to not let the enemy know about certain plans of action the armed forces are working on, but having an opinion about your boss or your job should not be limited when you are in the armed forces. When a member of the armed forces chooses to talk about their personal feelings regarding a particular branch of service they are conflicting with the militarys hierarchical nature and the militarys increasingly antiquated desire to command and control its personnel (Guardiano, 2010, NewsRealBlog). As part of the military one still has rights, once one becomes a service member one does not give up his or her First Amendment right. It merely means that a military member must put into ef fect his free speech rights in his own time and in his capacity as a private citizen. The argument that Im trying to make is that the armed forces members should have more of a right than anyone else, when it comes to freedom of speech because they are fighting for this country, and what is this country giving to them? Nothing but limitations and violation of their legal rights. Now I do agree with certain limitations of armed forces freedom of expression. The only limitation I agree with is one that limits a service member from talking about private military operations. The reason I agree with this limitation is because when one puts classified military information out there for everyone to see it puts the country and its citizens in danger. One of the main reasons we have armed forces is to fight for the United States people. If we go flaunting our countrys plan of attack it puts the United States a...

Pro-Form - Definition and Examples in English Grammar

Pros in English Grammar Pro-form is a word or phrase that can take the place of another word (or word group) in a sentence. The process of substituting pro-forms for other words is called proformation. In English, the most common pro-forms are pronouns, but other words (such as here, there, so, not, and do) can also function as pro-forms.   The pro-form is the referring word in a sentence; the word or word group thats referred to is the antecedent. Examples and Observations: My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. Shes 97 now, and we dont know where the hell she is.   (American comedian Ellen DeGeneres)Our father ...came back in the morning and told us he had found lodgings, and so we went there. They were east of the harbour, off Lot Street, at the back of a house which had seen better days.  (Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace. McClelland Stewart, 1996)One day in English class I passed Bill Hilgendorff a note. I love you, the note said. He folded it up and looked straight ahead. Then I whispered to him that he could live his whole life long and no one would ever love him as I did. I thought this was an amazing and daring and irresistible thing to do.  (Tereze Glà ¼ck, May You Live in Interesting Times. University of Iowa Press, 1995)We had offers to play in Hong Kong, and I always wanted to go there, but I wouldnt agree to do it because it wasnt going to add any more profit to the tour.  (Johnny Ramone, Commando: The Aut obiography of Johnny Ramone. Abrams, 2012) When the tzar was seated, everyone else sat, and so did we.  (L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Ghost of the White Nights. Tor Books, 2001)Boldly, Stein leaps from her short history of open source to the future of Canadian federalism. One might have expected her to develop her argument in the direction of scenario IV, but unfortunately she did not.  (Ruth Hubbard and Gilles Paquet, The Black Hole of Public Administration. University of Ottawa Press, 2010)Im proud of the many ways youre growing, and I hope you are, too.  (Fred Rogers, Dear Mr. Rogers. Penguin, 1996) Rogers, Does It Ever Rain in Your Neighborhood?: Letters to Mr.People cheerfully mixed the spiritual and the mundane, and I did as well.  (Gwendolyn M. Parker, Trespassing: My Sojourn in the Halls of Privilege. Houghton Mifflin, 1997) So and Not as Pro-Forms   Sometimes pro-forms represent less clearly identifiable constituents: (6) He may decide to join us next week, but I dont think so.(7) Speaker A: Will he join us next week?Speaker B: I hope not. In (6) the adverb so represents the preceding clause but with an appropriate change of operator: . . . but I dont think he will join us next week. In (7), the adverb not represents the whole of the preceding clause but changes it into a negative statement: . . . I hope he will not join us next week.  (Carl Bache, Mastering English: An Advanced Grammar for Non-Native and Native Speakers. Walter de Gruyter, 1997) Do as a Pro-Form Do is used as a pro-form when the predicate itself and all the complements which follow it are elided (Jack hurt himself fetching water, and Jill did, too). If another auxiliary is present, the pro-form do is less common (Has Jack hurt himself? Yes, he has; also, Yes, he has done . . .). Note that the pro-form do is not the same lexeme as the auxiliary do; the latter has only the forms do, does, did while the pro-form has these as well as done and doing.  (Stephan Gramley and Kurt-Michael Ptzold, A Survey of Modern English, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2004)

How to maximise the impact of teaching assistants in primary schools Literature review

How to maximise the impact of teaching assistants in primary schools - Literature review Example For instance, Deployment and Impact of Support Staff in schools (DISS) project at the Institute of Education in London recently carried out a study (Russell, Webster & Blatchford 2013). Their findings proved pupils who received great assistance from TAs usually made poor progress in their academics compared to those received very little support from the same (Russell, Webster & Blatchford 2013). This is because TAS in schools play very little role in the academic teaching of pupils but contribute in helping them understand various contents as well as acquiring essential life’s skills. Mostly, TAs aid in instilling a sense of self-responsibility in pupils thus enabling them to face varied life challenges with confidence that they will overcome if they apply appropriate skills. In a perfect school composition, teaching assistants mostly do about 25% of the entire school workforce. Therefore, it is essential for schools to make the most of the teaching assistants in order to assist pupils succeed not only in their academics but also in making rational decisions while they are outside learning settings. This is by schools coming up with effective strategies on preparing teaching assistants well as well as interaction with pupils to help them achieve higher standards. According to Russell, Webster & Blatchford (2013), schools ought to invest more on preparedness, deployment as well as practice of teaching assistants to ensure they adequately influence pupils positively. For instance, TAs ought to be adequately prepared on how to aid teachers in classrooms as well as understanding different disciplines, which pupils learn in class. It is also essential that teaching assistance receive practice on the nature and quality of their interactions with pupils Russell , Webster & Blatchford (2013). The latter is important as the teaching assistants’ interactions with

Restoration & Recovery Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Restoration & Recovery Plan - Essay Example These directives and orders are part of Continuity of Operations (COOP) planning is required for Federal Government Agencies. PDD 63 or the Critical Infrastructure Protection directive and FPC 65 summarize the requirements for COOP information system infrastructure and emergency measures. FPC 65 stipulates that federal agencies are required to get back into operations within 12 hours from any kind of service collapse. OMB CircularA-130 prescribes continuity of operations planning which includes emergency procedures and policies for immediate operations recovery and restoration as well as long-term mitigation of potential services interruption of critical operations (EMC Corporation, 2006). In any kind or emergency, police and emergency services are the most essential. Therefore, the integrity, restoration and recovery of information systems in these branches of government should be the utmost priority. Florida is one of the states that have had to be vigilant regarding these concerns since the 1990's (Mittler, 1995). The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office is no exception to these circumstances. Palm Beach's experience with Hurricane Katrina emphasized not only the need to be prepared for the disasters and the essential role that police and emergency services have to play in recovery (Kam & Gomez, 2005). Restoration and Recovery of Information Systems and Data Breakdowns of information systems and data loss are not limited to the event of disasters. Natural disasters may impact systems extremely and can impair critical functions when they are needed the most but system attacks, hacking and other related crimes that is becoming the most urgent. Restoration of Information System Operations According to the National Security Agency (NSA), through the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD), information assurance refers to procedures designed to safeguard and secure information and information systems against failure, collapse or attacks. Part of this program is the re-establishment of information systems by the development of security, response and resolution competencies into the system (2006). These standards govern feral information systems and have been adopted by industry as well. These measures include providing for restoration of information systems by incorporating protection, detection, and reaction capabilities. Public sector agencies and departments must comply within the prescribed recovery period and point service levels depending on the significance of their operations and information. They have to take into account considerable quantities of paper and electronic data, data storage distribution, necessity for nonstop operations and high data security and integrity measures (EMC Corporation, 2006) Recovery of Data Data backup and replication are the underlying concern in restoration and recovery. The primary factors considered are cost, management, reliability and security Effective back up strategies limit the need to reinstall programs and regenerate data in the events of data loss. However, data loss over a long period of time either by malicious acts or because of inadequate systems is more difficult to salvage and may go unnoticed (Ginty, 2005).

Preparing for Terrorism and Disasters in the new age of Health Care Research Paper

Preparing for Terrorism and Disasters in the new age of Health Care - Research Paper Example imilar in their occurrences that pay no regard to national borders and, therefore, no country or community is immune from terrorism and disasters, not even the perpetrators of terrorism themselves. However, depending on the levels and type of preparedness of governments, communities and individuals, vulnerability to terrorism and disasters vary on a wide scale (UNGA, 2012). The most obvious consequences of terrorism and disasters are the setbacks impacted on economic and social development, disruption of water and electricity supply and the crippling of communications and transportation systems. Agreeably, some countries in the developed world are sufficiently prepared to recover from these disruptions, even though the costs in terms of time and finances are considerably high. However, terrorism and disasters also present constant threats to public health, especially among older adults with conditions and disabilities that call for extra assistance, those with chronic diseases and to families with children who have special needs. More importantly, the effects are of magnitudes that surpass the affected communities’ capability to manage with their own resources (UNGA, 2012). It is critical for authorities and communities to plan how they will respond to these vulnerable groups when stricken with terrorism or disasters. Among the preparedness measures is taking care of medication and equipment, notifying health professionals and moving to special shelters. This paper will research and discuss on the topic of preparing for terrorism and disasters in the new age of health care. The presence of threats to public health cannot be doubted, as is manifested in nuclear, natural, terrorist, biological, radiological and chemical incidents. Apart from the traditional causes of health problems which are mainly diseases, terrorist attacks and disasters compound the effects of the complexity of the threats. The impacts these events have on a nation’s well-being are more