Different Family Values Between China and America

The family education is related to a person†s life. Nowadays, social development needs high qualified talents and good family education is the key point to the high qualified talents. Because of the different social systems, culture backgrounds, education aims and so on, family education for the children is different in many aspects between China and America. In the education projects of training new century talents in the world, all the countries put family education in a very important position.Although family education now attracts social circles’ attention, especially educational circles’ attention, Chinese family education still had a lot of problems. This paper first introduces the definition of family education. Second, this paper points out the main problems in today’s Chinese family education. Third, by comparing, this paper points out the different family education between China and America (mainly on aspects of family education’s contents, aims and methods). Family education aims for training the children into what kind of person that the education contents and methods choose according to the aims. After comparison, the paper interprets the reasons of these differences. Finally, the paper puts forward some methods that suit Chinese family education. [Key Words] family education; comparison; American; Chinese 1. Introduction Entering twenty-first century, as one of the hottest spot, family education is becoming more and more important in people’s life. Family, as the cell of society, is the first place that children receive education and the first unit that the children get in touch with the society. Education is a highly complicated process which is connected with families, schools and society throughout one’s whole life. A modern society, whether it can present its special education function, which is already the base of the power to push the society and creation of family happiness. In modern society, family education contents become various, it includes not only family life education, family relation education, family morality education, but also children education, parents education and so on. In this paper, I will discuss the education of the children.2.The definition of family education â€Å" Harry Chester’s Schools for Children and Institutes for Adults (1860) says, ‘Education is the development and training of the human being in all his capacities, spiritual, intellectual and physical†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬ [1]P148 In the dictionary, the definition of family education explained in this way: Parents or elder generation educate the child or teenage in family. Different society needs different family education. â€Å"Zheng Qilong, in his work family education, explained it in another way: Education is a society use to educate new generation with aims and systems†¦Ã¢â‚¬ [2]P6-7 Family education is parents educate their children, it is an important part of t he whole education system.For the sake of the changing situation, the definition of family education should be extended: â€Å"(i) Family education is not only the action of family but concerns the whole society. (ii) Family education’s aims are not only studying the family relation and living skills, but also the physiology and psychology of every family member and family members all-round development. (iii) Family education is not only the way that parents or elder generation educate the child or teenage in family, but all the family members educate each other. (iv) Family education is not only the education of the pre-school education, but also all life education.†[3]P523.Main problems in today’s Chinese family education 3.1 Parents’ mistake in conception of value and wrong activities leading A child’s conception of morality and value orientation learns from acquistion, especially from his parents. So parents affect the child’s mind great ly.â€Å"(i) If parents always say some positive view, such as, ‘Money makes the mare go’ or ‘Money talks.’†[4]P23 The child may form a conception that people live in order to make money which is a wrong view of value. (ii) Parents sometimes endorse some wrong behaviors, the child may form an idea that those wrong behaviors are right. 3.2 Utopian expectation of children’s educationChinese parents produce a great impact on children’s future. When a baby born in a Chinese family, his parents often design a future for him, no matter the child likes it or not. That is to say, Chinese parents would enforce their children living under the designed future instead of considering children’s feelings and abilities. â€Å"Just as Phierbaha says ‘Parents’ biggest  false is they stand in their position and interfere children’s nature development.’†[5]P24 In China, we can find the following scenes easily: Pa rents take their children to various kinds of lessons after school. Children would be punished if they didn’t get a good mark in examinations. 3.3 Harmful types of family education3.3.1 A utocratic type of family education In some Chinese families, parents require their children should do whatever they want their children do. If the children didn’t do as their order, they will scold the children, even worse, they will punish the children. â€Å"A questionnaire of 300 students in a middle school shows: Ninety percent of the students had been punished!† [6]P24. They can’t bear that children did’t obey them. They restrict their children. They check their children’s cellphone. 3.3.2 Indulgent type of family educationParents’ love is very important for the psychology development of teenagers. However, in modern China, a child is probably the only child in a family, and parents give too much love to the child. It leads to a situation that t he child can’t live without their parents. They seldom run into troubles because their parents had already solved the problem for them before they meet the problem. This kind of children can’t get along with other people very well. They consider themselves as the most important ones. Even worse, they may not have enough independent ability to live in the society without their parents’ help. When they go to society, they will feel depressed. â€Å"In a investigation of 4000 youth criminals, 16.3% of them receive this kind of family education. †3.3.3 Careless type of family education It usually refers to parents who lack of responsibility to take care of their children. Young parents are working hard to make money. They don’t have enough time to get along with their children. According to a survey, the children whose parents are individual entrepreneur, taxi driver or labor contractor, break the law easily. The main reason is the parents mentioned ab ove, who have few time at home. Even they are at home, they seldom put their hearts on their children. They simply think if they provides a good living condition for their children, who will become a talent. This type of  family education is dangerous. Children’s thought is not mature enough to judge all the things in a right way. It is easy for children to choose the wrong way to go.3.3.4 Changeable type of family educationThe children had been influenced greatly by this type of family education. For parents, the way to present this kind of education is self-contradictory. In other words, one parent is severe, another indulgent. Or the same behavior, is allowed today, but is forbidden tomorrow. A great number of research proved that children’s behaviors have a close connection with the changeable type of family education when they are young.3.4 Bringing up by elder generation show more disadvantagesBringing up by elder generation means more chance to spoil the child ren. The popular situation is that children raised by grand-parents. In this way, there are more disadvantages than advantages. Grand-parents used the traditional view to teach their grand-sons or grand-daughters. The result of this will destroy the children. 4.Main problems in today’s American family education4.1 Indulgent type of family education Different from Chinese family education, Ameirican indulgent type of family education had more harmful effection. Because over indulgent, it made a lot of social problems.Such as, teenage crime. In radio or TV, we sometimes can get a information that a 15-year-old boy shot his friend in the middle school.4.2 lack of communicationAmerican think that every member in a family, he or she should had his or her own space. In their opinions, they can†t interfere each other even they are in a family. And when a person is 18 years old, he may leave his parents. It means his has little time to stay with their parents. So they has less resbosibility to their parents. But, in Chinese people’eyes, it’s no a good idea to leave their parents. It may lose the chances to communicate with each other.4.3 pay too much attention on happy learningAmerican take happy learning serious. But, in fact, happy learning is good when children are young. Only pay attention to happy, parents may find that children’s learning levels are declined. For example, some students who get used to happy learning, can’t calculate without calculator.5.The comparison of the family education’s process between China and America From the results of the family education, we can find, in the process of family education, although it is not a kind of systematic education, it still has its educational aims, contents and methods, like the schools, which play an important role in the educational system. The aims of education are the most important ones which determine family education’s contents and methods.5.1 The c omparison of the contents of family educationThe aim of education determines the content of education. â€Å"The contents of American family education are very plentiful. American parents pay attention to their children’s all-round study.† We called â€Å"qualified education†,which includes physical strength, cognition, social ability, emotion and so on. To enhance children’s physical strength, children do outdoor exercises, such as, playing on a swing, hiking. On the development of cognition, parents train children’s sense organs, enlarging their culture view and hobby. For example, when parents go to library for study or borrow some books, they always take their children with them. In this way, they can stimulate children’s interest. On the development of social ability, children are required to enjoy themselves and share things with their friends. On the development of emotion, with the help of the parents, children learn to enjoy music, art or dancing etc.Although the contents of Chinese family education are divided into morality, intelligence, physical, art etc. However, when the child at school age, intelligence is the most important. The contents of education become imbalance. In physical, Chinese parents pay more attention to children’s nutrition, they make great effects to prevent their children from diseases. Compared with American parents, this kind of education is a protection which is defensible, static and passive. Greenhouse-training can train a person strong; On intelligence, children are given knowledge, skills, such as, the books that are full of knowledge and interesting things, at the same time, they learn the skills of reading, writing and counting.When the children begin their school  education, family education are inclined to the tendency of school education: parents supervise children’s study, check their homework, buy extracurricular exercises for the children. On art education , more and more parents realize the important professional skills. So they request children to learn drawing, dancing without children’s willingness. It is a blind action, it may kill children’s talent, even worse, they may pay a good deal of money and a lot of time but without good results. And doing this willgive too much pressure to children. By comparison, American family education’s contents are substantial and scientific. On the contrary, Chinese family education’s contents are narrow, limited and not scientific. For example, in Chinese family education, physical is less important than intelligence.Chinese parents pay more attention on children’s health from which is the low-level content. Children ignore physical training, lack of outdoor exercises, stay at home to watch television. Then the number of getting adiposity become larger. Intelligence includes practical ability and latent capacity. Practical ability is what you know, what skills and knowledge you should master. Chinese family education always ignore skills, such as, living skill, working skill, communicative skill etc. American people take these skills seriously instead of ignoring them. In their opinion, these skills are the basic quality to stand on the social stage.Chinese family education ignore not only some practical abilities, but also latent capacities which are divided into study ability and creativity. Chinese parents seem to think highly of knowledge study, in fact, they only pay attention to the low-level knowledge which just can deal with school examinations. In a questionnaire called â€Å"how to train teenagers’ creative ability.† There is a question , â€Å"If you find your children trying to take a clock apart, what will you do?† 40% of parents will scold the children. 48% of parents will use a way without patience.From this questionnaire, we can find out Chinese parents’ ideas of training creation should be impr oved.By comparison, American parents pay attention to children’s multi-hobby and creation-consciousness training. Most American experts adviced that not to learn knowledge without comprehension study. When children come back home from school, Chinese parents always ask a question â€Å"Do you remember what the teacher teach?† or â€Å"Do you get a good mark on today’s test?† Yet, American parents will ask â€Å"Do you ask teacher some questions?† or â€Å"Is the lesson  interesting today?† This present the different opinions on intelligence between Chinese parents and American parents. 5.2 The comparison of the aims of family educationFamily education’s aims determine it’s direction. So the aims of family education are the core, which is the basic reason of the different family education between Chinese and American. Family education’s aim is to train a child with some characteristics through family education. Once the aim is determined, education contents and methods should be chosen according to the aims. So what’s the different aims of Chinese family education and American family education, or we can say the different expectations of the parents in the two countries.American family education’s aims are to train the child into a social man, who can deal with all kinds of events and own independent ability. It is not a high expectation. â€Å"Social man† is not an utopia idea, but a requirement which is practical and easy to achieve. So American parents have a relaxed attitude to educate their children. They are good at finding out the active parts from their children’s individuality. And the children can find their value from family education. In fact, this kind of education can achieve good results.According to this aim, they can train their children’s independent ability. Let’s see American children in different periods. When they are still a baby, th ey sleep alone; When they can walk by themselves, they seldom ask parents for help; When they grow up, they own their rooms and they should clean the rooms by themselves; They do what they can do from childhood to make money. For example, they do house cleaning, be a baby sitter, send newspapers; When they go to senior middle school or university, they do part-time jobs to make money for the cost of living. By comparison, Chinese family education’s aim is to train the child into a talent, who has a bright future. A bright future means to get a good job and to lead a simple life all their life time.First, this aim is high and full of utility. It is hard to achieve, because â€Å"having a bright future† is not an ordinary aim. Because of the aim, Chinese parents especially concern about children’s study achievements. Their only requirement is that their children can concentrate all the attentions on study. At the same time, they ignore their children’s extr aordinary abilities, damage their imaginations. At the end, parents would kill the talents before the children  become qualified persons. Although Chinese children study very hard, and get good achievements. They lack of abilities to suit this society. Sometimes, parents’ expectation would come to nothing.5.3 The comparison of the methods of family educationThe methods of family education are the concrete measure of education contents. The choices of which education methods are connected closely to a nation’s custom, culture and history. At the same time, it is restricted by education aims. Conversely, whether the parents can use the scientific education methods properly is connected to the realization of family education’s aims and contents. Generally speaking, in American families, â€Å"parents mainly use an equal way to educate their children.They respect children’s personality and rights. Children, in the family, are treated as independent individ uals. Parents and children are equal.†By comparison, Chinese family education’s methods lack of equality. Chinese parents don’t treat their children on the same level as themslves. Instead, parents stand for the elder generation and the children stand for younger generation. American parents advocate the open education:First, they pay attention to practical training, emphasis on training children in practice instead of preaching. In American’s opinion, if the children can do the work, let them do it. Through the process of doing the work, they can improve their recognition of things, accumulate experiences, master skills, enhance capacities, develop hobbies and consolidate self-confidence and responsibility. We can say, American parents give the key of the door to children instead of opening the door for the children.Second, American parents think play and game are very important. They think play is the most important thing when children are young. In Amer ican, children take part in all kinds of activities, do a lot of outdoor exercises. There are a lot of good places for them to do exercises. On the weekend, parents go out for tour with children. In the process of playing, the children develop their intelligence, such as imagination, judgement, communication with other people and emotion adjusting and so on.. Chinese parents advocate the close education:First, they ignore the importance of practical training, instead they pay attention to preaching. The requirement to children is study. All the things, including what the children can do by themselves, are done by their parents. It is the reason why Chinese children learn a lot of knowledge but can hardly do anything when they enter the society. Second, they lack of outdoor exercises because Chinese children have endless homework. They live under the pressure of a lot of examinations. At the same time, they can’t find a good place to do outdoor exercises. Because of different education types, American family education and Chinese family education show different methods. So, we can try to turn our close education into open education. American family education methods present in four aspects:First, children have their right to speak, in other words, they can show their opinions on family affairs. American parents inspire their children to say what they want to say . Second, American children have right to choose, when the children start to show their ability to cognize things, they would like the children to choose by themselves. The children can choose games, books, friends, jobs and so on. American parents wouldn’t put their opinions on their children. Most of the time, their role is to lead the children to choose, or they only stand behind the children, to give them confidence.Third, American parents can make friends with their children, they can communicate on the base of equality. Fourth, American parents respect children’s rights of pri vacy. Chinese family education methods also present in four aspects: First, children have less right to speak, that is to say, Chinese parents require their children to obey the rules, and have few different ideas. As the American president Nixon said â€Å"The task of Chinese education system is to train children into a person who is docile, completely listen to elder generation. In this way, they lose Chinese Darwin and Einstein.†Second, Chinese children have limited right to choose and most of them would like to do things according to parents’ willingness. Third, Chinese parents always appear with a image of authority so their status are higher than their children at home. Fourth, Chinese parents always destroy children’s rights of privacy. For example , their school bags are searched; diaries are peeked. We can find that differet family education methods present in different aspects. American pay attention to the right  children own, but Chinese never thin k so. The democratic method of education which is a kind of loose and comfortable education, and presents a great deal of advantages: For one thing, it helps to train creative ideas. Loose and comfortable conditions are the most important to stimulate children’s creativities.Under high pressure, children’s creative ideas would be constrained. On the contrary, in a happy and calm family atmosphere, children can be stimulated easily. To produce a loose and comfortable atmosphere, parents should build a relationship equalled with children. For another, it helps to form healthy personality. Children would take part in family affairs actively, to express their own opinions, stop being afraid, and be full of self-confidence and responsibility if they are given the rights of speaking, attending and choosing. In addition, this kind of relation can inspire children to share their secrets to their parents. At the same time, parents can understand children’s thoughts. It u rges children to form a good personality. However, autocratic method of education presents a kind of restrained education, which constrains creation and the development of personality.6.The comparison of the family education†s results between China and America Different results of education are due to different contents, aims and methods, which can be discovered after comparison . Generally speaking, American children show distinguishing features when they are very young. For example, they show great enthusiasm, keep calm when they run into troubles, get on well with other people, have great power and are full of new ideas, strong independent ability and social ability. Because they are independent from parents when they are 18, they are full of more confidence and courage.Further more, they should do part-time jobs to meet their needs of money. Having the idea of suiting market economy, they take part in money management, at the same time, they learn how to promote sales and communicate with customers. They realize money is not easily earned by all these kinds of practice. Thus, they get into a habit of thrift. In a word, the outstanding characteristics of American children are their great abilities and the adaption to the society smoothly. However, Chinese children, teenagers, even university students, who do well in their studies, show negative tendency in their characteristics. In more details, they  behave in a passive way, such as timid, having deep-rooted dependent mentality, lacking of the ability to communicate with other people.Even worse, with poor independent viability, they can’t deal with money in a proper way. In short, they are lack of the ability to adapt to the society. All of these characteristics, which can be found from Chinese children, are due to Chinese â€Å"diploma-education†. Chinese parents expect their children to study hard in the school instead of taking part in the changeable society. Nowadays, what kind of the education results fits the society? Social development needs man’s activity, creativity and humanity’s liberation.As the civilization develops, more and more people need to focus on the development of humanity and the ability to do all kinds of things. So we can say today’s society needs active and all-round talents. Obviously, American family education can train a child, who is full of creativity and capability, by comparison, Chinese family education only can produce a â€Å"talent†, who is good at studying and obeying the rules. It is the result of â€Å"examination-center-education†, which can do harm to our teenagers’ body and mind. So Chinese family education needs a reform immediately.7.The causes of family education’s differences between China and America In modern society, parents take education seriously in Amreican the same as those in China. Why these two kinds of family education have so many differences? To sum up, the causes of different education are:7.1 The different history backgroundsAmerican, which is an emigrant country with a short history, has less old culture. Affected by multi-culture and multi-value, it can accept new thoughts and culture more quickly without restriction. So compared with Chinese people, they possess more adventure and creation sprits. However, China had a long history, at the same time, it reserves more old culture, especially is affected by feudal farmer’s idea for a long period. Its culture value is conservative and cautious, which lacks of adventure spirits and creation consciousness. Chinese people are educated to be obedient, comparative and lack of an environment to accept new ideas on the whole.7.2 The different economic patternsAmerican productive force is advanced. Its commodity economy is flourishing. There are a lot of opportunity to get jobs. The pressure of living are limited. Moreover, The United States is a society of capabilities, where the system of is perfect, staff are free. And they have a lot of opportunities of changing a job. It means there are various of jobs for Americans to choose. In American parents’ opinions if children can base themselves on the society, no matter the job is highly valued or not. Besides, commodity economy is changing in every minute, jobs are changing too. So parents never think their children can live a smooth life.Consequently, American family education’s aim is to focus on training children into â€Å"human† It seems more macroscopic and wide-ranged. It meets all changes by remaining unchanged. By contrast, â€Å"China is a developing country. The pressure of living is great. China is a society of diplomas. Jobs are stable, so Chinese always put all their happiness on a job. Their choosing are limited. Chinese parents think good study achievement can bring a good job for their children. It is a smooth way of life, and it is also the best way for a person.† Therefore, Chinese family education’s aim is to focus on training children into â€Å"talents†.7.3 The different social conditionsAmerican have good economic conditions, perfect old-age social system. American parents don’t have the idea that rearing children against old age. Instead, they think when they become old, they can go to old people’s home to live the rest of their life. So they rear the children to 18 years old, who become independent persons, and they finish their jobs without considering what the children will be in the future. They don’t care about whether the children will bring honor to them or not.By comparison, China, a nation which economic condition is poor, has incomplete social old-age system, and exists some old conception questions. Chinese parents consider that children’s education is connected with the rest of their life. They treat the children as their own property, require children to pay back for them. And the t hing that presents it in their ways is education. Many Chinese parents treat the thing of beating children as a personal affair. They think no one can interfere,let alone the law. 7.4 The different traditional cultures7.4.1 Different value orientationsAmericans pay attention to personality, their value orientation is based on the individualism. They lay stress on their own benefits, advocate individual improvement and find their own true value. It is the core of American culture. An American scholar pointed out: In a democratic society, every citizen has his own goal, which is himself. In the family, individual is the most basic one, which is the valuable, independent from his family relation and doesn’t depend on others. So in American family, parents used to treat themselves and their children as two separate individual. â€Å"Self† doesn’t only include parents themselves but the children selves. To carry out children’s self-value, parents should respec t children’s willingness, interest and hobby first. But American parents attach importance to enjoying their life.They wouldn’t give up to go to cinema because of the children. Chinese pay attention to general character. They have a conception, which is the most important. The conception is collective spirit. In other words, it means considering things as a whole. It emphasizes collective interest more important than individual interest. Chinese consider that a person is living in contrast with other people. From ancient time to the present, â€Å"self†, this conception results from contrast with other people, that is, individual value only can live with others’ relations in Chinese society. In Chinese family, parents lose themselves at the same time, they don’t respect their children.â€Å"The way that Chinese parents lose themselves presents as following: they consider children as their own, as a continuation of themselves; their children seems to be their whole lives and hopes; they put all their hopes on their children. This kind of parents would use their determination to replace their children’s.†[10] P62 They think from adult’s view. So we can find Chinese parents always set an impractical goal for their children. American pay attention to personality while Chinese pay attention to general character. It has its economic background. In the structure of modern capitalism, American’s commodity economy defeated nature economy. And it exists for more than a hundred years. In the condition of commodity economy, individual is independent relatively. One person, if he wants to develop in the competition of commodity economy, he must improve himself.Therefore, in the commodity economy society, people keep a tradition which is to value self the most important. By comparison,  Chinese’s nature economy existed for thousands of years. Chinese are get used to tying on the land. Individuals lack o f the condition of developing by themselves. Through dozens of years planned economy, even more than twenty years of market economy, Chinese can’t get rid of the dependency. Individual’s development often need other people’s help. Even evaluating an individual is carried out by comparing with other persons. So Chinese like taking part in community, in order not to be isolated. å’Å'Americans encourage rationalism. Their family education praise rationalism highly, which they treat as a basic principle to deal with family members and family affairs. Most of American parents consider the obligation of raising a child the same as the obligation to the society. It does stand not only in an individual position but the social position. In Americans’ opinions family education is considered as an obligation, so Americans never want to get something back from their children. They consider that they ought to go to the old people’s home. Of course, it is bas ed on American perfect social security system and their culture.Chinese encourage affection which is considered to be the most important thing in Chinese society. Chinese family education, human relation is the base and emotion is the rule to deal with the relation of family. Chinese parents consider the children as their own private property, from the angle of their honor. Chinese parents take the greatest care of their children but with a conception of getting back something from their children. From this point of view, we can understand why more Chinese parents expect their children to be talented than American parents does. They put too much material gain in the aim of family education.8 Suggestions This paper is comparing the vague generalization of family education between China and America. Chinese family education and American family education have their own characteristics. Furthermore, American family education has its disadvantage either. Apparently, the paper doesnâ€⠄¢t aim at denying American family education or Chinese family education. Through the comparison, this paper puts forward some suggestions that suit for Chinese family education.8.1 For education aims: turn â€Å"talent† education into  Ã¢â‚¬Å"human† education. Through the comparison, we can find, American family education’s aim more fits the development of society. At the same time, it can produce more creative persons. We can’t deny, in Chinese examination education, we kill a lot of talents .If we want to change the situation, we need family education’s help. Generally speaking ,as the enhance of social productive force, the society competition becomes more and more fierce. A person’s comprehensive quality becomes more and more important. In fact, this comprehensive quality is the basic human education. Using human education as our family education’s aim, Chinese will get rid of the mistaken ideas of family education.8.2 For educa tion contents: â€Å"turn ‘one-sided’ family education into ‘all-round’ family education. Today’s aim of family education is to teach intelligent knowledge. Because of the wrong aim, the intelligent education is the most important. This kind of education, will make children’s quality development unbalanced so that they can’t fit for this changeable society. After setting up â€Å"human† education as our family education’s aim, parents should improve children’s comprehensive quality. If we want to improve children’s comprehensive quality, we should turn one-sided family education into all-round family education, especially education of latent energy, morality and temper.8.3 For education methods: turn â€Å"restrained† education into â€Å"loose and comfortable† education, turn â€Å"closed† education into â€Å"open† education. Affected by Chinese culture, parents have more power than democracy. This kind of education is harmful for teenagers’ mature. Modern society should advocate loose and comfortable education and open education. 8.4 To set up a conception of qualified educationNowadays, education reform’s core is to improve education’s quality. â€Å"The main aim of education is to teach children to learn from how to live to care other people then responsible for others.† Concerning to family education, parents should set up a conception of qualified education. Qualified education is based on human’s physiology and psychology, which has nature peculiarity. It is a kind of education that can train teenagers all-round development. Furthermore, its goal is to fit the needs of the society’s development.Through qualified education, parents teach the youth playing, working and communicating which are the abilities a person should  own in modern society. Quality education aims to improve every aspect of quality a tale nt needs. It is not only a conception of qualified education but also a conception of value. Only when the parents set up the conception and use it as family education’s guide, can the children get used to this society quickly and smoothly. 8.5 To turn sole education into multiple educationIn Chinese, many parents aim the goal of education on intellective education. So they ignore non-intellective education which concerns children’s physiology health. Scientific family education should give first place to intellective education and in addition, take care of children’s physiology, psychology, knowledge. Besides, parents not only teach the children knowledge of culture, which is necessary in a person’s life, but teach other kinds of knowledge. Although to increasing knowledge of culture does good to intellective development, it is not sure it helps a lot.8.6 To turn knowledge education into capability educationIn today’s society, development of moder n science has put training ability in a higher position than teaching knowledge. Family education demands the parents not only to give children food but the skills to get food. Chinese should change the method which focuses on the knowledge, turn knowledge education into capability education. Ability is the intelligence that people finish a task or achieve their goals It is the result of psychology condition and physiology condition. It includes intelligence skill system, motivation structure system and operating skill system. These three systems connect with each other and inspire one by one. A person’s development level depends on the whole ability system which is formed by them.8.7 To use scientific mode of family education to speed the refrom of family education8.7.1 Creative type of educationâ€Å" This kind of education pays close attention to the development of children’s latent energy, which fixes eyes upon the use and training of intelligence. It advocates on creative study through active research and self improvement. â€Å"The basic education mode is: cognition-research-creation-application, which is people’s ability of  acquiring and using knowledge, and the wisdom that people show.† It includes observing ability, memorial ability, thinking ability, practical ability and so on. These abilities connect with each other and restrict each other. They are always considered as a whole. So intelligent education depends on all of the abilities mentioned above.8.7.2 Successful type of educationIt aims at creating the condition of success. It requires children to grasp the opportunities of success. It also requires children to hold the opportunities of success. In this way, children can improve self-confidence. Using this kind of education mode, children can develop themselves step by step on the way of success. â€Å"The basic education mode is aims-success-new aims.†8.7.3 Happy type of educationIt advocates parents to create a perfect education condition, which develop multi-ways and multi-form of education activity. â€Å"The basic education mode is action-master-application on action.†8.7.4 Qualify and special type of educationIt emphasizes on the basic requirement of the whole. In other words, it means to make sure the basic things in education. Besides, if the children have already learnt the basic knowledge, parents can make full use of the advantages of their children, encourage their children to develop in more aspects. â€Å"The basic education mode is base-multi-action-more aspects development.†9.Conclusion American famous writer John Brasal said in his best seller Family May Hurt You When a person grow up, all his behaviors are determined by the family environment when he was a child. Every child grows up under his parents’ family education, what kind a person will be, depends on what kind of family education he received. Children’s character and destiny are connected closely to family education. For the family, for the children, for the parents, we should change the wrong conception of family education and correct it at once.We, Chinese, should change utopian expectation of  children’s education. Give up the harmful types of family education. Pick up good idea from American’ family education. To turn â€Å"talent† education into â€Å"human† education.. To turn â€Å"one-sided† family education into â€Å"all-round† family education. To turn â€Å"restrained† education into â€Å"loose and comfortable† education. To use scientific mode of family education to speed the refrom of family education. If we can follow these changing, Chinese family education will go to a bright future. Ameircan also can get something they lack of from our family education.

Communicating in Forums – Anthony’s Dilemma

Communicating In Forums – Anthony's Dilemma Carla Landes Gen/105 September 25, 2011 Arianne P. Bellizaire Communicating In Forums – Anthony's Dilemma To me, it is very important when speaking in class forums that I choose my inclusive phrasing well. One should never make assumptions when communicating in forums and phrase comments as if in a â€Å"professional† setting. When posting most of my responses to discussion questions, I try to address a specific person and usually not the entire class and base my response accordingly.The first error that I feel Anthony made in his response to the class was â€Å"Hi guys. † It appears in the phrasing of his greeting that Anthony assumed the class was all male. Although, this does appear somewhat sexist, I however would not take offense to this type of greeting per say as it is typically a gender-friendly greeting. I do feel that the rest of Anthony's response regarding his experience at the company conference was quite sexist, namely, how Anthony was surprised that the female or â€Å"lady† as he called her had â€Å"many good things† to say.I personally would not have mentioned the gender of the speaker, but just referred to the â€Å"speaker† at the conference. Most of Anthony's discussion response focuses more in context with males attending this conference just by using some of his descriptive phrases such as â€Å"the good ole boys† and only mentioned the male managers, which would lead one to assume there were no female managers present. Anthony should have used language such as â€Å"Hi Class† or Hi All. † Also, Anthony could have been more inclusive with his descriptions of the managers, such as, â€Å"The managers and their families.I would think that Anthony's concern over not offending anyone to me shows that had he had a face-to-face conversation in the same language, the response may not have been interpreted as sexist. Anthony could hav e clarified himself differently in his response. In conclusion, Anthony's response was non-inclusive language and phrasing. His first mistake and my instruction to Anthony would be never rush when communicating in a group forum. Instead of rushing through the assignment, Anthony should have waited to post his response. Choose phrasing very carefully and leave opinions and emotions out of the post.

How Was Impressionism in Music Like Impressionism in Art Essay

Throughout history, art and music have developed in parallel with each other. The impressionist movement is no exception. Impressionism in art began in France near the end of the 19th century. Impressionist painters did not seek to show reality in the classical sense of a picture-perfect image; instead, they emphasized light and color to give an overall â€Å"impression† of their subjects. Much in the same way, impressionism in music aims to create descriptive impressions, not necessarily to draw clear pictures. The music is not designed to explicitly describe anything, but rather to create a mood or atmosphere. This is done through almost every aspect of music: melody, harmony, color, rhythm, and form. Melodies tend to be short in nature, often repeated in different contexts to give different moods. In terms of color, notes are often drawn from scale systems other than the traditional major and minor. These include pentatonic, whole-tone, or other exotic scales (for example, Debussy, a major figure of impressionism, was influenced by Asian music). The use (or misuse, as some critics might say) of harmony was a major part of impressionism. Impressionists did not use chords in the traditional way. For nearly the entire history of Western music, chords had been used to build and relieve tension, thus giving the music a sense of direction. Now to provide an example of impressionism, we have â€Å"L’à ®sle Joyeuse† (â€Å"The Island of Joy†) by Claude Debussy. This is actually a musical interpretation of the painting â€Å"The Embarkation for Cythera† by Jean-Antoine Watteau. Both the painting and the piece tell the story of a journey to the mythical island of Cythera, an ideal place of love and beauty. The opening trills suggest the excited anticipation of the travelers; a middle section depicts them floating over the water; their arrival is heralded by jubilant trumpeting; and their ecstatic joy in realizing their destination provides a climactic finish. The chords in this piece sometimes serve no harmonic purpose in the traditional sense; these chords set the joyful â€Å"color† and mood of the piece, and are no longer exclusively used to build and release tension. Sometimes the melody isn’t very clear, but rather implied†¦ we only get an impression of it. Impressionism marked the first major steps into the Debussy and Maurice Ravel. An especially noteworthy aspect of impressionism was the weakening of the concept of tonality. Even though impressionist music was still tonal in nature, the â€Å"non-functional† chords paved the way for the later likes of Schoenberg, and others to do away with  tonality altogether.

A Study of Health & Safety Management on Construction Sites, for Dissertation

A Study of Health & Safety Management on Construction Sites, for construction companies within Riyadh city in Saudi Arabia - Dissertation Example While this may stand true for more developed nations, however, nations such as Saudi Arabia are still trying to tackle with a high construction rate coupled with a low safety assessment and enforcement methodology. Overall, there is no single governmentally sponsored safety assessment and enforcement system within Saudi Arabia for the moment. (Fullman, 1984) Though there has been a move forward by the creation of the â€Å"Saudi Building Code National Committee† but as yet work within the safety and health portfolios remains scant and as yet experimental. (Mena Report, 2006) The lack of coherent safety assessment and enforcement schemes implies that there is still much ground that needs to be covered as per the Saudi safety standards in general and construction safety standards in particular are concerned. Hence, the need for research into current safety practices arises based on the concerns noted above so as to have a baseline available before policy making on safety begins. The proposed research aims at plugging some gaps in the current research base so as to expand horizons. The other question now, is the methodology that ought to be applied in order to conduct meaningful research.

Conference 6 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Conference 6 - Coursework Example etermination of budget priorities however, leads to economic growth of entire country as well as state and this is driven by world knowledge economy provided by competition norm both within and outside a country. More so, budget priorities brings about globalization through an essence of global networks and this in turn leads to tremendous opportunities for trading, building relationship as well as working in partnership triggered by effective communication. As far as the aspect of budget priority is of concern, the world becomes more interconnected specifically through trading activities, new trends activities, interests sharing, technology, and mostly through cyberspace. It is at this point that we learn co-existence between the National Security council and the Office of Management and budget as far as budgeting priorities are of concern. Through effective communication and forms of communication, for the National Security council to initiate any transaction, it need to liaise with the office of management and budget to get accountability on the basis of resources allocation, acquisition and amendments that might have come across due to either outside on internal

MISSING PET SUPPLIES Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MISSING PET SUPPLIES - Case Study Example Both Dwayne and Fred faced some ethical issues since they had to operate cooperatively with their eventual competitors; therefore they decided to start a new venture of their own. They had better access to market and suppliers and several years’ industry experience as their main competitive advantages for running a new venture. However, in my opinion, they did not have an accurate business plan at the beginning and it caused dilemma at every phase of the project development. In addition, they were not adequately leveraged with capital, and subsequently their business confronted with a sequence of crises. It seems that some assumptions they made were unreasonable. For instance, they thought that capital acquisition would be an easy process; and that misconception led them to difficulties. 2. Dwayne and Fred had to address many ethical issues while contemplating starting their business. They were to spend more in order to comply with the projected ramp up. It caused some unexpec ted financial expenditure and badly affected the balance of designed budget. In order to meet the startup costs of $87,500 and possible operational losses, the partners took a loan of $300k a large regional bank called Zinc’s. As a result of various expansion activities, their monthly operational expenses rose to $24k (including several interests).

Trademark Dilution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trademark Dilution - Essay Example Trade Marks Act 1984 section 5 (3) confers right to the owner of the existing trade mark to prevent registration of a rival trade mark that dilutes the distinctness and exclusivity of his existing trade mark. The owner of the original trade mark is entitled under section 10 (3) of the said Act to sue the duplicator for infringement. In fact, section 5 (3) bars a trade mark from being registered if it is identical or similar to an earlier trade mark which has a reputation use of which will give unfair advantage to the new trade mark sought to be registered and/or will erode the distinctive character or reputation of the original trade mark 1. Richard Conroy v Smithkline Beecham PLC 2 involved similar sounding name of a product NIT NURSE, an anti-lice product sought to be registered by the applicant was opposed by Smithkline Beecham PLC on the ground that its long established product of repute namely NIGHT-NURSE, a oral decongestant would suffer from erosion of its uniqueness it had enjoyed all along in the market. Although the name NIT NURSE would not give any unfair advantage , it would be detrimental to Night-Nurse in the â€Å"tarnishment† of a oral medicine of repute by the similar mark meant for treatment for â€Å"blood-sucking insects†. The detrimental effect was recognized as also the diluting effect of NIGHT-NURSE’s distinct character.3 In the United States , Federal Trademark Dilution Act passed in 1995 (subsequently amended in 1999 as Trademarks Amendment Act 1999 (TAA)) sought to protect large companies against the ‘gradual whittling away’ of renowned brands by new entrants4 as an effort to protect big business at the expense of upcoming businesses. This is in addition State laws against dilution and trademark owners are able enjoy the twin protection. While federal law require that dilution has actually occurred,

Family Relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Family Relationships - Essay Example Willy the protagonist is discussed to depict how his self deception and disillusionment have affected his family. He represents the dysfunctional family. Miller has designed a family, which is stretched to breaking point by pressures of a speedily varying environment. The way they relate among themselves determines their identity, what they aspire to be and their inability to reconcile the two. Strangely, his fixation with the exterior traits of charm and likeability is at probability with a grittier, more gratifying considerate of the American dream which recognizes the hard work without complaint as the key to success (1.243). The Loman family is based on false values that distort the American dream and Lead to an existence of a dysfunctional family. Willy’s life is symbolic of many family relationships. Miller depicts him as a salesperson but does not specify which products Willy deals with. This is so because Willy is nobody in particular but a representative of everyone i n society. Relationship between Willy and Linda The relationship of Willy and his wife Linda is not the most ideal of relationships. Linda seems to be more sensitive than her husband in viewing life challenges. Linda is loyal and devoted to her husband, but Willy succumbs to temptations and cheats on her. She tries hard to protect her husband but ends up causing him more harm than Help. It is because of her ineffective attempt to protect Willy that she allows his death. She neglects Willy as seen when he brags about the grosshe had in Boston and providence. As Linda calculates his commission but she does not confront him (2.188). Relationship between Willy and His Children Willy enjoyed a health and exciting relationship in the past with his sons but later on, the relationship deteriorates tremendously because of his lies and neglect of family. The father and child affiliation between Willy and his son Biff is edgy.this starts from an incident that happened years ago, when Biff disc overed him in a hotel room with a woman, which made Biff lose respect for his father. Biff and his father collide when biff seeks assistance from his father. Wily appears have been in an affair in a hotel room. When Biff shows up to see if his father will help him and finds another woman in his father’s room, his world is crashed, he feels destroyed and betrayed’ Biff is hurt and disappointed in his father’s infidelity that he chooses to leave schooling without graduating from college. In the incident, Willy becomes defensive and tries to convince Biff in vain that, nothing happened but it makes nothing better. In some way, Willy’s lies destroys Biffs’ future, as from then on Biff always changes jobs, but finds no success in any. Linda and Happy are not aware, and they do not understand the rift between them. This causes a further wedge in the family relationships. Another rift that strains the affiliation amid Biff and his father occurs because bi ff blames his father for the superiority complex he instilled in them while they were young. He tells his father that because he made him full of himself, it became had for him to take orders from others. Conversely, the rapport between Happy and father is neither badly off nor much better. In Willy’s life Happy has always been second in his affection. He constantly praises Biff before Happy and this seriously Affects Happy life and his family

A Worn Path by Eudora Welty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A Worn Path by Eudora Welty - Essay Example of an ordinary day in the life of an old woman however, looking deeply into the symbolisms and details in the story, there are a lot of theories one could delve into. The title of the story for one attracts readers to analyze why it has been entitled so. As the story unfolds, it is understood that the travel on that day was not a first for Phoenix instead, it seemed like a regular trek she took as revealed by the nurse in the hospital she visited in the city. Thus, it could be a description of the travel the old woman took from time to time, making her path a very familiar one. The hunter she met along the way assumed she was a hundred years old and her encounters with the scarecrow, the dog and the nurse in the hospital show that her mind was failing as she claimed it herself. Thus, walking the familiar path was like to her, doing routine chores, knowing where to rest, where to cross or where not to go to so that one would think that it was not a purposeful trip as the main character believed. Her musings to herself pictures an old woman suffering from dementia and this idea is even more established when the final part of the story is pointed ou t. In earlier parts of the story, readers were informed that the old woman was left with an only grandson however, when she took the two nickels, she thought of buying his son a present, a little paper windmill. Surely, she would not have a four year old son yet she thought of buying him a paper windmill, fit for a child; showing the old woman has problems with her memory. The worn path could also be referred to the circumstances that happened to the old woman that day, showing that such events happen daily in different lives with people of different status and race. Dishonesty, ridicule, goodness, help and giving are common ways in life that are encountered daily making it a worn path. Choosing a black woman as the main character, the author might have considered her to be a representation of centuries old prejudice

How effectiveley does great expectations the techniques from chapter Essay - 1

How effectiveley does great expectations the techniques from chapter one and two of understanding Film by Giannetti - Essay Example According to Giannetti, â€Å"artistry can never be gauged by the subject matter alone.† In this movie as well, it is the manner in which different scenes have been presented to the viewer is what helps to strike a chord in his subconscious mind. The main theme of this movie is the journey of the life of the protagonist; however this subject alone does not contribute to the masterpiece, instead the manner in which each scene has been shown is what leads to it. For example, after Apu gets married to Aparna and returns to the city of Calcutta with her, there can be a change seen in Apu’s bedroom. The manner in which the two speak to each other is enough to show the viewer the level of intimacy that they share. From the first chapter related to photography, a number of techniques have been applied in the film for example, in the scene where Apu is seen grieving over the death of his wife; he reads the letter from him again as the focus of the camera takes a close up of his face. This helps to concentrate completely on his character and show the viewer the kind of pain he was going through. The little facts like the camera then moving to his shaving mirror help to show that he is not interested in his daily activities due to the trauma that has been inflicted on him. He states that â€Å"The aesthetic qualities of photography  are to be sought in its power...† this indicates that the beauty of a shot lies in the way the scene has been captured on camera. Giannetti states that mise en scene is an analysis of everything that can be viewed in the film. A number of scenes in the movie have been portrayed as a collision to each other; for example, a scene from Apu’s life which contains a great amount of emotion has been juxtaposed with another in order to form a ‘visually creative and appealing design’, as per Giannetti. According to him, a ‘mise en scene analysis of any shot should contain fifteen

Importance of Family Essay Example for Free

Importance of Family Essay THE FAMILY AS THE BASIC UNIT OF SOCIETY The family unit – principally a man and a woman living together in harmony and peace – is and always will be the basic social organization or unit of any society. This relationship alone provides stability in a sexual, emotional, intellectual and social way as no other can. This statement may seem prejudiced or biased against other forms of social organization, but it has proven true over hundreds and even thousands of years. Other forms of societal organization include most people remaining single or unattached, homosexuality, or various forms of collective living arrangements that are called free love societies, communes, kibbutz living in some cases, and others. To the best of my knowledge, none of these have worked out on a large scale nearly as well as what is called a monogamous man-woman relationship in terms of stability and happiness for the couple, and for the society as a whole. When the families are strong, society is strong, as a rule. When families are weak, societies begin to break down. This is the important concept of this article. EXACTLY WHAT IS MEANT BY A FAMILY? A family is a unit of two dedicated to healing, even if they do not enunciate it or even understand it fully. It means two who are happy to be together, who want to be together, and who deeply love one another, even though it can just be friends, for example, or a parent and a child. This is what is meant by a family in this article. Stated differently, the definition of family is two living in a close personal relationship. Close relationships most often exist between family members, but not always by any means. Couples may live together for years and not be that close, for example. In fact, close relationships often develop among friends of either sex, work colleagues, and perhaps in other situations such as members of a sports team who work and play together constantly, for example. This is important to understand. They don’t even need to live in the same town or know each other personally, as long as they love each other enough. Also, those living under the same roof must be in a close relationship. Just because two are roommates, for example, or even sexual partners living together, married, church-going, or just â€Å"shacking up†, as they call it, does not mean they are a family because they must be in a close, loving relationship with each other. One in relationship with the other, if it is not returned, is not good enough. They both must feel the same way about each other, and this is the key. The rest of this article deals with various topics related to those living in families, or in close relationships, as explained in the preceding paragraphs. HEALING WITHIN FAMILIES – EMPATHIC BLENDING IN FAMILIES An interesting phenomenon that can be used for healing, but which can also have negative effects, is called empathic blending. It occurs in all close relationships, including, of course, within many families. It is a slight blending of the aura or energy fields of individuals who live together or even those who just work together or recreate together. However, it is much stronger in those who are in intimate relationships and having sex together. This interesting phenomenon has been known for thousands of years, but is rarely discussed. It can help bind a family or relationship together and help heal all members of a family. Unfortunately, it sometimes also causes problems in families if the man and woman are not that compatible. What  this means is that at times, two in a relationship have issues that do not blend well. Each can bring out the worst aspects of another, for example, instead of the best. For more on this topic, read Empathic Blending on this website. MALE-FEMALE BLENDING IN FAMILIES This is a subset or type of empathic blending that occurs only between members of the opposite sex. It does not occur in homosexual relationships, and it is one reason these relationships are always inferior to a good man-woman relationship. Two of the same sex may blend empathically, and often do. But only a man and a woman can blend in a very special way. For the same reason, it will not occur in members of an all-male or all-female sports team, work team, etc. This type of blending is similar to other empathic blending, but much stronger and much more able to cause healing in both parties. It is a powerful advantage to having friends of the opposite sex, a wife or husband, and even having children, at times. Children and parents. Interestingly, this type of blending can be done between a male parent and a female child, and conversely, between a female parent and a male child. It can even occur between siblings of the opposite sex, too, although this is not nearly as common. To read more about this very exciting method of healing, read Male-Female Blending on this website. OTHER TYPES OF UNUSUAL HEALING IN FAMILIES AND IN OTHER CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS A phenomenon we observe within families, and within all close relationships, is that when one person begins to heal, particularly a parent, often the partner and the children also experience a degree of healing. This occurs even when the others are not following a nutritional balancing program at all. I call it healing by osmosis, because I don’t know what else to name it. This phenomenon may be due to empathic blending, described in a paragraph above. However, it may be also be due to other factors, such as less stress in the home, better food in the home, more of a healing atmosphere in the home, or something else. In addition to these reasons, other reasons help explain unusual healing in those who in close relationships such as in families. For example, as one heals, he or she serves as an example to the other and perhaps as an inspiration to the other. As one heals, the body becomes more capable of love, and this felt by the other As one heals, some nutrients are actually transferred to the other in sexual fluids, for example, or in saliva in kissing. This may sound odd, but these are factors in healing within families or close relationships only. THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY UNDER ATTACK EVERYWHERE For the past 100 years of so, the family unit in America and Europe, in particular, has been under constant attack. The attack has been coming from work outside of the home, two parents having to work, the school system that takes away authority of parents, and a much more intrusive government that also takes away the rights and powers of parents to control their children and even their homes. Unemployment is very hard on families, and there is plenty of that in Europe, particularly. Pressure from Anti-Christian groups such as gay rights advocates and even some women’s advocate groups has also forced the passage of laws that discourage marriage. The growth of the welfare system is another anti-family factor. These systems often contain incentives to have children out of wedlock, for example, in order to collect more money from the government. Asia has much less of these pressures, but they are growing on a daily basis. Communism, for example, practiced still today in Russia, China, and other large nations, has a devastating effect on the family. Also, Asia has other problems, such as a traditional hierarchical male-dominated culture that may  seem to support the family, but really is very hard on women, and impedes the development of deep love between men and women among the population. Other nations, such as those in the Middle East, insist on rules and regulations that are so rigid and strict that they may hold society together, but they stop love from developing because the roles of man and wife are too rigidly defined. The Muslim world has some serious family problems. Here the family unit is strong, but in some homes the male dominates and the women are treated so badly that they cannot love their husbands and children correctly. I hope someday soon this will stop. Some of the best family units are found among the Jewish families and some of the Asian cultures, such as the Chinese and Koreans. Even here, however, divorce rates are rising and the traditional family is under attack. THE NEED TO RESTORE THE INTEGRITY OF THE FAMILY The above leads us to the need to clarify, correct and realize the importance of the traditional family unit and restore it legally, culturally, socially, and in every other way as well. This is also a goal of nutritional balancing science. It must begin with each person understanding the need for very high-quality relationships, and then acting at all levels of society to push for a more family-friendly society. The kind of reforms needed in society include: 1. Legislative action and tax reform to encourage marriage. This means that married couples should have tax advantages, which is not true today. Often it is the opposite. Also laws must clearly define marriage as the relationship between one many and one woman. All other arrangements of living and sexuality must not be given equal recognition or equal treatment under the law. This means no gay marriage, no homosexual or gay rights laws, and no gay-friendly legislation at all. This sounds harsh, but gay rights laws are the worst thing for the traditional family today. It also means that polygamy must be banned altogether. It does not matter if all members of a polygamous community like the arrangement. It does not work well and it is usually a cult. For more on this topic, read Cults and Terror Societies on this site. Tax credits should be given for having children, but only if a couple is married and filing jointly. Society should not be giving tax credits to single parent households of the same magnitude, as it encourages promiscuity and single-parent households. I know this is a difficult area, but it is important to strengthen and protect traditional marriage. 2. Legislative action and tax reform to strengthen families. Here are examples of laws and tax arrangements that favor the family unit in society: Smaller government favors families. This is because power in society is always shared between individuals and their families, and the government. The more power and scope of the government, the less power and scope the family will have. Laws that should be abolished to assist the family are all laws that allow schools to give out condoms and birth control pills without parental consent, and all laws that allow minor children to obtain abortions and even driver’s licenses without parental consent. Some states claim they can vaccinate children without parental consent, and some allow medical treatment without parental consent. All these laws destroy the integrity and strength of the family unit and ought to be repealed. I realize that repealing these laws will permit some abuse by uncaring or unthinking parents. However, this is better than an across-the-board rule that damages the family, which is still the best hope for children in the entire world. Government welfare agencies do not do a good job, overall, and I would not expect them to do so. They are too distant and too â€Å"professional† to care deeply enough about the children. Similarly, judges and juries should not have the right to remove minor children from the home unless the abuse is obvious and severe. Low taxes strongly favor the family unit and family integrity. Much higher taxes for everyone today is forcing two parents to work outside of the home and to send children to government or private daycare centers and pre-schools. This is horrendous for families. While in some nations, the poor and even middle classes do not pay income taxes, they pay for taxes that are hidden in every product and service that they buy. This is the case especially in America and Europe where corporate taxes are high. These are hidden taxes on all products that can account for up to half the cost of the product such as a car, food, clothing, building materials and other necessities. This is why corporate tax rates should be zero. Tax income, tax consumption, or tax imports and exports, but do not tax in hidden ways such as corporate taxes that no one can see and that are regressive, meaning they harm the poor much more than they harm the wealthy because the poor must spend a lot more of their income on necessities, while the rich can easily afford the taxes on goods and services such as electricity, etc. Laws that permit, encourage and even pay one parent to stay at home with children and teach them favor the family strongly. Parents should be discouraged from both working outside the home, and young children should be at home. If a parent does not want to raise a child at home, he or she should not become a parent. It is that simple. Home schooling favors the family unit. In the same vein, home schooling must be encouraged, not attacked, as it is in many nations, including the United States of America. Home schooling is the ideal, and should not be considered a deviant or religious or unusual concept. It is far better, according to statistics, than any school situation. Home schooling parents should not have to pay school taxes, for example, and perhaps should be compensated so that a parent can stay home and teach rather than have to take a job outside the home and send the child to public or private schools. No death taxes favor the family. Death taxes are also called estate taxes. They do not allow some families to pass on their wealth to their children,  or anyone else. Instead, the government takes a large portion of their money, even though they have already paid taxes on that income. Families should be permitted to pass on their wealth, as it is theirs and they often worked hard for it. The government has no right to it, having already taxed it once or perhaps twice. Tort reform strongly favors families and employment. It is important that if one is truly injured, that one can sue for damages. However, the situation in America, in particular, but also in Europe in which attorneys are able to sue basically innocent people for all sorts of frivolous reasons places great strain and a huge financial burden on everyone. It raises the price of all goods and services, frightens away many businesses and keeps good products off the market. It also supports a class of parasitic attorneys who make good money often by ruining other people’s lives. There are simple answers for this problem, but the trial lawyers lobby, and their political allies the Democratic party has so far prevented them from being implemented, especially in the United States. The solutions include: 1. Simplify legal proceedings so that people do not need attorneys to represent them and can handle simple cases themselves. This is certainly possible, but judges and attorneys don’t like the idea. It is similar to learning how to take care of your health, which the doctor’s don’t like. Court proceedings, rules of evidence, rules of discovery, motions, and so on can be made simpler. 2. The loser in a suit should pay all court and attorney fees. This is the system in Great Britain and some other nations. It can stop some frivolous lawsuits, especially in the health care area, but also in product safety. 3. Attorneys must not be allowed to disqualify jurors at their whim. The only reason to disqualify a juror should be a direct conflict of interest, perhaps. The current system today allows sharp attorneys to get rid of potential jurors whom they sense they cannot manipulate or influence. This  should not be the way the jury system works and it makes a mockery of the jury system. 4. It may be necessary to place a cap on damages. This is more complex, especially in a class action lawsuit but sometimes juries are talked into awarding far too much money for damages because attorneys take a percentage for themselves. A capitalist economic system, with controls to prevent corporate raiding and cheating, tends to favor families, while socialism is usually even more corrupt and it destroys families. It does this because the government gains so much power that the family becomes secondary to government, which becomes the nanny, the provider, the police force and everything else. This must be taught and the reasons for it thoroughly understood in society. The basic reason is that a large, powerful government always competes for power with the family, so it is inherently inimical to the family. In contrast, a weak government allows the family unit to have more power over itself and over society. It is not an accident that the weakest families occur in communist and socialist nations, while the strongest are found in the capitalist nations. Private and not socialized, nationalized or â€Å"universal† health care helps the family unit. Caring for one’s health and that of the children are extremely important issues that are best handled within families. This is because they have to do with diet, lifestyle, thinking patterns and other personal habits that are learned and practiced in families. In general, when people are forced into a governmental system, the family loses a lot of power and control over this important area of life. If the government system were perfect, it would not be so bad. However, all governmental systems are more costly, the dietary recommendations are often poor, bureaucrats are distant and don’t care as much for people as private doctoring arrangements, and waste and corruption are worse. Also, just turning over control of this vital area of life is a bad idea. Even the HMO or PPO system in the USA, which is based on private insurance but herds people into groups with little choice in health care, is not good for family integrity and strength. This is just one reason why Obamacare, for example, in the USA, will not work and must be repealed at once before it further bankrupts the USA, which it is doing and with no good results. It is just socialism, and that is harmful for families, as explained above. Freedom, in general, is wonderful for the family. Repression in society works against families. Freedoms of religion, of speech, of assembly, the right to bear arms and all the freedoms that some nations permit are helpful for the family as they weaken governmental power and encourage responsibility and power to be centered in the family. Denying the people freedom weakens the family in all cases. Traditional religions and, in general, religious freedom tend to favor the family unit. However, too much repression in the religion harms families by several means. Repressing women, for example, leads to anger and hatred of women for men and for the religious leaders. Also, if the family roles are so rigidly defined, some will rebel and avoid families altogether. They also, of course, may just leave the religion, but this is not always possible, as with Islam. As these legal and other changes occur, and only when they occur, we can expect to see great improvements and restoration of our societies. They will be safer, more sane, healthier, with far more emphasis on spiritual values and the dignity of each individual soul. All will be happier and life will be far more worthwhile and enjoyable for women, in particular, for our children, and for everyone. Easy divorce laws have mixed effects upon families. On one hand, they make it easy for a selfish parent to basically abandon their children or â€Å"steal† them from a partner. They may also leave a former partner stranded without financial support at all, or very little. On the other hand, very strict divorce laws that existed in the past kept families together where there was physical or emotional abuse, or just terrible unhappiness. This is not ideal for families, either. Many people say that the traditional family is dead, as evidenced by the high divorce rates in the Western world, in particular. However, they forget that although the divorce rate is high, the remarriage rate is also very high. In other words, many people do not want to be single. They just want to be with the right type of person. If they are not, then they are more likely today than in the past to split up and move on to what is often, though not always, a better marriage the second time around. When children are involved, the situation is more complex. Children need a stable home and they need love – plenty of it. So it is more complicated. Here one must use good judgment and try to avoid selfishness. Selfishness is often the problem and the reason that a couple does not blend and heal one another. Laws favoring easy abortions probably harm families. This is an ongoing debate in the USA, though not much in Europe. ALL abortions terminate a life, and some women suffer psychological damage from abortions, even if they are not fully aware of it. I particularly dislike the Planned Parenthood approach, often, in which young women are just told they can get their abortion right away, no one needs to know about it, and that is all there is to it. However, those who favor abortions rightly point out that women perhaps should have more control over their reproductive abilities, especially in case of rape, incest, and all conditions in which the health and well-being of the mother or even the father is at stake. So I suspect this issue will be debated for many years. I believe anti-abortion laws are there to protect women in many cases, and this is how they should be â€Å"sold† or promoted. They help women avoid psychological damage that comes with abortions, they help prevent infections and other problems of abortions, and they help the family in many cases, which helps women the most. If the family does not want another child, then put it up for adoption. Encouraging monogamous man-woman relationships is by far best for the family. Sadly, this is not what is taught in schools today. Politically correct teachers often stress that homosexuality, communal living, open marriage and other â€Å"alternatives† are just as good as the traditional one man-one woman relationship. I believe this is a lie in most cases, due to the nature and construction of human beings. I believe there exist certain differences between men and women that are often subtle, but very real. Living together, they tend to balance one another, help one another, heal one another, and love one another better than any other type of arrangement. This does not mean that in a few cases a different type of relationship is best, but I am speaking in general terms of what seems to work best for the great majority of people in our world. I strongly believe that if this were not so, we would see around the world plenty of societies in which marriage is not supported or practiced much, and instead we would see much more of other living arrangements such as homosexuality or just staying single and living alone or in one’s family of origin during one’s entire lifespan. But we do not see this very much among the thousands of human societies of every race and religion. This is not an indictment of other ways to live socially, just an observation. For this reason, I want to suggest that laws should protect, proclaim, educate and demand that the young are taught this truth, and nothing else.

Hofstede Canada vs Japan Essay Example for Free

Hofstede Canada vs Japan Essay Individualism vs Collectivism In essence this dimension deals with the relationship between the individual and the collectives in a given society. It is reflected in the way in which people live together. For example, nuclear families, extended families, tribes and other larger communities. It directly effects peoples values and behaviours. In some cultures individualism is sometime to be sought after but in others it is seen as alienation. Canada Canada has a score of 80 in this dimension which is its highest score by a considerable margin of 28. Their society expects people to look after themselves and their immediate family. These values in are line with my own Irish values but we generally go one further and include extended family members in this bracket such as cousins, aunts and uncles by blood or marriage. Likewise in a business environment employees are expected to take initiative and be self-reliant without constant supervision. Where hiring and promotion decisions are concerned assessments are based on the individual’s accolades and capabilities. It is important to note that Canadian employees will be expected to be able to work on individual tasks as well as group projects. The vast majority of Canadians as well as other capitalist English speaking countries such as Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States have individualism ranked first. Financial most of all but most successes are a measure of personal achievement. Canadians are generally confident and open to discuss general topics however their private affairs are only up for discussion with their closest friends and family members. The predominately French speaking province of Quebec holds different views than the rest of Canada. This leads to tension between and their English speaking countrymen. Quebecers tend to be more private and reserved. Ethnocentrism is prevalent in Canada but particularly in Quebec. Japan Japan has a score of 46 on the Hofstede’s individualism dimension. Japan has many qualities of a collective society and indeed in popularly stereotyped as one, when in fact it scores in the middle. It prioritised harmonies relations over an individual’s need to express themselves and has a great sense of shame for losing face. This being said it is not as collective as its Chinese and Korean neighbours as they do not maintain extended families to the same extent. Japan has a paternalistic society where assets are inherited from father to eldest son while the remaining siblings are left to their own devices, making their own living with their core families. A more recent study by Woodring[1] found that Japanese students are scored higher on individualism and lower on power distance than Hofstede’s original sample. This was due to their age, according to Woodring. The findings suggest that Japanese college students value individualism and equality more than the rest of their society. Hofsede’s longitudinal study showed that national wealth and individualism are related. Japan has the world’s third largest economy[2], so it is no surprise that Japanese society is changing in this way. In fact a recent Japanese term shin jin rui literally meaning â€Å"new human beings† has developed to describe 25 year olds and younger by their elders. They are thought to be â€Å"selfish, self-centred and disrespectful of elders and traditions†[3]. Japanese society could be regarded as paradoxical as it is both individualist and collective depending on the given situation. For example Japanese employees are famous for their company loyalty but loyalty is something they choose for themselves which is a individualistic characteristic. Japanese society is collective by Canadian and indeed Irish standards but individualist by the rest of Asia’s standards. Individualism vs Collectivism impact on Decisions Making This mostly effects the motivations of a decision. Individualist societies are motivated by personal success and make their decisions according. They constantly trying to climb the corporate ladder and achieve a higher standard of living for themselves and their immediate family. Meanwhile in collective societies they prioritise their decisions for good of the group above their own personal goals. In a business context collective societies will work better in groups with people they have a personal relationship with. While individualist societies can work well as individuals and in groups with people they do not know. This allows for quicker decision making but not knowing a colleague on a personal level may lead to less active participation. Collective mentality takes more time but more options are analysed in more depth which in some circumstances is more effective but less time efficient. Uncertainty avoidance Uncertainty avoidance indicates how threatened a society will be by ambiguous contexts and the degree to which it will attempt to avoid these situations by not tolerating deviant ideas or behaviours, and a belief in absolute truths[4]. This ambiguity leads to anxiety. Different cultures manage this anxiety in different manners. A High Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country has a low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. This creates a rule-oriented society that implements laws, rules, regulations, and controls in order avoid uncertainty. A Low Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country is less worried about doubt and is more comfortable taking into account a wide variety of views and opinions. This is mirrored in a society that is less strictly regulated, accepts change quicker, and takes more and greater risks. Japan Japan, with a score of 92, is one of the most uncertainty avoiding places on earth. This is thought to be due to Japans ever present threat of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons and volcanic eruptions. May 2011s tsunami is a testament to this with a death toll of just under sixteen thousand. The Japanese have learned to prepare themselves all aspects of life and not just emergencies. From start to finish Japanese life is extremely organised by Canadian standards, with many tradition ceremonies such as opening and closing events for schools. These are performed in very much the same manner throughout Japan. Detailed etiquette books are available outlining proper behavioural practises and dress for important events such as weddings and funerals. In the Japanese business world, vast amounts of time are invested into feasibility studies. All risk factors must be precisely analysed before any project gets the go ahead. Managers will insist on and indeed expect detailed facts and figures before committing to any decision. This need to precedent and approved practises makes introducing change difficult. Canada With a score of 48 Canada is considerable more â€Å"uncertainty accepting† than Japan. They readily accept new ideas, innovative products and have an enthusiasm to try new or different things whether its new technology, products or business practices. They are accepting of ideas and opinions from people on any level of a business which allows freedom of expression and upward and downward communication. Canadian culture is not rule orientated as Japan is but they tend to be less emotional expressive than cultures scoring higher on the dimension. Canada uncertainty avoidance is fragmented somewhat. The British Columbia providence is viewed as the â€Å"Western Frontier† while Quebecers are much more reserved and reluctant to change. Traditionally British Columbia’s economy was based on exploiting natural resources such as mining, lumber and fishing. Due to a change in the global economy in the 1990s it shifted to a more entrepreneurial, innovative intense economy. Innovation is the product of entrepreneurship which is directly linked to lower uncertainty avoidance[5]. In May of 2002, the University of British Columbia studied entrepreneurial activity in B.C. and compared it to other Canadian provinces.[6] Their research showed that the province of B.C. is ready for greater entrepreneurial activity but that over-regulation may be stunting entrepreneurial activity in the province. During the late 1990s the number of new business starts in B.C. was higher than the Canadian national average. Thus, it shows lower uncertainty avoidance in B.C. Uncertainty avoidance impact on decision making This directly impacts decision making as it relates to risk taking and preparation in every form. A high scoring uncertainty avoidance country such as Japan actively makes decisions to constantly avoid risk. Decisions are only made after lengthy considerations with all plausible possibilities careful considered before action is taken. It was be advantage of being better informed but the disadvantage of being time consuming. Whereas in a country with a low uncertainty avoidance score such as Canada decisions are may much quicker with less considers and options accounted for before taking the plunge. This is a high risk, high reward strategy which can work well given the right entrepreneurial skills. Both nations could learn from each other, making reasonable quick decisions with the best information given time constraints. Bibliography https://docs.google.com/a/ucdconnect.ie/viewer?a=vq=cache:5pvQ7O-6yo0J:www.cjrs-rcsr.org/archives/30-2/McNabb-final.pdf+canadian+uncertainty+avoidancehl=engl=iepid=blsrcid=ADGEESg1FrvsrtpXzN76VcxyTTQ-41w1fT3mmEF46pj4oZCKrQwWL-1IoYpW2iiR2wH9pu7aIgJORx1xQj8w06gzLj8xnIq7FEoS6QW14Ame4iS5nfDGejToZ70ZJS5KGa6GzRoFBw5Hsig=AHIEtbQ3NA9rLoVL-GovrHnXzRqTiSO5OApli=1 http://cos.sagepub.com/content/51/1-2/59.full.pdf+html http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/canada.htm Cultures Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations by By Geert H. Hofstede.

Active or Passive Third Stage of Labour: Pros and Cons

Active or Passive Third Stage of Labour: Pros and Cons Introduction This dissertation is primarily concerned with the arguments that are currently active in relation to the benefits and disadvantages of having either an active or passive third stage of labour. We shall examine this issue from several angles including the currently accepted medical opinions as expressed in the peer reviewed press, the perspective of various opinions expressed by women in labour and theevidence base to support these opinions. It is a generally accepted truism that if there is controversy surrounding a subject, then this implies that there is not a sufficiently strong evidence base to settle the argument one way or the other. (De Martino B et al. 2006). In the case of this particular subject, this is possibly not true, as the evidence base is quite robust (and we shall examine this in due course). Midwifery deals with situations that are steeped in layers of strongly felt emotion, and this has a great tendency to colour rational argument. Blind belief in one area often appears to stem from total disbelief in another (Baines D. 2001) and in consideration of some of the literature in this area this would certainly appear to be true. Let us try to examine the basic facts of the arguments together with the evidence base that supports them. In the civilised world it is estimated that approximately 515,000 currently die annually from problems directly related to pregnancy. (extrapolated from Hill K et al. 2001). The largest single category of such deaths occur within 4 hrs. of delivery, most commonly from post partum haemorrhage and its complications (AbouZahr C 1998), the most common factor in such cases being uterine atony. (Ripley D L 1999). Depending on the area of the world (as this tends to determine the standard of care and resources available), post partum haemorrhage deaths constitutes between 10-60% of all maternal deaths (AbouZahr C 1998). Statistically, the majority of such maternal deaths occur in the developing countries where women may receive inappropriate, unskilled or inadequate care during labour or the post partum period. (PATH 2001). In developed countries the vast majority of these deaths could be (and largely are) avoided with effective obstetric intervention. (WHO 1994). One of the central argumen ts that we shall deploy in favour of the active management of the third stage of labour is the fact that relying on the identification of risk factors for women at risk of haemorrhage does not appear to decrease the overall figures for post partum haemorrhage morbidity or mortality as more than 70% of such cases of post partum haemorrhage occur in women with no identifiable risk factors. (Atkins S 1994). Prendiville, in his recently published Cochrane review (Prendiville W J et al. 2000) states that: where maternal mortality from haemorrhage is high, evidence-based practices that reduce haemorrhage incidence, such as active management of the third stage of labour, should always be followed It is hard to rationally counter such an argument, particularly in view of the strength of the evidence base presented in the review, although we shall finish this dissertation with a discussion of a paper by Stevenson which attempts to provide a rational counter argument in this area. It could be argued that the management of the third stage of labour, as far as formal teaching and published literature is concerned, is eclipsed by the other two stages (Baskett T F 1999). Cunningham agrees with this viewpoint with the observation that a current standard textbook of obstetrics (unnamed) devotes only 4 of its 1,500 pages to the third stage of labour but a huge amount more to the complications that can arise directly after the delivery of the baby (Cunningham, 2001). Donald makes the comment This indeed is the unforgiving stage of labour, and in it there lurks more unheralded treachery than in both the other stages combined. The normal case can, within a minute, become abnormal and successful delivery can turn swiftly to disaster. (Donald, 1979). chapter 1:define third stage of labour, The definition of the third stage of labour varies between authorities in terms of wording, but in functional terms there is general agreement that it is the part of labour that starts directly after the birth of the baby and concludes with the successful delivery of the placenta and the foetal membranes. Functionally, it is during the third stage of labour that the myometrium contracts dramatically and causes the placenta to separate from the uterine wall and then subsequently expelled from the uterine cavity. This stage can be managed actively or observed passively. Practically, it is the speed with which this stage is accomplished which effectively dictates the volume of blood that is eventually lost. It follows that if anything interferes with this process then the risk of increased blood loss gets greater. If the uterus becomes atonic, the placenta does not separate efficiently and the blood vessels that had formally supplied it are not actively constricted. (Chamberlain G et al. 1999). We shall discuss this process in greater detail shortly. Proponents of passive management of the third stage of labour rely on the normal physiological processes to shut down the bleeding from the placental site and to expel the placenta. Those who favour active management use three elements of management. One is the use of an ecbolic drug given in the minute after delivery of the baby and before the placenta is delivered. The second element is early clamping and cutting of the cord and the third is the use of controlled cord traction to facilitate the delivery of the placenta. We shall discuss each of these elements in greater detail in due course. The rationale behind active management of the third stage of labour is basically that by speeding up the natural delivery of the placenta, one can allow the uterus to contract more efficiently thereby reducing the total blood loss and minimising the risk of post partum haemorrhage. (ODriscoll K 1994) discuss optimal practice, Let us start our consideration of optimal practice with a critical analysis of the paper by Cherine (Cherine M et al. 2004) which takes a collective overview of the literature on the subject. The authors point to the fact that there have been a number of large scale randomised controlled studies which have compared the outcomes of labours which have been either actively or passively managed. One of the biggest difficulties that they experienced was the inconsistency of terminology on the subject, as a number of healthcare professionals had reported management as passive when there had been elements of active management such as controlled cord traction and early cord clamping. As an overview, they were able to conclude that actively managed women had a lower prevalence of post partum haemorrhage, a shorter third stage of labour, reduced post partum anaemia, less need for blood transfusion or therapeutic oxytocics (Prendiville W J et al. 2001). Other factors derived from the paper include the observation that the administration of oxytocin before delivery of the placenta (rather than afterwards), was shown to decrease the overall incidence of post partum haemorrhage, the overall amount of blood loss, the need for additional uterotonic drugs, the need for blood transfusions when compared to deliveries with similar duration of the third stage of labour as a control. In addition to all of this they noted that there was no increased incidence of the condition of retained placenta. (Elbourne D R et al. 2001). The evidence base for these comments is both robust and strong. On the face of it, there seems therefore little to recommend the adoption of passive manage ment of the third stage of labour. Earlier we noted the difficulties in definition of active management of the third stage of labour. In consideration of any individual paper where interpretation of the figures are required, great care must therefore be taken in assessing exactly what is being measured and compared. Cherine points to the fact that some respondents categorised their management as passive management of the third stage of labour when, in reality they had used some aspect of active management. They may not have used ecbolic drugs (this was found to be the case in 19% of the deliveries considered). This point is worth considering further as oxytocin was given to 98% of the 148 women in the trial who received ecbolic. In terms of optimum management 34% received the ecbolic at the appropriate time (as specified in the management protocols as being before the delivery of the placenta and within one minute of the delivery of the baby). For the remaining 66%, it was given incorrectly, either after the delivery of the placenta or, in one case, later than one minute after the delivery of the baby. Further analysis of the practices reported that where uterotonic drugs were given, cord traction was not done in 49%, and early cord clamping not done in 7% of the deliveries observed where the optimum active management of the third stage of labour protocols were not followed. >From an analytical point of view, we should cite the evidence base to suggest the degree to which these two practices are associated with morbidity. Walter P et al. 1999 state that their analysis of their data shows that early cord clamping and controlled cord traction are shown to be associated with a shorter third stage and lower mean blood loss, whereas Mitchelle (G G et al. 2005) found them to be associated with a lower incidence of retained placenta. Other considerations relating to the practice of early cord clamping are that it reduces the degree of mother to baby blood transfusion. It is clear that giving uterotonic drugs without early clamping will cause the myometrium to contract and physically squeeze the placenta, thereby accelerating the both the speed and the total quantity of the transfusion. This has the effect of upsetting the physiological balance of the blood volume between baby and placenta, and can cause a number of undesirable effects in the baby including an increased tendency to jaundice. (Rogers J et al. 1998) The major features that are commonly accepted as being characteristic of active management and passive management of the third stage of labour are set out below. Physiological Versus Active Management . . Physiological Management Active Management Uterotonic None or after placenta delivered With delivery of anterior shoulder or baby Uterus Assessment of size and tone Assessment of size and tone Cord traction None Application of controlled cord traction* when uterus contracted Cord clamping Variable Early (After Smith J R et al. 1999) physiology of third stage The physiology of the third stage can only be realistically considered in relation to some of the elements which occur in the preceding months of pregnancy. The first significant consideration are the changes in haemodynamics as the pregnancy progresses. The maternal blood volume increases by a factor of about 50% (from about 4 litres to about 6litres). (Abouzahr C 1998) This is due to a disproportionate increase in the plasma volume over the RBC volume which is seen clinically with a physiological fall in both Hb and Heamatocrit values. Supplemental iron can reduce this fall particularly if the woman concerned has poor iron reserves or was anaemic before the pregnancy began. The evolutionary physiology behind this change revolves around the fact that the placenta (or more accurately the utero-placental unit) has low resistance perfusion demands which are better served by a high circulating blood volume and it also provides a buffer for the inevitable blood loss that occurs at the time of delivery. (Dansereau J et al. 1999). The high progesterone levels encountered in pregnancy are also relevant insofar as they tend to reduce the general vascular tone thereby increase venous pooling. This, in turn, reduces the venous return to the heart and this would (if not compensated for by the increased blood volume) lead to hypotension which would contribute to reductions in levels of foetal oxygenation. (Baskett T F 1999). Coincident and concurrent with these heamodynamic changes are a number of physiological changes in the coagulation system. There is seen to be a sharp increase in the quantity of most of the clotting factors in the blood and a functional decrease in the fibrinolytic activity. (Carroli G et al. 2002). Platelet levels are observed to fall. This is thought to be due to a combination of factors. Haemodilution is one and a low level increase in platelet utilisation is also thought to be relevant. The overall functioning of the platelet system is rarely affected. All of these changes are mediated by the dramatic increase in the levels of circulating oestrogen. The relevance of these considerations is clear when we consider that one of the main hazards facing the mother during the third stage of labour is that of haemorrhage. (Soltani H et al. 2005) and the changes in the haemodynamics are largely germinal to this fact. The other major factor in our considerations is the efficiency of the haemostasis produced by the uterine contraction in the third stage of labour. The prime agent in the immediate control of blood loss after separation of the placenta, is uterine contraction which can exert a physical pressure on the arterioles to reduce immediate blood loss. Clot formation and the resultant fibrin deposition, although they occur rapidly, only become functional after the coagulation cascade has triggered off and progressed. Once operative however, this secondary mechanism becomes dominant in securing haemostasis in the days following delivery. (Sleep, 1993). The uterus both grows and enlarges as pregnancy progresses under the primary influence of oestrogen. The organ itself changes from a non-gravid weight of about 70g and cavity volume of about 10 ml. to a fully gravid weight of about 1.1 kg. and a cavity capacity of about 5 litres. This growth, together with the subsequent growth of the feto-placental unit is fed by the increased blood volume and blood flow through the uterus which, at term, is estimated to be about 5-800 ml/min or approximately 10-15% of the total cardiac output (Thilaganathan B et al. 1993). It can therefore be appreciated why haemorrhage is a significant potential danger in the third stage of labour with potentially 15% of the cardiac output being directed towards a raw placental bed. The physiology of the third stage of labour also involves the mechanism of placental expulsion. After the baby has been delivered, the uterus continues to contract rhythmically and this reduction in size causes a shear line to form at the utero-placental junction. This is thought to be mainly a physical phenomenon as the uterus is capable of contraction, whereas the placenta (being devoid of muscular tissue) is not. We should note the characteristic of the myometrium which is unique in the animal kingdom, and this is the ability of the myometrial fibres to maintain its shortened length after each contraction and then to be able to contract further with subsequent contractions. This characteristic results in a progressive and (normally) fairy rapid reduction in the overall surface area of the placental site. (Sanborn B M et al. 1998) In the words of Rogers (J et al. 1998), by this mechanism the placenta is undermined, detached, and propelled into the lower uterine segment. Other physiological mechanisms also come into play in this stage of labour. Placental separation also occurs by virtue of the physical separation engendered by the formation of a sub-placental haematoma. This is brought about by the dual mechanisms of venous occlusion and vascular rupture of the arterioles and capillaries in the placental bed and is secondary to the uterine contractions (Sharma J B et al. 2005). The physiology of the normal control of this phenomenon is both unique and complex. The structure of the uterine side of the placental bed is a latticework of arterioles that spiral around and inbetween the meshwork of interlacing and interlocking myometrial fibrils. As the myometrial fibres progressively shorten, they effectively actively constrict the arterioles by kinking them . Baskett (T F 1999) refers to this action and structure as the living ligatures and physiologic sutures of the uterus. These dramatic effects are triggered and mediated by a number of mechanisms. The actual definitive trigger for labour is still a matter of active debate, but we can observe that the myometrium becomes significantly more sensitive to oxytocin towards the end of the pregnancy and the amounts of oxytocin produced by the posterior pituitary glad increase dramatically just before the onset of labour. (GÃ ¼lmezoglu A M et al. 2001) It is known that the F-series, and some other) prostaglandins are equally active and may have a role to play in the genesis of labour. (Gulmezoglu A M et al. 2004) >From an interventional point of view, we note that a number of synthetic ergot alkaloids are also capable of causing sustained uterine contractions. (Elbourne D R et al. 2002) chapter 2 discuss active management, criteria, implications for mother and fetus. This dissertation is asking us to consider the essential differences between active management and passive management of the third stage of labour. In this segment we shall discuss the principles of active management and contrast them with the principles of passive management. Those clinicians who practice the passive management of the third stage of labour put forward arguments that mothers have been giving birth without the assistance of the trained healthcare professionals for millennia and, to a degree, the human body is the product of evolutionary forces which have focussed upon the perpetuation of the species as their prime driving force. Whilst accepting that both of these concepts are manifestly true, such arguments do not take account of the natural wastage that drives such evolutionary adaptations. In human terms such natural wastage is simply not ethically or morally acceptable in modern society. (Sugarman J et al. 2001) There may be some validity in the arguments that natural processes will achieve normal separation and delivery of the placenta and may lead to fewer complications and if the patient should suffer from post partum haemorrhage then there are techniques, medications and equipment that can be utilised to contain and control the clinical situation. Additional arguments are invoked that controlled cord traction can increase the risk of uterine inversion and ecbolic drugs can increase the risks of other complications such as retained placenta and difficulties in delivering an undiagnosed twin. (El-Refaey H et al. 2003) The proponents of active management counter these arguments by suggesting that the use of ecbolic agents reduces the risks of post partum haemorrhage, faster separation of the placenta, reduction of maternal blood loss. Inversion of the uterus can be avoided by using only gentle controlled cord traction when the uterus is well contracted together with the controlling of the uterus by the Brandt-Andrews manoeuvre. The arguments relating to the undiagnosed second twin are loosing ground as this eventuality is becoming progressively more rare. The advent of ultrasound together with the advent of protocols which call for the mandatory examination of the uterus after the birth and before the administration of the ecbolic agent effectively minimise this possibility. (Prendiville, 2002). If we consider the works of Prendiville (referred to above) we note the meta-analyses done of the various trials on the comparison of active management against the passive management of the third stage of labour and find that active management consistently leads to several benefits when compared to passive management. The most significant of which are set out below. Benefits of Active Management Versus Physiological Management Outcome Control Rate, % Relative Risk 95% CI* NNT 95% CI PPH >500 mL 14 0.38 0.32-0.46 12 10-14 PPH >1000 mL 2.6 0.33 0.21-0.51 55 42-91 Hemoglobin 6.1 0.4 0.29-0.55 27 20-40 Blood transfusion 2.3 0.44 0.22-0.53 67 48-111 Therapeutic uterotonics 17 0.2 0.17-0.25 7 6-8 *95% confidence interval Number needed to treat (After Prendiville, 2002). The statistics obtained make interesting consideration. In these figures we can deduce that for every 12 patients receiving active management (rather than passive management) one post partum haemorrhage is avoided and further extrapolation suggests that for every 67 patients managed actively one blood transfusion is avoided. With regard to the assertions relating to problems with a retained placenta, there was no evidence to support it, indeed the figures showed that there was no increase in the incidence of retained placenta. Equally it was noted that the third stage of labour was significantly shorter in the actively managed group. In terms of significance for the mother there were negative findings in relation to active management and these included a higher incidence of raised blood pressure post delivery (the criteria used being > 100 mm Hg). Higher incidences of reported nausea and vomiting were also found although these were apparently related to the use of ergot ecbolic