The Decline of Students Writing Skills Causes and Outcomes

The Decline of Students Writing Skills Causes and Outcomes The Decline of Students’ Writing Skills: Causes and Outcomes Writing is still the most common form of evaluating students’ achievements. You must write term papers, coursework, theses, and dissertations to prove that the teachers effort did not go to waste, and that you can acquire knowledge on your own. But something did go to waste, as more and more teachers begin to realize that they spend more time fixing grammar mistakes than focusing on the information related to topic of the work. So, what happened? If the problem keeps getting worse, maybe it’s high time to get to the bottom of it and find out the reasons for weak writing skills. Statistics on Student Writing Skills Numerous studies have been taken involving writing skills of grade-school to college age students. Annual reports from the National Center for Education Statistics show that the SAT mean scores in writing have dropped from 497 to 484 in 9 years (2006 – 2015). It’s already bad that the score is decreasing, but it also never stayed the same two years in a row during this period. Therefore, we can assume that the SAT result in writing will continue to decrease at the same rate. The same statistics show that SAT reading scores have also decreased in the same way. This also contributes to poor writing skills, particularly where analyzing and synthesizing sources is required. Causes of Students Poor Writing Skills Many teachers think that the main reason for poor writing is social media. Student paper writing seems to have shrunk to 140 characters in Twitter. But if you think about it, shouldnt these 140 characters teach young people how to express their thoughts concisely? Maybe the problem is not in the communication services that they use, but rather because they were never taught how to think and write properly. Actually, the basis of the problem lies in the limited skill set students get from secondary and high school education. They were not taught what they are required straight after entering college. Most of the time, high school students dont get to do anything more than argue an opinion in their essays. Analyzing and synthesizing information are neglected. Another point to consider is that more and more students are becoming reticent about sharing something personal, including their point of view on an essay topic. Possible Outcomes and Solutions Poor writing skills influence both employers and their prospective employees. Employers waste hundreds of dollars on training; that is, when they can attract applicants. If you’ve ever searched the job market, you’ve seen the error-filled job descriptions. Those vacancies are certainly not too appealing. On the other hand, if you’re a student looking for a job, writing skills are essential in writing a believable resume or cover letter. And in the future work place, you’ll have to write reports, business letters, and maybe even press-releases. This means you have to be prepared before you even start searching for a job. Writing is a way to communicate your thoughts, feelings and opinions. It’s an essential skill in everyday life, as well. Grade school should be the place to lay the basis for such skills. Considering that students come to colleges and universities unprepared, the grade school system should be altered to raise interest in writing and to develop the basic required knowledge for literacy. In the end, students should be encouraged to write rather than criticized. It’s one thing to evaluate grammar and structure, but if students feel like their personal opinions are evaluated, they’ll be hesitant to express them. Unfortunately, this is what grade school education is lacking today – freedom of expression.

Fourth Amendment - the Text, Origins, and Meaning

Fourth Amendment - the Text, Origins, and Meaning The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a section of the Bill of Rights that protects the people from being subjected to unreasonable searches and seizures of property by law enforcement officers or the federal government. However, the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit all searches and seizures, but only those that are found by a court to be unreasonable under the law. The Fifth Amendment, as part of the original 12 provisions of the Bill of Rights, was submitted to the states by Congress on September 25, 1789, and was ratified on December 15, 1791. The full text of the Fourth Amendment states: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Motivated by British Writs of Assistance Originally created to enforced the doctrine that â€Å"each man’s home is his castle,† The Fourth Amendment was written directly in response to British general warrants, called Writs of Assistance, in which the Crown would grant overarching, non-specific search powers to British law enforcement officials. Through Writs of Assistance, officials were free to search virtually any home they liked, at any time they liked, for any reason they liked or for no reason at all. Since some of the founding fathers had been smugglers in England, this was an especially unpopular concept in the colonies. Clearly, the framers of the Bill of Rights considered such colonial-era searches to be â€Å"unreasonable.† What Are ‘Unreasonable’ Searches Today? In deciding whether a particular search is reasonable, the courts attempt to weigh important interests: The extent to which the search intruded on the individuals Fourth Amendment rights and the extent to which the search was motivated by valid government interests, such as public safety. Warrantless Searches Not Always ‘Unreasonable’ Through several rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court has established that the extent to which an individual is protected by the Fourth Amendment depends, in part, on the location of the search or seizure. It is important to note that according to these rulings, there are several circumstances under which police may lawfully conduct â€Å"warrantless searches.† Searches in the Home:  According to Payton v. New York (1980), Searches and seizures conducted inside a home without a warrant are presumed to be unreasonable. However, such â€Å"warrantless searches† may be lawful under certain circumstances, including: If a responsible person gives the police permission to search the property. (Davis v. United States)If the search is conducted during a lawful arrest. (United States v. Robinson)If there is clear and immediate probable cause to conduct the search. (Payton v. New York)If the items being searched for are in plain view of the officers. (Maryland v. Macon) Searches of the Person:  In what is popularly known as its â€Å"stop and frisk† decision in the 1968 case of Terry v. Ohio, the Court ruled that when police officers see â€Å"unusual conduct† leading them to reasonably conclude that criminal activity may be taking place, the officers may briefly stop the suspicious person and make reasonable inquiries aimed at confirming or dispelling their suspicions. Searches in Schools:  Under most circumstances, school officials do not need to get a warrant before searching students, their lockers, backpacks, or other personal property. (New Jersey v. TLO)  Ã‚   Searches of Vehicles:  When police officers have probable cause to believe that a vehicle contains evidence of criminal activity, they may lawfully search any area of the vehicle in which the evidence might be found without a warrant. (Arizona v. Gant) In addition, police officers may lawfully conduct a traffic stop if they have reasonable suspicion that a traffic violation has occurred or that criminal activity is being carried out, for example, vehicles seen fleeing the scene of a crime. (United States v. Arvizu and Berekmer v. McCarty) Limited Power In practical terms, there is no means by which the government can exercise prior restraint on law enforcement officials. If an officer in Jackson, Mississippi wants to conduct a warrantless search without probable cause, the judiciary is not present at the time and cant prevent the search. This meant that the Fourth Amendment had little power or relevance until 1914. The Exclusionary Rule In Weeks v. United States (1914), the Supreme Court established what has been known as the exclusionary rule. The exclusionary rule states that evidence obtained through unconstitutional means is inadmissible in court and cannot be used as part of the prosecutions case. Before Weeks, law enforcement officials could violate the Fourth Amendment without being punished for it, secure the evidence, and use it at trial. The exclusionary rule establishes consequences for violating a suspects Fourth Amendment rights. Warrantless Searches The Supreme Court has held that searches and arrests can be performed without a warrant under some circumstances. Most notably, arrests and searches can be performed if the officer personally witnesses the suspect committing a misdemeanor, or has reasonable cause to believe that the suspect has committed a specific, documented felony. Warrantless Searches by Immigration Enforcement Officers On January 19, 2018, U.S. Border Patrol agents - without producing a warrant to do so - boarded a Greyhound bus outside the Fort Lauderdale, Florida station and arrested an adult female whose temporary visa had expired. Witnesses on the bus alleged that the Border Patrol agents had also asked everyone on board to show proof of U.S. citizenship. In response to inquiries, the Border Patrol’s Miami section headquarters confirmed that under the long-standing federal law, they can do that. Under Section 1357 of Title 8 of the United States Code, detailing the powers of immigration officers and employees, officers of the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can, without a warrant: interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States;arrest any alien who in his presence or view is entering or attempting to enter the United States in violation of any law or regulation made in pursuance of law regulating the admission, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens, or to arrest any alien in the United States, if he has reason to believe that the alien so arrested is in the United States in violation of any such law or regulation and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest, but the alien arrested shall be taken without unnecessary delay for examination before an officer of the Service having authority to examine aliens as to their right to enter or remain in the United States; andwithin a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States, to board and search for aliens any vessel within the territorial waters of the United States and any railway car, aircraft, con veyance, or vehicle, and within a distance of twenty-five miles from any such external boundary to have access to private lands, but not dwellings, for the purpose of patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States. In addition, The Immigration and Nationality Act 287(a)(3) and CFR 287 (a)(3) states that Immigration Officers, without a warrant, may â€Å"within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States...board and search for aliens in any vessel within the territorial waters of the United States and any railcar, aircraft, conveyance, or vehicle.† The Immigration and Nationality Act defines â€Å"Reasonable distance† as 100 miles.   The Right to Privacy Although the implicit privacy rights established in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Roe v. Wade (1973) are most often associated with the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fourth Amendment contains an explicit right of the people to be secure in their persons that is also strongly indicative of a constitutional right to privacy. Updated by Robert Longley

THings fall apart achebe essays

THings fall apart achebe essays All the cultures in a bigger or smaller grade had always been under the possibility of colonization. Even today where there is a greater control and knowledge about the territories we still see some powerful country trying to colonize other. In the book by Chinua Achebe "Things Fall Apart" we see how the English people in the name of the Queen of England try to colonize small African villages. We been talking about colonization, but what is colonization? We can define colonization as the appropriation of lands that belong to someone else by force, and the introduction of the foreign culture to the one already existing there. In this book what Achebe wants to show us is that is possible to change a whole culture just by introducing a new one. If we analyze the book we see that the African village had its own structure and rules. Everyone in the village respected those rules even the most powerful men in the village. When Okonkwo shoots accidentally the old' s dead man daughter he has to leave the village, even thought he was one of the nine who run that village. There were no excuses, nor corruption, nor a way to escape, if someone did something wrong that someone have to pay no matter whom he was. He tries to show us how the original culture of the village was, how the women were treated and how men were in charge of everything. He shows us that the more you work and the more stronger you were the more important you were. We can see this very clear in the analogy of Okonkwo' s father and Okonkwo. His father hardly worked, he was not a strong man, and therefore he was not respected and owed lots of mone y to everyone in the village. On the other side Okonkwo was a warrior, hardworking man. Everyone in the village respected him and he was one of the wealthiest men also. This kind of culture and social life was very characteristic of African villages in colonization times. Achebe wants to show us how is that a culture can be changed...

Argument synthesis and analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Argument synthesis and analysis - Essay Example Makey Makey in a way demystified the computer. The hardware and engineering of a computer used to be intimidating that we thought it requires a high degree of understanding electronics and engineering and Makey Makey showed that it does not necessarily need to be so. One can make his or her pet a mouse or replace the keyboard with a banana. This innovation can in fact enable anyone to make his or her own customize computer depending on the application of their preference. If people chose to, they can now make a piano with bananas or stairs as their keyboard. This invention is already proven in the market and its application is clearly illustrated in the clip. Its claim to replace computer’s input devices such as keyboard and mouse can be done through the use of Arduino although Makey Makey can run through it without understanding what Arduino is. The technology behind Makey Makey is through a â€Å"printed circuit board with an  ATMega32u4 microcontroller running Arduino Leonardo bootloader. It uses the Human Interface Device (HID) protocol to communicate with your computer, and it can send keypresses, mouse clicks, and mouse movements† (Silver). This explains why a banana or a stairs can be used as a keyboard or piano because it replaces the keyboard and mouse with any object through the Human Interface Device (HID) protocol to communicate with your computer. It is done through the alligator pin where the object suddenly becomes a Human Interface Device. The technology behind also to make it responsive to human skin including animals, leaves, it used With regard to the use high resistance switching   with a â€Å"pull-up resistor of 10-50 mega ohms. This technique attracts noise on the input, so we use a moving window averager to lowpass the noise in software, saving money on hardware filtering. There are six inputs on the front of the board, which can be

Culture and Technology-Sheila Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Culture and Technology-Sheila - Coursework Example The distributed teams are also affected by these two in different ways. This paper is going to discuss the influence of technology and culture on the performance of organizations. A general definition of culture is that it is a shared platform of characteristics, beliefs and interactions. What this definition implies is all members of a particular culture have same behaviors, beliefs and way of socializing with others. The people forming a particular culture can be those operating in the same working environment, or those that are from the same geographical region. Workers of an organization usually have a culture that guides their operation in the firm. Therefore, they became members of this organization’s culture. Since they are operating in the same culture, these workers have similar traits and ways of operation that are connected to the organizational culture (Daim, 2012). The culture in which a team or organization carries out its activities would always influence the performance of this team or firm. There are various ways through which the team performance can be affected by culture. Even though most of the effects are positive, some of them are negative effects. One way in which culture influences the performance of a team is by creating a specific code of conduct that would regulate the operations of team members or employees in an organization. The restriction on what people can do in the firm is very important when it comes to maintaining relevance among team members as they work. If members are always participating in relevant activities within the group, the performance of the team is expected to go up (Wai On, 2013). A good organizational culture is also responsible for teamwork and collaboration among team members and stuff in a business firm. A good culture will always advocate for members to work together towards achieving the goals of the team. Teamwork is one factor that contributes so much to the performance of the

Paul Samuelson, Abba Lerner and John Kenneth Galbraith in relation to Assignment

Paul Samuelson, Abba Lerner and John Kenneth Galbraith in relation to the idea of human flourishing - Assignment Example In one of his principles he stated that a government should maintain a reasonable level of demand at all times (Samuelson & Puttaswamaiah, 2002). In this consideration, he also added that in case of too little spending in the society; the government should reduce taxes or increase its own spending to correct the situation that also leads to unemployment. The other principle stated that by borrowing money when there is need to raise the interest rate and through lending money when there is need to reduce the rate of interest, the administration should be able to uphold the rate of interest that encourages the best amount of investment (Samuelson & Puttaswamaiah, 2002). All the two finance principles were summarized in his principles with the limiting the national debt principle so that all the needs of the people in the society are taken into consideration. John Kenneth Galbraith also had principles that argued and was based on understanding the trouble that exist currently within economics and economic policies. The works that were created by him were partly rooted to Marshall’s theory of the firm most of his principles were followed after the post war economy was dominated by bureaucratic corporations with more demand of consumers and also financiers. The principles he developed believed on expenditure as a factor that would be used to satisfy the needs of the consumer. The policies that are developed by the government are those focusing on consumer satisfaction.

GE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GE - Essay Example Diversification and market penetration are two strategies that have always played an important role in bringing growth in the business activities of an organization. Same is the case with General Electrics. By entering new markets and providing services designed around strategic problems faced by communities and market sectors, GE has expanded both effectively and efficiently. For any organization capturing emerging markets that have growing economies is an important business decision, which when taken at the right time, usually results in major benefits for organization. In 2003, Goldman Sachs economist, Jim O’Neill highlighted the growth in the economies of the four countries, namely, Brazil, Russia, India and China and predicted that the rapidly progressing economies of these countries will make them the world leaders by 2050. His report helped investing organizations, researchers and academics put more focus on these four countries in the future and shed light on the prospective prosperity that lay in investing in these rapidly growing countries. Currently, General electric is doing business in all four of the BRIC countries, but plans to increase its market share in these countries. The predictions that O’Neill made are dependent on a number of external issues that may eventually decide whether all of these four countries will make the progress that is thought that they will make or not. Similiarly, GE’s investment decisions in these countries will also be based upon the various risks and benefits that are associated with each country. China, being the third largest country in the world area wise and having the largest population on earth is slated to overtake all the G7 countries including America and become the world’s biggest economy by the year 2045. Experts have argued that the real ‘muscle’ in the BRIC name is due to China. With the economic and financial growth that china has experienced in the past decades, its increased