A Teacher | An Educational Experience

A Teacher | An Educational Experience Many times, when we are young, we are faced with decisions that we can only understand as we grow older. I can still remember that game, where my parents chose different things each representing a different job, and I had to pick one of them. This was supposed to indicate the road I was going to take as an adult and the work I was going to deal with. The one thing I chose that time was a stethoscope, which meant I was going to study to become a doctor. As I grew older, many things changed and even my ideas became different from time to time. Now I find myself reading a four year course in teaching, and I would definately have never imagined myself as a teacher. Discussion Our professional life is something, which I think, cannot be decided when we are still young and without any experience. It is often affected by factors which are out of our control, and shaped by different experiences we go through in our life. Way back through my secondary years, I used to imagine myself as a pilot or becoming an air-hostess, following my fathers footsteps. I always loved planes and I remember telling my friends that once I finish school, I was going to work on a plane and start flying often. It all changed when I had to chose the subjects I wanted to broaden my studies on. We had a good variety of choices, amongst which sciences, maths, languages, and an option including physical education and home economics. This option was new to the school and it was introduced to the students of our year, so we were the first to experiment in this. I was quite undecided on what to choose as sciences and maths were not my favourite, and I was left with languages and the other option of physical education. Obviously I seeked my parents advice, and they were not quite keen on me choosing physical education, so they encouraged me to take the option regarding languages. Despite this, I opted in choosing physical education. At the beginning of the scholastic year, when I was in Form 2, the school employed a new physical education teacher, who was very young, fresh and enthusiastic on teaching new students. My life at school was very sedentary and I rarely used to attend to physical education lessons, because the teacher we had was very traditional. She used to give us a ball and let us experiment on our own each and every lesson. Otherwise, she also used to prepare lessons with about four (4) or five (5) different exercises and we had to spend the whole lesson practising the given skills. This new teacher was different, I remember the very first lesson where I told her I was not going to take part because I did not want to, and she insisted on me helping her out throughout the lesson. The lesson was an introduction to football, something which I previously had never done. She literally caught my attention, as without even realising, I was taking part in the lesson with the whole class. It was so interesting and challenging, using games in order to make us think and experience the skill, rather than just giving it out. This teacher believed a lot in learning through experience, in order to help the students think and arrive to a conclusion. From that day onwards, my view on the physical education lessons totally changed, and there was not one lesson I did not fully participate in. As Dewey (1897) claims I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. Agreeing to what Dewey states, learning and education are social and interactive processes, where the school is the institution which helps the child interact with the curriculum and learn through real, guided experiences. He compares two (2) extremes, that are the traditional method against the progressive method of teaching. The first one (traditional) is more of an authoritarian and strict approach, where the teacher focuses on delivering the curriculum, with not enough understanding of the students experiences. The second method (progressive) is free, student-directed and uses the students experiences to enable them to learn. Going back to my primary years, I remember how I used to hate physical education because the teacher was very traditional and used to gives us a ball and kind of dictate the skills that had to be practised, in order to stick to the syllabus content. This used to get annoying, with very minimal learning, and for this reason I always used to opt out in taking part and stay wandering around. This was only until the school employed the new teacher, and with her the lessons were so different. They were fun, progressive, and educational at the same time, introducing a variety of sports to us and teaching us numerous skills and games which we had never done in years. Recalling these years made me understand how I wanted to become that teacher who makes the students love the subject and guide them to learn through their own experience, being able to understand the skills. I did not want to become the traditional teacher, as Dewey claims, who gives a ball to the students and its like sending a clear message I do not care in doing the lesson. The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences. (Dewey, 1987). In physical education, students tend to ask for playing games rather than having a lesson focused on drills and skill practise. A very good method I have been introduced to at University is the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU), and our lecturers emphasize its use in schools. Throughout my teaching practice I realised it is very effective and endorses students in a thinking process, because rather than focusing on how to do it (main importance is given to the techniques practised), it addresses the why and the what if (students have to think of skils and strategies for better play). As Griffin and colleagues (1997) suggest, it helps in encouraging the students to respond with a range of creative actions, being able to critically think and make their own decisions. Students are thus able to develop a deeper meaning and understanding of what they are being taught, and be able to decide and use information in a variety of situations. Concording to Dewey: the true centre of correlation of the school subjects is not science, nor literature, nor history, nor geography, but the childs own social activities. (Dewey, 1987). Applying this method in my teaching practice, turned out very well and also made me realise that teaching is a drawing forth rather than a telling. Teaching does not have to be a dictatorship, or else giving only importance to what lies within the curriculum. If students prefer learning through games, than use games to deliver the content, but in a way that encourages students to learn and not push them away in disliking the subject. For example, taking physical education again and focusing the lesson on basketball; if the aim of the lesson is introduce passing, I would start the lesson by a ball possession game, where the students have to make five (5) consecutive passes to be able to score a point. In this manner, students are playing a game, practising passing between each other, and also being able to think and understand that in order to score a point they need to move about and create open spaces. Obviously, in contrast to the I want you to stay in pairs and pass the ball to each other traditional method, this progressive approach allows the students to think and experience the skills. As a future educator, I also believe that students need to be guided in order to be able to discover new knowledge. Socrates established a very important notion of philosophy, that is arriving at truth through a series of questions. He used to question man in the street himself to arrive at political and ethical truths. He also questioned his students, as a means of instruction to engage them in thinking a problem and arriving at a critical conclusion. Nowadays, this so called Socratic Method, is very much used by teachers to stimulate learning in students. It focuses on the students knowledge to address a given problem, and learning is through a process of critical thinking and discovery, and not by having the teacher telling the student the proper answer. It is through the use of questioning methods, that students are encouraged to think and analyse a given situation. In teaching this is what is known to be as the guided-discovery method, where the process is triggered off by a series of stimuli. These can range from small statements to questions that elicit discovery. The questions might then proceed in small steps, until the student discovers the wanted target or concept through own knowledge and experience. An example drawn from a particular lesson I had during my teaching practice last year, where a student was finding it difficult to hit the ball, as the lesson was about softball (very similar to the baseball game). Instead of just teling her she had to swing the bat earlier, I started to ask her a series of questions to make her think about what she was doing wrong. The first question First I asked her why wasnt she able to hit the ball, and her answer was that she was swinging earlier than the ball. To this I then invited her to think why she was swinging early, and she came to a conclusion that it was happening because she was not timing the ball correctly. Thus, automatically she realised that she needed to wait a bit more before swinging the bat. After a couple of times practising the swing, she managed to hit the ball. I could have easily told her to wait for the ball before swinging, but in this manner the student managed to arrive to the conclusion through her own experience a nd by critically thinking and analysing the problem. Conclusion In a learning community, learners construct their own knowledge, and then share it with the whole society through: collaboration as an act of shared creation/and or shared discovery. (Schrage, 1990). This is important, as in a world where technology is prevailing: it is not possible for the individual to understand the complexities of this modern age without drawing on and accepting the contribution of others. (Schrage, 1990). A teacher is definately essential in helping the learner construct his or her own knowledge. Undoubtedly, a teacher also has great responsibility in preparing the students well for their careers and lives, and it is important to note that without the teacher, jobs such as those of a doctor, lawyer, auditor and so on, could not be taken as one needs to be taught before taking up a career. Many people have been helpful and important in helping me become what I am today, but a person which has been an important role-model and inspired me to take this road, is my secondary physical education teacher. She is what I define a successful and efficient teacher, and one day I would like to be defined in that manner by my students. An analysis of the Selfie: A new unconscious illness An analysis of the Selfie: A new unconscious illness Title: Selfie: A new unconscious illness 1.0 Introduction People have been taking selfie as a trend that is ongoing. The word ‘selfie’ is officially named by the Oxford Dictionaries World of the Year in 2013. ‘Selfie’ is define as a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website (Oxford University Press, 2014).Moreover, selfie is often associated with social networks like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. People take selfie wherever they are and whatever they are doing. These days, people snap pictures of themselves wherever they are. For example, selfies taken at funerals, presidential selfies, and even a selfie from space (The Daily Hit, 2013). The popularity of selfies has dramatically increased and had become a social media phenomenon. So, should this be seen as an issues? According to Doctor Pamela Rutledge (2013), selfies can be damaging to a person’s mental health and that indulging in them is indicative of narcissism, low self-esteem, attention seeking behaviour and self-indulgence. Even Thailand’s Department of Mental Health come to a conclusion that the ‘selfie culture’ bring a potential negative impact and claiming that young people are suffering from emotional problem when their selfies is not underappreciated by others. The public does not concern about this issue [L1]because they are not conscious of the illness that selfie can bring. 2.0 Sickness of selfie 2.1 Narcissism The meaning of narcissism is excessive self-love (Acocella Joan, 2005). Due to the improvement of the technology, taking selfie now is much more convenient. Camera are now being placed on our phones with high mega pixel, we get to edit the picture that we just snap with a touch and we can share it to everyone with a click. The more shots that are taken, the danger you are. You might feel each of the photos of you are so pretty due to the effect that make your skin smooth, fair and make you look younger. This thought may be the platform of the sickness – Narcissism. Narcissism can be also defined as a personality disorder that cause by behaviour like exploiting others, envy, lack of empathy and an insatiable hunger for attention (Acocella Joan, 2005). It is a pretty judgmental label to string up on someone who might be happy with him or herself. According to Doctor Pamela Rutledge (2013), the growing selfie trend is today being connected to a lot of psychological disorders that can be damaging to the overall psyche of the users. Psychologists and psychiatrists are reporting rising numbers of patients who are suffering from narcissism, body dysmorphic and dramatically low self-esteem, all thanks to selfie-nation. According to Doctor David Verle (2014) â€Å"Two out of three of all the patients who arrive to examine him with Body Dysmorphic Disorder since the cost increase of camera phones have a compulsion to repeatedly read and post selfies on the social media sites.† This indicates that too much selfie can actually lead to Narcissism. 2.2 Addiction Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry (ASAM, 2011). Selfie can be an addiction to everyone, not only youngsters, elderly may also addicted to the selfie phenomenon. It seems that some people cant stop turning the camera their way for that perfect shot, and now psychologists say taking selfie can turn an addiction for people already affected by certain psychological disorders. Research found that UK’s first selfie addict is the teen and has had therapy to treat his technology addiction (Fiona Keating, 2014). They believe that the addiction toward selfie is because Selfies frequently trigger perceptions of self-indulgence or attention-seeking social dependence that raises narcissism or low self-esteem, (Pamela Rutledge, 2013). Someone that who are addicted to selfie can snap more than 200 times selfie per day. The first case is of Danny Bowman who is 19, a British teen diagnosed with selfie addiction. He reportedly spen t 10 hours daily with 200 photos of himself, but the numerous shots cannot still satisfy his desires. He eventually tried to commit suicide to break free from addiction (Aldridge Gemma; Harden Kerry, 2014). Due to the addiction of selfie, he quit school to have more time for selfie, shutting himself in the house for six month, lost 13 kg just to get a better feature from the camera and become aggressive with his parents when they tried to stop him from selfie. Danny says that he constantly search for the perfect selfie and when he realise the he couldn’t he wanted to suicide. Because of the addiction of selfie, he lost his friends, disappoint his family, giving up his education, health and almost scarifies his own life. The addiction of selfie is most likely to the addiction of drugs, alcohol or gambling which require a lot of efforts to be recover. 3.0 Dealing with selfie 3.1 How parents can help to reduce this issues Most of us do practice selfie, but how to deal with it, how to prevent from getting any illness but still enjoying selfie. First, parent’s education is most important. Knowing what is your children going through and having a better example of selfie phenomena. Some of the children go through rebellious period, they tend to do the opposite thing when their parents say not to (Rutledge Pamela, 2013). So due to this, parent should know their kids well and have a good communication between them to solve this issue. Next, parents should keep the habits of taking selfie when their children is not around because the behaviour of a parent’s influence their children because children tends to modify what their parents doing. Furthermore, parents should also educate their children on what negative effect can selfie bring. Parents play an important role in a child’s life and what they have made changes what they think. 3.2 Time limitations on phone Other than having the parents educate, time limitation on the phone also helps in dealing with selfie. The lesser the time you spend on your mobile phone, the lesser your addiction towards selfie. Most of us search for photo perfection for example Danny Bowman. After selfie, we spend most of the time on choosing the perfect picture and spend time on editing. Due to the advance technology, there are now thousands of applications for you to edit your picture. From the case of Danny Bowman, there is a cure toward the addiction of selfie which is to limit his time on his mobile phones. Danny claimed that the doctor confiscate his phone from him for ten minutes, then half an hour, then an hour (Aldridge Gemma; Harden Kerry, 2014). It was tough for him at first, but the idea of living keeps him motivated. According to Doctor Veal, the usual treatment for selfie is where a patient gradually learns to work for a longer period of time without satisfying the urge to submit pictures. There is not much worried because there is a cure for addiction and narcissism. 4.0 Conclusion Selfie addiction is so new there are, as yet, no statistics on it (Aldridge Gemma; Harden Kerry, 2014) so it causes people to be unconscious about it. How can the society help to improve the selfie phenomena is to spread the word and inform about what illness can bring when they having too much of selfie. Other than that, self-conscious is also important as we. Always control yourself on the number of selfie and the time spent on selfie, make sure you are not addicted to it. If you were addicted, find someone to talk to, get some opinion or seek for a further medical check-up if you can’t manage to get out from the illness that you are having. Lastly, we can make the selfie phenomena a better world by reminding each other not to take too much shots to avoid all the illness and educate them on how to deal with selfie. Reference List Acocella Joan. (2014) Selfie.New Yorker, 0028792X, 5/12/2014, Vol. 90, Issue 12. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/[emailprotected]vid=1hid=4202bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==#db=a9hAN=96140839 Addiction. (2011). American Society of Addiction Medicine. Retrieved form http://www.asam.org/for-the-public/definition-of-addiction Aldridge, G., Harden, K. (2014). Selfie addict took Two Hundred a day – and tried to kill himself when he couldn’t take perfect photo. Retrieved from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/selfie-addict-took-two-hundred-3273819 Martino Joe. (2014). Scientists Link Selfies to Narcissism, Addiction Mental Illness. Retrieved from http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/04/07/scientists-link-selfies-to-narcissism-addiction-mental-illness/ Rutledge Pamela. (2013). Making Sense of Selfies. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201307/making-sense-selfies Rutledge Pamela. (2013). The psychology of the selfie. Airtalk. Retrieved from http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2014/02/11/35997/the-psychology-of-the-selfie/ Selfie. (2012). In Oxford dictionaries. Retrieved from http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/press-releases/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-2013/ The Daily Hit. (2013). The Selfie Addiction  ¼Ã… ¡ Top 16 worst types of selfies. Retrieved from http://www.dailyhiit.com/hiit-blog/hiit-life/selfie-addiction-top-16-worst-types-selfies/ The Huffington Post. (2014), ‘Selfie Addiction’ is No Laughing Matter, Psychiatrists Say (VIDEO). Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/selfie-addiction-mental-illness_n_5022090.html [L1]Informal tone. Please rephrase. Concepts of Evils: Reflective Essay Concepts of Evils: Reflective Essay CONCEPT OF EVILS : I doubt that anyone thinks that we live in a perfect world. Although famine, war, earthquakes, disease and crime are common occurrences, I am sure that most people would be happy to live without them. In fact, I would expect that most people would say that these things are an indication that all is not well with the world. Types of Evils : There are basically two types of evil viz. Moral evil:  Suffering caused by humans. Natural Evil:  Suffering due to non-human agents. Those who argue that God does not exist, will often suggest that the presence of evil and suffering in the world is evidence that there is no God. Their argument can be set out in the following way; If God exists then surely God would want to, and could, deal with the problem of evil and suffering. Evil and suffering continues to occur in the world. Therefore, God cannot exist. So there is no perfect confirmation on the presence of God or absence of evil and vice versa. That means if God exist then evil too exist. The tact is to reformulate the argument from evil so that this criticism does not apply; for example, by replacing the term evil with suffering, or what is more cumbersome, state of affairs that orthodox theists would agree are properly called evil. MORAL EVIL : Moral evil is violence, slavery, dishonesty and so on which is basically out of our moral values and ethics. For example; If a girl gets raped then it is not her fault, it is one who does that. But society in which we live always blames the girl starts spoiling her name and starts gossiping about her activities that she does or did in his life like about her clothing’s, friends and the list doesn’t stops. Already the girl in the immense pain they she might be going through on the other hand such gossips hurts her more. On the other hand the media, newspapers tell something other story with all the emotions, drama, extra knowledge all that stuff just to increase their trp rate and for the fame. People in the society should ashamed that if they always tell girls to live but why can’t they teach their boys how to behave with girls In this example we can say that everyone has freedom to do what they want to. We always say that we live in a free country but the fact is that we are miles away from the freedom. It is not acceptable i.e. violence against women nor any type of harassment. That’s what our moral value says not to do harm anyone and also one should have some kind of humanity within them but do people nowadays really have it. If they have so then they might not gossip or do such kind of things with girls. The problem with our judiciary system is that there procedure of making judgement is so slow that victims can make hundreds of crime within that period. So fast trails should be made so that the victims can know their faults and anyone should not dare to repeat the mistake again. NATURAL EVILS : Natural evils are those which are done by non- human agents like people believe in superstitions, spirits, etc. For example; I heard this one from one of my friend who actually experienced it, one of their relative who was close with their family died some 2 years back who met with an accident and after few months everyday some or the other things happens in their house like sometimes there is health problems, sometimes my friend would go crazy like laughing like ghost and starts speaking to himself about that uncle’s family all that stuff. Then they went to many doctors for treatment but all that was of no use then some people told them that u go to religious places and do pooja and perform some kind of rituals it will be fine because all these is happening because of wicked spirits that is in my friend so their family did all rituals and then things became as normal it was. But now I can’t understand that one side it is said that wicked things are all fake and it is superstition but in the other side its true that my friend got cured because of all that rituals. But I personall y believe that there is no such kind of wicked spirits present in this world. All this rituals are performed so that one can earn money, fame and so on. The best part is that how they fool people in and around them by telling all the stupid things and people to fall pray. We all have noticed all these poster in the train which tell the same thing but the phone number in it is different. In this people are given wrong information about it due to which a fear is built inside them about their own problem. All this builds up stress in their mind and causes mental illness. I don’t believe that how people started using the name of the God for earning. But its true that if people believe in God then they must believe in spirits too. One more example of natural evil is blackmagic. The article down is taken from http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-08/india/41873071_1_kerala-village-kalari-black-magic KOCHI: For Peringottukara is best known for the practice of black magic, especially one involving chathan or kuttichathan. This figure is a dark avatar of Vishnu who rides a buffalo, and whose mastery in removing, or placing, hurdles in mortal life is never questioned by believers. The chathan could blight your love life, business dealings or general prosperity but could also set things right if placated.The families of Avanangattil Kalari and Kanadi are the resident experts in this trade. They are at pains to explain that, rumours of black arts notwithstanding, they are harmless folk.The treatment is often elaborate tantric pujas that involve ornate symbolism, much mumbo-jumbo, trances, communion with saturnine powers and the like. If you are here, it is hard to remain untouched by the rituals. There are more worldly matters to be dealt with as well. Even as this correspondent was chatting up a priest at Avanangattil Kalari, an NRI nonchalantly placed a fat bundle of notes as advanc e for the chathans intervention in his business empire. A couple of minutes later, a poor, halfblind lottery ticket vendor too lands up to lament business losses. All he has to placate the mischievous chathan is a one rupee coin. The priest seems to show no particular interest in the money being offered. Those in the know, however, will tell you how easily and seamlessly these priests shuttle between the spiritual and temporal worlds. Many of them have got incredibly rich and run petrol pumps and cinema theatres. They have also put in place a fairly well-oiled structure to run the faith industry, including staff to woo devotees from far and wide.According to advertising industry circles, the Kanadi groups spend lakhs on publicity every year. Some of the Malayalam newspapers which were reluctant to carry advertisements of such dispensers of divine blessings have now changed tack. Nowadays people are feared about their life and they are not interested in their moral values and ethics. I too believe that sometimes something depends upon circumstances but there are something that is not acceptable under any circumstances like harassment, inequality, racism, etc. It is common in all the trucks there is some kind of picture is drawn and it is said that it will save it from all kinds of accidents and damage that may occur. All this things are only to up come our fear that have been put into our mind or taken by us through some instance that they have been known. Today’s youth is tomorrow’s adult generation. Now we may take any big step to eradicate social evil but we can prepare our minds that when we will be adults we will not support social evil. At this moment we can orally fight with the social criminals, put up posters in the neighbouring to decrease social evil such as rape, child labour, black magic, etc. Thats all we can do now later we all be not this generation as it is now. So one should prepare their mind that in our generation there would be no evil nor any issue.!!!!! So lastly I conclude that moral evils can be eradicated from our society but natural evils (spiritual or wicked) can’t be easily removed from our society. I too didn’t understood that do really natural evils exit in the world because I don’t believe in God!!! Nursing Leaders in Afghanistan: Competency and Challenges Nursing Leaders in Afghanistan: Competency and Challenges Wais Mohammad Qarani Significance The objective of this topic is in line with the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) priority program on human resource development as indicated that MoPH supports â€Å"research at all levels†¦and capacity building of nursing and midwifery department† (MoPH-National Priority Program, 2012, p. 95). Moreover, understanding of the competency of nursing leaders in Afghanistan would provide evidence to maintain equity in the provision of learning opportunities, serve as an advocate for allocation of resources through the MoPH for the capacity development, and facilitate donor attraction for the development of nursing profession to create carrier development opportunities. Subsequently, this would be a foundation to increase awareness, build on knowledge, facilitate advocacy, improve professional image, improve quality, and enhance patient outcome. Therefore, it is important to explore that what is the competency level of nursing leaders who are working in the public h ospitals in Kabul, Afghanistan and what challenges they face that hinder their practice and subsequently affect patient care. Search Strategy This literature review consists of the data from the CINAHL, PubMed databases and Google Scholar. The data about nursing in Afghanistan were limited to the opinion articles and were searched as an entire through the term â€Å"Nursing AND Afghanistan† without filtering and only six relevant articles were found. Other search terms were conducted in combination of the keywords including; leadership, nursing, capacity, competency, development, building, challenges, and assessment. Afghanistan national strategic plans and reports were also taken into consideration through the search from Google Scholar and web pages. The searches were filtered to recent data according to the number of available articles accordingly. Majority of the search terms were searched without any filter as the total number of articles were limited. (Refer annexure A for more detail). Introduction Attention to the nursing in Afghanistan peaked in the mid to late 1970s through the establishment of nursing schools for both male and female (Furnia, 1978, p. 94). Likewise other systems of the country, nursing education and practice started to deteriorate after the initiation of war which continued for decades. From the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union and the fall of Taliban, the Afghan education and health systems have drastically damaged. Since the late 2001 the flow of international agencies and contributions to participate in the reconstruction of health sector have increased which have positively contributed in the health of Afghan population (Ministry of Public Health-National Strategy on Healthcare financing and Sustainability, 2009-2013, Forward section, para. 1). International agencies have made to contribute in majority of the health branches and brought remarkable improvements in the health system both at the knowledge and skills level. The nursing education has improved during the past decade. There are some improvements in the curriculum, learning resource package, teaching methodologies, capacity of the instructors, and supervision skills since 2002 and a lot more is needed (Herberg, 2005, p.132). The first four year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) program was established and launched just in 2007 at the Kabul Medical University (KMU) under the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE). Despite improvements in nursing education, nursing services/practice and leadership at the point of practice have not been addressed through any mechanism to improve patient outcome, which needs to be explored and design programs for improvements. The purpose of this literature review is to explore available data and researches conducted on the competency of nursing leaders in Afghanistan. The review also covers literature from the neighboring and other developed countries. The review includes both theoretical and empirical literature focusing on the concepts of competency and leadership. Critical Review and Analysis Robbins et al. (2001) defined competent person as â€Å"one who has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform a job adequately† (p. 192). Robbins et al. have also concluded that competency is divided into four main domains which include â€Å"technical skills, industry knowledge, analytic and conceptual reasoning, and interpersonal and emotional intelligence† (p. 193). Furthermore, 25 participants of a conference attendees in Texas who were leaders reported competency as â€Å"the ability to think in action, have confidence and clarity in decision making, and retrieve information throughout the career trajectory† (Allen et al., 2008, p. 81). In addition, political skill to understand and manage every stakeholder’s conflicting behaviors and external awareness of laws, policies, and decisions are the two important characteristics of effective leadership and management (Blaney, 2012, p. 44) which all together outline competency based leadership and mana gement. Indeed, these domains and components of competency and leadership are distinct from individual to individual, hence have diverse outcomes. Kang et al. (2012) have compared managerial competencies among nursing administrators (n=330) from 16 hospitals in Taiwan through a cross-sectional survey and found that more than 50% of the Head Nurses (HNs) and more than 35% of the high level management had never received any administrative training (p.942). The findings also revealed that HNs and Nurse Executives (NEs) both rated themselves highest in integrity and lowest in financial management followed by clinical skills and knowledge, and interpersonal relationship skills for HNs, whereas; collaboration and team skills and human resource and labor relations were rated by NEs (pp. 942-943). Although organizational outcome is relied on effective leadership and management, it has been given less importance to fulfill capacity development needs of the nursing leaders. Furthermore, considering diverse technological and resources accessibility, competency also differs from person to person in different contexts. Therefore, it is reas onable to explore nursing leaders’ competencies on the context of Afghanistan to enable us in planning programs for the capacity development of nursing leaders accordingly. The development of nursing in China is associated with one of the key factor which is medical orientation of the health system (Wong, 2010, p. 526), while the most troubleshooting challenge of the American nurses is distinct to â€Å"absence of adequate pipeline for nursing leaders† (Thompson, 2008, p. 914). A descriptive qualitative study on the perception of the Community Health Nursing (CHN) Assistant Manager role in Pakistan indicated confusion of the role which needed role clarity (Gulzar, Mistry, Upvall, 2011, p. 389). The same study reported existence of tension between CHN assistant manager and Lady Health Visitors (LHVs) and expected to be the result of the lack of understanding of their roles and expectations (p. 390). This conflict is further exaggerated where the role of one discipline (nursing) is taken by the other discipline (medical) and vice versa particularly in Afghanistan. A quantitative exploratory study by Essani and Ali (2011) conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi Pakistan about knowledge and practice gaps among pediatric nurses revealed that incompetency of the participants had a great impact on the level of care provided to the patients. The gaps were categorized in five areas where knowledge and skills were ranked second and third highest respectively (p.1). The competency of low level staff is dependent on the managerial skills and leadership competencies of high level staff of a particular entity which in turn has its impact on patient outcome. Therefore, capacity development of nursing leaders must be a priority which plays a vital role in organizational outcome. Scarcity of research in Afghanistan hinders any step forward; and due to decades of conflicts, Afghanistan faces greater challenges in terms of leadership than any other country. The issues and practices of nursing in Afghanistan have not been published to guide nursing practice in the country or plan for improvements. Majority of the published articles are on the missions and personal experiences of the international armed forces nursing personnel who worked in Afghanistan. Cameron (2008) described Afghans as â€Å"extremely intelligent and bright† but, decades of war have destroyed the health system of the country and the emotional wellbeing of the population (p. 30). Cameron claimed that despite the role of supervision in maintaining standard of care, majority of the managers do not turn to the wards and do not know about the patient’s condition (p. 30). This claim is needed to be explored through the nursing research to discover leadership incompetence as a contribu ting factor. It appears that nursing leaders could best identify and describe their need for capacity development to design programs which would enable them to avail international knowledge and technology. The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has valued to develop evidence based public health programs (MoPH, Strategic Plan, 2011-2015, p. 20). Besides, the MoPH strategic plan has determined the human resources management and development (pp. 24-25) which is in line with the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS, 2008-2013, p. 62). Although evidence based programs and human resource development are the focus of MoPH, nursing profession has disadvantaged in this regard. This fact is supported by Forsyth (2013) that â€Å"Health Services professionals shifted their focus from caring for sick and injured coalition personnel to mentoring and capacity building with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF)† (p. 32). Although international nurses are posted within ANSF for mentorship and training, this opportunity is much limited within the public hospitals. The MoPH strategic direction on increasing equitable access to quality health services (strategic objective -5) to impr ove patient safety (MoPH, Strategic Plan, 2011-2015, p. 30) is purely dependent on effective nursing care through effective leadership and management. Strategic direction on governance in the health sector (MoPH, Strategic Plan, 2011-2015, pp. 31-32) is an important consideration for fulfilling the objectives. Therefore, identification of the nursing governance competency limitations and evidences which hinder effective nursing leadership require an in-depth research. Conclusion Competency of the nursing leader plays a vital role in the organizational outcome. Global Nursing Leadership Institute (GNLI) under the International Confederation of Nurses (ICN), designs annual leadership development programs for nurses at the executive level. The objectives of the institute focused to develop capacity of the nursing leadership and build international network at the global level (Blaney, 2012, p. 47). On the other hand, Afghan nurses have disadvantaged from such opportunities. Efficiency of a health industry is associated with the better workplace and workforce management and also connected with clinical supervision and effective leadership and management which is compromised component in diverse settings. Therefore, it is vital to develop the capacity of the nursing leaders on the bases of evidence to enhance productivity. Administrators play a central role in the provision of high quality health services to the patients. They are the one who train his/her designe e what to do, when to do and how to do and above all why to do which is more significant for patient outcome. Thus, the finding of this literature review indicates a need to explore the capacity of nursing leaders to plan developmental programs accordingly. The purpose of the research would be to explore competency level of the nursing leaders in public hospitals in Kabul, Afghanistan and also identify challenges they face in the workplace. References Allen, P., Lauchner, K., Bridges, R., Francis-Johnson, P., McBride, S., Olivarez, A. (2008). Evaluating continuing competency: a challenge for nursing.Journal Of Continuing Education In Nursing,39(2), 81-85. doi:10.3928/00220124-20080201-02 ANDS – Afghanistan National Development Strategy (2008-2013). Retrieved from http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/IMG/pdf/Afghanistan_National_Development_Strateg y_eng.pdf Blaney, P. P. (2012). Senior nursing leadership capacity building at the global level. International Nursing Review, 59(1), 40-47. doi:10.1111/j.1466-7657.2011.00953.x Cameron, A. (2008). Planting seeds of hope nursing in Afghanistan. Australian Nursing Journal, 16(5), 30. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=83dab417-8198-4e8d-b006- ca398eb9f9b9%40sessionmgr113vid=1hid=113 Essani, R., Ali, T. (2011). Knowledge and Practice Gaps among Pediatric Nurses at a Tertiary Care Hospital Karachi Pakistan. ISRN Pediatrics, doi:10.5402/2011/460818 Forsyth, J. (2013). Building capacity in Afghanistan. Canadian Nurse, 109(9), 32-33. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5af86ac0-ed52-42e7- b821-aef93fea8df3%40sessionmgr114vid=1hid=113 Furnia, A. H. (1978). Syncrisis: The dynamics of health. XXIV: Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Health, Education and Welfare Public Health Service (DHEW 78-50056). Retrieved from http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNAAH120.pdf Gulzar, S. A., Mistry, R. R., Upvall, M. J. (2011). Capacity development for Community Health Nurses in Pakistan: the assistant manager role. International Nursing Review, 58(3), 386-391. doi:10.1111/j.1466-7657.2011.00896.x Herberg, P. (2005). Nursing, midwifery, and allied health education programmes in Afghanistan. International Nursing Review, 52(2), 123-133. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a63c682f-0b1b-410f-a19e-4d991fd96aa5%40sessionmgr114vid=1hid=113 Kang, C., Chiu, H., Hu, Y., Chen, H., Lee, P., Chang, W. (2012). Comparisons of self-ratings on managerial competencies, research capability, time management, executive power, workload and work stress among nurse administrators. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(7), 938-947. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2012.01383.x Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) National Strategy on Healthcare financing and Sustainability (2009- 2013). Retrieved from http://moph.gov.af/Content/Media/Documents/NationalStrategyonHealthFinancingandSu stainability20092013English1742013132843116553325325.pdf MoPH, National Priority Program, (2012). Health for All Afghans. Retrieved from http://moph.gov.af/Content/Media/Documents/NPPEnglishVersionNarrative29July20122 752013125750126553325325.pdf MoPH, Strategic Plan, 2011-2015. Retrieved from http://www.google.com.pk/url?sa=trct=jq=esrc=sfrm=1source=webcd=1cad =rjaved=0CCcQFjAAurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmoph.gov.af%2FContent%2FMedia%2F Documents%2FMoPHStrategicPlan2011Final2882011115859177553325325.docei=6r 8IU7yqDIir0gWSloDoBwusg=AFQjCNHy730DBrvhFbHBqDFOd7UtpTS- 1gsig2=JJnlggylJ5mHxP2DlfKRSwbvm=bv.61725948,d.Yms Robbins, C., Bradley, E., Spicer, M. (2001). Developing leadership in healthcare administration: a competency assessment tool. Journal of Healthcare Management, 46(3), 188. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ad517ba7-0311-433a-bd10- 40f4819cf245%40sessionmgr198vid=1hid=126 Thompson, P. (2008). Key challenges facing American nurse leaders.Journal of Nursing Management,16(8), 912-914. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2008.00951.x Wong, F. (2010). Challenges for nurse managers in China.Journal of Nursing Management,18(5), 526-530. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01115.x Annexure – A: (detail of search strategies) Annexure B: (List of Acronyms used in the paper)

Importance Of Continuing Professional Development Essay

Continual professional development is improving ones skill and abilities benefiting the individual and the organisation. It is also taking responsibility for ones learning. In these changing times where most people no longer have a job for life, learning is crucial for employability, also as business technology evolves at a much faster pace, individuals need to keep up to date with latest way of doing things – CPD can help to achieve this. My development needs There are different means by which you can develop your skills, knowledge and behaviours, for instance by accessing the Cipd website, reading daily alerts, resourcing journals online and by attending Cipd events I am able to keep up to date with current issues across the sector. I have already started to do this, and have booked myself onto some of the Cipd events. I can improve my knowledge by planning time to go through financial and reporting systems that my organisation uses, with my line/ store manager. I can also research the company intranet, as it contains a wealth of information. By attending ‘Vision’ courses in my workplace I start to think about my personal behaviours, such as self-awareness, which in turn can help me be a better role model for others. I have an interest in performance and reward management and so I am looking forward to the module on this, I will also be having a thorough look at this in my workplace, and also plan to look into performance an d reward that our competitors offer. CPD is important to me for the following reasons,  1, to enable me to improve my skill set making me more employable across the sector. 2, to help build my self-confidence, in a competitive job market. 3, to enable me to be aware of current goings on within the sector. 4, It will make me a more knowledgeable individual which will in turn benefit my team and organisation. Development Options There are many different ways of meeting continued professional needs, and different tools that can be used to help learning, these include reinforcement theories, cybernetic and information theories, cognitive  theories and problem solving and the experiential learning cycle. There are different learning style questionnaires that help people to identify which style of learning suits them, this can then be used to deliver training and learning. For example, Honey and Mumfords learning cycle suggests the following learning styles, Activist, Reflector, Theorist and Pragmatist. The VARK questionnaire is a similar tool concentrating on Visual, Aural, Read and Kinaesthetic methods of learning. In most cases people fall into more than one category, so learning styles need to be adapted so that people are able to get something out of the training. It is important to keep the training varied to account for this. Personally I prefer a mix of visual images to support my learning with some text. I also prefer to see something in conjunction with listening to a lecture, I find the visual image helps to embed the learning. It is important to be open to new styles of learning, and if I find that I am struggling with something using the internet to help find a different reports which I may find easier to understand.

Culture Convergence

Introduction In recent times, the globalization topic is one of the most discussed issue across the world. With globalization, countries has started to build stronger economic ties and be increasingly reliant on each other as it has never be. Some researchers argue of cultural convergence; that is, as two countries become closer with each other, they will be more likely to influence each other's culture, thereby bringing the two different cultures to be more similar.For example, the popular culture, which originates from Western European and America, is often to be said to influence the developing Asian countries' culture, and is often dubbed as Westernization (Leung et al, 2008). Conversely, there are many that argue also of cultural divergence; which is the belief that each nation's culture are deeply rooted in the countries' history, so that even if outside culture try to influence the belief and attitude of the people, the difference between cultures can still be maintained, and can even increase over time (Axelrod, 1997; Turnbull & Sheehan, 2012).Hofstede (1980) defined four dimensions of culture that describes the fundamental similarities and differences of human behavior and decision making process that forms part of culture. These dimensions will be valuable for measuring cultural convergence or divergence. They consist of masculinity/femininity, power distance, individualism/collectivism and uncertainty avoidance. Power distance is the dimension of which inequality of power is expected and accepted as normal by the less powerful members of organization and society.Masculinity/ Femininity is the measure of which society is oriented towards ‘masculine' value : competitiveness, assertion, success , good performance, etc. instead of ‘feminine' value: kindness, caring, empathy, etc. Individualism/Collectivism measures to what extent society lets each individual care for their own: more individualism means that the ties between individuals in the society is more loose. Uncertainty Avoidance is the measure as to how much the members of the society avoid risky behaviors and stay the conservative way.This essay will try to discuss whether countries has experienced cultural convergence or divergence, by first looking to the cultural divergence phenomenon, and then the cultural convergence phenomenon, and finally comparing both and giving recommendation as to how the risks of the phenomenon observed can be mitigated. Discussion Cultural Divergence Axelrod (1997) argued in his model that local convergence may cause global polarization. He contends that the convergence in society will stay in local area only, as the culture converge in a region that have nothing in common with neighboring regions.This causes local regions to have culture convergence, but in the bigger area, the difference between cultures remain stable, thus increasing polarization or cultural divergence. Axelrod (1997) also argues that polarization level gets hig her if there are a few dimensions of the culture, many alternative traits on each dimensions, and if the size of the region is large enough to allow for many cultures, but small enough for the change process to finish before all cultural boundaries are dissolved by the spread of cultural traits. Further, Klemm et al. (2003) argued that the level of perturbation to a culture influences how the culture drifts.They argued that perturbation, up to a level, will bring a culture to converge together, but when the perturbation or influence is high enough, the culture will split into several sub-culture, meaning the culture has been polarized or diverged. This phenomenon can be attributed to several reasons, such as preference for more extreme views, geographical isolation, social differentiation (tendency for groups to differentiate themselves compared to other groups), drift, the in and out of fads and fashions, specialization and changing environment or technology (Axelrod, 1997).There a re some examples of this phenomenon in the real life. For one, Turnbull & Sheehan(2012) argued that due to historical and cultural differences, the chain fast food company McDonald have to alter their strategy and brand imaging in Canada and Japan. This happens even though they are a company that is trying to build a similar image in every country they are established in. Furthermore, they also found that some of Australia's public relations policy clearly rejects that their culture has been assimilated to the US culture.Another example is given by Darling-Wolf (2004) interview with Japanese women about foreigners, in which he found that Japanese women are still viewing Western women as shallow, vain and selfish. Martin (2010) also found that Japanese people found foreign actors and actresses to be more likeable if they exhibit some Japanese characteristics. This indicates that Japanese women still hold their cultural values highly, and not influenced by the Westernization that may happen as a result of the strong ties between Japan and America. Finally, Anderson et al. 2000) found that there are significant differences between Indian and American aerospace scientists and engineers, especially in the power distance, individualism and uncertainty avoidance dimension, indicating cultures still at the very least maintain their differences, if not diverging from each other. Cultural Convergence The theory behind cultural convergence notion is that a nation's culture is viewed as a subsystem of a global culture, and that culture is an open system that can exchange input and outputs with other cultures.Given this, to avoid entropy a system needs to reach an equilibrium, which is the state where all cultures are assimilated, and hence forming a culture convergence. This theory proposes that if two cultures interact frequently, they will most likely be converged together(Bergiel, 2011). One example that comes to mind when discussing convergence is Westernization, whic h is the phenomena where non-Western (typically Asian) culture are often changed and influenced with Western cultures through the exposure by media such as TV and Internet, as well as from various other interaction between the two cultures.The ever increasing global marketing, as well as the increasing number of businesses that expands their business to foreign countries, only serve as a vehicle for cultural assimilation to happen, as the two cultures will mesh together and form a stable equilibrium according to this notion. This notion of cultural convergence also gain some support from researchers.As an example, Bergiel (2011) found in his study about Japanese and US culture that in regards of individualism, masculinity and power distance the trend of convergence has been found to be very extreme, as the role of the two country reverses in between the two decades since Hofstede released his study in 1980. In 1980, the US society were said to be holding up the value of individualis m, have low power distance and masculinity, while in this study it was found that now Japan culture has now moved from collectivism to individualism, surpassing the US score in the dimension, have lower power distance compared to the US, and is more masculine.However, this may be also influenced by the politic-economic factors in the two country, and not solely by the fact that the two culture interacted with each other. Also, in the long-term orientation it has been found that the two cultures converge, sporting similar score in that dimension. Further, Nieves et al. (2006) also found from their study that Mexican and American engineers has converged their culture in the individualism dimension, compared to when Hofstede did his research in 1980.Convergence Vs. Divergence Hence, while cultural convergence theory contends that over time and different cultures that interacts with each other will form a stable equilibrium eventually, the cultural divergence theory contends that cultur es will maintain its own unique identity, as culture needs big enough perturbation to have a lasting change, and they typically maintain their difference despite the influence from foreign cultures/countries.Some researchers argue that globalization will make cultures to converge, as globalization means that information is very easily accessible, and cultures are exposed to other cultures constantly, so that in cultural convergence theory this will cause those cultures to form an equilibrium, and that the world is converging into a ‘global village'. (Inglehart & Welzel, 2005). However, some researchers also argue that globalization may not necessarily cause convergence. Inglehart & Norris (2009) argued that the globalization may even cause polarization of the cultures.They argued that the values that the rich country's public hold usually changes rapidly, while poorer countries generally are slower in adapting change in culture. This opens up a gap in culture difference betwee n rich societies and poor societies. Further, they also found that richer countries also differ in culture in religiosity to poor societies. Richer countries are becoming more and more secular in these days, while poorer countries are typically more traditional and religious.Similarly, richer countries are also moving towards gender equality, while many poorer societies still hold patriarchal values highly (Inglehart ; Norris, 2009). Further, this can also apply not to nation's cultures, but also its subcultures. Typically, the richer societies in the urban area adopt new values more rapidly, and rural society sticks with their traditional culture and adopt changes slowly. Finally, convergence theory is argued to be exaggerating the level of consensus of core value between US and other countries, thereby reducing the actual level of assimilation barrier that exists in the real world.Hence, it is most likely that cultural divergence and polarization is what actually happens in the wo rld. Organizations should take note of this divergence phenomenon in order to successfully conduct a global or multinational operation. Some researchers argue that the national cultural difference may bring problems in an organization in the integration process and consequently knowledge transfer (Vaara, 2003). The reason this happens is cultural difference is often thought to impede cooperation between the members.Further, Hogg & Terry (2000) argued that similarity are often a factor in deciding attractiveness and trustworthiness, and having different culture makes an individual automatically less attractive and trustworthy compared to someone from the same culture. However, Sarala & Vaara (2009) argued that with different culture, organization may benefit from having different knowledge and repertoire that could be shared around. Hence, with cultural difference, knowledge transfer can potentially be more effective as there are more knowledge to go around.Although the knowledge pot ential is great, what is more important is to actually manage to spread it around the organization and make sure that individuals from different cultures are comfortable with each other. Sarala & Vaara (2009) argued that the way for organization to do this is through facilitated communication, in order to reduce uncertainty and increase trust between the members of the organization. Also equally important is that the organization management practice must be aligned with the nation's culture that they are in, in order to operate smoothly in the face of cultural difference (Nieves et al, 2006).Hence, to be successful, an organization must proactively try to make the members of the organization increase their trust with each other, as well as changing their managing practices, depending on the culture that they are currently residing in. Conclusion In conclusion, cultural convergence is the theory that different cultures that interact in a regular basis will influence each other and fo rm a stable equilibrium, thus converging the two cultures, while cultural divergence is the theory that states that cultural differences will be maintained, and even grow apart from each other even though they interact in a regular basis.The basis of cultural convergence theory is that the member of society will try to imitate and assimilate the new foreign culture, while the cultural divergence theory contends that group tends to stay within themselves and differentiate themselves from other groups. In real life, it seems likely that the cultural divergence theory is correct, as even if a culture is experiencing change from foreign culture, the rate of change in the different part of society may be different, thus creating a gap as well.For example, richer societies tend to adopt new values quickly, while poorer societies might hold to their traditional value, hence creating a cultural divergence overall. To overcome this issue, organization needs to actively try to facilitate comm unication between the members of their organization if they have different cultures, as well as altering their management practice to fit the culture of the society that they are currently residing in. Reference Anderson, C. J. , Glassman, M. , ; Pinelli, T. (2000).A Comparison of Communications Practices Among Indian and US Scientists and Engineers. Journal of East-West Business,  6(1), 81-108. Axelrod, R. (1997). The Dissemination of Culture A Model with Local Convergence and Global Polarization. Journal of conflict resolution,  41(2), 203-226. Bergiel, E. B. , Bergiel, B. J. , ; Upson, J. W. (2012). Revisiting Hofstede’s Dimensions: Examining the Cultural Convergence of the United States and Japan. American Journal of Management,  12(1), 69-79. Bredillet, C. , Yatim, F. , ; Ruiz, P. (2010).Project management deployment: The role of cultural factors. International Journal of Project Management,  28(2), 183-193. Darling-Wolf, F. (2004). Women and new men: Negotiating masculinity in the Japanese media. The Communication Review,  7(3), 285-303. Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values  (Vol. 5). Sage Publications, Incorporated. Hogg, M. A. , & Terry, D. J. (2000). Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. Academy of management review, 121-140. Inglehart, R. & Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change, and democracy: The human development sequence. Cambridge University Press. Klemm, K. , Eguiluz, V. M. , Toral, R. & San Miguel, M. 2003. Global culture: A noise induced transition in finite systems. Physical Review E 67, 045101(R). Leung, K. , Bhagat, R. S. , Buchan, N. R. , Erez, M. , & Gibson, C. B. (2005). Culture and international business: recent advances and their implications for future research. Journal of International Business Studies,  36(4), 357-378. Martin, D. (2012).Foreign women in Japanese television advertising: Content analyses of a cultural convergence paradigm. European Journal of Marketing,46(1/2), 157-176. Nieves, R. , Mujtaba, B. G. , Pellet, P. F. , & Cavico, F. (2011). Culture And Universal Professional Values In Global Organizations: Is There A Divergence Or Convergence Of Cultural Values?. Journal of Diversity Management (JDM),1(1), 31-38. Norris, P. , & Inglehart, R. (2009). Is national diversity under threat? Cosmopolitan communications and cultural convergence. Cosmopolitan Communications and Cultural Convergence Sarala, R.M. , & Vaara, E. (2009). Cultural differences, convergence, and crossvergence as explanations of knowledge transfer in international acquisitions. Journal of International Business Studies,  41(8), 1365-1390. Turnbull, N. , & Sheehan, M. (2012, November). The impact of divergent historical and cultural factors on convergence in global communication practice. In  WORLD PUBLIC RELATIONS FORUM 2012  (p. 128). Vaara, E. (2003). Post? acquisition Integration as Sensemaking: Gl impses of Ambiguity, Confusion, Hypocrisy, and Politicization. Journal of Management Studies,  40(4), 859-894.

Eulogy Examples and Definition

From the Greek word, praise, a eulogy is a formal expression of praise for someone who has recently died. Although eulogies are traditionally regarded as a form of epideictic rhetoric, on occasion they may also serve a deliberative function.   Examples of a Eulogy It is hard to eulogize any man--to capture in words, not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person: their private joys and sorrows, the quiet moments and unique qualities that illuminate someone’s soul. (President Barack Obama, speech at the memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela, December 10, 2013) Ted Kennedys Eulogy for His Brother Robert My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not. (Edward Kennedy, service for Robert Kennedy, June 8, 1968) Deliberative Eulogies In their discussion of generic hybrids, [K.M.] Jamieson and [K.K.] Campbell ([Quarterly Journal of Speech,] 1982) focused on the introduction of deliberative appeals in a ceremonial eulogy--a deliberative eulogy. Such hybrids, they suggested, are most common in the cases of well-known public figures but are not necessarily restricted to these cases. When a small child falls victim to gang violence, the priest or minister may use the occasion of the funeral eulogy to encourage public policy changes designed to stem the tide of urban decay. Eulogies also may be fused with other genres. (James Jasinski, Sourcebook on Rhetoric. Sage, 2001) Dr. Kings Eulogy for the Victims of the Birmingham Church Bombing This afternoon we gather in the quiet of this sanctuary to pay our last tribute of respect to these beautiful children of God. They entered the stage of history just a few years ago, and in the brief years that they were privileged to act on this mortal stage, they played their parts exceedingly well. Now the curtain falls; they move through the exit; the drama of their earthly life comes to a close. They are now committed back to that eternity from which they came. These children—unoffending, innocent, and beautiful—were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. . . . And yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death. They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows. They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans. They have something to say to every Negro who has passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them , but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream. . . .(Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from his eulogy for the young victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, Sep. 18, 1963) Using Humor: John Cleeses Eulogy for Graham Chapman Graham Chapman, the co-author of the Parrot Sketch, is no more. He has ceased to be. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. Hes kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky. And I guess that were all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, of such capability for kindness, of such unusual intelligence, should now so suddenly be spirited away at the age of only 48, before hed achieved many of the things of which he was capable, and before hed had enough fun. Well, I feel that I should say: nonsense. Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard, I hope he fries. And the reason I feel I should say this is he would never forgive me if I didnt, if I threw away this glorious opportunity to shock you all on his behalf. Anything for him but mindless good taste. (John Cleese, Dec. 6, 1989) Jack Handeys Eulogy for Himself We are gathered here, way far in the future, for the funeral of Jack Handey, the world’s oldest man. He died suddenly in bed, according to his wife, Miss France. No one is really sure how old Jack was, but some think he may have been born as long ago as the twentieth century. He passed away after a long, courageous battle with honky-tonkin’ and alley-cattin’. . . As hard as it is to believe, he never sold a single painting during his lifetime, or even painted one. Some of the greatest advances in architecture, medicine, and theatre were not opposed by him, and he did little to sabotage them. . . . Generous even with his organs, he has asked that his eyes be donated to a blind person. Also his glasses. His skeleton, equipped with a spring that will suddenly propel it to a full standing position, will be used to educate kindergartners. . . . So let us celebrate his death, and not mourn. However, those who appear to be a little too happy will be asked to leave. (Jack Handey, How I Want to Be Remembered. The New Yorker, March 31, 2008)