Human Resource Management in Sweden Research Paper

Human Resource Management in Sweden - Research Paper Example As per Hofstede there are four broad cultural dimensions along which societies can be differentiated i.e. power distance, individualism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. Power distance comprises the extent to which less influential individuals of a society accept discrimination in society. This acceptance level varies along different culture. Individualism culture focuses on societies where people are concerned about self-interest and interest of family only while collectivism refers to a culture where individuals protect the society’s interest. Masculine culture expects men as compared to women of society to play the assertive and ambitious role who strive for material success and it defines a caring and serving role for women. Feminine culture on other hand defines an overlapping role for both men and women and it focuses on interpersonal relationship and shows concern for the weak. Sweden is depicted with a feminine culture as it does not require any gender to be more ambitious and highly competitive. A culture which avoid uncertainty is active, security seeking and intolerant while a culture which accepts uncertainty tolerant, less aggressive and unemotional (Vitell et al). In Table 2 index for Sweden has been given on the basis of power distance (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty avoidance index(UAI). From the Table2 we see that Sweden is not likely to avoid uncertainty. They are risk oriented. We also see that Sweden is more of a feminine country which emphasizes on relationship with people than with money. Swedish businessmen prefer appropriate code of behavior in business meeting. They believe in reaching a solution via joint decisions. They believe in facts, delivery schedule and need a longer period of time to inculcate shared information. Since they believe in consensus for a solution so they worry about what others might think of them

Intro to ethics Essay Example for Free

Intro to ethics Essay The career field that I have chosen is public relations which also has a focus in journalism. Since journalism is often known as the 4th government branch because it watches over the actions of the other branches there are many controversial issues involved which required applied ethics to work through. Business ethics can be seen very strongly in public relations and journalism because there are often conflicts between advertisers which is here the largest amount of revenue comes from and editorial. For example, an article may be getting ready to run about how someone was killed by a person who illegally obtained a gun. The article may spark some gun control arguments and opinions. In the same issue of the paper there might be a firearm store placing a large display advertisement for a sale they are having. There is a dilemma there that will need applied business ethics to decide what to do. Do they run both anyways, or stick with the advertiser and trim down the details of the article so there is not as much focus on gun control? There are legal rights issues that required applied ethics reasoning also associated with public relations and journalism. There are certain details and name and things that can only be printed based on specific things such as a person being certain age and circumstances. Some areas consider it illegal to print in the obituaries that someone committed suicide. Sometimes though if it is a public matter that many people witnessed it is had to avoid printing that a suicide occurred without people know there is information being with held. In addition to this there is also always the possibility of sources being incorrect and the information you print being libelous to someone. Finally there is computer and information ethics in applied ethics. This category can be seen in public relations and journalism in much the same way as legal issues with being slanderous or libelous to someone or a company. Depending on what sources one use there may be false information coming from the computer and information. A professional in public relations of journalism has to take the responsibility to fact check and check the credentials of the sources they are using. The responsibility to check facts does not lay with the source, but with the journalist. If they received incorrect information that could have been spotted if fact checking was done they are negligent and can face very serious consequences. Fact checking cannot only hurt the legally, but also ethically. The people, businesses and other things that are written about are affected deeply. Sometimes there has to be a choice made as to whether a story is worthy of printing if it is going to harm someone or someone’s family members. Most of the time the ethical choices that have to be made in public relations and journalism stem from not which side of a topic to be on, but what to put out to the public on topics. For example, even if a reporter feels that abortion is completely wrong they cannot express this opinion. They have to write for both sides just giving the facts to what things each side says. They could be thinking abut writing to persuade people on why abortion is wrong, but the ethical decision is to step back and understand where both sides of the argument are coming from.

How Fitzgerald Controls readers reaction To Gatsby in The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald delays the introduction of Gatsby until fairly late in the novel. This emphasizes the theatrical quality of Gatsby's approach to life, which is an important part of his personality. Gatsby has literally created his own character. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality, at the beginning of the novel, he appears to the reader just as he desires to appear to the world. We hear of Gatsby through Nick, and in a sense his reputation precedes him. Fitzgerald propels the novel forward through the early chapters by shrouding Gatsby's background and the source of his wealth in mystery. Fitzgerald uses Nick as a puppet and, because of this we first hear Nick?s feelings towards Gatsby in chapter one. Nick is looking back into the past at this point, and how he perceives him since he first met him. Nick says, ?Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have unaffected scorn? and at this point in the novel, Fitzgerald makes sure we don?t understand what Nick is talking about. He then drip feeds us more information throughout the book, but this gives a very mysterious impression of Gatsby. What shouldn?t we like about him? We haven?t even met him yet. Fitzgerald then controls Nick to say, ?If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the ?creative temperament? ? it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romanti... ...ross just as he would like to be perceived at the start of the novel. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality. This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his quality of ?greatness?: indeed, the title ?The Great Gatsby? is reminiscent of names for such magicians as ?The Great Houdini? and ?The Great Blackstone,? suggesting that the persona of Jay Gatsby is a masterful illusion. As the novel progresses and Fitzgerald deconstructs Gatsby?s self-presentation, Gatsby reveals himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations.

Career Objectives Essay

My career objective is to develop and build-up manpower with practical knowledge and problem solving skills to expand small and medium agribusiness enterprises and improve the productivity of agribusiness value chain in agricultural industry and also in my country. Also I plan to apply acquired knowledge and practical skills from TAMU to up-scale agribusiness management, farmer producer organizations and groups, agribusiness supply chain management and improve agribusiness marketing of processed commodities and small business enterprise development. To be involved in international research, outreach programs and teaching in various aspects of agribusiness management and Enterprise Development. These activities inform our domestic efforts and enable me to address important problems and opportunities in my country’s (Nigeria) agribusiness supply chain and Enterprise Development. Also to help in the attainment of the national objective of poverty alleviation and food security in my country as envisage by the Agricultural Perspective Plan (APP) through assured and efficient agricultural marketing system. To create environment for incentive price of the farmers at the same time help the consumers in their access to agricultural produces at a comfortable price. To carry out relevant agriculture marketing research activities to support the future marketing policies and programs. To facilitate and support agro entrepreneur’s association for promoting agribusiness and export from Nigeria. To construct and strengthen agriculture marketing infrastructure. Commercialization of the agriculture has been my priority at the recent time which has increased substantial market surplus of various agricultural commodities, like vegetables, fruits, species, cash crops and other agricultural products within the country. With the increase in volume of marketable surplus, t he need for assured market outlet has become very necessary. This calls for improvement is the my overall interest.

A Moral Evaluation of Child Labor in the Philippines in the Perspective of Immanuel Kant Essay

Introduction Children are the prime movers of the country. They are very much endowed with so much potentialities in which may contribute for the betterment of the many. They are indeed really important in everybody’s life not only of their own family but also of their fellow human persons. Every person including the child must be respected and valued in virtue of his/her being a human person. Thus, children must and necessarily be treasured by valuing their own dignity as human persons capable of rationalizing for the betterment of the future. However, in the Philippines; most of the children in the past and even until now are being exploited in many different ways. Every child in this country is somehow is in the state of danger because the child may be abused at anytime, anywhere, and of anyone. Evidently, Philippines is a young country by which most of the people are composed of youth and/or children. By this, Philippines is very vulnerable to any forms of child exploitation. Similarly, one of the most evident forms of child exploitation in the Philippines is the child labor. Child labor is prevalent in the Philippine society. It should be noted that children are abused by forcing them to bare labor at their very young age. They are supposed to be in the classroom to learn and become educated but because of child labor they could be seen in many places working to earn a living. Because of child labor, it is evidently that children at their very young age are dehumanized. Their own inherent dignity has been taken away from them and thus makes children as objects of exploitation. Moreover, the researcher has decided to conduct a study on this matter to find out the reality of this phenomenon. The researcher wants to assess the morality of child labor in the Philippines and to see its moral implications to other moral agents. Through the aid of Immanuel Kant’s ethical concept, the researcher may find philosophical and moral basis of child labor. The philosophy of Kant particularly his Categorical Imperative and it second formulation- Formula of end itself- will be applied in the subject matter. Library research, internet surfing, journals, and other sources related to the study will be used to achieve the main objectives. By this, the study is reliable and substantial in nature. The substantiality of the study focuses on the child labor in the Philippines. Body The Categorical Imperative Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative clearly states that â€Å"act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law† (Kant, 1964, p. 88). By this very definition of categorical imperative, Kant contends that morality involves universality and necessity. That is, morality should be applicable to all, and the action must and necessarily be done. Kant distinguishes between two imperatives- categorical and hypothetical. The latter for Kant cannot be the standard of morality since it only applies to some and thus cannot be universalized. It comes to man’s selfish inclination since it is only a â€Å"necessary as a means to the attainment of something else that one wills† (Kant, 1964, p.82) and therefore this cannot be accepted. On the one hand, categorical imperative derive from rational inclination where in reason is that which makes the categorical imperative universal. For Kant, categorical imperative is based on human reason because it must be â€Å"entirely a priori, since here we do not enjoy the advantage of having its reality given in experience and so if being obliged merely to explain, and not to establish, its possibility† (Kant, 1964, p. 87). This, however, does not mean that Kant totally rejected the consequence of any action to determine whether the action is morally right or wrong but he only emphasize the rational faculty of man to act morally which is universal and necessary. Kant further expound his moral philosophy by presenting the four formulations derive from categorical imperative but only the second formulation shall be discussed in the succeeding section because it is the focal point which is needed in the study, formula of end itself. Formula of End Itself. This second formula of Kant stresses the value of human person. It states that â€Å"act in such a way that you will always treat humanity whether in your own person or in the person of any other never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end† (Kant, 1964, p. 96). In this formula, Kant argues that any person should not be used as a mere tool or instrument for the attainment of something else. Every human person then has inherent value regardless of his/her culture, physical stature, nationality, and the like. Thus, every human person has dignity. He added, human person should not be used as a mean because of the person’s rationality. It is his/her rational faculty that which makes man a man and thus should be respected and developed further. Human person is always treated as end because his/her â€Å"rational nature exists as an end in itself† (Kant, 1964, p. 96). Kant explains his contention about man’s inherent dignity by distinguishing inherent value from instrumental value. The latter primarily are the things which do not have innate value such as money, food, and any material beings. Things such as those are really intended to the service for the human person. They are just the means and not the ends of themselves. â€Å"Beings whose existence depend, not on our will, but on nature, have nonetheless, if they are non-rational beings only a relative value as means and consequently called things† (Kant, 1964, p. 86) as Kant says. Thus, it cannot be that the things around us will be regarded as an end for they could only have value when they are being used but after they are being used, then their value is lost. So to say, things only have temporal value. In contrary, human persons are â€Å"persons because their nature already marks them out as an ends in themselves- that is, as something which ought not to be used merely as means- and consequently imposes to that extent a limit on all arbitrary treatment of them (and is an object of reverence)† (Kant, 1964, p. 96). Here, Kant firmly justifies his contention on human value by reiterating the nature of man, rationality, as the prime factor by which every man should be considered as the finality of all actions. Man, in virtue of his/her reason, is the end and not as a mean which leads to his/her dignity. Kant emphasizes more this second formulation by saying: Persons, therefore, are not merely subjective ends whose existence as an object of our actions has a value for us: they are objective ends- that is, things whose existence is in itself an end, and indeed an end such that in its place we can put no other end to which they should serve simply as means; for unless this is so, nothing at all of absolute value would be found anywhere. But if all value were conditioned- that is contingent- then no supreme principle could be found for reason at all. (Kant, 1964, p. 96). Nevertheless, Kant presented in the second formulation of categorical imperative, formula of end itself, the value of man (man’s dignity) which is justified by man’s nature that is capable of reasoning. Thus, through and through, man regardless of anything has the absolute value of being as man higher than any other worldly beings. Child Labor The innocence of the child simply makes the child as a child. No other beings could have an equal innocence of the child except the child itself. Child’s innocence is very unique characteristic. It is self evident to every child that he/she possesses such quality. Since the child is born, innocence has already been inherited by the child. Innocence is not given to a child but it is already in every child without the influence from the outside. This innocence is equal among other children regardless of child’s parental background, physical appearance, or culture. This equality is evidently true for the fact that every child is born naked, dependent, and innocent. Thus, every child, indeed, is innocent. In the same way, this child’s innocence is not static which stagnates on that particular stage but child also develop towards maturity. Every child has innate potentials and capacities to become adult. The child does not remain as a child forever but he/she is always going towards adulthood. However, most of the children especially in developing countries are being exploited and abused. Children at very young age have already engaged to dangerous and oppressive labor. In the Philippines, it is prevalent that most of the children are working to earn money. Children in such case could be seen in the streets, factories, or agricultural heavy activities. Definitely, children of those cases have bet their lives into death. Summing up these kinds of oppression of children, it water down to child labor. Child labor is a perennial societal problem not only of the other countries but also of this country- Philippines. Basically, children are expected to enjoy their childhood and should be in the school so as to develop their selves and discover their identity and skills. Childhood is a complex stage of personhood where the child is starting to grow up with dependency to other persons especially of the children’s parents. Children should be protected and nurtured because most of the children are exploited in many ways. This exploitation has become real because of child labor. Child labor is so rampant in the Philippines. Child labor prevents the natural and proper development of children. Thus, child labor has become a threat to every child’ innocence. The Child Child, according to the law, is defined as person below eighteen (18) years of age. Anyone who haven’t yet attain the age of eighteen may considered as a child or youth. Nevertheless, that person below eighteen years has no civil obligation in the state. But when a person has attained the age of eighteen, â€Å"he/she is no longer considered a child and becomes automatically entitled to do all acts of civil life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Diokno, 1998). By this, a person then has the duty to follow the civil law and become responsible for any misconduct. Moreover, the child has been defined in a broader sense in conformity to R. A. 7610 (Child Protection Law) which states that, â€Å"persons who below eighteen (18) years of age or those over but are unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of physical or mental disability or condition† (Diokno, 1998). It should be noted that the term child in this Child Protection Law is in wider perspective because child refers not only to physical aspect of a person which could be seen empirically but it includes the inner dimension of the person. The law states that a child is primarily be classified as incapable or less capable to protect itself because of disabilities from any harmful influence or oppression. Thus, it does not only imply that person over eighteen years of age may consider as adult or not anymore a child. This law is trying to emphasize the innocence and dependency of a person to persons outside itself. In addition, every child is endowed with rights of the society. Child at his/her young age must enjoy his/her childhood by giving to the utmost his/her needs as a child. The child must be provided with his/her basic needs such as food, shelter, clothes, care, and education. Because the child is really dependent on others, it is imperative to care, protect, feed, and educate such child. These are important in the child’s development towards maturity. Thus, â€Å"parents [should] go into all sorts of sacrifice to provide the highest educational opportunities for their children† (Andres & Ilada-Andres, 2005, p. 34). Child Work vs. Child Labor To understand the oppression happening in most of the children in the Philippines, it is better to distinguish and clarify these terms- child work and child labor. Child labor, as defined by the ILO-IPEC, is work situations where children are compelled to work on regular basis to earn a living for themselves and their families, and as a result are disadvantaged educationally and socially; where children work in conditions that are exploitative and damaging to their health and to their physical and mental development; where children are separated from their families, often deprived of educational and training opportunities; where children are forced to lead prematurely adult lives. (Diokno, 1998). This definition implies then that any work which could harm and will destroy the development of a child, either physically or mentally or both, including his/her social and emotional aspects is regarded as child labor. In addition, work that which could hinder the child’s education and his/her better future. Child labor is really an illness of the society which annihilates the child familial growth and that which really â€Å"deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (About Child Labor, 2002). Child labor, nevertheless, is a form of injustice in the society which needs to be responded by the authority and most especially â€Å"for those willing to stake their time and efforts to save the country’s children† (Diokno, 1998). Child work, on the one hand, is very much different to child labor. Although, both of them have similarity because they are both engaging with work, child work deals with any activities which do not hinder the well-development of a child. Work that does not maltreat and exploit the child is classified as just. Generally, if the work does not affect the development of a child’s body and holistic dimensions, and also his/her education then that work could help the child and contributes positively (About child labor, 2002). Why Child Labor? There are certain reasons on why child labor is continually happening in the Philippines. Child labor does not emerge out of the blue but it has come into reality brought by various problems. Thus, child labor is not the only problem in the Philippines but it becomes the result of combining societal problems. Basically, there are four prime reasons which cause this problem according to Jose W. Diokno (1998) and these are poverty, tradition and culture, educational opportunity, and economy. The Philippines is one of the poorest countries in the world. Poverty has been regarded as the root-cause of many social problems in the country including child labor. Because of poverty, a big number of Filipino families are living in slums areas with limited food. Their hunger, which is needed to be satisfied, is pushing the families to work in any ways including their children. Thus, children cannot refuse to do so but â€Å"to satisfy basic requirements† (Diokno, 1998). Although parents should work and earn a living for their children, their money is insufficient to sustain their needs and thus the parents has to decide that their children â€Å"must work to help in their family’s struggle for survival† (Diokno, 1998) otherwise, the whole family will suffer from hunger. In Filipino cultural context, children are expected to work at their young age because it has been practiced by the people in the past. It has been a â€Å"centuries-old tradition that the child must work through solidarity with the family† (Diokno, 1998) as a sign of respect and obedience to the Filipino culture. Filipinos have the kind of mentality that a child must work â€Å"to compensate†¦ the economic burden that he/she represents and to share in the maintenance of his/her family† (Diokno, 1998). So to say, children have become the burden in the family. Moreover, every child at his/her young age has the responsibility to take share with the family’s needs especially of its financial matters. Thus, Filipino culture has regarded the children’s work â€Å"as a phase of socialization where future roles are learned and working to share in the family is seen as training† (Diokno, 1998). Lack of educational opportunity is one of the reasons of child labor it deprives children to learn and develop their skills as persons. Parents usually prefer not to send their children in school because of family’s home far distance to the school, opportunity to earn more money through children’s labor, or to the expensive cost of schooling. Nevertheless, family could not take this kind of education system because â€Å"poor schooling has little credibility†¦ since it does not promote economic improvement† (Diokno, 1998) in the family. Education is important yet the kind of education in the Philippines most of the time does not give learning quality to them and thus cannot contribute to be competitive individuals. Finally, the economy of the country has influenced child labor. The fact that the country is mostly composed of young people, the economy demands young workers. The economic sectors look for more profit and thus they employed children to work so as to pay minimally. Employers prefer to hire children because â€Å"they represent docile work face, which could be hired and replaced at a fraction of adult wages† (Diokno, 1998) that which is an advantage for the employer. Children could easily be exploited because they cannot refuse the opportunity to help their family through labor. The economy does not only give good opportunities for progress but it also deteriorates the potentials and personhood of every child engages in â€Å"hazardous work† (About Child Labor, 2002). Exploitation of Children Nevertheless, child labor is a perennial issue in the Philippines which slowly destroy the humanness of every child. This ethical issue is continually growing as the local government and international organizations are trying to eliminate this problem. The United Nations (2008, p. 241) has recognized the value of children in particular as it issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. By this, it recognizes the inherent value of human persons including the children. Despite the attempts of the public and private organizations to terminate this societal problem, child labor is still do exist at the present. Some of these forms of child labor in the Philippines have been identified by the International Labor Organization (ILO). It has been reported that children are abused in agricultural works such as the â€Å"sakada,† domestic work where children are victims of child trafficking and physically, verbally, and/or sexual abuse. Manufacture where children work as adult employees with heavy labor, scavenger and street children because of extreme poverty, mining and quarrying where children work dangerously as they unravel minerals inside the mountains. Unconditional worst forms where children are very much exploited by recruiting them as to become child soldiers training them to fight in the battle field and young girls are said to be sex slaves which contribute to prostitution minors (What kind of work children do? , 2012). Analysis Human person in virtue of hi/her reason has innate dignity. This is a basic truth which man holds as he/she exists in the world. To live in the world without dignity is futile. Man cannot live having without value to himself/herself and to others. His/her dignity gives man the right to be respected and protected. Man is quite different to other beings such as the material objects, plants, and animals precisely because man has a rational nature. Without it, man is perhaps the valueless being. So, man in nature is a dignified being. Because the term man is used in this in general sense, it encompasses any human person including the children. Children are also human persons and thus they have rational faculty which in return causes their dignity. Every child, therefore, has inherent dignity. Child is, nonetheless, a mature rational individual but it does not compel the dignity of the child because the child even in that stage of childhood has the mind which continually develops as the child is going toward maturity. Reasoning of a child may differ to one another but it remains the dignity to the child because of the child’s innate capacity of reasoning and rationalizing. Thus, child is always endowed with reason which makes the child a dignified person. The dignity of a child must be respected, protected, and preserved. However, child labor makes the child undignified being. It is said that labor is different from work although both of them have similarity because the former pertains to involvement in economy while the latter is a general notion of any human activities. Human labor in a sense is not bad in itself because â€Å"through labor, man realizes and humanizes himself; †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Timbreza, 2008, p. 94). By this, labor also makes man a man because it distinguishes man to other beings. Although reason primarily causes the distinction of man to other beings, labor has also become a factor which causes man to realize his/her humanness. Thus, labor does not only give negative implication but also good realization. However, child labor, although labor in form, is not the same with the true meaning of the word labor. In this context, child labor does not humanize children but it certainly dehumanizes every child. Child labor exploits and abuses the child in terms of heavy work which greatly affects the child’s natural development. Child labor is a form of oppression and it does not give any value to the child. Thus, child’s dignity has been taken away because of child labor. In Kant’s perspective, child’s dignity is justified through his second formulation of categorical imperative- formula of end itself. His contention is that any human person in virtue of his rationality must be regarded as the end of all actions. Man should not be used as a mean to acquire something else. All action should be done by considering man as an end. Similarly, every child, regardless of anything except of his/her reason, must be regarded as an end in itself. Reason will tell us that child’s dignity is important. It is morally right, universal, and necessary that the child’s dignity must be promoted. And any inhuman activity which destroys the dignity of the child must be eradicated especially child labor. Child labor, nevertheless, promotes oppressions and exploitations in which make the child a valueless human being. Such reasons of child labor like poverty, culture, educational opportunity, and demand of economy are nonetheless insufficient and unjustifiable reasons for the dignity of every child does not depend on these. Poverty is a perennial societal problem in the Philippines and this issue is not new to everybody. By extreme poverty, the family members, including the child, are push to bare labor even though it is not yet proper to the child to do so. A child engaging in hard labor is not yet proper because the child is supposed to be in the home or in the school so as to develop himself/herself and eventually realizes his/her meaningful existence. It cannot be that the child labor is morally right because of poverty which gives way to a child earning money for the family. Child here is not the end of labor precisely because labor is intended to get away from poverty but not for the sake of child’s benefit. It uses the child to overcome poverty rather than dignifying the child without poverty. In the midst of poverty, a child must be dignified as a human person. The parents should sustain the needs of the family and the community should protect the dignity of every child. Culture and tradition, on the one hand, must not dehumanize the child. Every child must not be enslaved by the culture. Culture also involves a matter of choice and thus anything which destroys the dignity of a child must be avoided and stopped. People are the makers of certain culture, and then people also have the capacity to change culture through man’s rationality. Human person’s rational faculty could obliterate such acquired and practiced culture and tradition. Nevertheless, culture in a way makes use of the child as a mean in order to continue such culture and not for the dignity of the child. This cannot be morally right that the child’s dignity be destroyed because of culture. It is irrational to follow certain culture which dehumanizes a child. Lack of educational opportunities and the demand of the economy, in the same way, make the child undignified human person in a way that they affect the natural development of a child. Lack of educational opportunities compels the right of the child to learn and to know his/her identity and demand of economy, in the same way, exploits the innocence of every child. They are both factors which give nevertheless worthless value to every child. In the end, children’s dignity has been destroyed because of child labor. Child labor does not respect, protect, and nurture the humanness of every child. Children in a sense have become mere objects to attain certain goal. They became instruments to alleviate poverty, maintain culture and tradition, victims of poor educational system, and exploited by economic interest. Child labor treated every child in a subjective end by which inclined by selfish interest. Objective end then must be realized and should be done so as to give dignity to every child. Summary and Conclusion The subject matter of this research study is about the morality of child labor. Through the second formulation of categorical imperative by Immanuel Kant, child labor has been assessed. The definition and meaning of the term â€Å"child† also has been presented that which aging below eighteen (18) years and above yet holistically incapable to protect and dependent to other people because of mental or physical disabilities. The distinction between child labor and child work has been discussed also. After which, child labor then has been evaluated that which hinders the natural development of a child. The reasons of child labor have been discussed in this study such as poverty, culture and tradition, lack of educational opportunity, and the demand of economy. Kant’s ethical ideas have been presented and discussed particularly the categorical imperative and its second formulation formula of end itself. Finally, the combining of facts and theory has been discussed in the analysis. In conclusion, child labor through evaluation using the second formulation of categorical imperative- end itself- of Kant is certainly unethical because it humiliate the dignity of every child. Child labor is the result of other societal problems and thus it should be answered. Certainly, child labor in effect gives an unethical implication in every child. It is morally wrong that the dignity of every child should be taken away because of child labor. Child, in virtue of being a human person, is always endowed with gift of rationality by which makes every child unique and higher than any other temporal beings. Rationality gives the child to have the right to be respected. Child’s dignity is innate in him/her thus it should be protected. Indeed, child labor is morally wrong because it primarily dehumanizes every child by destroying his/her dignity. Bibliography Primary: Kant, I. (1948). Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals (H.J. Paton, Trans. ). New York: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc. Kant, I. (1993). Grounding for the metaphysics of moral: On supposed right to lie because of philanthropic concerns. In J. W. Ellington (3rd ed. and Trans. ). Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hacket Publishing Company, Inc. Secondary: Andres, T. D. & Ilada-Andres, P. L. B. (2005). Understanding the Filipino (8th ed. ). Quezon City: New Day Publishing. Timbreza, F. T. (2008). Filipino philosophy today. Kalayaan Avenue Diliman, Quezon City: Kalayaan Press Mktg. Ent. Inc. United Nations. (2008). Universal declaration of human rights: Dignity and justice for all of us. New York: UN Department of Publication. On-line: About child labor. (February 24, 2012). International Labor Organization. Retrieved March 2, 2012, from http://www. ilo. org/ipec/fects/lang–en/index. htm Diokno, J. W. (1998). Part one: Understanding child labor. Working Together Against Child Labor: Philippine Campaign. Retrieved March 2, 2012, from http://ipecphils. tripod. com/pillaws/intro. htm What kinds of work do children do? (2012). Retrieved March 2, 2012, from http://www. knowledgelabor. org/child labor/kinds of child labor. php.

Robert Louis Stevensons Classic Essay on Walking Tours

Robert Louis Stevenson's Classic Essay on Walking Tours In this affectionate response to William Hazlitts essay On Going a Journey,  Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson describes the pleasures of an idle walk in the country and the even finer pleasures that come afterwardsitting by a fire enjoying trips into the Land of Thought. Stevenson is most well known for his novels including  Kidnapped, Treasure Island and The Strange Case of  Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Stevenson was a famous author during his life and has remained an important part of the literary cannon. This essay highlights his lesser-known skills as a travel writer.   Walking Tours by Robert Louis Stevenson 1 It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country. There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from a railway train. But landscape on a walking tour is quite accessory. He who is indeed of the brotherhood does not voyage in quest of the picturesque, but of certain jolly humoursof the hope and spirit with which the march begins at morning, and the peace and spiritual repletion of the evenings rest. He cannot tell whether he puts his knapsack on, or takes it off, with more delight. The excitement of the departure puts him in key for that of the arrival. Whatever he does is not only a reward in itself, but will be further rewarded in the sequel; and so pleasure leads on to pleasure in an endless chain. It is this that so few can understand; they will either be always lounging or always at five miles an hour; they do not play off the one ag ainst the other, prepare all day for the evening, and all evening for the next day. And, above all, it is here that your overwalker fails of comprehension. His heart rises against those who drink their curaà §ao in liqueur glasses, when he himself can swill it in a brown John. He will not believe that the flavour is more delicate in the smaller dose. He will not believe that to walk this unconscionable distance is merely to stupefy and brutalise himself, and come to his inn, at night, with a sort of frost on his five wits, and a starless night of darkness in his spirit. Not for him the mild luminous evening of the temperate walker! He has nothing left of man but a physical need for bedtime and a double nightcap; and even his pipe, if he be a smoker, will be savourless and disenchanted. It is the fate of such an one to take twice as much trouble as is needed to obtain happiness, and miss the happiness in the end; he is the man of the proverb, in short, who goes further and fares worse. 2 Now, to be properly enjoyed, a walking tour should be gone upon alone. If you go in a company, or even in pairs, it is no longer a walking tour in anything but name; it is something else and more in the nature of a picnic. A walking tour should be gone upon alone, because freedom is of the essence; because you should be able to stop and go on, and follow this way or that, as the freak takes you; and because you must have your own pace, and neither trot alongside a champion walker, nor mince in time with a girl. And then you must be open to all impressions and let your thoughts take colour from what you see. You should be as a pipe for any wind to play upon. I cannot see the wit, says Hazlitt, of walking and talking at the same time. When I am in the country I wish to vegetate like the countrywhich is the gist of all that can be said upon the matter. There should be no cackle of voices at your elbow, to jar on the meditative silence of the morning. And so long as a man is reasoning he cannot surrender himself to that fine intoxication that comes of much motion in the open air, that begins in a sort of dazzle and sluggishness of the brain, and ends in a peace that passes comprehension. 3 During the first day or so of any tour there are moments of bitterness, when the traveller feels more than coldly towards his knapsack, when he is half in a mind to throw it bodily over the hedge and, like Christian on a similar occasion, give three leaps and go on singing. And yet it soon acquires a property of easiness. It becomes magnetic; the spirit of the journey enters into it. And no sooner have you passed the straps over your shoulder than the lees of sleep are cleared from you, you pull yourself together with a shake, and fall at once into your stride. And surely, of all possible moods, this, in which a man takes the road, is the best. Of course, if he will keep thinking of his anxieties, if he will open the merchant Abudahs chest and walk arm-in-arm with the hagwhy, wherever he is, and whether he walk fast or slow, the chances are that he will not be happy. And so much the more shame to himself! There are perhaps thirty men setting forth at that same hour, and I would lay a large wager there is not another dull face among the thirty. It would be a fine thing to follow, in a coat of darkness, one after another of these wayfarers, some summer morning, for the first few miles upon the road. This one, who walks fast, with a keen look in his eyes, is all concentrated in his own mind; he is up at his loom, weaving and weaving, to set the landscape to words. This one peers about, as he goes, among the grasses; he waits by the canal to watch the dragon-flies; he leans on the gate of the pasture, and cannot look enough upon the complacent kine. And here comes another, talking, laughing, and gesticulating to himself. His face changes from time to time, as indignation flashes from his eyes or anger clouds his forehead. He is composing articles, delivering orations, and conducting the most impassioned interviews, by the way. 4  A little farther on, and it is as like as not he will begin to sing. And well for him, supposing him to be no great master in that art, if he stumble across no stolid peasant at a corner; for on such an occasion, I scarcely know which is the more troubled, or whether it is worse to suffer the confusion of your  troubadour,  or the unfeigned alarm of your clown. A sedentary population, accustomed, besides, to the strange mechanical bearing of the common tramp, can in no wise explain to itself the gaiety of these passers-by. I knew one man who was arrested as a runaway lunatic, because, although a full-grown person with a red beard, he skipped as he went like a child. And you would be astonished if I were to tell you all the grave and learned heads who have confessed to me that, when on walking tours, they sangand sang very illand had a pair of red ears when, as described above, the inauspicious peasant  plumped  into their arms from round a corner. And here, lest you shou ld think I am exaggerating, is Hazlitts own confession, from his essay  On Going a Journey,  which is so good that there should be a tax levied on all who have not read it: Give me the clear blue sky over my head, says he, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours march to dinnerand then to thinking! It is hard if I cannot start some game on these lone heaths. I laugh, I run, I leap, I sing for joy. Bravo! After that adventure of my friend with the policeman, you would not have cared, would you, to publish that in the first person? But we have no bravery nowadays, and, even in books, must all pretend to be as dull and foolish as our  neighbours. It was not so with Hazlitt. And notice how learned he is (as, indeed, throughout the essay) in the theory of walking tours. He is none of your athletic men in purple stockings, who walk their fifty miles a day: three hours march is his ideal. And then he must have a winding road, the epicure! 5  Yet there is one thing I object to in these words of his, one thing in the great masters practice that seems to me not wholly wise. I do not approve of that leaping and running. Both of these hurry the respiration; they both shake up the brain out of its glorious open-air  confusion; and  they both break the pace. Uneven walking is not so agreeable to the body, and it distracts and irritates the mind. Whereas, when once you have fallen into an equable stride, it requires no conscious thought from you to keep it up, and yet it prevents you from thinking earnestly of anything else. Like knitting, like the work of a copying clerk, it gradually  neutralises  and sets to sleep the serious activity of the mind. We can think of this or that, lightly and laughingly, as a child thinks, or as we think in a morning doze; we can make puns or puzzle out acrostics, and trifle in a thousand ways with words and rhymes; but when it comes to honest work, when we come to gather ourselves t ogether for an effort, we may sound the trumpet as loud and long as we please; the great barons of the mind will not rally to the standard, but sit, each one, at home, warming his hands over his own fire and brooding on his own private thought! 6  In the course of a days walk, you see, there is much variance in the mood. From the exhilaration of the  start,  to the happy phlegm of the arrival, the change is certainly great. As the day goes on, the  traveller  moves from the one extreme towards the other. He becomes more and more incorporated  with  the material landscape, and the open-air drunkenness grows upon him with great strides, until he posts along the road, and sees everything about him, as in a cheerful dream. The first is certainly brighter, but the second stage is the more peaceful. A man does not make so many articles towards the end, nor does he laugh aloud; but the purely animal pleasures, the sense of physical wellbeing, the delight of every inhalation, of every time the muscles tighten down the thigh, console him for the absence of the others, and bring him to his destination still content. 7  Nor must I forget to say a word on bivouacs. You come to a milestone on a hill, or some place where deep ways meet under trees; and off goes the knapsack, and down you sit to smoke a pipe in the shade. You sink into yourself, and the birds come round and look at you; and your smoke dissipates upon the afternoon under the blue dome of  heaven; and  the sun lies warm upon your feet, and the cool air visits your neck and turns aside your open shirt. If you are not happy, you must have an evil conscience. You may dally as long as you like by the roadside. It is almost as if the millennium  were  arrived,  when we shall throw our clocks and watches over the housetop, and remember time and seasons no more. Not to keep hours for a lifetime is, I was going to say, to live  for ever. You have no  idea,  unless you have tried it, how endlessly long is a summers day, that you measure out only by hunger, and bring to an end only when you are drowsy. I know a village where th ere are hardly any clocks, where no one knows more of the days of the week than by a sort of instinct for the fete on Sundays, and where only one person can tell you the day of the month, and she is generally wrong; and if people were aware how slow Time journeyed in that village, and what armfuls of spare hours he gives, over and above the bargain, to its wise inhabitants, I believe there would be a stampede out of London, Liverpool, Paris, and a variety of large towns, where the clocks lose their heads, and shake the hours out each one faster than the other, as though they were all in a wager. And all these foolish pilgrims would each bring his own misery along with him, in a watch-pocket! 8  It is to be noticed, there were no clocks and watches in the much-vaunted days before the flood. It follows, of course, there were no appointments, and punctuality was not yet thought upon. Though ye take from a covetous man all his treasure, says Milton, he has yet one jewel left; ye cannot deprive him of his covetousness. And so I would say of a modern man of business, you may do what you will for him, put him in Eden, give him the elixir of lifehe has still a flaw at heart, he still has his business habits. Now, there is no time when business habits are more mitigated than on a walking tour. And so during these halts, as I say, you will feel almost free. 9  But it is at night, and after dinner, that the best hour comes. There are no such pipes to be smoked as those that follow a good days march; the flavor of the tobacco is a thing to be remembered, it is so dry and aromatic, so full and so fine. If you wind up the evening with grog, you will own there was never such grog; at every sip a jocund tranquillity spreads about your limbs, and sits easily in your heart. If you read a bookand you will never do so save by fits and startsyou find the language strangely racy and harmonious; words take a new meaning; single sentences possess the ear for half an hour together; and the writer endears himself to you, at every page, by the nicest coincidence of sentiment. It seems as if it were a book you had written yourself in a dream. To all we have read on such occasions we look back with special favor. It was on the 10th of April, 1798, says Hazlitt, with amorous precision, that I sat down to a volume of the new  Heloise, at the Inn at Lla ngollen, over a bottle of sherry and a cold chicken. I should wish to quote more, for though we are mighty fine fellows nowadays, we cannot write like Hazlitt. And, talking of that, a volume of Hazlitts essays would be a capital pocket-book on such a journey; so would a volume of Heines songs; and for  Tristram Shandy  I can pledge a fair experience. 10  If the evening be fine and warm, there is nothing better in life than to lounge before the inn door in the sunset, or lean over the parapet of the bridge, to watch the weeds and the quick fishes. It is then, if ever, that you taste Joviality to the full significance of that audacious word. Your muscles are so agreeably slack, you feel so clean and so strong and so idle, that whether you move or sit still, whatever you do is done with pride and a kingly sort of pleasure. You fall in talk with any one, wise or foolish, drunk or sober. And it seems as if a hot walk purged you, more than of anything else, of all narrowness and pride, and left curiosity to play its part freely, as in a child or a man of science. You lay aside all your own hobbies, to watch provincial humour develop themselves before you, now as a laughable farce, and now grave and beautiful like an old tale. 11  Or perhaps you are left to your own company for the night, and surly weather imprisons you by the fire. You may remember how Burns, numbering past pleasures, dwells upon the hours when he has been happy thinking. It is a phrase that may well perplex a poor modern, girt about on every side by clocks and chimes, and haunted, even at night, by flaming  dialplates. For we are all so busy, and have so many far-off projects to realise, and castles in the fire to turn into solid habitable mansions on a gravel soil, that we can find no time for pleasure trips into the Land of Thought and among the Hills of Vanity. Changed times, indeed, when we must sit all night, beside the fire, with folded hands; and a changed world for most of us, when we find we can pass the hours without discontent, and be happy thinking. We are in such haste to be doing, to be writing, to be gathering gear, to make our voice audible a moment in the derisive silence of eternity, that we forget that one thing, o f which these are but the partsnamely, to live. We fall in love, we drink hard, we run to and fro upon the earth like frightened sheep. And now you are to ask yourself if, when all is done, you would not have been better to sit by the fire at home, and be happy thinking. To sit still and contemplateto remember the faces of women without desire, to be pleased by the great deeds of men without envy, to be everything and everywhere in sympathy, and yet content to remain where and what you areis not this to know both wisdom and virtue, and to dwell with happiness? After all, it is not they who carry flags, but they who look upon it from a private chamber, who have the fun of the procession. And once you are at that, you are in the very humor of all social heresy. It is no time for shuffling, or for big, empty words. If you ask yourself what you mean by fame, riches, or learning, the answer is far to seek; and you go back into that kingdom of light imaginations, which seem so vain in the eyes of Philistines perspiring after wealth, an d so momentous to those who are stricken with the disproportions of the world, and, in the face of the gigantic stars, cannot stop to split differences between two degrees of the infinitesimally small, such as a tobacco pipe or the Roman Empire, a million of money or a fiddlesticks end. 12  You lean from the window, your last pipe reeking whitely into the darkness, your body full of delicious pains, your mind enthroned in the seventh circle of content; when suddenly the mood changes, the weathercock goes about, and you ask yourself one question more: whether, for the interval, you have been the wisest philosopher or the most egregious of donkeys? Human experience is not yet able to reply, but at least you have had a fine moment, and looked down upon all the kingdoms of the earth. And whether it was wise or foolish, to-morrows travel will carry you, body and mind, into some different parish of the infinite. Originally published in the  Cornhill Magazine  in 1876, Walking Tours by Robert Louis Stevenson appears in the collection  Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers  (1881).

Getting Out of Reach essays

Getting Out of Reach essays Prescription drug prices are rising much faster than the rate of general consumer inflation. The most heavily affected are those who can least afford it, like older Americans living on fixed incomes, and the working poor with inadequate or no health insurance. The rise in drug prices is causing the public to ask why. The reasons include the immense research costs, consumer advertising and the growth of managed care. The continue rise in prescription drugs costs has touched off intense public debate on how best people can get some relief. Some politicians and consumer groups have pushed for some form of price controls. Drug companies oppose price regulations. They contend it would restrain innovation in an industry that invests billions of dollars annually on research. Joe Madera, a retired man in his late 60s living in Pomona, CA, pays more than $250 a month out of pocket for prescription drugs to maintain his diabetes under control. Medicare covers his doctor bills and any hospital visits, but the federal health program does not cover prescription. While this mans household income is fixed, the cost of his medication just keeps going up. Most Americans do not feel the increase in drug prices directly because they purchase prescription medicines through their employee health plans or their HMOs, where they do not pay the full price, often making only a $10 or $20 co-payments. The rise in drug prices does hit this group indirectly. Many health insures have blamed higher drug cost as the reason behind hikes in medical premiums or restriction of benefits. One reason why retail prices are going up is hat the new generation of drugs is expensive to produce. The cost of research and developments are high. Creating a complex, genetically engineered drug versus producing a conventional drug is like the difference between manufacturing a Ford Escort car and designing a fine German Mercedes-Benz. Indeed, the ...