Tuesday 2 July 2013

AIPMT Question Papers - Towards Quality Medical Education


"In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men"
Cicero
The All India Pre-Medical Test that is AIPMT is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). This entrance examination is held on the first Sunday of April, every year. This year, i.e, in 2010, this falls on 4th April. The Board has taken up a decision to reschedule the conduct of AIPMT Examination. They are doing this so that the students who are appearing in more than one exam do not face any kind of problem arising out of clash in dates of two or more such entrance examinations. And dates of other examinations do coincide and at times cause lot of grief to the aspiring students.
For instance, the date of the Preliminary Stage Examination for the All India Pre-Medical is on 11th April, 2010 (Second Sunday). And the Indian Institute of Technology is also conducting Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) on 11th April itself.
The rescheduled dates for AIPMT for this year, 2010 are:
AIPMT Preliminary Examination:- 3rd April, 2010 (Saturday) 10.00 AM to 1.00 PM
AIPMT Final Examination:- 16th May, 2010(Sunday)
Paper-1: 10.00 AM to 12.00 Noon
Paper-2: 1.00 PM to 3.00 PM
It would be a three hour paper. There are 200 objective type questions in the Preliminary Exams. These questions are from Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The questions have to be answered on uniquely designed machine-gradable sheet, on which only ball pen could be used for writing.
Those who clear the Preliminary Examination sit for the Final Examination. The final examination has Two Papers. The duration of each paper is Two Hours. The 1st Paper consists of questions from Physics and Chemistry. Whereas the 2nd Paper consists of Biology which includes both Botany and Zoology. The questions that appear in these papers are non-objective. Hence the answers have to be written on the answer sheets provided.
The medium to answer this AIPMT Question Papers is Hindi or English. But what language you are going to answer in, has to be stated at the time of filling up the application form.
The AIPMT is a somewhat difficult exam. Hence, in order to score nicely proper preparation is required. Now, you may wonder how to prepare properly for the AIPMT. The best way is of preparation is to solve the AIPMT Sample Papers. These are available online. These question papers within themselves cover the entire AIPMT Syllabus. Therefore, being at home, you can get hold of these samplers and practise them. These question papers are available for free on these sites. One can simply download them and have full practise sessions. Question Papers on all the required subjects -- Physics, Chemistry and General Knowledge can be availed of from these sites.
Buy Essays
Essay Solution

Challenges in Introducing Value Education at Higher Education in India


Value Education is the much debated and discussed subject in the plethora of education in India. Of course it is true that the main purpose of any education will go with Value orientation. More concentration on Value education has been given at the primary and secondary level of school education than in higher education in India. Values could be effectively imparted to the young minds rather than to the matured ones. It may be the important reason for this prime importance given at the school level. There are so many modules designed with the help of agencies like NCERT and others for effectively imparting the value education to the school students. In this context, many innovative educational practices are being identified by the experts. Good number of experiments and studies are being conducted in the recent days on the effectiveness of teaching value education at school level. Some schools have very innovative and radical course designs to impart the values.
Effective teaching practices in imparting value education ranges from story telling, exhibitions, skits, one act play and group discussions to various other formats. New methods have been evolved by educationists to create an effective learning sphere. The usage of electronic gadgets also gains importance in the teaching-learning practices of value education. But at the higher education level, due to various reasons, the importance given to value education is not as much as it is given at the school level. The curriculum and the teaching methods also could be subjected to scrutiny. It is true that colleges are meant for a kind of specialization in some field of education. But in the Indian social context, the youth require direction and counseling at this stage. They have been exposed to various challenges at this stage which demands the intervention of educationists for his/her betterment. His/her character building also strengthens at this juncture. Students' perception on various life factors and events are getting shaped at this stage. On the whole they evolve their own philosophy of life. Their sensitivity and knowledge are getting direction at this stage. Hence, an effective value orientation becomes inevitable to the students of colleges. Keeping this requirement in mind, States like Tamilnadu introduced a compulsory paper/course on value education to undergraduate students of all colleges in the State under the choice based credit system. Though this kind of effort is made with the good intention of imparting values to the youth, many limitations in bringing out the expected outcome could be identified.
The problem mainly begins with the definition of values. Defining the term 'value' poses a challenge to all scholars. The term value is loaded with varieties of meaning. Each meaning reflects its own philosophical position. Generally the term value is spontaneously associated with religious values. It is believed by many Indians that values are nothing but the religious and spiritual guiding principles of life. Hence, it is supposed that the path is already been laid for the life journey. But in the context of modernity and modernism there rises a fundamental question of whether value education is required at all in a modern state. There are those who argue that modern life is based on science and technology, and both are value neutral. They view that the values are bugbear held out by people living in the past, glued to outdated religious principles that have no relevance to the 21st century. At this point, there is also another group of modernist who propagate the necessity of value education at learning centres in order to safe guard the democratic state and its values. The values they wish to cultivate are modern secular values such as honesty, respect to other, equality, collectivity, democracy, respecting the human rights, sharing equal space in the public sphere and so on. These values are considered as the products of enlightenment period. Hence, four positions could be arrived at on the basis of the above understanding. The are:
1. There are religious values which are very much essential for every one and must be included in the curriculum.
2. The religious values should not find place in the educational system. They may operate at the private sphere.
3. There are non-religious secular values and they must find space in the education.
4. There is no need for teaching value education in the academics because they cannot be cultivated through formal learning and such value cultivation will make the individual biased.
In consequence to these positions, following questions arouse.
1. Whether value education should find place in the educational system?
2. If it is required, then what sort of values should be given preference in the curriculum?
3. What is the importance to be given to the religious values which are primarily developed on the basis of scriptures?
4. Can modern values alone are sufficient enough or is there any possibility of blending the values of modernity with religious values?
5. If religious values are to be given importance in the curriculum, which religion will find prime place? If there are contradictory propagation on a single virtue by two religions, then how are they to be handled?
6. Similarly religions differ on the practices also. Right from eating patterns, dress mode, marriage systems, war tactics, killing, punishments to various other aspects, religions differ on their outlook. In this situation, what sort of perceptions need to be taught?
Besides these questions, another billion dollar question would be raised on the methodology of effectively imparting those values. Then again as it is mentioned earlier, the school education can very well include this education easily because the system itself is advantageous for it to accommodate. But at the college level, the system finds it very difficult to work out. So this study could analyse the theoretical problems relating to the identification of values to be included in the curriculum at the one side and the problem of effective designing of the curriculum and imparting those values on the other side.
II
The necessity for imparting values to the students of all levels has been felt by everyone. The world today is facing unprecedented socio-political and economic challenges. Problems of life are becoming increasingly intense and complex. Traditional values are decentered. 'An environment of strife pervades all countries and broken homes have become common. An insatiable hunger for money and power, leads most of people to tension and absence of peace of mind and all kinds of physical and mental ailments have become common place" 1. In the present day context of frequent and often violent social upheavals, we have to look at the problem of restlessness of the youth, their frustration born out of futility of their search for meaning of life and the purpose for which they are living, often leading to evil and wickedness. This calls for a new approach to, and a new vision of education. It is obviously felt that the present educational system promotes rat race and keep the student community in a sense of insecurity. Educational institutions have become the pressure cookers building pressures in the minds of youth. Also a loft sided educational pattern which insists on instrumental and technical rationality for the successful life in terms of gaining money and power has invaded the educational system of India. The person who is deemed to be unfit for this survival race becomes disqualified and ineligible to live in this market economy based life. The spate of industrialization and economic growth in developed nations has brought about a perceptible change in this scenario. And developing countries including India are feeling the ripple effects of this development. Values earlier considered essential by all societies have been eroded and have given way to unethical practices around the globe. Where honesty and integrity were loved and appreciated, greed, corruption and red tapism have come in, bringing in their wake, unethical responses which have pervaded all walks of life and are thwarting efforts of a few enlightened individuals to promote value based society.2 Hence, implementation of well structured education is the only solution available with all states. With growing divisive forces, narrow parochialism, separatist tendencies on the one hand and considerable fall in moral, social, ethical and national values both in personal and public life on the other, the need for promoting effective programmes of value orientation in education has assumed great urgency. Development of human values through education is now routinely seen as a task of national importance. Value education though supposes to be the part and parcel of the regular education, due to the market influences, it could not be so. Hence, it has become an inevitable need to include an exclusive curriculum for value education at all levels.
Now the next question would be about the nature of value education. What sort of values should be given preference in the curriculum is the prime problem in the introduction of value education. This problem surfaces because we can find varieties of values prescribed on the basis of various scriptures and theories. Sometimes they are contradictory to each other. This issue has been thoroughly discussed earlier. But the solution to the problem of the nature of value education is primarily dependent on the social conditions that prevail in the state. There need not be an imported value educational pattern to be prescribed in India. The burning social issues would demand the required value education. Though India is considered to be the land of divinity and wisdom, the modern value system throws challenges to the ancient value pattern. Right from the Gurkula pattern to the varna ashrama values, all values are under scrutiny by modern rationality. Hence, the relevance of the golden values prescribed by the then society is questionable in the present situation. On the other hand, the so called modern values which have been listed earlier also subjected to criticism by philosophers like post modernists. They question the very nature of the rationality of the enlightenment period. Because critics of modernity strongly declare that the modern rationality is the reason for the deterioration of human concern in the world and they paved the way for inhuman killing and escalation of values. The reason of the modernism is considered as the root of power politics which leads to inhuman behaviour of the power system, according to them. Hence the modern values like democracy, civil rights, environmental ethics, professional ethics, discipline and all such values are found useless in bringing harmony in the society. The values like discipline, tolerance, peace bears the negative connotation in this context. Hence, what sort of modern values are to be included in the curriculum is a challenge thrown towards the educationists. At one side the fanatic and fundamentalist features of religious values and on the other side the modern values based on the market economy and other factors are to be excluded and a well balanced curriculum with genuine worthy values suitable to the society has to be identified and included in the educational system. In this context, it becomes obvious that there cannot be any universal pattern of values to be prescribed in the system. When a suitable blend of religious and modern values is to be done, the designing of such course demands an unbiased, scrupulous, intelligent approach on the part of the academician who designs such course. Thus the spiritual values of sensitizing the youth for happy world and rational values for a just world are very much required. Religious values can be taken but not with the label of any particular religion, democratic values are to be included but not with its dogmatic inhuman approach. Thus there need a perfect blend of both. This is the real challenge thrown to the Indian academicians.
After the identification of these values, they need to be inculcated not to be informed to the students. Mostly listing the values is done very easily, but imparting them effectively requires genuine spirit and innovative educational practices. In the Vedic period, the gurukula system prevailed in which the student has to thoroughly undergo a pattern life with the guru shishya hierarchy. Whatever the guru declares are the values of life. But in the modern context, which is supposed to be the democratic sphere, a sense of equality and freedom has to prevail the learning situation. Also the values identified cannot be preached on the basis of the religious faiths. So the teacher has to find effective working module to internalize the values in the minds of the youth. The teachers' understanding about the values prescribed and his/her commitment in imparting them also play a crucial role here. How to sensitize the teacher before carrying the values to the students is also a challenge to the educationists. The value education class room, if it is dealt with full seriousness and sincerity would be very interesting and challenging sphere for students and teachers. At times they need to sail at the same level with the students. The hierarchy may get disappeared. Value education demands a total responsibility from the teachers. They become more accountable. On the other side, a teacher who is committed to a set of values would always like to preach and impose them on the young minds. That extreme should also to be avoided with a balance of mind. Value education cannot be done by just delivering lectures and screening films. It requires a strong interaction between the students and the society. A lot could be experimented at this sphere. For which the supreme value 'integrity' is expected from the educator.
It is observed that many modules of teaching values have been designed and tested. Some are seemed to be very effective. In Tamilnadu, especially in aided colleges, with all good intention the government has introduced the value education as a compulsory scheme at the undergraduate level. But each university has its own syllabus for the same. The scrutiny of those syllabi also reveals a lot of variations in conceiving the value education. In some universities, some religion based institutions are given the responsibility of designing and even carrying out the course. Similarly the teachers who have not been exposed to any such type of training in value education are given the responsibility of teaching values. The introduction of value education for all under graduate courses is done at the cost of a core paper of that course. The teachers who have been handling their hardcore subject papers had to meet the shortage of workload due to this programme and to solve this problem, they have been entrusted with the job of teaching value education paper. This is done with the aim of avoiding the workload problem of existing teachers. The most valuable and sensitive part of education has been made like a mechanical dogmatic part. At this juncture, the fate of value education at the college level could be imagined. How to solve this issue is again a challenge to the educationists of Tamilnadu. The same fate could be observed in many other states of India. Hence, two important problems surfaces here, one at the syllabus level and the other at the teaching level. As it is discussed earlier the syllabus could be designed by way of paying attention to all aspects but imparting the same requires not only innovative teaching methods, but also innovative training method of the educators. It is as good as training the driver to drive the car; the teacher needs to be trained in imparting the values. The technical education employs teachers with sound knowledge in the subject, similarly it is essential to have teachers with sound mind and creative teaching skill to teach value education. Value education is definitely not to be dealt with compartmentalization but it should be taken as a part of the whole educational system. As Nietzsche puts it, the society requires masters to create and impart values, not the slaves who accept all the values imposed on them without any critical understanding.
Sample Essay
Academic Essays

Falling Standard Of Education In Nigeria: Who Is To Be Blame?


INTRODUCTION
The concept " falling standard of Education" is a relative term because there is no well defined instruments to measure it with utmost reliability and validity. That is why scholars' views on the concept varies. These scholars view it at different perspectives, depending on the angle each of them is looking at it.
Babalola, A (2006) sees the concept from admission of Nigerian University products in developed countries universities. That the first six Nigerian Universities (University of Ibadan, Ile Ife, Lagos, Benin, Nsukka and Zaria) had their products competing favourably with any other University in the world as their products were sought for by University of Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and London for admission into their post-graduate courses. That these students record breaking performances and when they graduate are employed by the best multi-national companies and corporate bodies globally unlike today where no Nigerian University is among the top 6,000 Universities of the world (Adeniyi, Bello (2008) in Why no worry about rankings). He sees standard from how universities contribute to knowledge and solving problems besetting mankind.
According to Gateway to the Nation (2010), University of Ibadan is ranked 6,340th University in the world. In Africa, University of Ibadan is ranked 57th, OAU 69th and South African Universities are leading the way in Africa.
He also use written and spoken English as a yardstick for measuring standard of education which University of London conducted a research in West Africa and the result showed that teachers trained by colonial masters were better of than those trained by indigenous teachers.
He also used staffing, funding, foundation, origin and students as standard of education.
Standard of education to Dike, V. (2003) is how education contribute to the public health (or sociopolitical and economic development of a Nation).
Standard of education to either passing or failing of external examinations like WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, JAMB,(NOW UTME) among others.
Teachers without Boarders (2006) looks at educational standard from how the products of schools can be measured in terms of outcome. That is how school leavers contribute to the society in terms of cognitive affective and psychomotor. I will be using students to refer to both students and pupils, I will use head teacher to refer to both principal and headmaster.
Which ever way you may view standard of education, for you to conclude whether the standard is falling or not, you must take into consideration all the aforementioned variables including achieving educational goals.
Equally, for justice to be done while measuring these standards one has to look at reliability where all the schools to be measured must have the same infrastructure, teaching materials, quality of teachers, level and degree of learners, condition within which learning takes place, some methods of assessment and some types of contribution to the society among others.
CAUSES OF FALLING STANDARDS
Haven discussed what makes up standard in education, may I crave your indulgence to some of the established facts that constitute falling standard of education in Nigeria.
(1) Discipline: This is one of the outstanding attributes of education when it is rightly observed.
a. Repeating: school no longer observe repeating as every student is promoted to the next class whether they understand or not gives room for falling standard.
b. Attendance: The 75% of attendance universally accepted as the bases for someone to sit for examination is no longer observed.
c. Late coming: Student that come late are no longer punished, which leads to their losing morning classes.
d. Misbehaviour: Students are no longer punished for misbehavior because of their parental influences (lost of jobs or unnecessary transfer).
e. Cultism: This could refer to rituals, usually under oath binding the members to a common course. They operate covertly in fulfillment of their objectives to the detriment of other people. Thus, planning secondary needs above primary needs.
These cults exist because of over population of students in schools, wrong admissions not based on merits, hence fear of examination failures and selfish worldly gains.
(2) Quest for paper qualification: Nigerians respect paper qualification above performance in the fields. Hence, cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains are supposed to be measured on the field.
(3) Politicizing education: Merit is no longer regarded as it is now " who you know" and not "what you can deliver" Technocrats (educationists are not appointed Commissioner of education and education board).
(4) Policy problem: Sometimes the type of policies government make on education adversely affects output. For instance, in College of Education, we have National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), competing with JAMB for admission as the two guidelines vary.
Equally, WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, JAMB ( now UTME) compete with qualifying pre-requisites and regulation of entries into tertiary institutions.
(5) Teachers not being part of the examination bodies. One wonders whether the continuous Assessment submitted by these teachers are used or not.
(6) Accessibility of Schools: The Nigerian population boom has outnumbered the existing schools as the existing schools have to over admit.
This point can be practically seen in the following areas:
(i) Teacher / Student ratio of 1:25 is no longer there as in my class, it is 1:3900.
(ii) Students / books / Journals ratio of 1:10 is no longer feasible.
(iii) Politics of admission: Schools can no longer set targets for admission to conform with their facilities as powerful notes from above will force the school authorities to either over admit or find themselves in the labour market again. Yet it is those that are giving these notes are suppose to build more schools or provide needed infrastructure etc. to accommodate those collecting these notes.
(7) Over-dependent on cognitive domain: Schools do not give regards to affective domain that will mould characters of our young ones. Little attention is given to psychomotor while no attention is given to affective domain.
(8) Shortage of qualified teachers: Some schools in the rural areas only have the headmaster as government employee while the rest that may be secondary school drop outs are PTA staff. What miracle can these staff perform? Dike, V. (2006) observed that only 23% out of the then 400,000 primary schools in Nigeria have grade II even when NCE is now the minimum qualification for teachers at primary and Junior Secondary schools.
(9) Teachers welfare: It is no longer news that
(a) Politicians do not have negotiation council to negotiate their salary increase.
(b) There is no disparity among political office holders from the federal, state and local governments.
(c) Their salaries are increased at astronomical manner.
(d) Their salaries are increased any time without recourse to whether the nation's economy can bear it or not.
(e) But for teachers, they must negotiate the 10 to 20% of an attempt to increase their salary with consideration of the economy of the nation. How can these teachers contribute and perform miracle when their family members are in the hospitals and the O.S. syndrome is written on their cards by pharmacists while they do not have money to treat.
(10) Constant Strikes: This is an impediment to smooth covering of syllabus. Oefule (2009) explained that one Nigerian guest asked a question on strike at Oxford University community but the vice chancellor could not even remember about strike, only the registrar remembered it for 17 years back. This is what governance means to the people.
(11) Long rule of the military; Education was not properly funded by the military regimes as according to Babalola, A(2006) Obasanjos administration inherited many left over problems of the military such as non- payment of pensions and gratuities of retired University staff, poor remuneration of university staff, dilapidating buildings of schools, libraries with outdated books, obsolete laboratory equipments, bad campus roads, inadequate water and power supply among others.
(12) In the secondary and primary schools levels, schools do not even have buildings talk less` of furniture's, equipments and reading materials. This is the level where the foundation of education should be laid. Any faulty foundation will lead to faulty structures. What do you expect from the tertiary level?
(13) Lack of training of teachers: Teachers are not trained to update their knowledge with latest discoveries based on research, then how can they give what they don't have?
(14) Poor state of Educational teaching facilities: Dike V. (2006) reported that research result shows that over 2015 primary schools in Nigeria do not have building but study under trees, talk less of teaching materials.
(15) Corruption: leaders of the schools and some Government officials either connive to buy equipments with loan money that cannot be of any use to the school or take such loans and do not even do anything with it.
(16) Poor budgetary allocation to education: A research work of 2001 shows that Nigeria only, allocate less than 20% to education it further reveals that Nigeria spends 0.76% to education as against Uganda 2.6%, Tanzania3.4%, Mozambique 4.1%, Angola 4.9%, Coted Ivore 5% Kenya 6.5% and South Africa 7.9% among others.
WHO IS TO BE BLAMED?
We have seen the causes of falling standards and from these causes we can deduce that the following are to be blamed:
1. Government suppose to carry the lion share of the blame because all the other variables are dependent variables to it.
2. Teachers also have their shares of the blame with regards to their diligent duties.
3. Parents: feeding has to be provided by parents. This is because parents do not leave schools to operate without interference.
4. Students: students who do not abide by school rules and regulations nor pay attention to their studies also contribute to falling standards. Students also seek for paper qualification and disregards to performance they also participate in cult activities that derail the progress of the academy.
5. The society is not left out as it is the way it sees and respects the products of these schools that recycles back again.
SOLUTION
Based on the problems or causes identified above, the following solutions are proffered: Schools should respect and restore back discipline to bring back the lost glory of our educational standards.
Performance should be regarded and respected more than just paper qualification. Equally, education should not be politicized for whatever reason.
Policy makers should be mindful of policies that affect education .eg JAMB(UTME) regulation in admissions.
Teachers should be involved in examination activities and examination bodies should always publish examination reports and distribute it to various schools for them to hold school workshop for training of subject teachers on their areas of weaknesses observed in the students' scripts with regards to following the marking scheme.
More schools should be built to increase accessibility by all. Cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain should be used for assessment of students.
Teachers' welfare should be given priority by government to avoid unnecessary strikes in our educational sector while more qualified teachers should be employed to curb the present shortage of teachers in our schools.
Our civilian government should prove to the people that they are better than military government.
Teachers should be trained so that they can meet up with any new challenges Educational facilities should be upgraded to modern standards while teaching facilities should be adequately provided.
Corruption should be eliminated to the barest minimum by all stakeholders while government should increase its budgetary allocations to education to improve the standard of education in Nigeria.

Sample Essays
Essays Solution

Globalization and Education


In this paper I am going to look at the effect globalization has on education whether it is positive or negative. The paper will look at how globalization has given educators the ability to expand their teaching and the learning experience. One of the sources is a follow-up on a conference at Harvard held by many faculty experts in various fields. The article should provide some good insight as to whether or not globalization has proven to be beneficial toward educators and the education they are providing. Globalization is a process in which economies, cultures, and societies have combined through a global network of trade and communication. While the term is more often used in economic settings, globalization has aided in the advancement of society as a whole. Globalization is not a new idea, and when used in its economic connotation, it refers to the removal of trade barriers amongst nations to improve and increase the flow of goods across the world. But in this article, we are going to look at the implications of globalization on education and the educators themselves.
The way globalization has influenced trade barriers and communications among countries has in turn habituated the way educators educate. Corporations have targeted schools and colleges and have turned to them in order to help with expansion. Courses and programs were restructured in order to increase the marketing for programs such as MBAs and distance learning courses. A distance learning course is an online based course that has helped people who may already be working or those who need to stay at home achieve a degree. As a result the cost for students to attend universities has gone up as well, leading to a change in the way loans and grants are distributed and in what quantity. The perception people have on the current economy is playing a major impact in globalization effect on education. Regardless of the higher costs, students are still finding it necessary to stay in school and get as much accreditation as they can before entering the job market. It's projected that in the next few years enrollment numbers will continue to rise significantly due to the belief that not having a degree in today's economy is detrimental to success.
The restricted courses are allowing students to prepare for particular jobs as opposed to giving them a general education on a subject. This is described as being a "managerial-based" teaching strategy where students are not only taught the concepts needed for their degree, but in leadership as well. This is something to hardly be opposed too, but the increase in direct costs for students is cause for concern among some people. Some people are looking at this relationship between globalization and education and defining it as a technique the government is using to unitize education across the world. Some people feel the government is doing so because of pressure from "greater powers" to increase the educational well-being of students without receiving any opposition to the changes. The increasing understanding is that globalization is being reflected in an educational agenda that allows for various, and countless, improvements upon the education system that allows the educators themselves to expand on their teaching, and present students with real world situations that require them to "think outside the box", or outside the realm of their particular field, if you will.
In conclusion, globalization seems to be, overall, a pretty beneficial movement in terms of education, although there are still several obstacles in its way. Harvard economist David Bloom has said that the world's economies have thrived in globalization, as they all share a deep commitment to the education of young people. But he goes on to say that while these nations have gone on to use globalization to increase their educational prosperity, globalization has further distributed more "wealth to the wealthy" and fewer benefits to the poor. It was suggested at the same Harvard conference that education for pre-college students be more informing as well, and those students should know before going in that, for example, "the state of India's economy, could very well affect their ability to receive and maintain a job once graduated". The whole idea is very intriguing, and should continue to be monitored closely as globalization's impact on education will likely be major, just as it has been for many other aspects of society.
Education Paper
Free Online Essays

Wednesday 5 June 2013

The Real Purpose of Education

Growing up in North America and in most westernized cultures, we have been indoctrinated with the concept, "In order to get a good job, you need a good education." Indeed with the world shrinking, the global community is now latching on to this principle. Today we're going to talk about the real purpose of education - YOUR purpose of education... is it to merely to survive or do you want to thrive?
There's no question that in this age of information and communication, a minimum standard of education is an absolute requisite just to exist. Those of us who are able to read these words simply cannot imagine what it must be like to be illiterate and try to function in this world. Yet for many reasons, an unsettlingly large part of the world's population remains uneducated. The primary purpose of education then would seem to help us get by.
Are We Serving This Purpose of Education?
Thankfully, many - if not most - nations around the world have laws that make education freely available to everyone. With three basic styles readily accessible - formal, non-formal and informal learning - there is a method of education to suit just about anyone. All that's left to do is for an individual to decide his or her own purpose of education and what amount is necessary to survive and/or thrive.
Let's take a brief look at the three systems of schooling and see how they are currently serving an individual's purpose of education.
How The Formal System Serves The Purpose of Education
The formal system is perhaps the most familiar, not to mention the most accepted form of education among the industrialized nations. It's the system responsible for 'getting a good education in order to get a good job' rationale. While there are no guarantees for anyone to live 'happily ever after', there's no question that those who successfully survive formal education have a definite advantage in today's world.
Survive is the key word here. For those with a purpose of education of getting a piece of paper, formal education can be a very long process... impossibly long! In my own experience, approximately 2,000 students enrolled at my college back in 1971. Four years later, only 40 of us graduated with a Bachelor Degree.
Today, I am moving away from the main discipline that decorates my diploma. At least I had 30+ years to apply and earn a living from what I learned. Not everyone is so lucky. Stories abound of over-qualified degree holders, flipping hamburgers and parking cars because there is no work for them in their field.
So does the formal system serve the purpose of education? If we're talking basic survival, then it's definitely 'Yes'! Is it worth all the years of boring 'mandatory' courses to chase a degree that might not even be worth the paper it's printed on? Talk about a leading question!:)
The Non-Formal System and the Purpose of Education
The non-formal system is similar to the formal in that both have a common goal of obtaining a piece of paper - either a diploma or certificate - that supposedly eases entry into the working world. The advantage of the non-formal system is that it offers individuals a little more flexibility in terms of location and scheduling.
Students may enroll in part-time or full-time courses taking place during the day or on evenings and weekends, giving the ability to work around current jobs and/or childcare and other responsibilities. Alternative distance learning and self-study programs are also available for those who require the utmost versatility.
As mentioned, stringent requirements of attendance, assignments, tests and a list of co-requisites still exist in order to pass each course. Individuals must carefully consider all factors to determine if this systems satisfies the purpose of education, and ultimately if it is worth it in the long run.
Informal System Is Best for the Purpose of Education
Yes, I'm biased and I know that many will disagree with me. That's the whole point of initiating and stimulating this discussion!
I was trained in the formal system for 16 years and taught a formal system of education for over 30 years. That's why I can say that the INFORMAL system is for me, by far, the best to suit most people's purpose of education. The informal system is like a giant buffet. You get to choose the exact courses that will serve your immediate needs. You assimilate the material and apply it as you like.
Rinse.
Repeat.
There are no certificates or diplomas to chase. Nothing to prove to anyone other than the results you show from having studied something you are passionate about. No taking unnecessary courses that have absolutely no meaning or interest to you. (For example, as a music education major in college, I was required to take courses such as biology and political science. What a waste of my time, especially with the latter subject!)
Mind you, would I want to be operated on by a doctor who studied only informally? Of course NOT! The point of this article is to question the purpose of education - does it help us to survive and thrive in 2009 and beyond? Put another way, do we all need to strive to become doctors in order to survive and thrive?
For the vast majority of us, the answer is a resounding, "NO"! Yet, what is the advice the vast majority of us receive? "In order to get a good job..." with the implication that the only way to do this is through formal education.
Enough already.
In my music studio, I've had students who obtained their advanced performance 'certificate'. Yet they can't play a note for you today. I have other students who didn't care about the paper chase. They just wanted to play for the love of it! And oh, how they can play!
Who would you pay to listen to... the 'paper' boy, or the musician?
I rest my case.

Paper Writing Service - Affordable Custom Content That Makes You Look Good


A paper writing service can help save time when trying to meet various deadlines. Students who grasp the basic concept of a class but don't have the time to write a research report or essay can use a copywriting service to get the job done efficiently. Essay service companies stay up to date with formats and popular topics.
While essays are commonly provided by writing service companies, other papers include:
  • Term papers
  • Research papers
  • Case studies
  • Book reports
  • Speeches
  • Dissertations
  • Theses
  • Bibliographies
  • Articles

Paper Writing Service Basics
Online services utilize a questionnaire that asks pertinent questions about the paper needed. Buyers can relay the type of paper, topic, the number of pages and words, the timeframe, and the citations needed. The paper writing service will assign the paper to a professional writer who writes the paper within the given parameters.
In some cases, a buyer can pay extra to select a specific writer or choose a writer with higher credentials. There may also be an option to upload files, such as specific resource materials, through the questionnaire form. The writer will upload the file, and it will be sent to the email address on file for the buyer.
Students utilizing a copywriting service need to be aware of a few things before hiring a service. Any service with extremely low rates may be outsourcing the work to people with poor writing skills who write for pennies a paper. The writing service should also have a guarantee that all work is original and unique from other content.
Why Use a Writing Service?
Having a paper written for you can help save time and improve academic performance. It can also help poor writers from being penalized for their writing skills, even if they understand the class materials. Students using this service can trust that the paper will reflect highly on their grasp of concepts and help them achieve academic success.

Sample College Essays - Get Yours To Stand Out!

Getting accepted to college is long process that begins early in high school. But now you've come to that part of your college application and you are looking for sample college essays to see if yours measures up. Does that sound about right?
So many students across the country get great grades and test scores in high school, but when it comes to the essay portion of their application, they are STUMPED! But it's ok. This happens all the time due to the fact that your college essay is a very important part of the application. In fact, it has the potential to "make or break" your admission chances.
We are going to make this as simple as possible for you. We've gone ahead and broken down a few sample college essays already and are about to tell you what the main points are that you should cover. This article will cover a few of the basics of how to write a college essay or personal statement. Let's begin!
1. Start off by telling them about yourself!
Let's start by breaking down your essay into 3 parts, the first being about you. Here, you should tell the college where you come from, what siblings you may have and what your home life and family is made up of. This should not take long! Make sure you keep it around 4-7 sentences, that's it!
The key here is to be brief, but still giving the college representative a good mental picture of you and the people you surround yourself with. Again, just one paragraph for this!
2. Tell them about what you plan to major in and why!
The middle portion of your college personal statement or essay should go into a little more depth about what you plan on majoring in. After doing so, elaborate as to WHY you chose that major. Colleges want to hear some "real life" stories or experiences that you had that helped you come to that choice of major.
If you've taken a class, or just have a really good story about something or someone that prompted you to pursue Engineering (as an example) as a career, tell them that! Help the college to understand why you are so passionate about that specific major.
3. Stoke that school's ego!
That's right! A little flattery can go a long way in those good, sample college essays! The first thing you want to do in order to accomplish that is to visit the college's website. Next, look around a bit and pick out a fact or two about that school that they are PROUD OF. It shouldn't be hard to find something like recent campus additions or improvements. Another good aspect to pick out is to find something about the school that is "nationally recognized" like a program or certain area of study.
By point this out, you are doing two things: First, you're telling the school that they are so great! They love that. And second and more importantly, you are telling the school that you've researched them and aren't just applying because you like the school's football team. College representative want to see students who have put time into their college selection search.
But we are going to take the flattery a step further! One often overlooked thing you can do to greatly help your admission chances is to TELL that school that if you were offered admission, you would DEFINITELY accept and begin attending in the fall. One thing school's like more than flattery is a sure thing, so make your intentions clear!

Essays on Outsourcing - What People Are Writing About Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a hot business topic and many essays on outsourcing have been written already. Some are critiques of this business strategy and points out the supposedly negative effects of the trend. The negative essays on outsourcing points out that it is "robbing" jobs from Western counties and transferring them to developing nations in the East.
These writings are actually telling the truth. Since outsourcing became prevalent, it is estimated that more than 4 million jobs have been moved from developed Western nations to developing ones in the East. The problem with these essays is that they do not provide the complete picture which will be discussed later on in this article.
Some of the negative things about outsourcing go as far as to say that the trend is to be blamed, either in small or big parts, to the economic crisis that is being felt by the United States and other major economies all over the world. It may be true that there are significantly less jobs in the U.S. and Europe nowadays because of outsourcing, it is neither right nor logical to blame it for the economic ills of the different nations. What people writing negative essays on outsourcing fail to realize is that outsourcing is actually helping business in the U.S, and other Western countries become competitive and grow despite the recession. It is estimated that companies that outsource were able to save as much as 70% of operations cost.
Companies are not the only ones that benefit from this tremendous savings. When companies save they are most likely to pass their savings to consumers in terms of lower prices of goods and services. When prices of goods and services are down, consumers are more likely to spend money when consumer spend money, the economy becomes healthy. This is the reason why many economist actually believe that outsourcing is good for the economy and why the trend should continue for years to come.
Now let us discuss the positive essays on outsourcing. If you will be able to read and hear what business owners are saying about outsourcing - how it has enabled them to save thousands of dollars, how it has streamlined their operations and how it has improved their organization's efficiency, then you will be convinced that outsourcing is indeed a blessing to businesses and the economy.
Companies that benefit much from outsourcing some or majority of all their business functions believe that the practice will be here to stay and will nit be just a passing trend as some people would like to believe. There are experts who believe that it is riskier for business individuals to avoid joining the outsourcing bandwagon than it is to participate in it. Organizations that resulted the trend found themselves behind their competitors and spending almost double than companies wise enough to recognize the winning strategy.
If you are a business owner then you will benefit greatly from reading essays on outsourcing especially the positive ones that will inspire you to take action.
Outsourcing is a hot business topic and many essays on outsourcing have been written already. Some are critiques of this business strategy and points out the supposedly negative effects of the trend. The negative essays on outsourcing points out that it is "robbing" jobs from Western counties and transferring them to developing nations in the East.
These writings are actually telling the truth. Since outsourcing became prevalent, it is estimated that more than 4 million jobs have been moved from developed Western nations to developing ones in the East. The problem with these essays is that they do not provide the complete picture which will be discussed later on in this article.
Some of the negative things about outsourcing go as far as to say that the trend is to be blamed, either in small or big parts, to the economic crisis that is being felt by the United States and other major economies all over the world. It may be true that there are significantly less jobs in the U.S. and Europe nowadays because of outsourcing, it is neither right nor logical to blame it for the economic ills of the different nations. What people writing negative essays on outsourcing fail to realize is that outsourcing is actually helping business in the U.S, and other Western countries become competitive and grow despite the recession. It is estimated that companies that outsource were able to save as much as 70% of operations cost.
Companies are not the only ones that benefit from this tremendous savings. When companies save they are most likely to pass their savings to consumers in terms of lower prices of goods and services. When prices of goods and services are down, consumers are more likely to spend money when consumer spend money, the economy becomes healthy. This is the reason why many economist actually believe that outsourcing is good for the economy and why the trend should continue for years to come.
Now let us discuss the positive essays on outsourcing. If you will be able to read and hear what business owners are saying about outsourcing - how it has enabled them to save thousands of dollars, how it has streamlined their operations and how it has improved their organization's efficiency, then you will be convinced that outsourcing is indeed a blessing to businesses and the economy.
Companies that benefit much from outsourcing some or majority of all their business functions believe that the practice will be here to stay and will nit be just a passing trend as some people would like to believe. There are experts who believe that it is riskier for business individuals to avoid joining the outsourcing bandwagon than it is to participate in it. Organizations that resulted the trend found themselves behind their competitors and spending almost double than companies wise enough to recognize the winning strategy.
If you are a business owner then you will benefit greatly from reading essays on outsourcing especially the positive ones that will inspire you to take action.