Teaching English With Pictures

Teaching English With Pictures TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY USING PICTURES TO THE SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS (A Pre-Experimental Research to the Sixth Grade Students) ABSTRACT Vocabulary is an important component in teaching English and in teaching vocabulary, teacher needs to use technique or media in order to help students to have good understanding on new words being learned. The teacher can use media, such as pictures because pictures can be used to help students become familiar with new vocabulary in an enjoyable way and pictures can motivate the students in learning vocabulary. The main objective of this study is to find out whether or not pictures can improve the students in vocabulary mastery. The research method used is experiment method or more specifically the pre-experimental design with one group pretest and posttest design. The sample is one class consisting of 39 students. Based on the data analysis, the result shows that the tobs was higher than t-table (13.197 > 1.686), so the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. It means that there was significant difference between the mean of students pretest score and the mean of posttest score. It indicates that teaching English vocabulary using pictures was effective in improving the students vocabulary mastery. Introduction English has become more important language in the world. This is because people need a universal language to communicate with other people from other countries. People who are able to speak or communicate in English will be easy to get more knowledge or informations. According to Mc Arthur (1992:571 in Kaswan 2010:8), language refers to â€Å"a human system of communication which uses structured vocal sounds and can be embodied in other media such as writing, print and physical signs.† In addition, language is a systematic means of comunicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (Webster’s 1961:1270 in Brown 1980:5). In order to make a good communication in English, we must have a good foundation in vocabulary and grammar. because they interact with each other to convey an idea. English as a foreign language is taught at the early age. In Indonesia English has been introduced in kindergarten and elementary school. While in junior high school and senior high school, it is a compulsory subject. Thornbury (2002:13) states that without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. It means if we spend most of our time studying grammar, we can say very little with grammar. But if we learn more words and expressions, we can say almost anything with words. According to Linse and Nunan (2005:121) vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. Meanwhile, Hiebert and Kamil (2005:3) states â€Å"vocabulary is the knowledge of meanings of words. Learning vocabulary is important as a part of learning English or other foreign languages since learners learn vocabulary first before they master more complex structure†. Vocabulary is one of the most important element in the language, without vocabulary we cannot communicative effectively, according to Allen and Valette (1977: 149) â€Å"Vocabulary is an important factor in all language teaching. Students must continually be learning words as they learn structures and as they practice the sound system.† It also means that teaching in speaking, writing, reading, and listening cannot be separated from teaching vocabulary. In teaching vocabulary, teachers needs to used technique in order to help students have good understanding on new words being learned. In line with this Nation (1990:51) in Cameron (2001:85) lists some basic techniques by which teachers can explain the meanings of new words, all of which can be used in the young learners classroom. They are by using demonstration or pictures (using object, a cut-out figure, gesture, performing an action, photographs, drawings or diagrams on the board, and pictures from books). Based on Allen (1983:12) there are three ways to show the meanings of vocabulary words: Pictures Explanations in the students own language. Definitions in simple English, using vocabulary that the students already know. Furthermore, Cameron (2001: 84) states â€Å"Vocabulary needs to be met. In different activities, with new knowledge and new connections developed each time the same words are met again. Nation (1990) in Cameron (2001: 84) suggests that a new word needs to be met at least five or six times in a text book unit before it has any chance of being learn. Teaching English vocabulary using pictures is a kind of technique for students in memorizing their vocabularies easily and fast. Pictures can be used as media in teaching and learning process, especially in teaching English vocabulary. According to Allen (1983:24) â€Å"Picture helping students understand the meaning of a word†. Pictures which have been cut out of magazines and newspapers are also useful. The use of picture in teaching vocabulary is a fun activity bacause pictures can motivate for the students to learn vocabulary. Based on Thornbury (2002:80) the use of pictures or objects for teaching vocabulary can be used to present new vocabulary items, but they can be used to practice them. It also means they can explore their abilities to increase their vocabularies. Pictures can make the material is easy to understand and to help the students memorize the word easily especially by the children. The used of pictures also simple and easy to use, can makes learning more fun and the students are not bored in learning. Regarding this, Wright (1989:136) adds â€Å"Pictures can be motivated the students, made the subjects they are dealing with clear, and illustrated the general idea, and forms an object or action†. It means pictures are important to help motivated the students in learning English vocabulary and memorizing the meanings. Research Question and Hypothesis There are research question and hypothesis of the research: Research Question Teaching English vocabulary to the students will not be an easy work to do. This study seek the problem that are formulated in the following question: â€Å"Is pictures effective to improve students’ vocabulary mastery?†. Hypothesis In this research, the writer has formulated the hypothesis as follow: â€Å"Teaching English vocabulary using pictures can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery†. Objectives of the Research The study discussed the way of the teacher taught English vocabulary to the students. The writer has formulated an objective as follows: â€Å"To find out whether or not pictures can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.† Research Methodology Research Design In this research the writer used pre-experiments with one group pretest-posttest design. According to Fraenkel. et al. ( in Kaswan and Suprijadi 2013:34) experimental research refers to research in which at least one independent variable is manipulated, other relevant variable are controlled, and the effect on one or more dependent variables is observed. The method used in this research was pre-experimental studies. Pre-experimental is a research procedure that has no control group. The observation that is done before the experiment is called pre-test and observation after the experiment is called post-test. The form of pre-experimental study that the researcher applies can be seen below (Ary et al, 2010:303). Figure 1 Pre-experimental Design Notes: 1. Apply Y1 is pre-test that is given before the teaching or the treatment. 2. Apply X, is considered as treatment given. 3. Apply Y2 is post-test that is given after having treatment. 2. Research Method In the research the writer used quantitative method. According to Kaswan and Suprijadi (2013: 13) â€Å"Quantitative research is a deductive theory-based research process that focuses primarily on testing theories and specific research hypotheses that consider finding differences and relationship using numeric data and statistical methods to make specific conclusions about phenomena†. Population and Sample Population According to Singh (2007: 88) population is a group of individuals, objects, or items from among which samples are taken for measurement. So, population is a complete set of all those things, people, numbers societies, or other that can be used in taking data sources in the research. In this case the population of the research was the sixth grade students of MI Cireundeu in academic year 2014/2015. There were 39 students as the population. Sample The writer chose the entire population as the sample. According to Webster (in Singh 2007: 88) a sample can be defined as a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are used to make estimates about population as a whole. It can be defined a set of target respondents selected from a larger population for the purpose of a survey. In addition, Tavakoli (2012: 471) defines, a sample is the smaller group which is a portion of a population. In collecting the data, the writer used pretest and posttest. The pretest was administered to know the students’ vocabulary before given the treatment. The posttest was given at the end of program to find out the difference of students achievement in vocabulary mastery after the treatment using pictures was given. To collect the data, the writer decided an achievement test that has been developed based on the material. The writer used a test that consisted of fill-in-the-blank and arrange the jumbled letters. The test consisted of 10 items and time provided to do the test was 30 minutes. Result and Discussion The Result In this research the writer used one group to collect the data. The writer gave pretest to the students to identify the students’ ability in vocabulary mastery, before giving the posttest, the writer gave treatment to the students. During the treatment, the writer taught about vocabulary using pictures. Then, the writer gave a posttest to the students to find out the students’ ability after getting treatment. The result of pretest and posttest can be seen below. Table 1 The result of pretest and posttest No Pretest Posttest D 1 70 90 20 400 2 60 70 10 100 3 65 70 5 25 4 80 100 20 400 5 80 100 20 400 6 85 100 15 225 7 70 80 10 100 8 80 100 20 400 9 75 85 10 100 10 65 80 15 225 11 60 65 5 25 12 70 85 15 225 13 60 65 5 25 14 60 80 20 400 15 65 70 5 25 16 50 65 15 225 17 60 75 15 225 18 75 85 10 100 19 50 65 15 225 20 75 80 5 25 21 65 75 10 100 22 75 100 25 625 23 70 85 15 225 24 70 80 10 100 25 70 85 15 225 26 45 60 15 225 27 70 80 10 100 28 60 70 10 100 29 60 70 10 100 30 75 75 0 0 31 70 80 10 100 32 55 60 5 25 33 80 95 15 225 34 75 85 10 100 35 65 70 5 25 36 75 85 10 100 37 65 70 5 25 38 65 80 15 225 39 40 60 20 400 SUM 2605 3075 470 6900 MEAN ( 66,4 78,4 Result of the Research by Using SPSS 17 To find out whether the data normal or not, the writer used SPSS program. This program was used for testing the assumption of normality of the data. The result of normality test can be seen below. Table 2 Tests of Normality Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk Statistic df Sig. Statistic Df Sig. Pretest .138 39 .058 .951 39 .087 Posttest .132 39 .087 .935 39 .026 Based on the table above, the data was normal. It can be seen on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov column to know whether the data was normal or not. The significance of pretest was .058 and the significance of posttest was .087. It means the data was normal because the significance result of pretest and posttest were higher than .005. After the writer found that the data was normal, the writer continued with calculating the t-test. This test was used to determine whether or not there was a significant difference between teaching vocabularies using pictures to elementary school students before and after treatment. It can be seen as follow: Table 3 Paired Samples Statistics Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Pair 1 pretest 66.7949 39 10.03200 1.60641 posttest 78.8462 39 11.83558 1.89521 According to Kaswan and Suprijadi (2013:189) â€Å"standard deviation is the most widely used measure of variability of a set of data in inferential statistical procedures†. Based on the table above, Standard deviation of pretest was 10,03 and standard deviation of posttest was 11,83. Table 4 Paired Samples Test Paired Differences T Df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Pair 1 pretest – posttest -12.05128 5.70295 .91320 -13.89996 -10.20260 -13.197 38 .000 After the writer calculated the data by using SPSS program, from the result of statistic calculation the data above, t observed is 13.197 the level significance = 0.05 and the degree of freedom (df) = 38. So t-table with the level significance = 0.05 and the degree of freedom (df) = 38, the writer found the t-table was 1.686. Because tobs was 13.197 and t-table was 1.686. It means that, tobs was higher than t-table 13.197 > 1.686. The writer conclude that the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted and null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected. . It means that there is a significant improvement of students vocabulary mastery after giving treatment of pictures. In other words, teaching English using pictures to the sixth grade students of MI Cireundeu was efective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery . Discussion In this research, the writer applied the significance of 0.05 with degree of freedom (df) = N-1 (39 – 1 = 38) 1.686. As the result, t-test (13.197) was bigger than t-table (1.686). The writer concluded that the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted and null hypothesis was rejected. Based on the research findings, it indicated that the achievements of the students were influenced significantly by the process of teaching and learning using pictures technique in teaching vocabulary, which had a positive effect to the students achievement. The previous studies of the research by using pictures can help the students to recognize the English vocabulary. Elsy (2013) in her research explained that the used of pictures can increase students’ vocabulary mastery. The second research conducted by Sholihah (2009). According to her research the positive effects of using pictures in teaching English vocabulary, were: pictures could improve the students’ motivation, pictures could attract the students attention, pictures help the students to memorize the vocabulary, and pictures make the teaching and learning activities interesting. Conclusions and Suggestions Conclusions Based on the research findings and discussions, the writer can conclude them as follow: The mean scores of pretest who were not taught with pictures as a media was 66,4 and the mean students scores of posttest was 78,4. The standard deviation of the pretest was 10,03 and standard deviation of posttest was 11,83. In order to know whether the difference between the two means was significant or not, t-test was applied. The result of computation was 13.197. So t-table with the level significance (É‘) = 0.05 and the degree of freedom (df) = 38, found that the t-table was 1.686. This research. showed that tobs was higher than t-table (13.197>1.686), so the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. It meant that there was significant difference between the mean of students’ pretest score and the mean of posttest score. It indicated that teaching English vocabulary using pictures was effective in improving the students vocabulary mastery. Suggestions The result finding showed that teaching English vocabulary using pictures can improve the students vocabulary mastery and based on the conclusions above, some suggestions are proposed as follow: The students’ achievement in learning vocabularies by using pictures was increase than without pictures. So, it is wise for teachers to use pictures in teaching vocabularies as teaching media for the students. Teacher should select pictures which are appropriate and familiar with the students’ the pictures should be interesting. The teacher needs to provide pictures in larger size and clearly, in order to attract students attention about the materials given. In addition, the larger size and clear pictures can make the students easy to look what the teachers showing. The teacher should be able to increase the students motivation in teaching-learning English, especially in teaching vocabularies. REFERENCES Allen, D. E. Vallete, R. M. (1977). Classroom technique : Foreign languange and English as a second language. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, inc. Allen, F. V. (1983). Techniques in teaching vocabulary. New York: Oxford University Press. Ary, D. Jacobs, C. L., Sorensen, K. C. (2010). Introduction to research in education. Canada: Cengage Learning. Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching language to young learners. USA: Cambridge University Press. Brown, H. D. (1980). Principles of language learning and teaching. United State of America: Prentice-Hall, inc. Englewood Cliffs. New Jersey 07632. Elsy, Y. (2013). Research article: Teaching vocabulary by using picture to the third grade students. Pontianak: Universitas Tanjungpura Press. Hiebert, H. E. Kamil, L. M. (2005). Teaching and learning vocabulary : Bringing research to practice. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Kaswan, et al. (2014). Metode dan teknik penulisan karya ilmiah (Usulan penelitian dan proceedings). Cimahi : STKIP Siliwangi Press. Kaswan Suprijadi, D. (2013). Research in English language education. Bandung: STKIP Siliwangi Press. Linse, T. C. Nunan, D. (2005). Practical English language teaching: young learners. USA: McGraw-Hill Companies. Mintarsih, M. (2014). Teaching speaking using pictures to the third grade of SDN Cibeber Mandiri 1. Unpublished Paper. Cimahi: STKIP Siliwangi Press. Singh, K. (2007). Quantitative social research methods. New Delhi: Sage Publications Pvt Ltd. Sholihah, H. (2009). Teaching English vocabulary using pictures to the fifth grade students of SDN Tugu Jebres No.120 Surakarta. Semarang: Universitas Sebelas Maret. Tavakoli, H. (2012). A dictionary of research methodology and statistics in applied linguistics. Tehran: Rahnama Press. Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach vocabulary. Edinburgh gate: Longman. Wright, A. (1989). Pictures for language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Black Humor in Vonneguts Cats Cradle :: Cats Cradle Essays

Black Humor in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   The phrase Black Humor has the broad meaning of poking "fun at subjects considered deadly serious or even taboo by some"2. This definition is simple, and yet embodies an important idea that is often lost in more complex definitions: the idea that Black Humor can actually be "fun", and provoke laughter. This is not, of course, the only important aspect of the term, and I shall explore some of the other important defining features of Black Humor before moving on to discuss its use in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle3. Many critics have attempted definitions of Black Humor, none of them entirely successfully. The most significant recurring features of these definitions are that Black Humor works with: absurdity, ironic detachment4; opposing moral views held in equipoise, humanity's lack of a sense of purpose in the unpredictable nuclear age, the realization of the complexity of moral and aesthetic experience which affects the individual's ability to choose a course of action5; and a playing with the reader's ideas of reality6. On their own these elements don't make up what we understand as Black Humor. Combine all of these ideas with the generation of humor, particularly through incongruity, and as a method of releasing tension, 7 and I think that we are close to realizing the complexities of Black Humor. But perhaps the best definition of all comes from a Black Humorist - Vonnegut himself. Black humorists' holy wanderers find nothing but junk and lies and idiocy wherever they go. A chewing gum wrapper or a used condom is often the best they can do for a Holy Grail.8 What, then, are Vonnegut's uses for Black Humor in his novel Cat's Cradle? I believe he has three primary uses, which are: entertainment; furthering the novel's themes; and raising self-awareness in the reader. Entertainment Vonnegut believes that writers can influence people's ideas profoundly. In one of his many speeches he stated the following: We will become influential when those who have listened to our myths have become influential. Those who are influential now are living in accordance with myths created for them by writers when they were young. It is perfectly clear that our rulers do not question those myths for even a minute during busy day after busy day. Let us pray that those terribly influential writers who created those our leaders' were humane.

Scaling Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship Should Address the Large Social Problems 53 VII- Scaling Social Entrepreneurship 58 VIII- The Conclusions 81 Footnotes 5 Many people stimulated my thinking on social entrepreneurship during my years at the non-profit foundation One Laptop per Child (OLAP). Their ideas may not be fully acknowledged in this book. I would like to thank Giuliani Atomic, Marina Cortes, Chuck Kane, Walter Bender, and Miguel Brenner for their friendship, patient explanations and insights that enabled me to hopefully better understand social problems and how social entrepreneurship can be applied to achieve solutions to such problems.Chuck also arranged for me to teach a course in social entrepreneurship each January in 2011-2015 at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Richard Bernstein of Greenberg Trauma should also be recognized for bringing me the opportunity to work for the first time In my career in the non-profit sector. As explained in the following Introduction, a single comme nt by Nicholas Negotiate led me to write this book. Another comment from Nicholas may be the basis for my third book. Any errors in this book are solely my responsibility.Many people encouraged me to write a book about OLAP. I elected not to do such a book but rather to more generally discuss the lessons I learned about how to scale a social entrepreneurship project. For more on the philosophy and history of OLAP I My favorite OLAP picture. West Bank 2010 8 Introduction From September 2009 until April 2013 1 served as the CUFF of One Laptop per Child Association. The mission of OLAP is to provide a modern education through a connected laptop to every child in the developing world.Nicholas Negotiate, Seymour Paper and several other professors and staff at the MIT Media Lab founded OLAP in 2005. Nicholas was the co-founder of the oral famous MIT Media Lab and Seymour, his colleague at the Media Lab, was one of the leading authorities in the area of how to facilitate child learning thr ough computers. When Nicholas founded the MIT Media Lab he adopted two principles that established the culture of the organization: 1. â€Å"Demo or die† 2. â€Å"Do the impossible† â€Å"Demo or die† basically determined the type of research that was desired.Rather than writing academic papers, students at the Media Lab were required to develop working prototypes, either physical working models or working computer code for computer-based solutions. Paper's views on constructionist and constructivism in learning probably contributed to this approach. Alan Kay, another MIT faculty member of considerable distinction, may have also influenced this tenet. â€Å"Do the Impossible† defined the types of problems that were acceptable to work on and was based on the thinking of the legendary MIT professor Marvin Minsk.Students were encouraged to work on large, difficult problems where the technology for a solution did not already exist. This focus on large problem s is consistent with the concept in entrepreneurship to focus on large market opportunities, although at the Media Lab it was understood that the sponsors of the Media Lab would license and commercialism the new technology developed. This orientation toward large, difficult problems guided the philosophy and development of OLAP Loop's mission is to provide a laptop to 1. Billion children in primary schools throughout the world. To achieve this end OLAP needed a solution that would scale on several dimensions. In one of our occasional discussions said to Nicholas that OLAP, although it originated as a detonative non-profit, was a great example of social entrepreneurship. Nicholas spooned, â€Å"social entrepreneurship does not scale. † As was the case several times, Nicholas made a single statement that prompted me to go off and think about an issue-?sometimes for several years-? which resulted in this book. Note: Nicholas' view of the limitations of social entrepreneurship is based on a belief that to achieve scale in solving social problems an organization had to engage national governments around the world. Such governments were much more likely to â€Å"partner† with non-profits that did not have the profit motive of an entrepreneur. ] Prior to OLAP I spent 30 years working in the private sector and twenty of hose years I worked outside the U. S. I have worked in over forty countries, mostly in Asia 10 and Latin America, and I lived in Peru and Indonesia.One advantage of spending so much time overseas is that I was able to first hand observe a country's development over a significant period of time. With the exception of China, every country that I visited beginning in the 1 sass exhibited a significant improvement in the standard of living by the start of the 21 SST century through the capitalist system of free enterprise. The examples I would cite to demonstrate my point would include Mexico, Singapore, Korea,Taiwan, Peru and Thailand, all o f which were very undeveloped countries in the early 1 sass and today are vibrant economies with a significant improvement in the standard of living. While stable governments, democracy and globalization were all contributing factors in certain countries, see capitalism as the one common factor in the countries I cited and in many other countries. Based on my own experience I have great confidence in capitalist, profit companies as a way to improve peoples lives anywhere in the world and thereby address social needs.During the financial crisis of 2008 when the world economic system purportedly came close to collapse, the issue of the morality of capitalism re- emerged as a popular topic and encouraged the growth of social entrepreneurship. History often paints capitalism as fundamentally amoral, lacking a moral system. Milton Friedman's now famous dictum that the purpose of a corporation is to maximize shareholder returns did much to popularize the absence of morality in capitalism. However, to criticize capitalism for a lack of morality based on the egregious behavior of a few individuals is comparable to criticizing the social system of 11 â€Å"government† because of the behavior of Hitler or Stalin. It is the people pirating the social system that may be immoral and generally not the system itself. My belief that capitalism can behave morally and make a social contribution is in part based on the nine years spent working in Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the poorest countries in Asia with per capita income of $600 or about $2 per day during most of the time I lived there (1990-1999).With a lot of other people helping, I built a billion dollar retail company in seven years that purchased $700 million dollars a year in locally manufactured merchandise, created 20,000 new retail jobs, built out one million square feet of retail space ere year and was one of the largest private sector tax payers in the country. These activities had a positive social and economic benefit beyond just our employees for thousands of other workers and their families in Indonesia. No socially motivated MONGO, multi-lateral bank or non-profit organization improved the number of lives we benefited operating a for-profit company.Perhaps only the Indonesian government affected more people than this private retail company. The point here is not to toot my horn but rather to show the positive impact in a poor country of a large, private, for-profit many with no explicit â€Å"social† mission. This confidence in the capitalist system instinctively makes me suspect of the need for the adjective â€Å"social† to modify entrepreneurship. (This may be similar to the debate in microeconomics over whether â€Å"utility† needed the modifier â€Å"marginal†. â€Å"Social† to modify entrepreneurship implies that this form of entrepreneurship is 12 more focused on societal, economic and environmental problems than traditional entreprene urship. Also implied is the idea that creating social value is better or preferred to merely creating economic value. Setting aside he problem of how one might measure â€Å"social† value, would question the premise that we even need a distinction for the social value component in social entrepreneurship, particularly given my experience in Indonesia.Despite my reluctance to acknowledge â€Å"social† as a meaningful distinction in entrepreneurship, I have organized this book on social entrepreneurship to develop the following themes: Why social entrepreneurship emerged as a new â€Å"business model†, which includes an argument for how to combine capitalism and morality as an integrated approach (Chapter I-The Emergence of Social Entrepreneurship in he 21st Century) The government's defined role as the sole provider of â€Å"public good† has been relaxed, opening the door for the private sector to provide social services (Chapter II- Government and the Pub lic Good) The non-profit movement has influenced the development Of social entrepreneurship, resulting in social entrepreneurs erroneously electing non- profits status.Such an election restricts access to capital markets (in my experience) and deprives them of a key resource to scale their organizations 13 which we call â€Å"society' and the former [state] ought to provide merely a Hayes rotational entrepreneurship have made a significant contribution to addressing social problems worldwide. (Chapter VIII-The Conclusions) 15 Chapter I-The Emergence of Social Entrepreneurship in the 21 SST Century Many believe that social entrepreneurship emerged as an alternative form of entrepreneurship in the first decade of the 21st century because more and more people were turning away from â€Å"big business† in order to â€Å"do good† and â€Å"save the world†. While true for some individuals, I believe that four factors explain the emergence of social entrepreneurship: 1. A Nobel prize for Muhammad Nuns . A renewal of the question of whether capitalism is moral 3.A wide spread recognition that government alone cannot solve social problems 4. The writings of C. K. Parallax and Clayton Christensen Muhammad Nuns and C. K. Parallax deserve much of the credit for the emergence of social entrepreneurship. The fact that Nuns is from Bangladesh and Parallax is from India is not a coincidence, but rather the basis for their more profound understanding of the dynamics of developing markets and their populations. Social entrepreneurship gained international acclaim when Muhammad Nuns on the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his micro-lending activities in Bangladesh. Providing loans to foster economic development for very poor people had never been done on a large scale prior to Nuns' Grahame Bank.Grahame Bank is now one of the largest companies in the world using social entrepreneurship as its business model, with 16 annual revenues in 201 1 exceeding $170 million. T om's Shoes, to be discussed in Chapter V, may indeed be larger, but I could not find any reliable information on annual revenues. The key factor to explain the success Of the Nuns' program was that poor people actually do repay their loans (despite life to the contrary by many). I learned the same lesson in Indonesia in the asses building a credit card program for customers that earned only $1000 per year. The economic crisis of 2007 re-opened the debate from the asses about the morality of capitalism and the reasons for renewed debate were the same.A period of high economic growth and significant wealth accumulation was followed by a period of major economic collapse. Such wide swings in the economy were perceived as the fault of the capitalists and their immoral behavior, as evidenced by all the average people whose lives were disrupted hen the economy crashed. Faced With such stern criticism and claims of immorality, a natural outgrowth was for everyone, including for-profit corp orations, to act in ways that were more socially responsible. One derivative idea was social entrepreneurship. Harvard Business School (HOBS) weighed in with several articles in support of capitalism and social responsibility.After all why do we need a business school if capitalism is doomed to collapse under the weight of its immoral behavior? Michael Porter, the world-renowned strategy professor at the school, described the situation after 2007: 17 The capitalist system is under siege. In recent years business increasingly has been viewed as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. Companies are widely perceived to be prospering at the expense of the broader community. † porter's solution is the concept of â€Å"shared value†, which he defines as: creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges†¦ He concept of shared value†¦ Recognizes that societal needs, not just conventional economic needs, define markets. It also recognizes that social harms or weaknesses frequently rate internal costs for firms-?such as wasted energy or raw materials, costly accidents, and the need for remedial training to compensate for inadequacies in education. † 1 A classic example of shared value is a company that should avoid polluting a river because the pollution kills the company's potential customers down river. If this example does not move you to reconsider the morality of capitalism, other professors at HOBS offered perhaps more persuasive arguments.Rebecca Henderson and Karachi Raman from HOBS produced a paper titled â€Å"Managers and Market Capitalism†. Long overdue, in my opinion, the authors introduce the need for morality in capitalism. The paper argues that businesses have a moral responsibility in addition to Milton Friedman's economic dictum to maximize shareholder returns. The authors argue that businesses have a moral 18 obligation to serve societ y by preserving free markets and capitalism and not just satisfy the self-interest of shareholders. Essentially if capitalism and free markets were to end, the shareholders would be harmed by a significant or total loss in the value of their shareholdings.Therefore, egregious behavior, such as the 2007 financial crisis, undermines the integrity of capitalism and ere markets and is therefore immoral. Although the authors did not extend the argument, I believe that they would agree that more socially responsible behavior by corporations fosters more confidence in capitalism and thereby benefits shareholders. Many argue implicitly or explicitly for the need for more social ventures, including social entrepreneurship, due to the lack Of a moral compass in for-profit ventures as a result of the underlying concept of self-interest. I believe that Henderson and Raman present a simple logic that shows for-profit managers a reason for moral behavior-?the reservation of the capitalist system. While it may not meet the standards of the Ten Commandments or other well-known moral systems, preserving the capitalist system does provide the basis to infuse capitalism with an easily understood morality-?act in ways which foster an appreciation and respect for capitalism by society. All but the most die-hard communist should see value in the argument. If not yet convinced about the role Of morality in capitalism, Herbert Simon, the 1978 Nobel Prize winner in economics offers support to introduce morality in capitalism. Simon developed the concept of bounded rationality– sections can only be optimal and never maximized. Bounded rationality offers for-profit managers the 19 â€Å"flexibility† for considerable moral and socially beneficial behaviors to perpetuate the capitalist system. Optimal decisions are by definition a matter of interpretation and not held to the more rigorous standard of minimization.

Macbeth And The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli - 1801 Words

Macbeth and The Prince Niccolà ² Machiavelli describes the actions and qualities of a glorious prince in his novel The Prince. His assertion about a leader for a country can be used to evaluate Macbeth as a king in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Macbeth took similar actions and had similar qualities of the ideal prince that Machiavelli characterizes. In light of reading Macbeth, the conclusion can be made that Machiavelli is wrong in the case of Macbeth because he is not a noble or memorable leader. In this essay, I will discuss my reasoning behind my conclusion that Macbeth was a bad ruler and the evidence that supports how Macbeth is a counter example to Machiavelli’s assertion. First, there are many reasons that lead up to my conclusion that Macbeth was not a noble or glorious leader. The biggest evidence is how he attained his power. Macbeth commits treason and murders King Duncan in order to fulfill his desire to become king. Not only did he betray his country and h is close comrade, but he also framed the crimes on the king’s body guards (pg 55). A noble leader is one who upholds virtues of a honorable man, not one who murders for his own personal gain. It could be said that a wise leader must kill in order to keep his country safe, but in this case Macbeth is not killing for the sake of Scotland. I cannot say that a good leader never needs to use action or force, but a good leader knows the circumstances to use those tactics. Now this act alone does not prove thatShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare’S Macbeth Remains As A Crucial Play1705 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s Macbeth remains as a crucial play in understanding the central concepts that shape modern Western civilization. The novel dramatizes the mental and physical impacts of those pursuing political power. For centuries, medieval and Renaissance civilizations were assured of a harmony between political and religious ideals. Audiences during Shakespeare’s time were familiar with kingdoms that incorporated religious aspects into their political systems. In Scotland and England, the