I Know You Want It - 1865 Words

Isabella Salas-Allende Professor Vines FWS: Short Stories 11/8/15 Blurred Lines I know you want it. I know you want it. I know you what it†¦ My back was pressed against the wall, partly because I couldn’t stand up straight on my own. You re a good girl†¦ The obnoxious music penetrated deep past my ear drum and pumped through me. The stench of sweat and stale foamy beer consumed the air. Blackness engulfed me and all the other one hundred clammy bodies in the room. Their erratic body movements were revealed to the wandering eyes only when the disco ball flashed its blinding lights on them. Can t let it get past me. You’re far from plastic. Talk about getting blasted†¦ He was leaning against the wall right next to me. His hand was wrapped around my waist, which pulled me closer and closer to him. I thought nothing of it. I hate these blurred lines†¦ Alcohol and adrenaline spread their dizzying magic through my head. I tried to hold onto my clarity, but I watched myself nervously laughing at his every word and swa ying back and forth more and more often. That August day I set out into Collegetown to assert my independence from my parents by experiencing for the first time the so-called magic and wonder of fraternity parties without my parents’ consent. The ostentatiousness, elation, and novelty that define college parties in movies as a place where college students blow off steam allured me; college parties are depicted in pop culture as the quintessential Friday night.Show MoreRelatedWhy I Didn t Know You Want?938 Words   |  4 Pagestearful hug. â€Å"What do you want?† Eli asked as soon as he’d been released. â€Å"Oh, I just couldn’t stand the way you left on Christmas, so I came to see you.† Eli waved a hand in her general direction, trying to ward off the guilt he was beginning to feel. â€Å"I mean honestly, you can’t just run out on everyone like that. You mortified your father and I in front of the Everharts and you took away the exchange student. I didn’t actually mean for you to take her. That day when I asked you too...well...It hadRead MoreExercise. Why I Want To Know. Have You Ever Wondered How1306 Words   |  6 PagesExercise Why I Want to Know Have you ever wondered how much exercise you need to get maximum benefits? And what exactly type of activity/exercise do you need to be doing? I chose this topic simply because I, myself, have been recently pondering how much exercise I need. I started consistently working out in January. I go to the Great Life gym either in Hartford or in Sioux Falls. I’ve discovered when I workout, I am a much happier person. My mood and energy level improve all around. However, I don’t wantRead MoreI Am Writing The Entire Thing1553 Words   |  7 PagesI’m writing you this letter and I want you to read the entire thing. 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There are two point of views in this essay, there is a point of view from someone who doesnt care about college, and a point of view of someone that really looks into college and wants the best education for himselfRead MoreCreative Writing : Personal Essay896 Words   |  4 Pageshey tom, i figured i might as well write back something. something more composed and put together. something better than just a bunch of emotions poorly leaking out through cheaper words. you hurt me tom. and ill always wonder why. yeah yeah, i know. youre an impulsive guy who doesnt think out his actions. but itll still be on my mind. and i dont know how ill ever be able to get it off my mind, sorry. if you cant tell yet, i might be a bit of a blunt asshole through my words here. though i normallyRead MoreA Short Story1689 Words   |  7 PagesChrista what brings you in today? Well I don’t like my job, and I don’t know weather or not I should quit my job. Okay well where do you work? 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I haven’t bleed, butRead MoreLife Without Limits1446 Words   |  6 Pagesyour control that you cant change and youve got to live with. The choice that we have, though, is either to give up or keep on going. I tell your life is interesting, Life is a JOURNEY. But I tell you there are sometimes in life where you fall down and you feel you dont have the strength to get back up. You see, if you try 100 times to get back up and if you fail 100 times, if you FAIL and youll going to GIVE UP, do you think that youll ever going to get up? No. But if you fail and try againRead MoreThe Importance of Selfawareness in our Life Essays556 Words   |  3 Pages Everyone is aware, thats no big deal. But awareness can be developed as a skill set just as talking can be developed by learning a broader vocabulary. The more you know different kinds of things to pay attention to, the more you can choose (or not) to use that information. 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Trends And Issues In Curriculum And Instructions Education Essay Free Essays

The Jamaican Early Childhood Curriculum was late crafted. The course of study is built on the rule that kids learn best when content from assorted subjects along with accomplishments from the developmental spheres are in line with the kids ‘s holistic position and experience of the universe. The course of study therefore considers larning through drama, sequenced acquisition, single acquisition, the practicians ‘ multiple functions, and inclusion of all scholars and the spheres of development, the acquisition environment, proper appraisal, the function of parents and the function of community ( Davies, 2008 ) . We will write a custom essay sample on Trends And Issues In Curriculum And Instructions Education Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now While the course of study addresses assorted aims that need to be met in furthering Early Childhood acquisition and outlines the needed instructions, there are challenges to the execution of the course of study. Broadly talking, these factors are normally internal and external. These factors cut down the effectivity of the course of study and weaken the opportunity of effectual acquisition at the Early Childhood Level. The factors drive a mismatch between the state of affairs that the course of study was designed to aim and the world. This difference causes the existent acquisition result to divert from the intended acquisition result. The course of study is based on an premise that the pupil is runing at a peculiar degree, the pupil ‘s parent and environmental background offer a certain degree of support, and the instructor operates at a certain degree. It is just to believe that this is usually the instance. However, curriculum execution interruptions down whenever these prem ises do non keep. In my position, the internal factors may be best represented by instructors, pupils, school substructure and resources. Teachers are given the primary duty to implement the course of study. A instructor ‘s creativeness, capablenesss and making enables him/her to reassign the content of the course of study in a meaningful manner that will link with the diverse groups of scholars. Harmonizing to Jalongo and Isenberg ( 2012 ) a instructor ‘s cognition of the kids and the content of the course of study will enable him/her to possess the ability to supply for the kids ‘s strengths and failing. The capable instructor will be able to ease the kid ‘s involvement and to develop the cognition, accomplishments, values, and temperaments they will necessitate to go productive members of the society. Jalongo and Isenberg ( 2012 ) postulate that the instructor schemes and program for acquisition is the yarn that weaves the course of study. They refer to this as the â€Å" w hat of learning † , and the â€Å" how of learning † . It ‘s hence, imperative that instructors plan for the pupils ‘ acquisition in order to provide for the diverse acquisition manners in their schoolroom. The methodological analysiss that the instructor employs should suit the pupil ‘s ability to derive cognition and develop the necessary accomplishments. Besides, the instructor should be competent and get acute penetrations on the capablenesss that kids possess in order to provide for holistic development. If this is non achieved, so the execution of the course of study would hold failed. A cardinal ingredient for the successful execution of any course of study is a acute apprehension of the scholar. Jalongo and Isenberg ( 2012 ) postulate that a course of study should concentrate on what a kid knows and can make and what a kid should cognize and can make. Hence the content of the course of study should take into history the demands, involvement, age and phase of development and the societal and cultural context of the kid. The kid as the scholar possesses the ultimate success of the course of study. This takes into history the abilities, accomplishments, background cognition and exposure /experience that the kid acquires before come ining the acquisition environment. Harmonizing to Puckett and Diffily ( 2004 ) being cognizant of the differences in kids ‘s development, strengths and challenges will let course of study contrivers and instructors to be after efficaciously in order to run into each kid ‘s developmental demands. Jalongo and Isenberg ( 2012 ) s tated that a course of study should see the followers ; Child development and acquisition, Child needs, abilities and involvement every bit good as their socio cultural context in which they live. I strongly believe that these factors will enable the instructors to execute efficaciously within the instruction and acquisition environment. The school substructure and resources play a critical function in the bringing of the school ‘s course of study. It is my observation that the size of the pupil population relation to the size and quality of the physical adjustment of a school impacts the quality of course of study execution. Harmonizing to Krogh and Morehouse ( 2008 ) the environment outside the schoolroom should be rich with possible and becomes a valuable multiuse sphere. They besides indicate that the physical environment plays an built-in and critical portion in back uping patterns that encourage high degrees of kid initiated battle and geographic expedition. It is my position that the environment plays a cardinal function in exciting the cognitive procedures required for effectual course of study execution. I believe that the substructure of a school attracts a peculiar socio economic category from within the community. As a consequence, this will find the quality of pupils and instructors who are enrolled in and employed to the school. It besides establishes the quality of course of study execution that will happen. This will drive the resources that these schools are provided with. Greater resources mean that the school is able to properly finance the needed staffing and substructure betterments that facilitate the acquisition procedure. My school is located in the rural country of St. Andrew and its serves kids from low socio economic backgrounds. Therefore, the execution of the course of study faces barriers as the pupils are unable to associate to the information, the instructors have limited educational preparation and the resources are limited to run into the demands of the pupils. This poses a challenge for the course of study to be to the full implemented and for the needed acquisition results to be obtained. In my position, external factors normally include parents, place and community. I believe that these factors are important to the execution of the course of study. Parental engagement is a cardinal determiner to successful academic accomplishment. This sets the foundation of the learning attitude that kids carry to the acquisition environment. Support from parents increases the academic accomplishment in ulterior old ages. Burke ( 2010 ) postulates that a kid whose parents are passionately active and involved in their instruction at an early has a distinguishable advantage when compared to his/her equals. I believe that the engagement of parents facilitates the kid ‘s willingness to appreciate the importance of a solid instruction. This engagement can interrupt or construct the execution of any course of study. In my sentiment, parents are by and large incognizant of the powerful consequence that they have on what and how the content of a course of study is designed and impleme nted. I believe that parents are an indispensable portion of resource edifice. Strong parent instructor associations ( PTAs ) and effectual parental engagement in school disposal goes a far manner in beef uping fund elevation activities and in geting external support in constructing the school substructure. I strongly believe that parents are the first line of support for all kids. They are the primary beginning of socialisation and set the foundation for formal acquisition to take topographic point. The place is the initial environment for optimum nurturing and it ideally creates a sense of belonging. In incorporating parental function in curriculum execution, a â€Å" one-size fits all † attack can non be taken. We have to take into consideration the socio economic position of these parents every bit good as their educational background. The background of these parents, particularly in rural environments, allows for restriction on the input they can offer to the execution of the course of study. Hence, small or no engagement occurs and the inability to keep instructors accountable for hapless course of study execution becomes a major issue. Burke ( 2010 ) provinces that when parents are involved in the educational procedure of their kids, they will be able to include or add ext ra information and penetration from their ain personal experiences to instructors in order to back up their kid ‘s acquisition and development. Community is seen as the secondary beginning of socialisation. When we examine a community, we need to take into history the construction, civilization and socio economic factors that shape the community. Couchenour and Chrisman ( 2011 ) stated that when the cultural background of the community does non fit the cultural and educational context of a school so the academic accomplishment will be affected. This, I believe, is important in the execution of the course of study. In my sentiment, the cultural background of the pupils and the parents may forestall a school from achieving a targeted civilization. The interrelation of the school and the community greatly impacts the accomplishment of the aims of the course of study. Rural communities are mostly comprised of husbandmans and unemployed persons who meagerly get secondary instruction. Urie Brofenbrenner ‘s bioecological theory explains that understanding a kid ‘s development requires us to see the kid in his socio civi lization context that includes household scene, community and the wider society ( as cited in Couchenour and Chrisman, 2011 ) . It is my position that the community plays a critical function in determining the civilization of the school. Depending on the socio economic, civilization, construction and educational factors the execution of the course of study will be extensively affected. In decision, many factors affectA curriculumA execution. It is my position that internal factors such as instructors, pupils, school substructure and resources and external factors such as parents, place and community are critical factors that may present positive and negative effects on the execution of the course of study. At the early childhood degree, the content and aims of the course of study should be centred on the kid ‘s demands and involvement. How we address their demands and involvement is dependent on the instructional aims carried out by the instructor, the handiness of resources and the learning environment of the school. It is my position, hence, that a course of study customization is needed at the Early Childhood degree in order to provide for the different internal and external factors indicated above. A customized design will bring forth effectual, critical and holistic minds within our community and wider society. How to cite Trends And Issues In Curriculum And Instructions Education Essay, Essay examples

Financial Statement Analysis Solutions free essay sample

Horizontal analysis examines how a particular item on a financial statement such as sales or cost of goods sold behaves over time. Vertical analysis involves analysis of items on an income statement or balance sheet for a single period. In vertical analysis of the income statement, all items are typically stated as a percentage of sales. In vertical analysis of the balance sheet, all items are typically stated as a percentage of total assets. By looking at trends, an analyst hopes to get some idea of whether a situation is improving, remaining the same, or deteriorating. Such analyses can provide insight into what is likely to happen in the future. Rather than looking at trends, an analyst may compare one company to another or to industry averages using common-size financial statements. 16-3Price-earnings ratios reflect investors’ expectations concerning future earnings. The higher the price-earnings ratio, the greater the growth in earnings investors expect. For this reason, two companies might have the same current earnings and yet have quite different price-earnings ratios. By definition, a stock with current earnings of $4 and a price-earnings ratio of 20 would be selling for $80 per share. 16-4A rapidly growing tech company would probably have many opportunities to make investments at a rate of return higher than stockholders could earn in other investments. It would be better for the company to invest in such opportunities than to pay out dividends and thus one would expect the company to have a low dividend payout ratio. 16-5The dividend yield is the dividend per share divided by the market price per share. The other source of return on an investment in stock is increases in market value. Financial leverage results from borrowing funds at an interest rate that differs from the rate of return on assets acquired using those funds. If the rate of return on the assets is higher than the interest rate at which the funds were borrowed, financial leverage is positive and stockholders gain. If the return on the assets is lower than the interest rate, financial leverage is negative and the stockholders lose. 16-7If the company experiences big variations in net cash flows from operations, stockholders might be pleased that the company has no debt. In hard times, interest payments might be very difficult to meet. On the other hand, if investments within the company can earn a rate of return that exceeds the interest rate on debt, stockholders would get the benefits of positive leverage if the company took on debt. 16-8The market value of a share of common stock often exceeds the book value per share. Book value represents the cumulative effects on the balance sheet of past activities, evaluated using historical prices. The market value of the stock reflects investors’ expectations about the company’s future earnings. For most companies, market value exceeds book value because investors anticipate future earnings growth. 16-9A 2 to 1 current ratio might not be adequate for several reasons. First, the composition of the current assets may be heavily weighted toward slow-turning and difficult-to-liquidate inventory, or the inventory may contain large amounts of obsolete goods. Second, the receivables may be low quality, including large amounts of accounts that may be difficult to collect. Exercise 16-1 (15 minutes) 1. This Year Last Year Sales 100. 0 % 100. 0 % Cost of goods sold 62. 3 58. 6 Gross margin 37. 7 41. 4 Selling and administrative expenses: Selling expenses 18. 5 18. 2 Administrative expenses 8. 9 10. 3 Total selling and administrative expenses 27. 4 28. 5 Net operating income 10. 3 12. 9 Interest expense 1. 2 1. 4 Net income before taxes 9. 1 % 11. 5 % 2. The company’s major problem seems to be the increase in cost of goods sold, which increased from 58. 6% of sales last year to 62. 3% of sales this year. This suggests that the company is not passing the increases in costs of its products on to its customers. As a result, cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales has increased and gross margin has decreased. This change has been offset somewhat by reduction in administrative expenses as a percentage of sales. Note that administrative expenses decreased from 10. 3% to only 8. 9% of sales over the two years. However, this decrease was not enough to completely offset the increased cost of goods sold, so the company’s net income decreased as a percentage of sales this year. Exercise 16-2 (30 minutes) 1. Calculation of the gross margin percentage: 2. Calculation of the earnings per share: 3. Calculation of the price-earnings ratio: 4. Calculation of the dividend payout ratio: 5. Calculation of the dividend yield ratio: Exercise 16-2 (continued) 6. Calculation of the return on total assets: Beginning balance, total assets (a) $45,960 Ending balance, total assets (b) 50,280 Average total assets [(a) + (b)]/2 $48,120 7. Calculation of the return on common stockholders’ equity: Beginning balance, stockholders’ equity (a) $31,660 Ending balance, stockholders’ equity (b) 34,880 Average stockholders’ equity [(a) + (b)]/2 33,270 Average preferred stock 2,000 Average common stockholders’ equity $31,270 8. Calculation of the book value per share: Exercise 16-3 (30 minutes) 1. Calculation of working capital: Current assets $25,080 Current liabilities 10,400 Working capital $14,680 2. Calculation of the current ratio: 3. Calculation of the acid-test ratio: 4. Calculation of accounts receivable turnover: Beginning balance, accounts receivable (a) $ 9,100 Ending balance, accounts receivable (b) 12,300 Average accounts receivable balance [(a) + (b)]/2 $10,700 5. Calculation of the average collection period: Exercise 16-3 (continued) 6. Calculation of inventory turnover: Beginning balance, inventory (a) $8,200 Ending balance, inventory (b) 9,700 Average inventory balance [(a) + (b)]/2 $8,950 7. Calculation of the average sale period: Exercise 16-4 (15 minutes) 1. Calculation of the times interest earned ratio: 2. Calculation of the debt-to-equity ratio: Exercise 16-5 (15 minutes) 1. The trend percentages are: Year 5 Year 4 Year 3 Year 2 Year 1 Sales 125. 0 120. 0 115. 0 110. 0 100. 0 Current assets: Cash 60. 0 80. 0 96. 0 130. 0 100. 0 Accounts receivable 190. 0 170. 0 135. 0 115. 0 100. 0 Inventory 125. 0 120. 0 115. 0 110. 0 100. 0 Total current assets 142. 1 133. 7 120. 3 112. 6 100. 0 Current liabilities 160. 0 145. 0 130. 0 110. 0 100. 0 2. Sales: The sales are increasing at a steady and consistent rate. Assets: The most noticeable thing about the assets is that the accounts receivable have been increasing at a rapid rate—far outstripping the increase in sales. This disproportionate increase in receivables is probably the chief cause of the decrease in cash over the five-year period. The inventory seems to be growing at a well-balanced rate in comparison with sales. Liabilities: The current liabilities are growing more rapidly than the total current assets. The reason is probably traceable to the rapid buildup in receivables in that the company doesn’t have the cash needed to pay bills as they come due. Exercise 16-6 (20 minutes) 1. Return on total assets: 2. Return on common stockholders’ equity: Average stockholders’ equity: ($2,200,000 + $2,400,000)/2 $2,300,000 Average preferred stock 900,000 Average common stockholders’ equity (b) $1,400,000 3. Leverage is positive because the return on common stockholders’ equity (14. 9%) is greater than the return on total assets (9. 8%). This positive leverage arises from the long-term debt, which has an after-tax interest cost of only 8. 4% [12% interest rate ? (1 – 0. 30)], and the preferred stock, which carries a dividend rate of only 8%. Both of these rates of return are smaller than the return that the company is earning on its total assets; thus, the difference goes to the common stockholders. Exercise 16-7 (30 minutes) 1. Gross margin percentage: 2. Current ratio: 3. Acid-test ratio: 4. Debt-to-equity ratio: 5. Average collection period: Exercise 16-7 (continued) 6. Average sale period: 7. Times interest earned: 8. Book value per share: Exercise 16-8 (20 minutes) 1. Earnings per share: 2. Dividend payout ratio: 3. Dividend yield ratio: 4. Price-earnings ratio: Exercise 16-9 (20 minutes) 1. Return on total assets: 2. Return on common stockholders’ equity: 3. Financial leverage was positive because the rate of return to the common stockholders (12. 7%) was greater than the rate of return on total assets (9. 2%). This positive leverage is traceable in part to the company’s current liabilities, which may have no interest cost, and in part, to the bonds payable, which have an after-tax interest cost of only 7%. 10% interest rate ? (1 – 0. 30) = 7% Exercise 16-10 (15 minutes) 1. Current assets (Kr90,000 + Kr260,000 + Kr490,000 + Kr10,000) Kr850,000 Current liabilities (Kr850,000 ? 2. 5) 340,000 Working capital. Notes due in one year 30,000 Accrued liabilities 20,000 Total current liabilities (b) 200,000 Working capital (a) – (b) $300,000 b. Computation of the current ratio: c. Computation of the acid-test ratio: Problem 16-11 (continued) 2. The Effect on Working Current Acid-Test Transaction Capital Ratio Ratio (a) Issued capital stock for cash Increase Increase Increase (b) Sold inventory at a gain Increase Increase Increase (c) Wrote off uncollectible accounts None None None (d) Declared a cash dividend Decrease Decrease Decrease (e) Paid accounts payable None Increase Increase (f) Borrowed on a short-term note None Decrease Decrease (g) Sold inventory at a loss Decrease Decrease Increase (h) Purchased inventory on account None Decrease Decrease (i) Paid short-term notes None Increase Increase (j) Purchased equipment for cash Decrease Decrease Decrease (k) Sold marketable securities at a loss Decrease. Selling and administrative expenses 13. 1 12. 6 Net operating income 9. 4 8. 1 Interest expense 1. 4 1. 7 Net income before taxes 8. 0 6. 4 Income taxes 2. 4 1. 9 Net income 5. 6 % 4. 5 % 3. The following points can be made from the analytical work in parts (1) and (2) above: a. The company has improved its profit margin from last year. This is attributable primarily to an increase in gross margin, which is offset somewhat by a small increase in operating expenses. Overall, the company’s income statement looks very good. b. The company’s current position has deteriorated significantly since last year. Both the current ratio and the acid-test ratio are well below the industry average and are trending downward. At the present rate, it will soon be impossible for the company to pay its bills as they come due. c. The drain on the cash account seems to be a result mostly of a large buildup in accounts receivable and inventory. Notice that the average age of the receivables has increased by five days since last year, and now is 10 days over the industry average. Many of the company’s customers are not taking their discounts because the average collection period is 28 days and collections terms are 2/10, n/30. This suggests financial weakness on the part of these customers, or sales to customers who are poor credit risks. Problem 16-12 (continued) d. The inventory turned only five times this year as compared to over six times last year. It takes nearly two weeks longer for the company to turn its inventory than the average for the industry (73 days as compared to 60 days for the industry). This suggests that inventory stocks are higher than they need to be. e. In the authors’ opinion, the loan should be approved only if the company gets its accounts receivable and inventory back under control. If the accounts receivable collection period is reduced to about 20 days, and if the inventory is pared down enough to reduce the turnover time to about 60 days, enough funds could be released to substantially improve the company’s cash position. Then a loan might not even be needed. Problem 16-13 (60 minutes) This Year Last Year 1. a. Net income $280,000 $196,000 Less preferred dividends 20,000 20,000 Net income remaining for common (a) $260,000 $176,000 Average number of common shares (b) 50,000 50,000 Earnings per share (a) ? (b) $5. 20 $3. 52 b. Dividends per share (a) $1. 80 $1. 50 Market price per share (b) $40. 00 $36. 00 Dividend yield ratio (a) ? (b) 4. 5% 4. 2% c. Dividends per share (a) $1. 80 $1. 50 Earnings per share (b) $5. 20 $3. 52 Payout ratio (a) ? (b) 34. 6% 42. 6% d. Market price per share (a) $40. 00 $36. 00 Earnings per share (b) $5. 20 $3. 52 Price-earnings ratio (a) ? (b) 7. 7 10. 2 Investors regard Sabin Electronics less favorably than other companies in the industry. This is evidenced by the fact that they are willing to pay only 7. 7 times current earnings for a share of Sabin’s stock, as compared to 12 times current earnings for other companies in the industry. If investors were willing to pay 12 times current earnings for Sabin’s stock, it would be selling for about $62. 40 per share (12 ? $5. 20), rather than for only $40 per share. Problem 16-13 (continued) This Year Last Year e. Total stockholders’ equity $1,600,000 $1,430,000 Less preferred stock 250,000 250,000 Common stockholders’ equity (a) $1,350,000 $1,180,000 Number of common shares outstanding (b) 50,000 50,000 Book value per share (a) ? (b) $27. 00 $23. 60 The market value is above book value for both years. However, this does not necessarily indicate that the stock is overpriced. The stock’s downside risk seems small because it is now selling for only 7. 7 times earnings to 12 times earnings for other companies in the industry. In addition, its earnings are strong and trending upward, and its return on common equity (20. 6%) is extremely good. Its return on total assets (12. 1%) compares well with that of the industry. The risk, of course, is whether the company can get its cash problem under control. Conceivably, the cash problem could worsen, leading to an eventual reduction in profits through inability to operate, a discontinuance of dividends, and a precipitous drop in the market price of the company’s stock. This does not seem likely, however, because the company has borrowing capacity available, and can easily control its cash problem through more careful management of accounts receivable and inventory. The client must understand, of course, that there is risk in the purchase of any stock; the risk seems well justified in this case because the upward potential of the stock is great if the company gets its problems under control. Problem 16-14 (90 minutes) This Year Last Year 1. a. Net income $  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  840,000 $  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  504,000 Add after-tax cost of interest: $360,000 ? (1 – 0. 30) 252,000 $300,000 ? (1 – 0. 30) 210,000 Total (a) $  Ã‚  1,092,000 $  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  714,000 Average total assets (b) $15,990,000 $13,920,000 Return on total assets (a) ? (b) 6. 8% 5. 1% b. Net income $? 840,000 $  ? 504,000 Less preferred dividends 144,000 144,000 Net income remaining for common (a) $? 696,000 $  ? 360,000 Average total stockholders’ equity $  9,360,000 $  9,084,000 Less average preferred stock 1,800,000 1,800,000 Average common equity (b) $  7,560,000 $  7,284,000 Return on common stockholders’ equity (a) ? (b) 9. 2% 4. 9% c. Leverage is positive for this year because the return on common equity (9. 2%) is greater than the return on total assets (6. For last year, leverage is negative because the return on common equity (4. 9%) is less than the return on total assets (5. 1%). Problem 16-14 (continued) This Year Last Year 2. a. Net income remaining for common [see above] (a) $696,000 $360,000 Average number of common shares outstanding (b) 75,000 75,000 Earnings per share (a) ? (b) $9. 28 $4. 80 b. Dividends per share (a) $2. 88 $1. 44 Market price per share (b) $72. 00 $40. 00 Dividend yield ratio (a) ? (b) 4. 0% 3. 6% c. Dividends per share (a) $2. 88 $1. 44 Earnings per share (b) $9. 28 $4. 80 Dividend payout ratio (a) ? (b) 31. 0% 30. Market price per share (a) $72. 00 $40. 00 Earnings per share (b) $9. 28 $4. 80 Price-earnings ratio (a) ? (b) 7. 8 8. 3 Notice from the data given in the problem that the typical P/E ratio for companies in Lydex Company’s industry is 10. Since Lydex Company presently has a P/E ratio of only 7. 8, so investors appear to regard it less well than they do other companies in the industry. That is, investors are willing to pay only 7. 8 times current earnings for a share of Lydex Company’s stock, as compared to 10 times current earnings for a share of stock for the typical company in the industry. Stockholders’ equity $9,600,000 $9,120,000 Less preferred stock 1,800,000 1,800,000 Common stockholders’ equity (a) $7,800,000 $7,320,000 Number of common shares outstanding (b) 75,000 75,000 Book value per share (a) ? (b) $104. 00 $97. 60 Problem 16-14 (continued) Notice that market value of common stock is below its book value for both years. This does not necessarily indicate that the stock is selling at a bargain price. Market value reflects investors’ expectations concerning future earnings, whereas book value is a result of already completed transactions and is geared to the past. This Year Last Year Gross margin (a) $3,150,000 $2,580,000 Sales (b) $15,750,000 $12,480,000 Gross margin percentage (a) ? (b) 20. 0% 20. 7% This Year Last Year 3. a. Current assets $7,800,000 $5,940,000 Current liabilities 3,900,000 2,760,000 Working capital $3,900,000 $3,180,000 b. Current assets (a) $7,800,000 $5,940,000 Current liabilities (b) $3,900,000 $2,760,000 Current ratio (a) ? (b) 2. 0 2. 15 c. Quick assets (a) $3,660,000 $3,360,000 Current liabilities (b) $3,900,000 $2,760,000 Acid-test ratio (a) ? (b) 0. 94 1. 22 d. Sales on account (a) $15,750,000 $12,480,000 Average receivables (b) $2,250,000 $1,680,000 Accounts receivable turnover (a) ? (b) 7. 0 7. 4 Average collection period, 365 days ? turnover 52. 1 days 49. 3 days Problem 16-14 (continued) This Year Last Year e. Cost of goods sold (a) $12,600,000 $9,900,000 Average inventory balance (b) $3,150,000 $2,160,000 Inventory turnover ratio (a) ? (b) 4. 0 4. 6 Average sale period, 365 days ? Inventory turnover ratio 91. 3 days 79. 3 days f. Total liabilities (a) $7,500,000 $5,760,000 Stockholders’ equity (b) $9,600,000 $9,120,000 Debt-to-equity ratio (a) ? (b) 0. 78 0. 63 g. Net income before interest and income taxes (a) $1,560,000 $1,020,000 Interest expense (b) $360,000 $300,000 Times interest earned (a) ? (b) 4. 3 3. 4 4. Both net income and sales are up from last year. The return on total assets has improved from 5. 1% to 6. 8%, and the return on common equity is up from 4. 9% to 9. 2%. But this is the only bright spot. Virtually all other ratios are below what is typical of the industry, and, more important, they are trending downward. The deterioration in the gross margin percentage, while not large, is worrisome. Sales and inventories have increased substantially. Ordinarily, this should result in an improvement in the gross margin percentage due to fixed costs being spread over a greater number of units. However, the gross margin percentage has declined. Notice particularly that the average collection period has lengthened to 52 days—about three weeks over the industry average. One wonders if the increase in sales was obtained at least in part by extending credit to high-risk customers. Notice also that the debt-to-equity ratio is rising rapidly. If the $3,000,000 loan is granted, the ratio will rise further to 1. 09. What the company probably needs is more equity—not more debt. Therefore, the loan should not be approved. The company should be encouraged to issue more common stock to provide a broader equity base on which to operate. Problem 16-15 (30 minutes) 1. Lydex Company Comparative Balance Sheets This Year Last Year Current assets: Cash 5. 6 % 8. 5 % Marketable securities 0. 0 2. 0 Accounts receivable, net 15. 8 12. 1 Inventory 22. 8 16. 1 Prepaid expenses 1. 4 1. 2 Total current assets 45. 6 39. 9 Plant and equipment, net 54. 4 60. 1 Total assets 100. 0 % 100. 0 % Current liabilities 22. 8 % 18. 5 % Note payable, 10% 21. 1 20. 2 Total liabilities 43. 9 38. 7 Stockholders’ equity: Preferred stock, 8%, $30 par value 10. 5 12. 1 Common stock, $80 par value 35. 1 40. 3 Retained earnings 10. 5 8. 9 Total stockholders’ equity 56. 1 61. 3 Total liabilities and equity 100. 0 % 100. 0 % Problem 16-15 (continued) 2. Lydex Company Comparative Income Statements This Year Last Year Sales 100. 0 % 100. 0 % Cost of goods sold 80. 0 79. 3 Gross margin 20. 0 20. 7 Selling and administrative expenses 10. 1 12. 5 Net operating income 9. 9 8. 2 Interest expense 2. 3 2. 4 Net income before taxes 7. 6 5. 8 Income taxes (30%) 2. 3 1. 7 Net income 5. 3 % 4. 0 %* *Due to rounding, figures may not fully reconcile down a column. The company’s current position has declined substantially between the two years. Cash this year represents only 5. 6% of total assets, whereas it represented 10. 5% last year (cash + marketable securities). In addition, both accounts receivable and inventory are up from last year, which helps to explain the decrease in the cash account. The company is building inventories, but not collecting from customers. (See Problem 16-14 for a ratio analysis of the current assets. ) Apparently a part of the financing required to build inventories was supplied by short-term creditors, as evidenced by the increase in current liabilities. Looking at the income statement, as noted in the solution to the preceding problem there has been a slight deterioration in the gross margin percentage. Ordinarily, the increase in sales (and in inventories) should have resulted in an increase in the gross margin percentage because fixed manufacturing costs would be spread across more units. Note that the selling and administrative expenses are down as a percentage of sales—possibly because many of them are likely to be fixed. Problem 16-16 (45 minutes) Effect on Ratio Reason for Increase, Decrease, or No Effect 1. Decrease Declaring a cash dividend will increase current liabilities, but have no effect on current assets. Therefore, the current ratio will decrease. 2. Increase A sale of inventory on account will increase the quick assets (cash, accounts receivable, marketable securities) but have no effect on the current liabilities. For this reason, the acid-test ratio will increase. The same effect would result regardless of whether the inventory was sold at cost, at a profit, or at a loss. That is, the acid-test ratio would increase in all cases; the only difference would be the amount of the increase. 3. Increase The interest rate on the bonds is only 8%. Since the company’s assets earn at a rate of return of 10%, positive leverage would come into effect, increasing the return to the common stockholders. 4. Decrease A decrease in net income would mean less income available to cover interest payments. Therefore, the times-interest-earned ratio would decrease. 5. Increase Payment of a previously declared cash dividend will reduce both current assets and current liabilities by the same amount. An equal reduction in both current assets and current liabilities will always result in an increase in the current ratio, so long as the current assets exceed the current liabilities. No Effect The dividend payout ratio is a function of the dividends paid per share in relation to the earnings per share. Changes in the market price of a stock have no effect on this ratio. Problem 16-16 (continued) Effect on Ratio Reason for Increase, Decrease, or No Effect 7. Increase A write-off of inventory will reduce the inventory balance, thereby increasing the turnover in relation to a given level of sales. 8. Decrease Sale of inventory at a profit will increase the assets of a company. The increase in assets will be reflected in an increase in retained earnings, which is part of stockholders’ equity. An increase in stockholders’ equity will result in a decrease in the ratio of assets provided by creditors as compared to assets provided by owners. 9. Decrease Extended credit terms for customers means that customers on the average will be taking longer to pay their bills. As a result, the accounts receivable will â€Å"turn over,† or be collected, less frequently during a given year. 10. Decrease A common stock dividend will result in a greater number of shares outstanding, with no change in the underlying assets. The result will be a decrease in the book value per share. 11. No Effect Book value per share is dependent on historical costs of already completed transactions as reflected on a company’s balance sheet. It is not affected by current market prices for the company’s stock. 12. No Effect Payments on account reduce cash and accounts payable by equal amounts; thus, the net amount of working capital is not affected. 13. Decrease The stock dividend will increase the number of common shares outstanding, thereby reducing the earnings per share. Problem 16-16 (continued) Effect on Ratio Reason for Increase, Decrease, or No Effect 14. Decrease Payments to creditors will reduce the total liabilities of a company, thereby decreasing the ratio of total debt to total equity. 15. Decrease A purchase of inventory on account will increase current liabilities, but will not increase the quick assets (cash, accounts receivable, marketable securities). Therefore, the ratio of quick assets to current liabilities will decrease. 16. No Effect Write-off of an uncollectible account against the Allowance for Bad Debts will have no effect on total current assets. For this reason, the current ratio will remain unchanged. 17. Increase The price-earnings ratio is obtained by dividing the market price per share by the earnings per share. If the earnings per share remains unchanged, and the market price goes up, then the price-earnings ratio will increase. 18. Decrease The dividend yield ratio is obtained by dividing the dividend per share by the market price per share. If the dividend per share remains unchanged and the market price goes up, then the yield will decrease. Problem 16-17 (30 minutes) a. It is becoming more difficult for the company to pay its bills as they come due. Although the current ratio has improved over the three years, the acid-test ratio is down. Also notice that the accounts receivable and inventory are both turning more slowly, indicating that an increasing portion of the current assets is being made up of these items, from which bills cannot be paid. b. Customers are paying their bills more slowly in Year 3 than in Year 1. This is evidenced by the decline in accounts receivable turnover. c. The total of accounts receivable is increasing. This is evidenced both by a slowdown in turnover and in an increase in total sales. d. The level of inventory undoubtedly is increasing. Notice that the inventory turnover is decreasing. Even if sales (and cost of goods sold) just remained constant, this would be evidence of a larger average inventory on hand. However, sales are not constant, but rather are increasing. With sales increasing (and undoubtedly cost of goods sold also increasing), the average level of inventory must be increasing as well to service the larger volume of sales. e. The market price is going down. The dividends paid per share over the three-year period are unchanged, but the dividend yield is going up. Therefore, the market price per share of stock must be decreasing. f. The amount of earnings per share is increasing. Again, the dividends paid per share have remained constant. However, the dividend payout ratio is decreasing. In order for the dividend payout ratio to be decreasing, the earnings per share must be increasing. g. The price-earnings ratio is going down. If the market price of the stock is going down [see Part (e) above], and the earnings per share are going up [see Part (f) above], then the price-earnings ratio must be decreasing. h. In Year 1 and in Year 2 there was negative leverage because in both years the return on total assets exceeded the return on common equity. Because the quick assets (cash and accounts receivable) total $400,000 of this amount, the inventory must be $480,000. h. Therefore, the cost of goods sold for the year must be $2,730,000. i. Gross margin = $4,200,000 – $2,730,000 = $1,470,000. j. Problem 16-18 (continued) k. The interest expense for the year was $80,000 and the interest rate was 10%, the bonds payable must total $800,000. l. Total liabilities = $320,000 + $800,000 = $1,120,000 m.

The U.S. Foreign Policy in East Asia

Introduction Since the relations between the United States and China were straightened two decades ago, American interests have invariably remained constant and consistent with those of the larger China. This has been followed with reproach from the political realm which has constantly victimized the long term intentions of this relationship.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The U.S. Foreign Policy in East Asia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The American population seems to have conceptualized and victimized the manner in which the American administration seems to hold on to the long overdue early political ambitions of social stability, improved levels of technology, a better and firm security force. Would these have materialized, China would be a fertile ground for the vast investments made by the United States in China. Even more compelling, the historical dispute between Taiwan and China does not seem t o be getting to a close with each party maintaining a heavy budget on the acquisitioning and sophistication of their armed forces. In effect the ambitious profit forecasts that raised an interest back after the cold war have remained a dream. The nation’s future therefore appears to be held on weak strings threatening to crumble any time in the face of fluid geopolitics. China’s intention to forcefully acquire Taiwan has embraced serious and sometimes acute criticism even as it continues to acquire apply and export essential technological strategies. There have also been endless concerns as to China’s appetite for human rights as well as religious freedom even as the trade relations with China are nursed. It is therefore only natural that the general opinion is that of every five Americans four are of an opinion that precaution and strict scrutiny of China’s intentions should be taken before these relations become more intimate. They believe that Chinaâ⠂¬â„¢s labor policies should be put to check. Issue and Background China’s long and winding history dates back to the Clinton era when North Korea first announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at a time around March 1993. Negotiations followed and bore the first and possibly the only tangible results in October the following year. A compromise in the form of an agreed framework was drafted that required that all parties be enjoined to the International Atomic Energy Agency monitors. All of the 8000 fuel rods that had been spent were agreeably canned and sealed. Also part of the bargain was the construction of two light water reactors by the end of the 2003 with heavy fuel oil supplies. China in 1996 picked up the cars by firing missiles towards Taiwan. The response by the United States was a show of might in the form of aircraft carriers. A year earlier the Taiwan president had made a trip to the United States leaving the impression that America was endorsing the independence of Taiwan.Advertising Looking for term paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This was the beginning of the distrustful relations between the United States and China. North Korea would then raise eye brows on the 1st of September 1998 by firing a long-range ballistic missile over Japan. The world responded with aggressive suctions and withdrawal of financing amidst claims by the United States of an underground nuclear project by North Korea. The status quo was maintained by the bush administrations which did little but fan the flames of the conflict between China and Taiwan. In 2001 former president bush was quoted to have supported a military solution and the use of force in the control and maintenance of the North Korea situation. The situation was made even more serious by the admission of North Korea of having abducted of 30 Japanese nationals in connection between 1977 and 1983. This could not have appeared at a more appropriate time. In the same year the United States intelligence would then uncover a nuclear program underway in the Korean country probing the withdrawal of oil shipments by America. The United States position was made manifest in the former president’s speech at Kyoto in November 2005. He advocated for openness in China’s approach to the issue of human freedoms and went on to use Taiwan as an example of a country that had achieved prosperity by embracing freedom and allowing for a democratic Chinese society. It is common ground that the China- United States relations have trod on shaky ground. Talking points The quarrel between China and Taiwan Taiwan originally was occupied by Japan for a long 50 years from 1895 to 1949. Four years later the nationalist Chiang regime lost its power to the communist party in China. Chiang would then flee into Taiwan. The regimes that followed perceived Taiwan as part of â€Å"one C hina† that would be united come the resumption of the nationalist movement. After a long and harsh rule of the Koumintang administration in 1986, the first opposition party was founded. This was after a long period of dictatorship and a ban on opposition parties. The party finally managed to secure a presidential seat for their candidate in year 2000. The doctrines adopted by the party offend the Chinese government’s long conception of Taiwan as a defector province that would one day be united with the larger communist China by whatever means. Nuclear concerns In the recent history China has placed blame on the US for benefiting on selling on nuclear sophisticated technology to countries like Pakistan who just recently practiced its pilot missile. Nuclear concerns have time and again stood in the way for the mending of the relations between these two countries. There are those who are of the opinion that it is the strategic and developmental significance that holds stil l the random and shaky connection between these countries.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The U.S. Foreign Policy in East Asia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Points of Debate The United States position Despite the recent series of events, China has remained to be the most populous nation in the world as well as among the most promising of countries. It bears a colossal capacity for growth and is an ideal ground for investment. The United States has historically recognized Taiwan as part of the greater China and has time and again advocated for an amicable resolution to the e Taiwan China dispute. Despite the provisions of the 1979 Taiwan Relations act to which the United States is bound it has maintained a fine line between the long history between the relations of these two nations and the gradually improving influence of China. In effect the United States has made a firm stand in the campaign for its p rinciples and values of freedom and democracy and yet avoiding an unnecessary conflict with China. Even so it would be hard to avoid noticing the current status of Taiwan which by 2005 had a gross national product of 328 billion of which 174 billion was attributed to trade and export of electronics. This indicates a successful economy that is supported by a multiparty democracy. In the spirit of democracy and the recent examples of Eritrea, Southern Sudan, Libya and Tunisia it would only seem fit that the revolutionary effects of democracy are not far off. Moments of collaboration For all intents and purposes the relations between Washington and Beijing have been of mutual assistance and cooperation in the search for an amicable resolve to the conflict crisis. In 2005 the bush administration secured peace talks negotiations between Taiwan and China. These are less likely however to occur in future owing to the division among the electorate with a substantial amount in favor of both propositions. In other avenues China and the United States have displayed a team effort as was seen in the 1991 gulf war against Iraq in its move of sustaining as opposed to exercising its veto in the un security council. Way forward Despite the above mentioned setbacks, the two states maintain a certain degree of trust that each nation will keep the others interests in mind when it comes to the making of big decisions affecting either nation. If the current state of affairs is anything to go by, the solution to the constant hedge against each other is co-operation and demonstration of regard for each other’s goals. An outstanding cause of the constant conflict between the two nations is the divergence of values and interests alongside the difficulty in ascertaining each party’s intentions. More often than not it stands in the way of development of a common object of values and commonality of interests.Advertising Looking for term paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More China for instance invested its national interests in territorial integrity alongside institutional security and economic development. Of paramount importance is institutional security with the sole tenet of service to the people. The genuine changes that have transformed China such as imperialism colonialism and hegemonic ideology have set it back to the development road a road that the United States gives a detached cognizance. (Despres, P. 115) The Chinese bear a saying to the effect that modesty aids progress while conceit drags the one behind. It is of essence that both parties treat each other with a sense of equality and respect for the others institutions. For all intents and purposes, the American conception of the Chinese system should me more objective in as far as performance is concerned and in relation to the international standards of civil rights and social reform. The relationship between the two states has in recent times received substantial support by the current president of China even in the face of the hard economic times brought by the year 2010. The challenge therefore is on building and maintaining these improvements. This will not be an easy task due to the divergence of the compatible interests of both nations. China on its part will be required to do more than just casual international exchanges and international cooperation. It will be required to adopt policies that safeguard its investments and the interests of its people. This may be the explanation behind the continued investment in the defensive capacity. If however the objectives are not stated clearly and their plans explained, the United States may get the wrong impression and it is therefore important to ensure that their level of trust is maintained to save both parties the misconceptions and misjudgments (Pouyan, P. 115) It is also important that China understands the legitimacy of the concerns and desires specifically with regard to the all too common issue of freedom of navigation in the open seas. Undeniably the United States has monopolized the administration of and management of the open seas including Asia. Naturally it has been a cause for concern for policy makers and drafters as well as critics as to the United States objectives and interests. Presumably the picture has been tainted as one of selfish interest. This situation has been worsened by the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and increased need for alternate sources of revenue for the continued development goals the navigate freedom continues to be more and more liberal. This has been a cause of anxiety for the United States for instance in the Chinese prospects over a number of exclusive economic zones. This has raised eyebrows and could be a cause of dissatisfaction. It is of essence that the Chinese government declares its intentions to ensure that the essence of suspicion does not persist. The survival of these friendly ties it’s for the mutual benefit of both nations. It would be of specific benefit to China if both parties as well as other ASEAN members to make attempts to reconcile each others stand by creating a system of administration that will aid the free convenience of the south China seas but still support the invariable interests and privileges of China in so far as economic exploitation is concerned. The connection between the American population and the Chinese is invaluably important since the Chinese economy presents and maintains a substantial market for the many citizens who deal in export goods in the likes of farmer’s workers and businessmen across the United States besides the all famous multinational companies such as Microsoft, Motorola and Boeing. The Chinese also have a bearing on the American security situation. The United States has sent its troops to mitigate the South Korean issue. China is therefore an important agent in ensuring that the democratic concerns Pu t forward by the United States receives motivation and backing. In the face of the rising need for renewable and environmentally friendly sources of energy, China plays a big role in the fight against pollution. It is therefore an important ally in the environmental campaign. China’s economic progress has taken a down turn owing to among other things the changing economic times. It has been presented with hard edged choices as the profits from the liberalization ideology seem to be marginalizing. It is of urgent need that the nation takes measures to address the social and political steps towards an amicable resolve. Of urgent concern is the political twist that has befallen the regime that enforced controls that allocate lesser capital for instance to the banking sector. The banking system in any nation forms the benchmark for the growth of any economy. It therefore is counterproductive to restrain it since it has a bearing in almost all sectors. It is also important that the level of corruption be put to check as well subs tantive reform to the nation’s taxation system. The political environment in China leaves alit to be desired. It is a high time that the leaders are made more accountable for their undertakings in their various administrative dockets. The leadership seems to be preoccupied with preserving and guarding its power and territory at the expense of the vision of China. It is important in the fulfillment of the democratic mandate vested in them by the electorate. The entrance (Harries, P. 2-25) For the past decade monetary policy has been among the greatest concerns in the United States- China relations. Issues have been raised as to whether each not each country’s currency is at the equitable value. Each country has often shifted blame on the other refuting the responsibility for the state of affairs. Experts however have a different view and have the assumption that Chinese Yen is rated low. The rising value of the Chinese currency will therefore have a great bearing on the balance in trade between the two nations. Just recently have tried the best to put pressure on China to Up- grade Chinese Yen as a currency. The US congress has presented a bill that seeks among other things to require the administration to enforce tariffs on any imports from China. In return the Chinese have criticized this move as one of unfair motive. It has formed a renewed source for debate and if not resolved, could lead to unwanted conflict. Recommendations From a realist stand China is a threat to the United States by the fact that it has gradually walked to global homogeneity. They suggest that these recent turn of events could likely to lead to war. The liberalists on the other hand take the view that the increase in power of the Chinese regime is not solely enough to lead to war. They consider casual mechanisms as an amicable solution to the sustenance of peaceful coexistence. Both present strong argue that tend to lean on pessimism rather than objective optimism. To avo id any of these unfortunate eventualities they suggest that the United States adopts the advice of one Walter Russell which entails the strategic employment of sticky power. This is a term that was derived by Russell from the construction of peace built on trade relations. It marries the liberalist and realist approaches in providing a balance to the whole stand down. It embraces liberal ideas such as economic reliance to motivate continued relations. It also recognizes realist chances of war. In effect the interdependence and democratization are used as a barrier to war. It also keeps in mind the realist possibility of war and braces for such war bringing aboard historical precedent. Sticky power seems to be the most reliable compromise that has long-term prospects of success. Conclusion The future of these relations is crowned with uncertainty. As it were the two nations have a lot to learn from Theodor Roosevelt’s quote to the effect that it is always to the benefit and in terest of every other nation that a nation maintains its stability and prosperity. It is not to any nations disadvantage that a nation has stability within its borders the kind that is strong but not too strong as to provoke aggression form its neighbors. It is for the greater good that hopes for change development growth and progress with regard to democracy peace and legitimacy in line with the doctrines of natural justice summarized in the quote â€Å"live and let live† In the end after all the legacy of the presidents regime in so far as the bilateral relationship is concerned will be judged buy the ability to bring the Chinese regime into the campaign for international concerns such as global warming. It is of alarming concern that the two nations combined account for at least 40 % of the global emissions. It is issues of this kind that the world at large measures the achievement and potential of a nation’s democracy. Works Cited Despres, John. â€Å"American Int erests In and Concerns with China†. 3/12/10 Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports.html Harries, Owen.†China In The National Interest†. New Jersey.Transaction Publishers 2006. P. 115 Pouyan, Vahabi-Shekarloo.†The making of American foreign policy towards China†.Norderstedt Germany. Druck and Bindung. 2005 .P, 2-25 This term paper on The U.S. Foreign Policy in East Asia was written and submitted by user Randy Wright to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Examples of Mixed Metaphors and Cliches

Examples of Mixed Metaphors and Cliches As defined in our glossary, a mixed metaphor is a succession of incongruous or ludicrous comparisons. When two or more metaphors (or cliches) are jumbled together, often illogically, we say that these comparisons are mixed. In Garners Modern American Usage, Bryan A. Garner offers this classic example of a mixed metaphor from a speech by Boyle Roche in the Irish Parliament: Mr. Speaker, I smell a rat. I see him floating in the air. But mark me, sir, I will nip him in the bud. This sort of mixed metaphor may occur when a speaker is so familiar with the figurative sense of a phrase (smell a rat, nip in the bud) that he fails to recognize the absurdity that results from a literal reading. Now and then a writer may deliberately introduce mixed metaphors as a way of exploring an idea. Consider this example from British journalist Lynne Truss: Well, if punctuation is the stitching of language, language comes apart, obviously, and all the buttons fall off. If punctuation provides the traffic signals, words bang into each other and everyone ends up in Minehead. If one can bear for a moment to think of punctuation marks as those invisibly beneficent fairies (Im sorry), our poor deprived language goes parched and pillowless to bed. And if you take the courtesy analogy, a sentence no longer holds the door open for you to walk in, but drops it in your face as you approach. Some readers may be amused by this sort of metaphorical mix; others may find it tiresomely twee. In most cases, mixed metaphors are accidental, and the haphazard juxtaposition of images is likely to be more comical or perplexing than revealing. So stick these examples in your pipe and chew them over. So now what we are dealing with is the rubber meeting the road, and instead of biting the bullet on these issues, we just want to punt.[T]he bill is mostly a stew of spending on existing programs, whatever their warts may be.A friend of mine, talking about the Democratic presidential candidates, tossed out a wonderful mixed metaphor: This is awfully weak tea to have to hang your hat on.The mayor has a heart as big as the Sahara for protecting his police officers, and that is commendable. Unfortunately, he also often strips his gears by failing to engage the clutch when shifting what emanates from his brain to his mouth. The bullets he fires too often land in his own feet.The walls had fallen down and the Windows had opened, making the world much flatter than it had ever been but the age of seamless global communication had not yet dawned.Ive spent a lot of time in the subways, said Shwa. Its a dank and dark experience. You feel morbid. The environment contributes to the fear that de velops in men and women. The moment that you walk into the bowels of the armpit of the cesspool of crime, you immediately cringe. Anyone who gets in the way of this cunning steamroller will find himself on a card-index file and then in hot very hot water.A Pentagon staffer, complaining that efforts to reform the military have been too timid: Its just ham-fisted salami-slicing by the bean counters.All at once, he was alone in this noisy hive with no place to roost.Top Bush hands are starting to get sweaty about where they left their fingerprints. Scapegoating the rotten apples at the bottom of the militarys barrel may not be a slam-dunk escape route from accountability anymore.It is easy to condemn Thurmond, Byrd and their fellow pork barons. Few of us would hail a career spent stewarding the federal gravy train as the vocation of a statesman.Rather than wallowing in tears, let this passionate community strike while the iron is hot. It probably won’t cost the National Park Service a single penny, will be no skin off its nose, will heal the community and it presents a golden opportunity for first-person interpretation. Federal Judge Susan Webber Wright stepped up to the plate and called a foul.[Robert D.] Kaplan keeps getting into scrapes at the keyboard. I wanted a visual sense of the socioeconomic stew in which Al Qaeda flourished. You smile in admiration, as at something rare, like a triple play; its a double mixed metaphor. Remember this: Keep an eye on your metaphors and an ear to the ground so that you dont end up with your foot in your mouth. Sources Lynne Truss,  Eats, Shoots Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, 2003 Chicago Tribune, cited by  The New Yorker, August 13, 2007 The New York Times, January 27, 2009 Montgomery Advertiser, Alabama, cited by  The New Yorker, November 16, 1987 Bob Herbert, Behind the Curtain,  The New York Times, November 27, 2007 Thomas L. Friedman,  The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, 2005 Our Town, N.Y., cited by  The New Yorker, March 27, 2000 Len Deighton,  Winter: A Novel of a Berlin Family, 1988 The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 1997 Tom Wolfe,  The Bonfire of the Vanities Frank Rich,  The New York Times, July 18, 2008 Jonathan Freedland,  Bring Home The Revolution, 1998 Daily Astorian, cited by  The New Yorker, April 21, 2006 Catherine Crier,  The Case Against Lawyers, 2002 David Lipsky, Appropriating the Globe,  The New York Times, November 27, 2005 Garner, Bryan A. Garners Modern American Usage. 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, October 30, 2003.

Understanding Expressive Roles and Task Roles

Understanding Expressive Roles and Task Roles Expressive roles and task roles, also known as instrumental roles, describe two ways of participating in social relationships. People in expressive roles tend to pay attention to how everyone is getting along, managing conflict, soothing hurt feelings, encouraging good humor, and take care of things that contribute to one’s feelings within the social group. People in task roles, on the other hand, pay more attention to achieving whatever goals are important to the social group, like earning money to provide resources for survival, for example. Sociologists believe that both roles are required for small social groups to function properly  and that each provides a form of leadership: functional and social. Parsonss Domestic Division of Labor How sociologists understand expressive roles and task roles today is rooted in Talcott Parsons development of them as concepts within his formulation of the domestic division of labor. Parsons was a mid-century American sociologist, and his theory of the domestic division of labor reflects gender role biases that proliferated at that time and that are often considered traditional, though theres scant factual evidence to back up this assumption. Parsons is known for popularizing the structural functionalist perspective within sociology, and his description of expressive and task roles fits within that framework. In his view, assuming heteronormative and patriarchally organized nuclear family unit, Parsons framed the man/husband as fulfilling  the instrumental role by working outside the home to provide the money required to support the family. The father, in this sense, is instrumental or task-oriented he accomplishes a specific task (earning money) that is required for the family unit to function. In this model, the woman/wife plays a complementary expressive role by serving as the caregiver for the family. In this role, she is responsible for the primary socialization of the children  and provides morale and cohesion for the group through emotional support and social instruction. A Broader Understanding and Application Parsons conceptualization of expressive and task roles was limited by stereotypical ideas about gender, heterosexual relationships, and unrealistic expectations for family organization and structure, however, freed of these ideological constraints, these concepts have value and are usefully applied to understanding social groups today. If you think about your own life and relationships, you can probably see that some people clearly embrace the expectations of either expressive or task roles, while others might do both. You might even notice that you and others around you seem to move between these different roles depending on where they are, what they are doing, and who they are doing it with. People can be seen to be playing these roles in all small social groups, not just families. This can be observed within friend groups, households that are not composed of family members, sports teams or clubs, and even among colleagues in a workplace setting. Regardless of the setting, one will see people of all genders playing both roles at various times. Updated  by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

The Economic Factors that Help Explainining the Expansion of Low-Cost Research Paper

The Economic Factors that Help Explainining the Expansion of Low-Cost Airline Carriers - Research Paper Example Accessibility of alternative modes of transport that are rationally close substitutes for air transportation diminishes with distance travelled. Globalization and free movement of merchandise and people between and within regions have a positive effect on air travel demand. Business travel market consists of time sensitive passengers; therefore, these customers are price inelastic in terms of fares. If the airline firm offers high quality service to this market segment, such as frequent and reliable frights, flexibility, comfortable seats, and excellent, frequent flyer programme rewards, business class customers will be willing to pay high prices (Junwook, 2011). However, with the introduction of low cost airlines the price elasticity of this business class market has changed and they display price elasticity. In previous years, airline industry relied heavily on business travel market as a major source of profit, however, this trend has changed, and the industry has noted that a hig her percentage of passengers considers price over service. Business class customers are willing to give up luxuries, food quality, flexibility or choice in return to lower prices. According to Rosario & Eddy, 2010, the economy travel market is largely determined by the costs being charged by the airlines; they are price sensitive. The first class air travel market does not generate much profit to the airline industry, as a result, many airlines are moving from three to a two-class cabin. The levels of consumer income influence the passenger’s choice of the air travel class; the choice of consumers with high levels of income will differ with those of consumers with low levels of income (Bijan, & Tom, 2008). The demand for leisure travel is influenced by the number of independent holidays and short term breaks; in this market passengers book flights, accommodation and car by themselves. According to Airport International, the changes in demand of leisure travel indicate that cu stomers are expecting and preferring low fares. Low fares in this market segment are the main stimulus for growth in luxury travel, and passengers are willing to change destination for fabulous deals. According to Susan, 2009, the prices of air tickets are largely influenced by the fuel prices, the exchange rates, and the costs of financing airline projects. High costs of financing, unstable exchange rates, and high fuel prices lead to high air fares. Other natural calamities, such tsunami and earthquakes among others results to decline in tourism and business travels thereby, affecting the air travel demand in the affected areas (Roger, 2008). The following diagrams and tables show the effects of fuel prices on operating costs of the airline industry. Prices of air tickets are determined by the price of fuel; fuel price is influenced by the prevailing economic conditions such as the exchange rates. Industry Fuel Costs and Net Profits. Source: Industry Financial Forecast Table (IATA Economics). Fuel Impact on Operating Costs Year % of Operating Costs Average Price per Barrel of Crude Break-even Price per Barrel Total Fuel Cost 2003 14% $28.8 $23.4 $44 billion 2004 17% $38.3 $34.5 $65 billion 2005 22% $54.5 $51.8 $91 billion 2006 26% $65.1 $68.3 $117 billion 2007 28% $73.0 $82.2 $135 billion 2008 33% $99.0 $88.9 $189 billion 2009 26% $62.0 $55.4 $125 billion 2010 26% $79.4 $91.0

Sandy Skoglunds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sandy Skoglunds - Essay Example scale thus teetering balance amidst reality and unreality were heightened most emphatically when populace were included within the scenes due to the undeniably real live models (Bleicher, pp76-124). Sandy Skoglund is commonly associated with the big format photographs containing her bright and amusingly unsetting, room-sized fitting that poke fun at the existing suburban reality. The two installations coupled with the photographs were at the Museum of Glass. Every installation is approximately fifteen feet in height, width and corresponding breath and entailed backdrop panel, floor and constructed figures (Bleicher, pp76-124). The blue backdrops were covered with numerous fluttery glass dragonflies and marshmallows. Moreover, the floor was made of the inlaid blue glass tiles within the crackles pattern approximately six inches beneath the distinct glass sheet. The photographs of Skoglund are more effective and less stagy than the prevailing installations. Nevertheless, the photographs were very bright. Moreover, within the photographs three human models join the two sculpted figures in order to develop a tableau with the corresponding narrative implications by leaving the view imagination on the

Home Is Where the Heart Is Essay Example for Free

Home Is Where the Heart Is Essay Some say â€Å"home is where the heart is. † Home can be everything to some. Home is their safe comfort place they have in life. Home determines a sense of one’s identity. One poem called â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† by Cathy Song involves characters experiencing conflicting situations between the demands of their home and identity. One might think that this poem is simply about mothers versus daughters; however, this poem evokes a broader sense meaning that daughters are torn between either pulling away or pulling closer to home. In one sense, the daughter in this poem is frustrated with her current situation and aspires to do more with her life, rather than devote her time doing what her mother thinks she should be doing. Despite this feeling, she knows she should be caring for her sick mother. The role she has in her home has conflicting messages. Using the elements of tone, narrative poem, and word choice, the poem can be explicated to show how it creates and resolves the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† utilizes the narrative type poem, which helps create and resolve the conflict in the poem. The main conflict in this poem is that the daughter has to choose between obligations and desires, while finding her own role in her home. A narrative poem tells a story, and this poem tells a story about a daughter taking care of her elderly mother. The poem is about what the daughter’s daily life is like. This shows the â€Å"obligations† part of her life. The first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This implies that everything that has been going on with her taking care of her mother has been going on for many years. Since her mother became ill, it has been the daughter’s obligation to take care of her. This obligation is based on cultural expectations. In many cultures, children are expected to take care of their parents once they age. The poem is organized into stanzas that are associated with a certain part of the story. One stanza describes what has been going on lately. Another is about â€Å"this morning. † The last stanza is about what goes on â€Å"in the afternoons. † Through the narrative type poem, the daughter is able to express the feeling that her identity is basically taking care of her mother. This identity is also her role in the family. This role limits her own self-identity. Because she is busy caring for her mother, she is unable to develop a sense of self. She is torn between two things: growing away from her mother, and pulling closer to her mother. She knows she has to take care of her, so that aspect makes her seem to pull closer to her mother. Contrary to that, this daughter is a grown woman, and she has a very limited and conflicted life. Her life is devoted to the mother. This is seen by the story of the poem. She wants to grow apart from her mother and do things in her life that interest her. The reader can see that the daughter wants to escape this whole situation because towards the end of the poem it says â€Å"She knows I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The readers learn here that the mother doesn’t trust the daughter, for reasons unknown. The second line of the above quote shows the readers that this is what the daughter is currently doing to make her mother not trust her. The daughter also desires that her mother’s health improve, because in the poem is says â€Å"As I toast to her health. Love and pity toward her aging mother clash with the feelings of resentment and entrapment of herself. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† uses word choice to show the conflict of mothers versus daughters, and the daughter’s internal conflict of obligations and desires. The daughter uses middle diction to show her emotions. Like noted in a previous paragraph, the first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This shows that the daughter has been dealing with her mother’s illness for quite some time, and she hasn’t been able to see the sun. She hasn’t been able to do what she wants to do because she has been so overwhelmed with taking care of the mother and fulfilling her obligations. When describing the mother, the daughter says â€Å"her breathing was graveled / her voice gruff with affection. † The word choice of graveled and gruff is interesting. This demonstrates the effort required to breathe and be affectionate. It’s almost as if the writer of the poem wanted the readers to hear what her breathing and voice sounded like by including those two words in there. This implies in a way that the mother has an opinion with the situation too. These two words make these two lines more effective. The daughter says â€Å"I was almost tender / when I came to the blue bruises. † This shows that the daughter feels sorry for what the mother has to go through. Tender is another interesting word choice. The poem also says â€Å"I soaped her slowly,† meaning that the daughter takes her time when washing her mother, because her life has been accustomed to nothing. Another aspect of obligations is that the daughter says â€Å"I scrubbed them with a sour taste in my mouth. The daughter obviously doesn’t want to scrub the mother, but it is obligation, her duty, so she must. Using the sentence â€Å"We eat in the familiar silence† shows that there is tension between them, because if there was no tension, they would be talking when they are eating. Despite this tension, this still occurs each day, and they continue to follow the same routine. If this line just had said â€Å"We eat in silence,† it would have a much lesser effect on the poem as a whole. By adding the word â€Å"familiar,† it allows the reader to understand that eating that way is a commonality and part of a consistent routine. The words â€Å"familiar silence† contrast each other. Familiar is something that has occurred so often that it becomes accustomed. And what is familiar in this poem? Silence. Silence, though it means quiet, is essentially nothing. Quietness, or nothing, has occurred so much that it is accustomed. The word choice is contrasting obligations with desires. The daughter is obligated to care for her mother. This is evident throughout the entire poem when the daughter describes everything she does for her mother. Despite this, she desires to do something different than just solely care for her mother. This desire is evident when the poem says â€Å"She know I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The daughter wants to escape, and the mother is aware of it. This contrast between obligations and desires makes the reader of the poem feel that this is an either/or situation. The daughter can either take care of the mother, or she can go off on her own. The last two lines of the poem are very meaningful: â€Å"A thousand cranes curtain the window / fly up in a sudden breeze. These word choices are effective because the words allow the readers to see an ending image. It seems like the cranes flying away is associated with the daughter being set free and escaping her life. It’s ironic how the first line of the poem uses words that talk about the sky, and in the last few lines of the poem the cranes fly into the sky. This line is used as a way for the author of the poem to show that the resolution has occurred. By the end of the poem, the conflict of obligations versus desires is resolved. One of the last lines of the poem says â€Å"As I toast to her health. This shows that the daughter finally realizes that caring for her mother is what’s best for her at this moment. By toasting for her health, she reveals that even though she is sick of caring for her mother, she would rather care for her mother than have her mother be dead. The daughter realizes that there will eventually be a time when the mother dies, and at that time the daughter will be able to do whatever she desires, but right now, her focus needs to be on her mother. The cranes flying into the sky reiterates this fact. When this time comes, even though the daughter will be able to do what she wants, she will be without a mother. She will have no obligations, which in a sense is good for her, because she will be able to do what she wants, yet a part of her life will be missing. Death is always hard to deal with, and even though in the poem she talks about how she wants to escape, in reality she really would miss her mother. The tone is this poem is bittersweet and affectionate; children should care for their aging parents, yet children need to live their own lives. In a way, the tone is also both happy and sad. The way the tone changes correlated with both of the conflicting sides of the poem. It’s happy in the way that the poet shows that there is affection and love between mothers and daughters, yet it is sad in the way that it shows that sometimes conflicts arise between mothers and daughters. This also explains how it is bittersweet. The tone shows that there are moral ties between children and their parents. These moral ties tie in with the obligational part of the conflict. Morally, the daughter feels obliged to care for her mother. The speaker is the youngest daughter of a family, and her duty is to take care of her aging parent. As one can see, looking at a poem through elements can help a reader understand the meaning of it. In â€Å"The Youngest Daughter,† the poem creates the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters related to the daughter either pulling closer or pulling away from family and having to choose between obligations and desires. The elements of tone, word choice, and narrative poem together effectively create this meaning. In this poem, the home determines one’s identity. The daughter is conflicted between either pulling closer to her home life and her mother, or pulling away from it all and going after her own aspirations. Readers can relate to this poem because many people go through the same predicament in life: taking care of an aging parent. People do it because they love their family. Even though this daughter is having conflicting feelings about taking care of her mother, she does it anyways because family always comes first.

The Addictive Nature of the Internet Essay -- Addicting Internet Web C

The Addictive Nature of the Internet The purpose of this paper is to show the many different ways that people can become addicted to the web (Internet) and to try to explain why. The various aspects of the web, such as the wide range of information, the advanced technology, and alternate ways of communication have contributed to its addictive nature. People of all ages and backgrounds have become so absorbed in using the web, either through work or play, that they have, in effect, become addicted to using it. Some common types of sites which people just cannot seem to stay away from include chat rooms, dating services, sex, pornography, shopping, and sports. The prevalence of Internet use and the growing realization that it has become an addictive vice for some has spurned the creation of groups such as Webaholics Anonymous, Interneters Anonymous, Netaholics Anonymous, the Internet Addiction Association, and the Internet Addiction Support Group (IASG). All of these self-help groups can be sought on-line, which is rather ironic, given the topic, but nonetheless the groups seek to aid those addicted to using the Internet. The name, Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) has even been given to this growing phenomenon of Internet addiction. "Addiction" as defined by Webster's New World Dictionary is "the condition of being addicted (to a habit) or of being an addict." "Addict," on the other hand, is defined as one who has given oneself up to some strong habit. Some may say that being addicted to using the Internet is not a "true" addiction, but according to the Webster definition, Internet addiction can be and is every bit as real and as hard to manage as a drug or alcohol addiction. Depending on where it is one looks ... ...ng from. Anyone who thinks that they may have a problem or knows someone who does should try to be open and honest about it, and should seek help before the situation becomes out of control. For anyone who reads this who is addicted to the Internet, I wish you the best of luck in controlling the disorder. For anyone else, beware of the possibilities! Works Cited "Results of Internet Behaviour Questionnaire." http://www.ifap.bepr.ethz.ch/~egger/ibq/intadd.htm. (April 15, 1997) "Richard's Web Central - Interneters Anonymous." http://www.itw.com/~rscott/ia.html. (March 20, 1997) "Self Help & Psychology Magazine Article: Internet Can Be As Addicting As Alcohol, Drugs And Gambling." http://cybertowers.com/selfhelp/articles/internet/intaddic.html.(March 20, 1997) "Symptoms of Internet Addiction." http://www.addictions.com/internet.htm. (March 20, 1997)

Book Review “Family to Family” Essay

Abstract Family to Family is a book written by the author Dr. Jerry Pipes and Victor Lee. Dr. Pipes is a leader with the North American Mission Board. He travels around the world speaking to audiences through various conferences and workshops, training and equipping many in how to change lives for Christ. He is an accomplished author, husband and father. Victor Lee is from Knoxville, Tennessee. He attends the First Baptist Concord Church, where he serves as the Young Adults Minister. For over twenty-two years he has become an accomplished author of several books, and an editor of a variety of Christian publications. He acts as a Sports Evangelism Consultant for the North American Mission Board. Victor Lee is an accomplished, author, husband and father. The book starts out by stating very clearly that, â€Å"This book was written for families who desire to have meaningful family time, true significance and desire to pass on the legacy of their faith in Christ on to their children.†1 Thi s book by Pipes and Lee was written to help the family with tools and resources to find their God given purpose. It is designed to inspire parents to grow Christ centered families through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Throughout the first few chapters Pipes and Lee provide the readers with engaging questions, and activities to transform and grow the family. The author help parent to find and understand their mission given by God as parents. Through the use of scriptures and many great stories the authors help to foster changes within the lives of today’s busy families. Pipe and Lee demonstrate through this book that as Christian parent, their mission and their responsibility is to witness or disciple to their children to Jesus Christ and to teach or demonstrate for them how to live out a Christ centered lifestyle. The authors concluding chapters teach the readers about ministry evangelism through witnessing to their neighbors, community and friends. â€Å"Healthy families spend quantity and quality time around God’s purposes. If we truly want to our children to except the gospel, then our commitment to Christ should spill over to those around us who do not know Christ.†2 The authors point out that we as parent have o be willing to intentionally share the gospel with others. Piper and Lee conclude the book with stressing the importance of daily prayer in our lives in our quest to follow Christ. Concrete Response This book reminded me of how my parents have and continued to walk talk and demonstrate Jesus Christ in my life. Just as it is stated in the Bible in the book of Joshua 24:15, â€Å"as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.†3 My mother made it a mission to have us learn about Jesus Christ. She may not have called it a mission by title but, it was important for her and my father to equip us as their children and a Saints of God. This was their goal. At a point in my life when I wanted to except Christ I and remember my mother sitting down with me just as the author outlines in chapter three: Passing the Baton. She asked me some specific questions to be reassured that I was ready to except Christ for myself. I can remember her talking about how God loves me so much, and Jesus God’s son, who He was and how Jesus died for me. Yet as I cried from hearing about Jesus dying on the cross for me and everyone else she and my father comforted me. The best part of her story to me was that the story didn’t end when He died, and as I lit up again, she shared how Jesus Christ rose again on the third day. I can remember desperately wanting to make sure I carried Jesus with me in my heart daily. I can only imagine the joy my parents felt for me that day. This same process was done with each of my siblings as we accepted Christ. Our family intentionally devoted time to spend with Jesus Christ. We prayed together, shared our testimonies with each other and others. We shared our trials and our praise reports. As our parents went out witnessing, we went along, learned and participated as well. We were taught to pray for others and for the lost. My husband and I have incorporated these same principles in our household. I too know and have felt that same joy my parents felt with each of our six children. Pipes and Lee said it best, â€Å"That is what this book is about: raising your family to follow Christ.†4 This is what the Word of God tells us as believers as well, â€Å"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.†5 Reflection Although I truly enjoyed reading Family to Family by authors Pipes and Lee, I find that this book was really focused on those parents who already know and have a relationship with Jesus Christ and want or need to build a better  Christ centered family life. In reading this book I feel that today, there are so many non-believers who could benefit from the teaching principles in this book. We are all so busy these days. We are like ships passing in the wind, always coming and going. We as parents have to be willing to stop and stand for something within our families. Otherwise what are we really passing on to our children and their children? We must be mission driven within our families just as we are in the business world. The authors Pipes and Lee do a great job in pointing this fact out. I would have liked to see more information to help the reader the parent and future parents to understand the why this is important. The authors might have used more relevant or popular facts pertaining to society today. They could have used statistical examples of grandparents raising their grandchildren. More importantly, I would have like to see more information at the beginning of the book to ensure that the parents understand their relationship with Christ and the direct affect in relation to their children. After all this is where this process begins. As a parent my relationship and my walk with Christ must be in tact in order to lead my children and others to Christ. This book is clearly written for those who desire to pass on the legacy of Christianity in their family. Action I see this book as a great workbook for our church families. After concluding my reading of this book, I decided to meet with my Pastor again. We had discussed in our last session incorporating intentional evangelism as part of our new membership class. We decided to not only share the book but actually take our new families through the process of understanding God plan for the family. First we explained God’s plan for parents through reading and studying of scripture. We used Proverbs 22:6 as a basis for this class, â€Å"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.†6 The authors remind us that, â€Å"We are to structure our families in a healthy fashion—a fashion prescribed by God—and applying its proper significance—the significance applied to it by God.†7 This would help each family do an examination of their family. Second, after determining or defining where each family sees themselves, we wou ld start by teaching what a healthy family is according to God’s word, found in Deuteronomy chapter six. The family is a social unit of our society,  charged with the purpose of carrying God’s word and His message of love for one another. We would have some discussion over some key questions that should cause each member to reflect on their situation: 1) Do we spend quality time together? 2) Are we committed to each other as well as te whole family? 3) Does the mom and dad share in the involvement and raising of the children? 4) Does each family member understand their significance in Christ? 5) Are the parents actively working the gospel to share the gospel with the children? 6) Is the healthy time spent together centered on God’s purposes? These questions will help to assess where a family currently resides in relation to being a healthy family. Third, would be to do a family application study. Here the class would have each of the family members write down all of their activities for a week. Then, allow the parents and the children to analyze the number of activities that they do as a family and try to eliminate at least one activity that is done individually from each family member’s list. As extra t ime becomes available find another family activity to be done together. Fourth, we would have the families develop a mission statement to include things like; who the family is and what they stand for. Each mission statement should include the family’s purpose, their goals, and their mission in life as a family according to God’s word. We would stress the importance of every member of the family supporting this family mission. The next step would be to equip the parents to share the gospel with their children. Teaching the parents to evangelize at home first is an assured start to build a comfort level for evangelizing to others. We all desire for our loved one to be saved. Parents would be taught to ask the specific questions to ensure their children are ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Sixth study for the class would be to share how parents can mentor their children. Mentoring is key to building spiritual maturity in our children. They would study different types of mentoring they should perform; i.e. modeling, being accessible, provide affirmation of their children’s awards and accomplishments, pray with children as well as pray for them, being transparent, empowering children, and making God’s word the center to all that is done. The family will then do an activity together of making bracelets. The bracelets can be a reflection of their love for God and can also be a means of evangelizing to others as they see the bracelets and ask  about them. Lastly, this class would engage the family to be a part of the churches out reach/evangelism ministry, where they go out two Saturdays of the month as a family and church family and meet the needs of other and evangelism to those who are lost. The parents could allow the children to pray and witness to others with them. What better way to leave a legacy than by teaching, mentoring, encouraging and praying for our families as well as the families of others. What this will accomplish is creating an avenue for our church families to find true significance in our lives and the lives of our children. Bibliography 1. Fay, William. Share Jesus Without Fear. Nashville, TN: B and H Publishing Group, 1999 2. The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright – 2011