Narcissism Essay Essay Example for Free

Narcissism Essay Essay On the Yahoo! homepage they have two news sections; the first is called trending now and the other is a slide show of articles called Today. Apparently todays (April 8th) top ten trends are the New Delhi Super bug, Federal Home loans, Tax Refund Delays, diabetes, and six celebrities. The top twelve items of today are price shut downs, new super food for spring, social media career tips, and nine celebrity related topics such as Bieber wears a daring soccer ensemble and Carrie Underwoods marital secrets. Hopefully upon evaluating these trends of the day you draw the same conclusion that I came to: only seven of the above twenty two trends are actually important and the rest is insignificant information about the celebrities (the beautiful, rich, and famous) that we so admire. With a media that focuses on the wealthy and beautiful, it is no wonder that we honestly believe that to achieve success we must emulate these celebrities. And with materialism and vanity comes inevitable narcissism a trait that has replaced empathy in our declining society. The societal norms of the ideal life and person have been redefined over the years, leading to Americans abandon[ing] the vision of themselves as part of an interconnected social system and instead turn[ing] to the narcissistic pursuit of the self as a source of value (Twenge, 65). America was founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, and fundamental equality (Twenge, 69) these ideas establishing a foundation for independence from Britain, not narcissism. But during the self exploration eras of the sixties through the eighties these powerful ideas were supplemented by the new values of self admiration and self expression [ ], which faded, [and were] replaced by a more extraverted, shallow, and materialistic form of narcissism (Twenge, 69). These ideals have been shaped by the change of the definition of personal success, and successful parenting. In the 1920s mothers were given a survey and instructed to list the traits they wanted their children to have, [the mothers] named strict obedience, loyalty to church, and good manners (Twenge, 75); when this survey was presented to mothers in 2004 they listed (in order of importance) to be well-liked or popular, to be successful, to work hard, to think for himself/herself, [and] to obey as the most important traits. This change in parenting has instilled a change within Gen Y, a 2006 poll of children finding that kids believe the most important things in the world (Twenge, 93) are to be a celebrity, be good looking, and be rich (Twenge, 94); it is the shocking truth, popularity and celebrityism have now become synonymous, and Gen Y believes that in order to be happy they must be rich and famous or in other words, become a celebrity. In my own family it is clear to see this change: my 13 year old brother has dreamed of becoming a billionaire since he was a small child, when I asked him why he wants to be a billionaire and how he plans to achieve that stature of wealth he replied simply stating that if he was a billionaire hed have the best life and would be famous, and though he has no idea how to get there hes confident hell be able to do it. We fixate on celebrities because they are the better versions of ourselves, or who we hope to become. Celebrities represent fame, wealth, glamour, and beauty; the very traits we most covet. The media tells us that they are who we want to be our brains interpret the ceaseless supply of information as synonymous to importance, proven by the fact that we collectively hit up OMG news, celebrity twitter accounts, and gossip sites over 140 million times a month. All we want as humanity is respect and admiration. Before in my grandparents generation, becoming a doctor or profitable entrepreneur might have earned you these, but now in the 21st century if I tell my peers that I want to do AIDS research in Africa, they look at my like Im off my rocker. It seems that only celebrities, like Football stars who work so hard for their hundred million dollar paychecks, are the only ones who can acquire widespread awe for their immortal talents. The key difference is that previous generations may have been interested in the so called fabulous life of celebrities, [but ] kids today actually believe fame is achievable (Austin). Generations past may have admired celebrities such as Judy Garland or Robert Redford, but they acknowledged that realistically they would never make it to Hollywood. Todays generation honestly believes that they are special that they are capable of doing absolutely anything they want to, and mommy and daddy will help them. A three year old that I babysit next door decided that she wanted to name her new kitten Clara, after herself ; I asked her why she would want that and she replied because I am the greatest person in the world, and I want my kitty to be too. I was quite shocked when I heard this, and I found myself questioning what inspired this change in thought. The answer is simple: technology and the media. Today it is easy to become famous with virtual resources such as YouTube, Second Life, American Idol, Tumblr, and etcetera. Just within the last month, a thirteen year old named Rebecca Black became viral for her hit song Friday, going from 200 views to 200,000 plus overnight now named the worst song ever written by YouTube commenters. The girl with auto tuned vocals, shitacular dance moves, and awkward friends that look like they are twelve has now become famous for being hated. Yet, when interviewed she thinks that her song is an accomplishment [ ], even though they called me a whore and hate the song it is going to be stuck in their heads (YouTube Good Morning America) this statement only emphasizes the fact that no one cares what dick they have to suck (the popular fame achieving method these days), what names they will be called, what they are famous for as long as they become famous. I, personally, am dumfounded by extreme many teens are willing to go for the sake of fame. When a freshman keys COCK SUCKER into a juniors car, and dumps hot dogs all over it too all because the junior hooked up with the freshmans friend-with-benefits while drunk, I know that my generation is in trouble. And maybe it is not my position to care about how other people choose to spend their time, but in reality we are the generation that needs to eradicate AIDS, that needs to end the fighting in Iraq, that must find an alternative to gasoline but instead we sit on our asses tuned in every evening to MTV fantasizing about becoming the next Paris Hilton, Ke$ha, or P. Diddy complete with the Big Barbie Mansion and $150,000 Porsche.

American Book Company Essay Example for Free

American Book Company Essay A public school system must tap its teachers in revealing the test results with the parents of their students and the community where they belong. The teachers of the public schools must be held responsible for sharing the test results of the children and explaining their implications. The more likely case is that the teachers are the ones who made and conducted the examinations so they are at a more advantageous position to give assessments of the results and give recommendations to the children’s parents. They will be more able to explain what might have been the factors that led to those test results. They can elaborate to the parents the learning development of their children and what they can personally contribute to aid the learning of the children. The test results will likewise indicate the rate of success of the curriculum being implemented. High test results likely mean that the objectives of the curriculum are being met and their execution is being made exceptionally. On the contrary, low test results will make the school administrators think about the over-all design of the curriculum and its implementation. The result of the tests will also provide hints on the kind of tinkering or adjustments that need to be done to the curriculum to make it a better one and more compatible to the needs of the learners. Question no. 2: One of the evaluative measures that is often used to assess the effectiveness of a program or curriculum is one that is centered on the achievement of the subject matters and the visible reactions of the learners towards the lessons incorporated in the program. The first factor is the extent by which the subject matters are made comprehensible and presented to the learners. This is because most of the tests given by the teachers put much stress to the knowledge gained about the subject matter. This idea promotes the students’ memorization and habit-formation. They must fully imbibe every lesson and incorporate them in their everyday routines – their habits. The learners must be able to reflect their learning by always being able to readily state the contents of every lesson and apply each principle in everything they do. The second factor is centered on the emotional reaction of the learners – the persons who are the most direct recipients of the program’s applications. This factor can be measured by looking at the way learners behave while being taught and while undergoing the evaluative measures. If the learners display favorable responses – if they participate actively during lessons, do not get bored while listening to the teacher’s features and radiate confidence after every session – the program may be said to have fulfilled its aims. If the learners display the opposite of the aforementioned behaviors, the program may need some modifications. References: Caswell, Hollis Leland. (1935). Curriculum development. New York, Cincinnati: American Book Company. Stevens, Marion Paine. (1931). The activities curriculum in the primary grades. Boston and New York : D. C. Heath and Company.

Elements Of The Extended Marketing Mix Marketing Essay

Elements Of The Extended Marketing Mix Marketing Essay The elements of the extended marketing mix (the 7ps) which are Price, Product, Place, Promotion, People, Processes, Physical evidence will be developed, how they helps to examine the stages and steps in planning, also understand how those different stages of the marketing planning fit together and related to the overall organizational planning framework. In this report one will understand what strategies and techniques should be used to successfully run a business. It shows buyer behavior and what its all about, what motivates consumers to buy and why the buy, and how pricing can be a key on consumers reactions to the clubs services, without forget that customer service and promotion as necessity too as they help in the awareness, audiences image of the business, satisfy them and create that strong relationship with the consumers. 2.0 Buyer behavior Buyer behavior is the behavior that consumers display in seeking, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of product or services that they expect will satisfy their personal needs. Buyer behavior has environmental influences such as: Social-cultural, the for people to conform to norm and social groups. Economical and competitive influences, during a recession consumers might be more reticent about purchasing expensive things. Technological influences, where technology allow company to create a personal relationship with consumers. Political and regulatory, a backing of regulatory body can give reassurance to consumers. Seeking for information about what people want and what can influence them, see how people response to your services and performance is very important. In the buyer behavior, problem solving take a big part, it tend to day to day purchase and services, how to reduced risk, set a low price. And also giving consumers consumer services the way they expected or impress them more. The limited problem solving buying situations is necessary like buying situations that happened less frequently as a TV, ectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ where it can make more deliberate decision, always remember that The impact of a satisfied customer is that he/she can tell up to other people about their experience, and make them take their way to the company. Maslow Fig1. What affect the consumer buying behavior. 2.1 Application of the buyer behavior on the fitness club In your new business, success could be archived if its focused upon customers orientation, needs and satisfaction, but in order to investigate customers information to help the club track consumers it is advantageous to break down the purchase process to a framework so as to simplify the factor and process influencing purchase behavior. Identify the different types of customers and consider the need for customers to conform with norms of social groups. Segmentation will be useful for your business, the most importance there is to know and alert the needs of different buyer groups, therefore the fitness club could segment its customers as in social economics buyers group of age, culture, sex, income level, occupation, family size,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I would recommend the club to go with differentiated marketing strategy of segmentation, where varieties of services are given and differentiated by prices, quality, and so the club can give different tariff to suit different groups of people in the South East London. You will need to have a strong problem recognition to identify problems from and immediately look for a solution. Your challenge will be to understand how customers might respond to your different element of marketing mix. Watch your service availability and all the service dealing with suppliers to ensure the services will be given to customers at the right time and how they wish in order to maintain that strong customer relationships and make them have total assurance and trust with you. 3.0 Promotion Is the a range of tactical marketing techniques designed within a strategic marketing framework to add value to product and service in order to achieve specific sales and marketing objectives. Frances Branssington.FPettitt.S (2006) The promotion influences the consumers, build long term awareness and market share, generate quick sales bursts, and gain increased purchase and better in store display, to generate new and renewed interest in product and service, as well as increase sales. Consumer attitudes and buying patterns. For an effective promotion the understand a target audience is necessity, indentify resource constraints, establish objectives, select method and evaluate the program after successful. Promotion increases sales so that advertising and other costs are spread over a larger output. Though increased promotional activity is a sign of a response to a problem such as competition, it enables an organization to develop and build up a succession of messages and can be cost-effective. In development of a sale promotion the following points should be kept in mind: The brand strategies. The competitive strategies. The advertising strategies. The pricing. www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing strategy. Promotion are designed to motivate consumers to an immediate action. Therefore Gaining new customers, retaining current ones, increasing consumption, increasing brand awareness using refund and premium offers, group promotion, loyalty incentives, temporary price discounting, using point of purchase(posters), increasing attention from broadening distribution channels and intermediaries is extremely important. 3.1 How to promote the fitness club After understanding who you need to reach and what you are trying to achieve. Ensure that customers are aware of you, what you can offer and how you differ from competitors and create opportunities to generate repeat and high purchases. Once that, find yourself promoting individual services differently to different groups of customers and to add value to the fitness club You could also promote you business in person by pitching directly to target consumers, or get introduction and creating relationship through networking, or using a range of different promotional techniques to reach large audiences such as direct mail, advertising, exhibiting your business or online marketing. Timing is also an important element when promoting, you should also make sure your marketing message reach to your target consumers when they are most receptive. Crucially your promotional strategy should include the way to measure the effectiveness of what you have been doing. And you should monitor your website traffic and use surveys to tell you how your promotional activities have influenced consumer attitudes and awareness like its helps you understand which part of your promotional strategy is working or not and how you can improve. 4.0 Customer Service Customer Service is the commitment to providing value added services to external and internal customers, including attitude knowledge, technical support and quality of service in a timely manner, its also about treating others the way you would like to be treated yourself. http//www. Costomerservicemanager.com/definition 4.1 Roles of Customer Service in the Fitness Club For a good customer service you should first know that without good customer service, a business could not survive. A satisfied customer would be more hopeful to take part in activities that help to generate customer preference data. This data will do back to the marketing function and could help the organization to better attract and target it potential customers. It is clear that a customer who has been provided with a service that he desired in the ideal way, would build a relationship with the seller and can support continued purchases and revenue or giving new ideas for new services . Additionally, The customers will have a good experience and will feel that the club treated him well and as a happy and satisfied customer is more likely to send more customers your way, hence the club will have good reputation and will get new customer where more purchase. In fact customers who had bad experiences are double as likely to tell others about it as customer involved but perhaps another twenty too. To establish a good customer care and service you will also need to indentify customer needs and perception, you should establish with precision what are customers satisfaction and what are their expectation, and must consider their perceptions and standard of customer care to know how you could improve. Lancaster G, Massingham L, Ashford.R (2002) Before you can improve your customer service, you have to find out what its like at this point in time for customers to do business with you. The best way to do it is to interview your customers. To provides suggestions for feedback from your customers. When youre seeking your customers views of your customer service, remember that customers measure customer service in specifics, a customer doesnt rate your customer service as good, fair or poor; he or she pays attention to how you answer the phone or how he or she was treated when asking for help So when youre adapting the customer service survey form I provide to suit your own needs or talking to customers in person, be sure to ask specific questions about specific customer service situations. Not How was our customer service today? but Did the person who was helping you answer all your questions? http//sbinfocanada.about.com For example you can focus on a customer wanting help, answering the phone, and a customer making a return or complaint in this Customer Service Makeover because these three are most common customer contact points. 5.0 Pricing procedures. Price is the odd-one -out of the marketing mix, because it is revenue earner. The price of a product is what a company gets back in return for all the effort that is put into manufacturing and marketing the product. As we shall see, price is an important part of positioning strategy since it often sends quality cues to customer. Jobber D(2001) External situation, where it focus on customers and competitors, how the demand and price elasticity are, how to attract customers and make them response positively to a product or service. Internal where the organization need to set a price that generate profit, where marketing objectives, costs, finance , production, distribution. In determining price there is 5 main steps: To have pricing objectives. The demand assessment. The pricing strategies and policies. The pricing tactics and adjustment s. Setting the price. The price have to be set properly as it can be difficult to change later, and low to attract new customers and push competitors but can establish perception and attitude of the quality and standard of the brand. knowing that the level of innovation can influence the price of a new product or service.The price can be a key competitive in securing market as customer can have a posit responsiveness to product and service due to the price levels, because when it linked to completion pricing provides a powerful market orientation perspective. One can set a price above the market but providing something that other competitors dont have. And can also make people ready about any change in price. Cost Competitor Marketing Pricing methods Fig2. Pricing methods. 5.1 Pricing in The Fitness Club For a better clubs pricing strategy you should first have pricing objectives link with organizational and marketing objectives where some may be financially or related to sales, your pricing objectives will implicate also production, finance and distribution. Here are general sequence of steps to follow for developing the pricing of your services: Develop marketing strategy. Make marketing mix decision. Estimate the demand curve. Calculate cost. Understand environmental factors. Set pricing objectives. Determine pricing. http/www. Netmba.com/marketing/pricing. It is very important for you to get set up your price right and surely because it could be difficult for you to change them after as it could push consumers. Only the level of introduction later could influence the price of new services to the club. Set up low prices to attract new customers and let them compare with competitors and make their way to you, but without forgetting the business profits too. Buy referring on the consumers responsiveness to different price level it will give you a powerful market oriented perspective on pricing your services..because we cant ignore that the demand can increase basing on the cost of services. Occasional promotion price could be necessary to motivate consumers to purchase more and to create a good relationship with them. That can favorite awareness and give a good image of your club to t outside audience. 6.0 Conclusion Discussing all the related factors and terms you should now get an ideas over the fitnesss business in marketing term, and that could be useful in the planning process, by applying them in proper ways you should improve without complication and quickly get used to the routine of day to day activities in your business. References. -David Jobber 2001, Principal and Practices of Marketing 3ed,McGraw-Hill, England, p318 -Frances BranssingtonStephen Pettitt 2006, Principles of Marketing 4ed, pearson education, England,p720 -George Lancaster, Lester Massingham, Ruth Ashford 2002, The Essentials of Marketing 4ed,Mc Graw-hill, UK -http://www. Costomerservicemanager.com/definition, customer service. http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing strategies. -http://www. Netmba.com/marketing/pricing. . Bibliography. -Frances.B Stephen. P 2003, Principles of Marketing 3ed, Pearson Education ltd, UK,p652 -William.D.P,Jr.Jerome .M 1999, Basic Marketing/A Global-managerial Approach 13ed, Mc Graw-hill,USA ,p155

Right or Wrong :: Free Essay Writer

Right or Wrong Introduction: Violence is not generally accepted in our society. There are different levels of violence and some violence can be categorised as not so violent while other violence is extreme. There are guidelines which are set so young people are protected from extreme violence. The Office of Film and Literature Classification places different classifications on the different forms of media. A recent example of this is the banning of GTA San Andreas for its high level of violence and low classification. However we use violence to get what we need and what we want. Hello fellow classmates, today I am here to defend Raymond’s action in killing Ron Kendall. The Action I Agree With: Raymond’s most important action in the story is surrounded with controversy. The important part is when Raymond takes the gun and shoots Ron Kendall. It begins when the war starts in Sesame Street. Raymond keeps saying that he wants a gun. Gracey, Raymond’s sister is trying to convince Ron to abandon Cooper, the racist, and his bizarre idea of war with the blacks. It almost works but Raymond gets Ron’s gun. Ron then walks towards Raymond slowly asking for the gun back but Raymond then shoots Ron. If Raymond had not shot Ron then he would have got the gun back and Raymond and the others would be at risk. So it is Ron’s own fault that he got shot because he and Cooper had threatened Raymond. And all Raymond was trying to do is defend himself from Ron. The First Point: Raymond knew what kind of men he was up against. He was up against cold blooded murderers who planned to shoot the aborigines as they escaped from their houses because of the flood. If he were to give the gun back to Ron he and everybody else could be harmed. The Evidence: The evidence is stated in the book, â€Å"Are you really going to shoot all the blacks when they come out off their houses?† Gracey asked, Ron Kendall then says â€Å"Only the young blokes.† Therefore Ron Kendall was willing to go along with Cooper and shoot the blacks. Rounding off the Point: With men like Cooper threatening Raymond’s life and planning to shoot the helpless Aborigines, we can’t blame Raymond for taking the gun and protecting himself and the others. Point Two: I don’t see how Raymond could have had any reason to hope Kendall was going to listen to Gracey’s good sense.

William Carlos Williams :: essays research papers

William Carlos Williams was born September 17, 1883 in Rutherford, N.J. His father had emigrated from Birmingham, England, and his mother from Puerto Rico. He was admitted in 1902 to the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, where he met two poets, Hilda Doolittle and Ezra Pound. A long term friendship ensued between Pound and himself, such that Williams said he was able to divide his life into two distinct segments: Before Pound and After Pound.1 From 1906 to 1909 Williams did his internship in New York City, writing verse in between patients. His first book was published in 1909, just before a trip to Leipzig to study pediatrics. In the following years Williams wrote not only poems, but short stories, novels, essays, and an autobiography. In 1946 he began Paterson, an attempt to write an epic poem about the city. Williams died in 1963, while working on the sixth book of Paterson. William Carlos William Carlos Williams based his life on helping the poor and all aspects of the human world that appealed to him were in their most basic form. What appealed to Williams was not the glitzy and glamourful, but the true qualitites sometimes being old and worn out. He found that pride was more important the materialistic qualities. Many of his poems explore nature and use it to explore and explain human behavior as he sees it through his own eyes. A few of these poems that use simplistic language to paint a very descriptive and clear picture of other aspects of life are Love Song, Apology, Pastoral, and Tract; all produced by William Carlos Williams. But there were few things which were very specific and stood out in his works. All these poems use nature to explore aspects of human life. A theme which exists in all of these poems and most of Williams' literature is the simplicity of the language he uses. Many believe he did that in order to separate himself from other poets of his time. Most people believe his justification for the simplicity of his language was because he wanted to stand out, be remembered, and be praised. I agree with them, but maybe it's just the kind of language that appealed to him and he thought would appeal to others as well. The first poem entitled Apology portrays that quality of looking for the true aspects of nature and humans, not the materialistic ones.

RETIREMENT Essay -- essays research papers

Retirement, Are You Saving Enough?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As and investor, you are overwhelmed with advice in newspapers, magazines, and mailings discussing what to invest in for a successful retirement nest egg, when to start saving for retirement and who to invest with. There are millions of people who realize that an investment portfolio for retirement is necessary, but do they really understand the investment instruments and the amount they must invest for tomorrow? The subject of retirement is a fascinating area but it also could be a fuzzy subject without the correct amount of knowledge, understanding and professional guidance. The number one question of concern for individuals facing retirement issues is whether or not they have enough annual income to retire. â€Å"In 2001, only 63% of workers said they felt confident they would have enough money to live comfortably in retirement†¦just one year later, that figure was 72%.† (www.smartmoney.com) With the baby boomer generation nearing retirement in the up coming years there are numerous questions that need to be answered before they can flat out retire. Have they been saving enough for their retirement or will they fall short in the later years of their lives?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The average â€Å"baby boomer† must realize that â€Å"they will have more time to enjoy the abundance they are accustomed to and they will need the income to do so. According to the Society of Actuaries, baby boomers can expect to live well into their 80,s and many will live well into there 100’s and beyond. That means someone who quits working at 65 may be looking at spending 35 years in retirement.† (www.aol.sageonline.com) The worst news about the increase in life expectancy is that people are not saving enough to maintain their high standards of living and they must adjust accordingly. So what are these people supposed to do?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, people must save as much money immediately and let go of the old notion of retirement. The basic fact is that â€Å"Social Security currently makes up about 40% of a retirees income, it is now up to the individual investor to generate the remaining 60% in order to maintain the standard of living they are accustomed to.† (Prosser 12) Some of the old rules of saving for retirement still apply, Michael McDonald, vice president of a national brokerage firm says the 60 t... ...ill accumulate interest. Making withdraws are non-reportable income and won’t change your adjusted gross income which otherwise could put you into a higher tax bracket an affect other withdraws from accounts. This leaves the Roth IRA more flexible because there will be no minimum distribution requirements, so you take out what you need and let the rest grow. After age 59.5, even before retirement, you will be able to make withdraws before retirement if the account has been open for at least 5 years. However, the withdraw must fit the requirements of a â€Å"qualified withdraw†. In order for a withdraw to be considered qualified it must be as a result of a medical emergency, loss of working ability, forced retirement, etc†¦ The Roth IRA seems like it has no disadvantages but there are drawbacks of a Roth IRA to a traditional IRA. One disadvantage with the taxes is that you are paying taxes now while you are likely to be in a higher tax rate then you would be whe n you were in retirements. The Roth IRA doesn’t offer tax deductibility leaving people to pay more taxes now. Other than these drawbacks there really isn’t any other reason not to invest in a Roth IRA compared to a traditional IRA RETIREMENT Essay -- essays research papers Retirement, Are You Saving Enough?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As and investor, you are overwhelmed with advice in newspapers, magazines, and mailings discussing what to invest in for a successful retirement nest egg, when to start saving for retirement and who to invest with. There are millions of people who realize that an investment portfolio for retirement is necessary, but do they really understand the investment instruments and the amount they must invest for tomorrow? The subject of retirement is a fascinating area but it also could be a fuzzy subject without the correct amount of knowledge, understanding and professional guidance. The number one question of concern for individuals facing retirement issues is whether or not they have enough annual income to retire. â€Å"In 2001, only 63% of workers said they felt confident they would have enough money to live comfortably in retirement†¦just one year later, that figure was 72%.† (www.smartmoney.com) With the baby boomer generation nearing retirement in the up coming years there are numerous questions that need to be answered before they can flat out retire. Have they been saving enough for their retirement or will they fall short in the later years of their lives?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The average â€Å"baby boomer† must realize that â€Å"they will have more time to enjoy the abundance they are accustomed to and they will need the income to do so. According to the Society of Actuaries, baby boomers can expect to live well into their 80,s and many will live well into there 100’s and beyond. That means someone who quits working at 65 may be looking at spending 35 years in retirement.† (www.aol.sageonline.com) The worst news about the increase in life expectancy is that people are not saving enough to maintain their high standards of living and they must adjust accordingly. So what are these people supposed to do?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, people must save as much money immediately and let go of the old notion of retirement. The basic fact is that â€Å"Social Security currently makes up about 40% of a retirees income, it is now up to the individual investor to generate the remaining 60% in order to maintain the standard of living they are accustomed to.† (Prosser 12) Some of the old rules of saving for retirement still apply, Michael McDonald, vice president of a national brokerage firm says the 60 t... ...ill accumulate interest. Making withdraws are non-reportable income and won’t change your adjusted gross income which otherwise could put you into a higher tax bracket an affect other withdraws from accounts. This leaves the Roth IRA more flexible because there will be no minimum distribution requirements, so you take out what you need and let the rest grow. After age 59.5, even before retirement, you will be able to make withdraws before retirement if the account has been open for at least 5 years. However, the withdraw must fit the requirements of a â€Å"qualified withdraw†. In order for a withdraw to be considered qualified it must be as a result of a medical emergency, loss of working ability, forced retirement, etc†¦ The Roth IRA seems like it has no disadvantages but there are drawbacks of a Roth IRA to a traditional IRA. One disadvantage with the taxes is that you are paying taxes now while you are likely to be in a higher tax rate then you would be whe n you were in retirements. The Roth IRA doesn’t offer tax deductibility leaving people to pay more taxes now. Other than these drawbacks there really isn’t any other reason not to invest in a Roth IRA compared to a traditional IRA

Cramming: Time and Long Term Memory

Universal Vice: Cramming â€Å"Whoops! It's the night before the big exam, and you haven't done a lick of studying all semester. Looking back on it, you know that you should have been hitting the books all those nights you were watching television, but there's nothing you can do about it now. Don't throw in the towel yet, though–it's time to get cramming. † How often do you do this? Most common among high school and college-aged students, cramming is often used as a means of memorizing and the practice of working intensively to absorb large volumes of informational material in short amounts of time.It is a widely-used study skill performed in preparation of an examination or other performance-based assessment. Best stated by H. E. Gorst in his book, The Curse of Education, â€Å"as long as education is synonymous with cramming on an organized plan, it will continue to produce mediocrity. † Students are often forced to cram after improper time utilization or in ef forts to understand information shortly before being tested. Improper time management is usually the cause for last-minute cramming sessions, and many study techniques have been developed to help students succeed in lieu of cramming.Generally considered as a negative study technique, cramming is becoming more and more common among students at the secondary and post-secondary level, not mentioning those who are as young as five years old. Pressure to perform well in the classroom and to engage in extracurricular activities in addition to other responsibilities often results in this kind of study habit, cramming. According to W. G. Sommer, â€Å"students in a university system often adapt to the time-constraints that are placed upon them in college, and often use cramming to perform well on tests†.In his article, Procrastination and Cramming: How Adept Students Ace the System, he states, â€Å"Many students outwardly adapt to this system, however, engage in an intense and priv ate ritual that comprises five aspects: calculated procrastination, preparatory anxiety, climactic cramming, nick-of-time deadline-making, and a secret, if often uncelebrated, victory. These adept students often find it difficult to admit others into their efficient program of academic survival. † Students have crammed for decades. What most of us don’t know is how many use this study strategy.The lit review in the article references a collection of studies that puts the percentage somewhere between 25 and 50. In this research sample, 45 percent were on the agree side of a scale that measured the extent of cramming. These are some of the very pragmatic questions explored empirically by the researchers: How widespread is cramming among students? Do students think cramming is an effective study strategy? Does cramming work, as in how does it affect course grades? And the really bottom line questions: How effective is cramming in the long run?What’s the impact on le arning and retention? Czarina Isabel F. de Leon, a freshman college student of University of the Philippines – Diliman states, â€Å"I believe that many students cram all the time. Maybe, this is due to lack of knowledge with regards to time management and discipline. But honestly speaking, I can say that cramming helps me in some way. I don’t know if it’s just me who feels that cramming stimulates my brain cells more. It seems like I am able to formulate more ideas and to absorb more information whenever I cram for some of my school works and tests.In spite of this, I don’t think that cramming has affected my grades that much because there are so many factors that can influence class marks. If I were to choose from cramming and not cramming, I would definitely choose the latter. This is because I know for a fact that if I wouldn’t cram, I’m sure that my work is clearly done and not just scrapped from somewhere. I do believe that cramming p roduces risky works, in such a way that a person who crams is not sure whether he did his job well or not. Perhaps the question that most needs addressing is this one: How come some exams can be mastered so successfully by students who’ve prepared by cramming? You might think it’s just a problem with multiple-choice exams. Not so. In this study and others, the amount of cramming students reported was not a function of exam type. Are teachers testing too much recall on their exams? It might be interesting to go through an exam and see how many questions can be answered with material you could memorize but not understand at all or well.Cramming is often discouraged by educators because the hurried coverage of material tends to result in poor long-term retention of material. In a 2007 study conducted by University of South Florida psychologist Doug Rohrer, it was determined that last minute studying reduces retention of material and may hinder the learning process in the long term. There is a biological reason for this. The problem is that cramming information places it into our brains in short term storage. This is where you put everyday information that is not really worth remembering.In order to learn we have to transfer information into long term memory. Once there, you can retrieve it far easier over a longer period of time. All information are processed in the brain and stored in short term memory. The problem is that these information sort of overloads the brain and are not kept for very long. Can you remember every single event that happened to you in a given day? Think of the literal thousands of bits of information you are exposed to every day. It's not necessary to remember it all, so the brain dumps it after a time.Can you remember what you had for breakfast the day before yesterday? What shirt you wore? How much lunch cost? How many steps there are in preparing for exams? No. What makes you think you will remember some factoid from clas s that you never heard of before? Sure you may remember it for a day or two, but that's it. Only when you make an effort to remember something repeatedly do you transfer that information into the other kind of memory, long term memory. Cramming fails because you’re relying on short term memory.In spite of these facts, cramming will always be an option for those who need to accomplish a large amount of task in a short period of time. Like any other vices, cramming can be very addictive and may supply us what we need for now, but we may not benefit from it for a long period of time. Since it is continuously done by most of us nowadays, not only by students but also by some adults as well, avoiding it will be very difficult for all of us. It’s like a universal vice that most of us used to live with and it can be applicable for everyone.Cramming is a vice that will forever be present in this world – it may be lessened but will never be eradicated, especially for stu dents like me. â€Å"While cramming probably won't get you an â€Å"A,† it can definitely save you from an â€Å"F. † So suck it up and get ready for a long, hard night. And vow to be a better student from now on. † Works Cited: â€Å"Cramming (education) -. † Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . Pangilinan, Candy. â€Å"Candidly  » Cramming and homecoming. † PEP. ph: The Number One Site for Philippine Showbiz | Home. 2 Dec. 2007. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . â€Å"How to Cram for a Test – wikiHow. † WikiHow – The How-to Manual That You Can Edit. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . Weimer, Maryellen. â€Å"Key Questions about Cramming  «. † Teaching Professor. 02 Dec. 2008. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . â€Å"Cramming – Definition of cramming at YourDictionary. com. † Dictionary Definitions, Sentence Examples, Synonyms and More. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . â€Å"Cram – Definition of cram verb (LEARN) from Cambr idge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus. Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus – Cambridge University Press – Cambridge Dictionaries Online – Cambridge University Press. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . Handy, Edna Wells. â€Å"Why Students Fail. † Autoredirect to main site. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . â€Å"The dangers of cramming for exams. † PSU BMB. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . Weinberg, Tamar. â€Å"How to Cram for Exams – How To – Lifehacker. † Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done. 02 Mar. 2008. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. . de Leon, Czarina Isabel . Personal Interview. 14 October 2009.