The impact of a Christian Worldview in the family Essay Example For Students

The impact of a Christian Worldview in the family Essay life Outline Introduction We will write a custom essay on The impact of a Christian Worldview in the family specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now I. The Christian Worldview. II. Living the Christian Worldview in the Family Life. Conclusion Introduction: Do we have a narrow view of the Christian faith? Many see it as simply a personal relationship with God, a commitment to Sunday services, Wednesday evening Bible study, and a little witnessing. Those are all good activitiesas far as they go. But Christians need to realize that every decision they make reflects their core values. So choices about voting, budgeting, marriage, movies, and heroes are all philosophical issues. Christians who dont have a distinctively Christian philosophya view of the world informed by biblical truthwill easily be suckered into living by the worlds philosophies. This is why church pews may be full on Sundays, but secular values dominate our culture. It is time for Christians to put away childish thinking and boldly confront the world with the message of Christ. I. The Christian Worldview. Each of us lives in a physical, economic, and social environment largely not of our making. Even so, we form part of our environment, and in visible and important ways we are formed by it. Furthermore, beyond our immediate surroundings lie urban, national, continental, and international cultures that also shape us. We can no more avoid participating in our surrounding cultures than we can avoid life itself. It is neither practical nor Christian to attempt to escape the major social structures in which human life occurs. God created the world; He is not its enemy. Christians believe God also ordained the primary orders of life, including family, government, community, human productivity, gainful employment, and commercial exchange. All of us come to know ourselves as participants in such structures even though they differ in particulars from one culture to another. If the creation is good, as the Bible declares, then so are the primary social structures that help make human life possible. A worldview is simply the lens through which we see and assess the whole of human culture and our place in it. It is one of the major devices by which we navigate life. Culture means the complex network of institutions, values, habits, tools, arts, and livelihoods that we create in community and that in turn shape us. Cultures are noticeably affected by their places in history and by their physical, spatial, technological, intellectual, and religious locations. Our worldview is strongly influenced by our place in a particular culture. Everyone has a world view. It is not only a human prerogative, but a human necessity. Usually we arent even conscious of our worldview(s). Like corrective lenses, they are transparent unless called to our attention or until we venture into a culture marked by another worldview. Even then, the ;strangeness; of the other worldview likely will impress us most. Developing a Christian worldview means coming to see the whole world through the eyes of the resurrected Lord, who has judged the powers of darkness and who is even now making all things new. Seeing this world as the scene of a new creation, Paul said, is possible only after one has experienced the new creation in ones self (2 Corinthians 5:14-21) . Only after the gospels complete degree has seized us, only after we understand that in Christ the Name of God is being declared in all the earth, can we understand and develop a Christian worldview. A Christian worldview leads to a new way of seeing and doing and it derives from a new way of being. Developing a Christian worldview requires that we submit all of lifes dimensions-individual and group, natural and technological, secular and sacred-to examination and reformation by the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-28) . Anyone not committed to comprehensive transformation should pay another visit to the meaning of discipleship. The Christian worldview is the truth from Christs point of view, informed by His prerogatives, not our feelings or experience. This is the truth that, when known, will set us free. Whether a person is Christian or not, he must acknowledge that the Bible describes a comprehensive perspective of life and the world. .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd , .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .postImageUrl , .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd , .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd:hover , .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd:visited , .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd:active { border:0!important; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd:active , .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u19b4d27b5e8aa5b6f5ed479005a862dd:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Human rights in yugoslavia (98 Essay We must have a firm conviction that ;the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1) . Is this world .

buy custom The Use of E-Learning essay

buy custom The Use of E-Learning essay The use o e-learning in the public schools in Hamilton is favored by the need for flexibility by the students, students affected by distance, the competing athletics, the touring actors, the shy dropouts and those faced by the medical challenges. On of the student in this region Natalie Cunningham asserts that "I like it because you don't have the pressure of the classroom," there is no possibility of immediate judgment in e-learning due to the absence of face-to-face contact in addition to the high degree of independence. E-learning also promotes summer camp counselors among teens work allowing them to make money in addition to earning credit (Faulkner, 1). Woof said e-learning lets students do work on their own schedule. Some teens have Crohn's disease, cancer treatments or allergies that keep them at home. Woof, asserts that "Every time we can't offer flexibility, they just Google to find another school board that can," (Faulkner, 1). The consortium on e-learning addresses the plight of the requirements of a specific students group in need of ways that are non traditional in an attempt of gaining credit in addition to the ones exposed to learning environments on personal schedules. Online courses have been identified with some degree of freedom in addition to opportunities for the scholars of a higher degree but it is apparent to the teachers that not all students are favored by the program The chances that are available for e-learning are impressive to most of the people but every school adopts a process of selection that is distinct in consideration of the students eligible for participation. Most schools takes measures such as interviews, the checks on academic backgrounds in addition to the verification of the suitability of the students in relation to the program. Buy custom The Use of E-Learning essay

Good Advice About Bad Writing

Good Advice About Bad Writing Good Advice About Bad Writing Good Advice About Bad Writing By Mark Nichol How does one avoid being a bad writer? Presumably, most people visiting or subscribing to this site needn’t concern themselves with being accused of high crimes against the English language, but allow me to make a distinction between poor writing and bad writing. Poor writing is lazy, careless writing, an attempt to communicate without adequate preparation or care. It is writing replete with passive construction, limp verbs, leaden clichà ©s, mixed metaphors, dangling participles and misplaced modifiers, and other enemies of clear prose. Without vigilance, we are all vulnerable we can easily produce any one of these errors, and perhaps more than one, in a single article or essay or short story. But poor writing is a multiplicity of such mistakes, and it is a sin of omission rather than one of commission: We might commit all these transgressions because we don’t know or recognize them. Bad writing is more of a challenge, because it is a sin of commission: You have to make an effort to write badly though it is easier to achieve than you might think, because many very accomplished, intelligent people do so. How does one manage to join such exalted company? Bad writing is that which demonstrates a surfeit of intention. (Translation: Bad writing happens when you try too hard.) Forty years ago, S. Leonard Rubenstein, now a professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University, wrote â€Å"If a man intends to impress someone, his work will not be clear, because he does not intend clarity: he intends to impress.† And that is when writing often goes bad: Writers let their desire to demonstrate erudition, artistry, or cleverness acceptable in small doses overwhelm their effort to communicate. We see it in academic and technical writing, laden with polysyllabic prose and complicated and extensive sentence construction that obfuscates rather than opens our eyes. We see it in lay nonfiction, when arguments fight themselves, explanations leave us more confused than before, and overwrought overwriting leaves us overwhelmed. We see it in fiction, when novelists and short story writers belabor their narrative with contrived constructions and purple prose. Here are some tips on avoiding the pitfalls of bad writing: 1. Be Fresh The purpose of metaphor and simile is to evoke recognition by comparison or allusion. Write these analogies to aid your readers with your clarity of vision, not to serve your ego, and avoid clichà ©s. 2. Be Clear When drafting expository fiction or nonfiction, record your voice as you spontaneously describe a scene or explain a procedure, transcribe your comments, and base your writing on the transcription, revising only to select more vivid verbs and more precise nouns and to seek moderation in adverbs and adjectives. 3. Be Active Use the passive voice judiciously. 4. Be Concise Write tight. 5. Be Thorough Accept that writing is the easy part; it’s the revision that makes or breaks your project and requires most of your effort. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:36 Adjectives Describing LightDeck the Halls50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases

Issues in Contemporary Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Issues in Contemporary Business - Essay Example The way change is implemented and managed in an organization, such practice is known as organization change management.† (McNamara, n.d.) 1.3 Explanation Turner (2011) has explained that organizational change is generally referred to as that transformation through which a company goes as result of change in management, restructure, strategic orientation, development of new goals, merger of acquisition etc. Challenges which result from the events of organizational change have a ripple effect on the whole organization. According to Turner (2011), this happens because business units are completely integrated and therefore a change in one unit has a domino effect on the other units. Effectively managing this procedure is an art upon which a lot of consideration and expertise is provided so as to make it a new area of expertise known as Change Management. The process of change management is evolving due to changes in the preferences of customers, business landscapes, improved proces s and technologies etc. (Organizational Changes, n.d.) 1.4 Factors driving Changes and Innovations in Organizations Some primary drivers behind the process of organizational change include: Inadequate Financial Performance According to Soosay (2005), those companies which do not get able to meet their benchmarks of financial positions are compelled to examine their business processes and objectives. This is the major driver behind the organizational change. If a new competitor enters into the same industry having advanced technology or cheaper labor, companies those were formally ruling the market and enjoying prosperity can find that their market share is cannibalizing. A failure to maintain its position as a major competitor stresses the company to rethink and reformulate the resource disposition and opportunity cost of capital. (Soosay, 2005) Product Life Cycle Mecca (2004) state that when life cycle of a product comes to an end, companies are compelled to cut down the operating cost of production or prepare in order to get exit from the market. At this stage, many companies prefer in getting merged or acquired by larger companies. This leads to structural changes in which a company can either refocus on new business opportunities or maintain its profitability. Strategic Objectives Lloyd (1998) states that if a company prefers to change its strategic objectives then it also leads to change in entire organization for instance if a company plans to shift its focus from customer oriented to product oriented, then new business procedures and processes will be required to assist this re-orientation. This type of change can result in firing redundant staff and enhancing production process. Mergers and Acquisitions According to Govindarajan (2011), significant re-engineering and cost cutting is required when firms plan to consolidate its operations or getting merged with some other company. Significant challenges are developed when the companies integrate. These c hallenges force to streamline the operation of both the companies. (Govindarajan, 2011) New Technology Lloyd (1998) further states that significant driver of organization change can be the adoption of new technology. Consider an example of internet

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Reflection paper - Essay Example I was told that this was the group to join as a college freshman from the UAE because the members were mostly sophomore and upper classmen who could help me learn the ropes and feel my way around the school community as a freshman. I was hesitant to approach the group at first because I felt embarrassed being a new comer to the school. I was not sure about how to introduce myself and ask to become a member of the group. Little did I know that my fears were totally unfounded. I was totally surprised when Ahmad Kabalawi, the president of the Middle Eastern Student Association himself approached me one time to introduce himself and ask if I wanted to attend a group meeting after classes the coming Saturday. Relief swept over me as I accepted the invitation. It turns out that it was not hard to join the group at all and they had been wondering as to why I had not approached them yet after a month of classes opening. I was so happy to join this group because they helped me overcome a lot of personal inhibitions that I had at the time. Being a new student whose first time it was away from home and my parents, I had a tendency to become very homesick. The senior members of the group helped me overcome my homesickness and desire to go home by keeping me busy in between classes. I was never alone because they always had group activities that I could participate in after classes and, most specially, I had a group of friend who understood my culture and belief system. That was very important to me because I needed to be able to keep a sense of home and my individuality while I attended school in the USA. I celebrated the important Middle Eastern and UAE holidays with the members of this group. When we were not busy bonding with each other, I helped them with their cultural information dissemination activities. We would sponsor mixers and hold friendly gatherings both on and off campus with others who were not from the Middle East in

Politics Essays Making Democracy Work

Politics Essays Making Democracy Work Making Democracy Work A Review of Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work Introduction: Since its publication in 1993, Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy has been hailed for changing the way academics and policy-makers approach the relationship between politics and society. Putnam accomplishes this feat not so much with his compelling arguments, but with the innovative methodology he employs. Much attention has already been given to the way Putnam combines quantitative and qualitative data in his research; he amalgamates numerical data on Italian institutional performance and civic culture, with the path-dependent historical legacy that predates it. Similarly, much attention has also been focused on the introduction of social capital as a new variable worthy of social scientists’ consideration. Since these topics have already been exhausted in reviews as well as other literature connected to Putnam’s book, this essay will attempt to go a different route. This essay will primarily argue that Putnam has successfully managed to combine both a structure and agency-centered approach into a cohesive research design project. Firstly, the structural approach is inherent in Putnam’s study due to the fact that he is attempting to analyze why Italian regions with the same political structure perform differently. Secondly, using network analysis, Putnam’s social capital and civic culture variables will be understood as being related to agency and of affecting institutional performance. Finally, the overall strengths and weakness that arise from combining the two approaches in a research design project will be highlighted. Overall, despite several unavoidable limitations, in Making Democracy Work Putnam shows that using a combined structuration approach is capable of harvesting a fuller understanding of a particular issue in this case, Italian institutional performance. The Study and the Setting: In 1970 the highly centralized Italian government set-up identical regional governmental institutions in each of the country’s twenty regions. The experiment offered Robert Putnam and his colleagues a unique opportunity to analyze institutional performance over time, and what precisely makes government work in a setting where national factors and institutional design are held constant. Despite the fact that all the Italian regions got identical institutions, the performance of these institutions varied widely across Italy. The discrepancy between the regions particularly between the North and the South led Putnam to believe that â€Å"social context and history profoundly condition the effectiveness of institutions† (Putnam, 182). Therefore, in the causal argument that Putnam puts forth in order to explain what affects institutional performance, institutions are framed as both an independent and dependent variable. So to speak, even though institutions do shape politics, institutions themselves are shaped by social context and history. For this reason, Putnam considers yet another independent variable in his complex causal relationship civic culture. Putnam’s Methodology: Before analyzing how structure and agency unite, and the way in which civic culture is measured in Making Democracy Work, it is worthwhile to take a look at the broader and overarching methodological backdrop on the grounds of which Robert Putnam’s study takes root. The setting for the study, as alluded to above, offered Robert Putnam and his colleagues the opportunity to embark on a twenty year voyage of inquiry; their choice of vessel, a sub-national comparison. Certainly with the case of Italian institutional performance a sub-national paired comparison is sure to prove more illuminating than a cross-national comparison because one can hold-constant for national context. That being said, it is necessary to note that often when one considers cultural, historical, economic and/or socioeconomic conditions, there will invariably be cases where greater variation exists within countries than does between them (Snyder, 96). The experience of Italy provides a unique backdrop for Putnam to study institutional performance because many factors are held constant, relatively speaking. Aside from holding institutional design constant, Italy is a far less diverse country than say India or even Russia with regards to language, religion, ethnicity, class and caste. Though it might prove hard for Putnam’s methods to travel beyond a Western context and be directly applied, it should not be held against him or discredit his book by any means. Just because the arguments might have difficulty traveling (and we should note that Putnam’s arguments in Making Democracy Work are the underpinnings of his second book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community) does not mean that they should be judged negatively. After all, this is the precise purpose of a sub-national paired comparison to develop theories or generalizations that one is unable to make through cross-national paired comparisons due to all the intervening variables that cannot be held constant. Furthermore, Making Democracy Work does not qualify merely as a sub-national paired comparison. Putnam really tests his arguments against a broad spectrum. In so doing, he avoids the common problem of selection bias, and derivatively of false dichotomies. Putnam does not pick and choose the regions he incorporates in his study. Making Democracy Work is extensive in that it includes and considers all of the regions in Italy equally, and weighs them up against the same credo (where information permits). In each region Putnam interprets quantitative data on institutional performance and then analyzes it alongside quantitative data regarding its civic culture. He then pushes the envelope by reaching far-beyond direct causal inference and into history. The historical qualitative data that Putnam accumulates, allows him, ostensibly, to isolate the main factor that leads to variance in institutional performance in Northern and Southern Italy social capital. Making Democracy Work benefits from diverse measurements the indicators used are wide-ranging, innovative, impressive, and provide for a superior demonstration of Putnam’s arguments. In fact, it is the combination of both the quantitative and qualitative data that earn Robert Putnam and Making Democracy Work the recognition of being simultaneously both a large-N and small-N sub-national comparison. Structural Forces: Having laid out the methodological framework that Putnam has developed it is now possible to focus on the structuration approach that he incorporates. The explanation of institutional performance the dependent variable is contingent to a certain degree on a structural analysis. While all the regions in Italy are constrained by the same national structural force the highly centralized government, the regions are also constrained by their own historical legacies and the structures that have emerged from the past. In this sense, according to Putnam, the history of the North has cultivated an arena/structure much more conducive to proper institutional performance than has the South. Putnam chooses twelve indicators as evidence of institutional performance, or â€Å"good government†. These indicators include: Cabinet stability, budget promptness, statistical and information services, reform legislation, legislative innovation, day care centers, family clinics, industrial policy instruments, agricultural spending capacity, local health unit expenditures, housing and urban development and bureaucratic responsiveness. Far from agency-centered, the conditions of these indicators are all determined by the structure in which they are situated. Essentially, the greater the influence of the structure, the more predictable the political behaviour is likely to be. Following Putnam’s path-dependent argument that historical legacies shape the structural forces (which come to light from such indicators), it is important to then consider the nature of the historical legacies themselves. In Putnam’s view the historical legacies worth exploring are those of civic culture. Analyzing the Affects Agency: The affects of agency on Italian institutional performance is not analyzed explicitly in Making Democracy Work. Putnam does not look at individual leaders, regional representatives, or even influential citizens in any of Italy’s diverse regions contemporarily nor historically. However, implicit in his definition of civic culture, as the â€Å"norms of reciprocity and networks of civic engagement† (Putnam, 167) is an understanding of agency nonetheless. If agency is based on the actions and decisions of a single person, it must also be based on the interactions and collective wills of many people. A horizontal-network analysis is an ideal approach to take when trying to understand the affects of agency in regional patterns of behavior. From a nominalist point of view the researcher must use a conceptual framework to define the boundaries of the network or who/what is and is not included in the research agenda. For his part, Putnam proposes four indicators in which one can find evidence of a civic culture; these indicators include participation in voluntary associations, newspaper readership, referenda turnout, and personalized preference voting (or lack thereof). Even though groups like football clubs are internally heterogeneous and diverse, network analysis helps Putnam to disentangle the inherent complexity and to highlight the important aspects of functioning as a group. To the point of emphasis, the fact that Putnam also correlates these â€Å"objective† measures with more opinion-based survey indicators of civic culture goes to show that Putnam is committed to incorporating the role of agency in his research design. Essentially, he moves from a nominalist to a more realist network analysis by focusing on the individuals. More specifically, Putnam shows that network boundaries are established based on the subjective perspectives of the network actors themselves. For this reason, the data in his research is based to large degree on surveys, questionnaires and interviews. The difference between the North and the South of Italy therefore, can be expressed in the different types of networks they produce. Putnam considers all of the following: the different types of networks that exist, the organization of the networks, and the individuals within the networks. Relating to the different types of networks, Putnam notices that the density of networks in the North is much greater than in the South. Not only do more social groups exist in the North, but membership in them is greater and the pattern of ties between the members is stronger. With regards to the networks’ organization, in the North there is a higher frequency of interaction, and a larger amount of emotional investment within the network. Lastly, as far as individuals are concerned, Putnam looks at subjective measures like trust, solidarity, personal closeness and ideological proximity to ultimately discern that in Northern Italy individuals are more likely to enter horizontal-networks and develop a more cohesive civic culture that fosters responsive government and higher institutional performance. Strengths and Weakness of Structuration: In a sense, Putnam has combined a structural and agency approach into a single research design. The structuration approach has several strength and weaknesses worth highlighting, particularly with reference to Making Democracy Work. Perhaps the major benefit of combining the analysis of structure and agency in the case of Italian institutional performance is that Putnam is able to recognize and demonstrate the interplay between the two. Putnam shows how structures and agents are co-determining and mutually implicating. When assessing the causal relationship between civic culture and Italian institutional performance the case is made that the two entities are defined by their internal relationship, such that the two entities derive their meaning by their relationship and have no meaning or basis without the other. People produce the structure, and the structure in turn reproduces the people. So to speak, agents and structures are ontologically equal in Making Democracy Work. Inherit in this methodological approach’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. One of the major problems with operationalizing the structuration approach is that it is often difficult to design a research strategy that can draw valid causal inferences. As with the case of Making Democracy Work, the difficulty in making inferences is determining whether something is a cause or an effect there has to be a starting point for an analysis. One inevitably has to choose a bottom-up or top-down approach treating either agent or structure as ontologically primitive. Robert Putnam, by discerning them ontologically equal has failed to choose a starting point for analysis. Instead of a parsimonious and simple linear causal relationship, Putnam points to vicious and virtuous circles that have led to contrasting, path dependent social equlibria (Putnam, 180). Good or bad institutional performance will further continue a history of good or bad civic culture. More so, the correlation between civic associations and social capital that Putnam professes is also circular: While to think purely in terms of linear causation is to do injustice to the overall interconnectedness of the variables, the danger of thinking in terms of equilibria is that you develop a ‘chicken or egg’ scenario. One begins to beg the question of where in history it is right to draw the line when studying Italian civic culture? Indeed, Putnam’s historical record has become the focus of considerable criticism from scholars. Sidney Tarrow, in â€Å"Making Social Science Work across Time and Space†, contends that social scientists go to history with a theory to prove, and do not objectively derive viable generalizations from history. History requires picking and choosing; one must even choose where in history to draw the line before beginning a study. However, if a line can always be drawn back farther one must ask whether cases can really be isolable and independent at all. For example, can the case not be made that because the North of Italy colonized the South, that the problems of the South are really the problems of the North? Some critics say that it is unfair for Putnam to displace the problem of poor institutional performance on the South and not to consider the possibility of contamination. However, Putnam can hardly be criticized for this everything can be understood as ex post facto something else. Irrespective of whether Putnam is right or wrong on where in history he draws his line, Making Democracy Work should be hailed for its attempt to regardless of its actual success at combining quantitative and qualitative data, and structure and agency, in creating a complex causal relationship. Conclusion: In Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Robert Putnam has successfully managed to unite both a large-N and small-N sub-national comparison into a single model of inquiry. Equally as impressive, he has successfully managed to combine both a structure and agency-centered approach into a cohesive research design project. Putnam uses a structural approach to analyze his dependent variable political institutions, and an agency-centered approach to analyze an independent variable that has an affect on the development of political institutions and their efficacy civic culture. In so doing, Putnam manages to turn political institutions into an independent variable too, highlighting the interconnectedness of the two variables. Due to this interconnected circular nature of Putnam’s argument, Putnam’s study of Italian institutional performance, though both descriptive and predictive, lacks convincing prescriptive capabilities. Nevertheless, despite its prescriptive shortcomings, Putnam shows that using a combined structuration approach is capable of harvesting a fuller understanding of a particular issue in this case, Italian institutional performance. Works Cited Putnam, Robert D. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Snyder, Richard. â€Å"Scaling Down: The Subnational Comparative Method,† Studies in Comparative International Development 26:1 (Spring 2001), pp. 93-110. Works Consulted Dwainpayan, Bhattacharyya, et al. (eds.) Interrogating Social Capital: The Indian Experience. (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004). Furlong, Paul. â€Å"Review of: Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy,† International Affairs 70 (January 1994), pp. 172. Kwon, Hyeong-Ki. â€Å"Associations, Civic Norms, and Democracy: Revisiting the Italian Case,† Theory and Society 33 (2004), pp. 135-166. Levi, Margaret. â€Å"Social and Unsocial Capital: A Review Essay of Robert Putnams Making Democracy Work,† Politics and Society24 (March 1996), pp. 45-55. Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000). Sabetti, Filippo. â€Å"Path Dependency and Civic Culture: Some Lessons from Italy About Interpreting Social Experiments,† Politics and Society 24 (March 1996), pp. 19-44. Tarrow, Sidney. â€Å"Making Social Science Work Across Space and Time: A Critical Reflection on Robert Putnams Making Democracy Work,† American Political Science Review 90 (June 1996), pp. 389-397.

College Athletes Deserved to Be Paid

College Athletes Deserve To Be Paid November 17, 2011 College Athletes Deserve To Be Paid Almost every week there is some sort of story that makes the news about a university breaking the NCAA rules. The debate is bigger than ever to start paying college athletes to play sports. It does not matter which sport it is, athletes need more than just a scholarship to pay for expenses outside of tuition, room, and board. A scholarship is strictly limited to these, but what about the expenses outside of those?It is time to start paying college athletes to play sports to cover the expenses that occur outside of a scholarship and the sport. With the growing costs of living, more and more athletes are looking for ways to get more money than their scholarship gives them. In return, most of the athletes are breaking NCAA rules to get money, which hurts the school, coach, and their self. Colleges around the country are getting punished, and losing legendary coaches because of athletes needing more money. Schools have turned to firing coaches because of athletes breaking these rules.College athletes should be paid because they need more than what their scholarship gives them, some sort of cut of the millions of dollars the schools make off the athletes. Also to help protect the coaches and schools from being placed under some form of punishment. A college athlete getting paid to play has been a topic of discussion the past few years, and the problem is only getting worse. However, there are reasons why many NCAA officials and school officials believe athletes do not need to receive any more money than their scholarships.A major point that these officials use is that paying an athlete for playing will then eliminate the amateurism of the NCAA. The NCAA has always been known to create a playing environment that is strictly at an amateur level. If a college athlete begins to get paid then this therefore eliminates the â€Å"amateur† title, and they are then recognized as professionals. However, more and more athletes are looking for ways to make more money. According to Matt Hinton at rivals. com, Ohio State University is currently on probation for athletes selling or trading their memorabilia for money and other things (2011).This is breaking the NCAA rules, and has resulted in the university to be placed on probation and firing their coach. The NCAA is about amateurism, but even Olympic amateurs can make money off of endorsements. They should let athletes make money so these schools do not have to worry about getting in trouble. Another point, officials do not see why an athlete should be paid if they are already going to school for â€Å"free†. Athletes receive a scholarships based on what a school would like to give them, and for most of the time many athletes receive a full-ride scholarship.This scholarship usually pays for their tuition, room, and board. Often times, officials ask why an athlete needs more than what their scholarship al lows them. However, with scholarships they are strictly limited to on-campus purchases, and cannot help an athlete with any bills outside of the school. If an athlete has to travel to home and back for any reason a scholarship does not cover the trip. Where does the athlete get the money to pay for the trip? This is one example why athletes need extra money instead of just a scholarship.Lastly, many claim athletes are student-athletes, and paying them would result in them becoming just paid athletes. This is a good point, but the difference between a student-athlete and a student is a student can receive benefits outside of their financial aid, and/or scholarships. It is unfair to student-athletes and this is why they deserve some sort of payment outside of their scholarship. A student-athlete on a full-ride scholarship is there because the school believes the student is an outstanding athlete. The scholarship is strictly used for on-campus purchases such as tuition, room, and board .Often times the scholarship is also used for books, supplies, and sometimes school apparel. The issue with a scholarship is it cannot be used outside of the campus. However, there are many purchases a student needs during their time at the school, that a scholarship does not cover. For example, an athlete must cover on their own the cost of travel home, which sometimes can be costly depending on where their family lives. Also, regular bills, clothes, and food outside of campus have no way of being paid for by an athlete that is limited to a scholarship.It is unfair to athletes that spend all year with their sport to not receive some form of payment. A student on a full-ride academic scholarship is allowed to have a job, and to make money professionally. An example, a student who has a full-ride for academics can still sell their talent (music, writing, etc. ) for money, and they can also hold a job. This allows the student to receive more money than what their scholarship pays for. Zane, who plays football on a full-ride scholarship at Ball State University, told me it is nearly impossible to have a job while playing football.He said he has two weeks off during the summer to be at home, and other than that he has the opportunity to come home some weekends. He said they start in the summer and play through the season, and then following the season they begin practicing for the next (Personal communication, November 11,2011). This is a year-round obligation with no free time. There is no time for him to make any money because many companies do not want to hire someone who can only work a little bit compared to a student who has more free time. The sport is his job, and therefore should pay the athlete to play.It is unfair for a student who does not play a sport get paid for what they do, but an athlete that draws millions in for the university only gets a scholarship. Each year, college athletics make universities millions of dollars. However, the athletes that draw this money into the school receive none from it. According to the Huffington Post, the Big Ten and the SEC made around $8 million 2009-2010(Huffington Post, 2011). The players of these conferences see none of that money besides what their scholarship grants them.The players are what the fans pay to come see, and the schools know this. The schools are allowed to use any player’s name or face to sell jerseys, tickets, and other things. However, the player that is being used see none of the money they make the school. This is unfair to the athlete because he or she is the one who works hard for the school that people pay to see. If a player who wears a certain number is a national or even local star and helps sell that certain number jersey, then they should be entitled to some sort of percentage they are making the school.It is unfair for them to not be able to make any money off of their talents, but a music student is allowed to make money off of theirs. Athletes spend all year working for their sport and making the school money, but they receive a scholarship. A scholarship is coming from the school so the school is not losing any money since it has to be spent there. If athletes are allowed to make money this eliminates the argument of the school only benefiting from athletes. Also, receiving more than a scholarship will keep schools out of punishment, and keep coaches and programs out of trouble.When athletes begin looking for ways to make money this usually ends up hurting the school, coaches, and the athletes. This hurts the schools because most of the time making the money they need is breaking NCAA rules. Almost each week there is some form of story of a school that breaks a NCAA rule because of an athlete receiving money or gifts. This has resulted in many programs forfeiting wins, losing scholarships, and/or being placed on some form of probation or suspension. The athletes usually are suspended or ruled ineligible, and the coaches have b een fired.The Ohio State example I mentioned earlier resulted in them being placed on a two-year probation, and the school firing their coach. The coach helped develop that program into what it is today was fired for not reporting his players who were selling or trading their memorabilia. This school could still be known as a powerhouse with a legendary, national champion coach if the NCAA would allow players to receive money outside of their scholarships. Instead, the school is on probation, lost their great coach, and had to vacate all their wins from the seasons the players played. Hinton, 2011) This is not the only school that has lost a coach of great prestige because of athletes wanting a little more money. The debate of paying athletes should be over by now, and the athletes need to be paid. The NCAA is hurting the programs of many schools because of the fines, and punishments from athletes just trying to get a little more money than the get from a scholarship. It is time for the NCAA to stop worrying about the amateurism of the sport, and allow athletes to make money. This will protect the integrity of the coaches, and the jobs they hold now.If the NCAA continues to place rules on an athlete who makes the schools money it will continue to lead to many more coaches to be fired, and athletes being punished. Schools make millions off of these 18-22 year olds, and the athletes put all the time in. The NCAA needs to find a way to pay these athletes so they can afford to be in school outside of their scholarships. The student-athlete should be paid because they work year round, many hours a day for a school that makes millions off of all sports. It is time that the athletes get what they deserve.