Queen Elizabeth and her Conflicts Essay -- Royalty

Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most famous monarchs along with being one of the most successful woman rulers in history (Rowse 243). During her reign, she is said to have kept a long and eternal peace. Wikianswers believes that the main conflict she had during her reign was, â€Å"the aspects of the catholic religion†. Yes, religious settlement of England needed to be established, but her throne was in danger of her sister in the start and the intrusion her cousin later had greatly impacted and challenged Elizabeth. These are the obstacles I think she more had to battle during her reign. But she wasn’t always first in line for the royalty seat. Elizabeth was the child of King Henry and Anne Boleyn (Galli) born in the year 1533. King Henry had a previous wife named Catherine of Argon with whom they bore Mary in the year 1516. King Henry of course wanting a male heir kept trying and finally had a boy in 1537 with Jane Seymour named Edward VI. Edward was concluded to inherit the throne but died at a young age leaving Mary I of Henry’s children to be next in line (Galli). King Henry lived to the age 55 and passed due to bad health. This was the year of 1547 and Mary being the successor, became queen. Mary I â€Å"suffered terrible childhood of neglect, intolerance, and ill health†, says Galli. In her years she went from having high status, to loosing it all from a law change, to receiving it all back and reinstating her to the throne. Her major goal once queen was to reestablish Catholicism and was very committed. She was named Bloody Mary due to her burning of 300 Protestants at the stake which is a big sense to why â€Å"her reign was unpopular† (Galli). Thomas Wyatt led a rebellion with many Protestants to dethrone her. Mary was certain El... ...gue to rest in her bed. She died in March of 1603 (Queen Elizabeth I). Queen Elizabeth never had children so her successor was James VI of Scotland who became James I of England. He was the son of Mary Stuart and was King of Scots, Ireland, and lastly England as of 1603 at the age of 37 (Wikipedia). He was a talented scholar and â€Å"The Golden Age† continued into his reign. Through Elizabeth’s 45 year’s of British rule, she battled challenging obstacles such as religious conflict, Mary Tudor’s rule, peoples’ will to overthrow her, and Mary Queen of Scots intrusion. She faced these trials and managed to be given the title of England’s greatest monarch. This influential woman ruler left inspiration and knowledge for future monarchs and the British government for many years to come. She had also provided her country with stability and a sense of identity (Rowse 245).

Parental Involvement, Poverty, and Student Achievement Essay

Current education reform is intended to influence higher student achievement. According to Hanushek (1997), the development of school reform is largely motivated by economic issues. Education reform becomes a meaningful topic on the national agenda when the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a report, A Nation At Risk (1983). This report focused on the claim that a steady increase in mediocrity had overcome schools which impacted upon the economic competitiveness of the country. One example of this competitiveness was when the Soviet Union 1957 launched Sputnik. It was concluded that declines in educational performance were in large part the result of inadequacies in the way the educational process was conducted. The findings that follow, selected from a much more extensive list, reflect four important aspects of the educational process: content, expectations, time, and teaching. The United States government responded by beginning reform of how its educational system. As part of this process, all segments, including parent committees, were formed to give attention to the implementation of the recommendations of the report. The report further stated that reform should not only come from students, teachers, school boards, colleges and universities, local, state, and federal officials, teachers’ and administrators’ organizations, but also from parents themselves with interested in and responsibility for educational significance begin with the parent. Moreover, you bear a responsibility to participate actively in your child’s education. You should encourage more diligent study and discourage satisfaction with mediocrity and the attitude that says let it slide, monitor your child’s study; encourage good study habits; encourage your child to take more demanding rather than less demanding courses; nurture your child’s curiosity, creativity, and confidence; and be an active participant in the work of the schools. Above all, exhibit a commitment to continued learning in your own life. Finally, help your children understand that excellence in education cannot be achieved without intellectual and moral integrity coupled with hard work and commitment (p. 26) Henderson and Berla (1994) did extensive research linking parental involvement to student achievement. There are a variety of parenting practices that have been associated with positive student outcomes. Despite this research, Desimone (2001) contends that there is still no clear understanding of how patterns and effects of parental involvement differ across ethnic and income groups. Previous studies have shown that parent involvement patterns vary according to parental social, racial-ethnic, and economic characteristics (Catsambis & Garland, 1997), but the findings have been mixed. Several studies have reported that low income minority parents often have different beliefs about parents’ role in school involvement are less involved in school activities than higher income, non-minority parents (Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; Chavkin & Williams, 1993). Other studies, however, have demonstrated that the level of parent involvement by race-ethnicity (i. e. , Asian, African-American, Hispanic, and white) differs for only a few types of involvement and that minority parents have higher levels of involvement in certain areas than do white parents (Catsambis & Garland, 1997). Previous studies have reported that low-income minority parents often have different beliefs regarding parental roles in school involvement and are less involved (Chavkin & Williams, 1993). Comer and Haynes (1991) have hypothesized that low income and inner city minority students may be more positively affected by certain types of parent involvement than other students. According to them, in order for parental involvement programs to be successful, they need to be focused upon a school improvement process that is designed to create positive relationships that support the total development of children and not the traditional bureaucratic or authoritative school environment which is a less collaborative structure. Other theorists (Devaney, Ellwood, and Love, 1997; Lewit, Terman, & Behrman, 1997) suggests that parental involvement may not be as effective in improving student achievement for low income children as for children from middle class homes. Because the large number of risk factors that impact upon children living in poverty, including health, safety, and housing, the role of parental involvement in schools in explaining academic outcomes for those children may be significantly less than for their peers who do not experience as many negative environment influences. Desimone (2001) suggests that race-ethnicity and other background characteristics can be strong mediators in the effects of various types of parental actions and the impact they have on student achievement. While work in this area is limited, there is little information that compares the effects of multiple forms of parental involvement across several racial/ethnic and income groups. McNeal’s (2001) study investigated the relationships between parent involvement and socioeconomic status. Findings indicated that parental involvement was an important factor in explaining behavioral outcomes (such as truancy and dropping out) but not cognitive outcomes (such as science achievement), with the greatest support for parent child discussion and involvement in parent-teacher organizations. He contends that there have been inconsistencies with the findings linking parental involvement to academic achievement. The contradictions likely were related to one of the following weaknesses in research. The first condition was the use of perception measures by teachers rather than direct reports by students and/or parents. Another was a failure to fully conceptualize parent involvement into its constituent parts. The last was not fully assessing the extent to which parental involvement differently affects academic achievement by social class. The three shortcomings can be improved upon but parent involvement has little effect on student achievement because it is a cognitive outcome and parental involvement affects behavioral outcomes. Reginald Clark’s research shares findings from a body of research on closing achievement gaps in urban school communities (Ferguson, Clark, & Stewart, 2002). In Clark documents the importance of five influential factors for improved students achievement, especially among disadvantages urban students. The first factor is described as the teacher’s expectations and actions in the classroom. The second is amount of students’ weekly participation in high-yield in and out of school activities. High-yield out of school activities include: leisure reading, writing, studying, and participation in community and school clubs or programs, and playing organized sports. High-yield in school activities include participating in classroom lessons as well as structured leisure activities. The third factor is the quality of students’ participation in and out of school activities. The fourth factor is parental beliefs and expectations. The fifth factor is parent-teacher communication. Ferguson, Clark and Stewart, 2002 found that the type and amounts of constructive in school and out of school learning activities contribute to a success-oriented lifestyle. More specifically, Clark found that high achieving activities. Some examples of actions in the classroom include reading, working alone on a lesson, listening to a lecture, solving a problem with classmates, or asking questions. Ferguson, Clark and Stewart, 2002 found that high achievers spent more time during out of school high-yield learning activities than low achievers. Some activities include: weekly time dialoguing with adults, hobby or volunteer activities, or organized sports. Regular study and homework routines, with adult monitoring or support, and reading and writing activities also were seen as practices in the home. Some less structured or unstructured activities include hanging out, playing video games, talking on the telephone, and watching television. Ferguson, Clark and Stewart 2002 found that the beliefs and attitudes of parents had a significant role in student success in becoming competent readers. The analysis of data from parents of 459 students about their expectations for their child’s learning and their perception of whether they had been supported by their child’s teacher showed that students benefit when parents set high standards for their child’s performance in school and feel personally supported by partnerships they have formed with their child’s teacher. Lastly, Clark indicates that parent beliefs are likely to be influenced by parent-teacher communication. In other words, parents may benefits from well-organized teacher-led communications. When teachers take specific actions to cultivate instructional partnerships with parents, those parents are more likely to support their children’s learning at home. Clark’s data showed that students’ scores were higher on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment in reading when teachers reported more communication with parents. REFERENCES Bankston, C. L. , & Caldas, S. J. (1998). Family structure, schoolmates, and racial inequalities in school achievement. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 715-723. Braswell. J. S. , Lutkus,A. D. , Grigg,W. S. , Santapau, S. L. , Tay-Lim, B. , & Johnson, M. (2001). Subgroup results for the nation and the states. In The nation’s report card: Mathematics 2000 (pp. 53-181). Washington DC: U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Center for Education Statistics.

Thai Financial Crisis Essay Online For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 936 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Before financial crisis South East Asian countries had undergone some of the most magnificient economic growth rates worldwide. However, between 1997 and 1998 the tiger economies of South East Asian are badly impacted by a financial crisis. Thailand was the first country influenced by the financial crisis when Thai baht dramatically fall down in value in July 1997 which affected the other countries and resulted in economic downturns in several countries. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Thai Financial Crisis Essay Online For Free" essay for you Create order Due to the time limitation, This paper can only try to focus on a specific country which is Thailand by explaining the causes of Thai financial crisis. Then the possible consequences of financial crisis on Thai economy are analysed. Finally, this paper come up with recovery strategies and some implications for this implementations. 3. Causes of Thai financial crisis This section seeks to identify some of the underlying factors that made Thailand susceptible to financial crisis. 3.1. Large current account deficits Thailand had a large current account deficit ranging from -2.0 to to -14.4% of GDP. These deficits caused country to rely heavily on external borrowing( Thammavit, 1998) 1995 1996 1997 % of GDP (%) US dollars ($ billions) % of GDP (%) US dollars ($ billions) % of GDP (%) US dollars ($ billions) -7.9 -13.2 -7.9 -14.4 -2.0 -3.0 Sources: IMF, World Economic Outlook, May 1998 table 10 October 1998 table 2.11 3.2 Overdependence on external debts Secondly, excessive external debt, in 1997 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that Thailands external debt was about $U.S.99 billion about 55% of GDP. The majority of this debt was privately incurred and this large external debt sharply lifted the countrys debt service ratio from 11.4 percent in 1994 to 15.5 percent in 1997 ( Thammavit, 1998). Domestic borrowers were eager to go off-shore to borrow because this money was cheaper and the fixed exchange rate regime made people think that there was no currency risk.Thai corporate borrowers discovered they could borrow at an interest rate of 5-8% instead of paying more than 13% when borrowing domestically. They could even earn money simply by borrowing abroad and depositing the bath in Thailand. Even borrowers with sound business businesses would raise capital abroad to finance industrial development, excessive leverage in financial market is most often the cause of extreme booms and crashes. 3.3. Liberalisation of international capital flows The collaspe of the property sector that began to boom in the late 1980s. With the liberalisation of international capital flows in 1993 this capital grew rapidly. By 1995, an oversupply of housing emerged, expanding int a major problem.With loans increasingly becoming more expensive and hard to get under the Bank of Thailands squeeze on lending, the property sector began to collaspe in 1996. The property sectors debts totalled around 1,000 billion baht in 1996. The slump in the property sales market and lending squeeze worsened developerscash flow troubles and defaults on interest payments. As a consequence many finance companies and small banks faced liquidity problems, with 16 finance companies suspended in June 1997, and another 42 in August 1997. By December 1997, 56 finance companies were closed permanently. 3.4. Exchange rate mismanagement With a fixed exchange rate and the liberalisation of internatioanl capital flows, foreign money poured into Thailand between 1993 and 1996. As a result the Thai baht became overvalued against other currencies, partly slowing down growth in exports in 1996, however, the Bank of Thailand continued to peg the baht to a basket of currencies in which the U.S. dollar had a significant influence. Speculators attatcked the baht in February and May 1997 and in order to defend the currency the Bank of Thailand used official foreign reserves. The net result being that official foreign reserves fell from $U.S.39 billion in January 1997 to $U.S.32.4 billion in June 1997. In July 1997, the Bank of Thailand had to replace the fixed exchange rate with a managed float, as it could no longer tap the reserves. The exchange rate for the bath had fallen steadily since 25.8 baht to the $U.S. to around 40 Baht to the $U.S. currently, with the Baht reaching 50 Baht to the $U.S before settling at its curre nt level. The mismanagement of the exchange rate system has been cited as evidence of central bank incompetence(Thammavit, 1998). 3.5. Overinflated asset prices In Thailand the property market was the main weakness of the financial sector. Thai banks had loaned funds to non-bank financial institutions, which in turn advanced loans to property market investors. It is estimated that a quarter of bank loans in Thailand was ultimately made, sometimes through intermediaries, for property-related investments. Speculators purchased property because they expected the price of the property to rise in the near future. Their increased purchasing of the property caused the price of the property rise, which caused even more speculative buying. When it became obvious that the current price greatly exceeded the real value of the property, speculators quickly sold, causing the price to collaspe- the bubble burst (Leightner 1999) 4. Consequences Secondly, The stock markets experience a sharp fall because the level of any stock market is ultimately dependent upon the prospects for continued earnings/profits of the companies listed on the market. In periods when economic problems are taking place, stock markets would tend to fall to reflect the lower expected profits. The third effect of financial crisis was that interest rats increased significantly. Because of loss of confidence in Thai economy, most investors move their investment overseas which results on a decrease in the money supply, thus, raising market interest rates and diminishing te funds for borrowing throughtout the economy. In addition to market response, the monetary authorities may raise rates further in an effort to prevent further, continuous depreciation of the currency. Although they may be necessary to prevent stricken currencies going into free-fall, one effect of higher interest rates is to reinforce the deflationary pressures squeezing the domesti c economy.