Nintendo History Essay Example for Free

Nintendo History Essay Nintendo was founded in 1889. It was a poker card workshop. But now it’s Japans most famous game production company. Its production of electronic games are popular all around the world. Nintendo is the NO.1 of the worlds video game companies. With only 850 staffs, Nintendo used to beat such super enterprises as Toyota occasionally, thus becoming Japanese first profit-making company. Nintendo spells â€Å"Wii† with two lower-case â€Å"I† characters means: To resemble two people standing side by side, representing players gathering together. Wii sounds like we, which emphasizes that the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. The Nintendo Wii is the 7th generation video game console of the Nintendo series. It plays Nintendo video games via discs, and detects movement in three dimensions. The Wii is meant to stimulate interactivity and movement among its users, so that they play games and get exercise simultaneously. The primary wireless controller, the Wii remote, is a handheld pointing device which makes the on-screen player mimic the movements of the person possessing the Wii remote. Nintendo production of electronic games In 1983ï ¼Å¡NES In 1989ï ¼Å¡Game Boy In 1990ï ¼Å¡Super Famicom In 1996ï ¼Å¡Nintendo64 In 2001ï ¼Å¡Game Boy Advance In 2001ï ¼Å¡GameCube In 2004ï ¼Å¡Nintendo DS In 2006ï ¼Å¡Wii In 2012ï ¼Å¡Wii U http://game.people.com.cn/n/2012/1120/c49419-19633647-4.htmlhttp://blog.eio.com/2012/07/21/an-introduction-to-the-nintendo-wii/ 1. Was Nintendo just lucky, or does the Wii’s success have strategic merit? Nintendos strategy was very clear and clever. It thought that it could not survive in the competition with Microsofts Xbox and Sonys Play Station 3. So, Nintendo do not try to compete to the competitor rather than it tried to rebuild the gaming system. Without concerning the more advanced technology, it tried to do more using less investment. They realized that they couldn’t make a better product, so by changing the way in which the product is used they created a whole new market at their control. By changing their focus away from the game but the experience Nintendo created a unique strategy that is now synonymous with their name. Nintendo developed the Wii with a very specific design and marketing strategy in place. So, Nintendos strategy was so resourceful and it worked like magic mix strategy.Their success with the Wii really stems from two sources. First, they have gained substantial market share with previously untapped demographics (elderly, smallchildren, and families) . Second, because they have eliminated many of the additional costs and features of the more advanced game systems, they have been able to better compete based on price.Even while they were struggling, Nintendo maintained a strong brand within the gaming industry. Marketing Strategies of Nintendo are through the product, pricing, promotion, and place. With the product, Nintendo redesigned the controller to make it easier and more nature to play games,e.g motion sensitivity, IR sensors. Nintendo keep price at $250.00 while XBOX and PS3 over $350.00. Wii games cheaper $10.00 than XBOX and PS3. It offering various accessories to generate revenue. Ninendo promotion through mass selling, uses intermediary (GameStop, hypermarket, mall), uses both push or pull techniques. Pushing is used by advertising through commercials, ads, circulars, magazines, and internet.Pulling is demonstrated by keeping on-hand inventory low leaving customers returning to check availability.Nintendo has included a free game with eachWii unit, other systems, they increase the price by $20-50. they offer the Nintendo WiFi connection. This allows you to play certain online games against friends and others. Nintendoapos;s WiFi connection is free and offers many nice updates. Ab out the place, Nintendo has distribution centers around the world. Each distributing the regions version of Nintendo’s systems or games. In the United States there are 2 distribution centers, that are Redmond, Washington; Atlanta, Georgia. Retailers get their inventory directly from Nintendo.Businesses are gaining approximately $10 per unit sold; however, they make their money through game and accessory sales. 2) In which stage of the product life cycle is theWii? Based on that stage, is Nintendo employing good marketing mix strategies? The sales of Nintendo keep increasing and last sales not significant. The stages is growh- early maturity. If a product is accepted by the marketplace, it enters the growth stage of the product life cycle. The growth stage is characterized by increasing sales, more competitors, and higher profits. Unfortunately for the firm, the growth stage attracts competitors who enter the market very quickly. For example, when Diet Coke experienced great success, Pepsi soon entered with Diet Pepsi. You’ll notice that both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have similar competitive offerings in the beverage industry, including their own brands of bottled water, juice, and sports drinks. As additional customers begin to buy the product, manufacturers must ensure that the product remains available to customers or run the risk of them buying competitors’ offerings. For example, the producers of video game systems such as Nintendo’s Wii could not keep up with consumer demand when the product was first launched. Consequently, some consumers purchased competing game systems such as Microsoft’s Xbox. A company sometimes increases its promotional spending on a product during its growth stage. However, instead of encouraging consumers to try the product, the promotions often focus on the specific benefits the product offers and its value relative to competitive offerings. In other words, although the company must still inform and educate customers, it must counter the competition. Emphasizing the advantages of the product’s brand name can help a company maintain its sales in the face of competition. Although different organizations produce personal computers, a highly recognized brand such as IBM strengthens a firm’s advantage when competitors enter the market. New offerings that utilize the same successful brand name as a company’s already existing offerings, which is what Black Decker does with some of its products, can give a company a competitive advantage. Companies typically begin to make a profit during the growth stage because more units are being sold and more revenue is generated. The number of distribution outlets (stores and dealers) utilized to sell the product can also increase during the growth stage as a company tries to reach as much of the marketplace as possible. Expanding a product’s distribution and increasing its production to ensure its availability at different outlets usually results in a product’s costs remaining high during the growth stage. The price of the product itself typically remains at about the same level during the growth stage, although some companies reduce their prices slightly to attract additional buyers and meet the competitors’ prices. Companies hope by increasing their sales, they also improve their profits. The Maturity Stage After many competitors enter the market and the number of potential new customers declines, the sales of a product typically begin to level off. This indicates that a product has entered the maturity stage of its life cycle. Most consumer products are in the mature stage of their life cycle; their buyers are repeat purchasers versus new customers. Intense competition causes profits to fall until only the strongest players remain. The maturity stage lasts longer than other stages. Quaker Oats and Ivory Soap are products in the maturity stage—they have been on the market for over one hundred years. Given the competitive environment in the maturity stage, many products are promoted heavily to consumers by stronger competitors. The strategies used to promote the products often focus on value and benefits that give the offering a competitive advantage. The promotions aimed at a company’s distributors may also increase during the mature stage. Companies may decrease the price of mature products to counter the competition. However, they must be careful not to get into â€Å"price wars† with their competitors and destroy all the profit potential of their markets, threatening a firm’s survival. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have engaged in several price wars with regard to their microprocessors. Likewise, Samsung added features and lowered the price on its Instinct mobile phone, engaging in a price war with Apple’s iPhone. With the weakened economy, many online retailers engaged in price wars during the 2008 holiday season by cutting prices on their products and shipping costs. Although large organizations such as Amazon.com can absorb shipping costs, price wars often hurt smaller retailers. Many retailers learned from their mistakes and ordered less inventory for the 2009 holiday season. Companies are challenged to develop strategies to extend the maturity stage of their products so they remain competitive. Many firms do so by modifying their target markets, their offerings, or their marketing strategies. Next, we look at each of these strategies. Modifying the target market helps a company attract different customers by seeking new users, going after different market segments, or finding new uses for a product in order to attract additional customers. Financial inst itutions and automobile dealers realized that women have increased buying power and now market to them. With the growth in the number of online shoppers, more organizations sell their products and services through the Internet. Entering new markets provides companies an opportunity to extend the product life cycles of their different offerings. Many companies enter different geographic markets or international markets as a strategy to get new users. A product that might be in the mature stage in one country might be in the introductory stage in another market. For example, when the U.S. market became saturated, McDonald’s began opening restaurants in foreign markets. Cell phones were very popular in Asia before they were introduced in the United States. Many cell phones in Asia are being used to scan coupons and to charge purchases. However, the market in the United States might not be ready for that type of technology. Modifying the product, such as changing its packaging, size, flavors, colors, or quality can also extend the product’s maturity stage. The 100 Calorie Packs created by Nabisco provide an example of how a company changed the packaging and size to provide convenience and one-hundred-calorie portions for consumers. While the sales of many packaged foods fell, the sales of the 100 Calorie Packs increased to over $200 million, prompting Nabisco to repackage more products. [5]Kraft Foods extended the mature stage of different crackers such as Wheat Thins and Triscuits by creating different flavors. Although not popular with consumers, many companies downsize (or decrease) the package sizes of their products or the amount of the product in the packages to save money and keep prices from rising too much. Car manufacturers modify their vehicles slightly each year to offer new styles and new safety features. Every three to five years, automobile manufacturers do more extensive modifications. Changing the package or adding variations or features are common ways to extend the mature stage of the life cycle. Pepsi recently changed the design and packaging of its soft drinks and Tropicana juice products. However, consumers thought the new juice package looked like a less expensive brand, which made the quality of the product look poorer. As a result, Pepsi resumed the use of the original Tropicana carton. Pepsi’s redesigned soda cans also received negative consumer reviews. Tropicana’s New Packaging Tropicana’s new (and now abandoned) packaging look didn’t compare well with the â€Å"orange and the straw† but is still used on the lower-calorie Tropicana. When introducing products to international markets, firms must decide if the product can be standardized (kept the same) or how much, if any,adaptation, or changing, of the product to meet the needs of the local culture is necessary. Although it is much less expensive to standardize products and promotional strategies, cultural and environmental differences usually require some adaptation. Product colors and packages as well as product names must often be changed because of cultural differences. For example, in many Asian and European countries, Coca-Cola’s diet drinks are called â€Å"light,† not diet. GE makes smaller appliances such as washers and dryers for the Japanese market. Hyundai Motor Company had to improve the quality of its automobiles in order to compete in the U.S. market. Compan ies must also examine the external environment in foreign markets since the regulations, competition, and economic conditions vary as well as the cultures. Figure 7.15 Some companies modify the marketing strategy for one or more marketing variables of their products. For example, many coffee shops and fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s now offer specialty coffee that competes with Starbucks. As a result, Starbucks’ managers a decided it was time to change the company’s strategy. Over the years, Starbucks had added lunch offerings and moved away from grinding coffee in the stores to provide faster service for its customers. However, customers missed the coffee shop atmosphere and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and didn’t like the smell of all the lunch items. As a result of falling market share, Starbucks’ former CEO and founder Howard Schultz returned to the company. Schultz hired consultants to determine how to modify the firm’s offering and extend the maturity stage of their life cycle. Subsequently, Starbucks changed the atmosphere of many of its stores back to that of traditional coffee shops, modified its lunch offerings in many stores, and resumed grinding coffee in stores to provide the aroma customers missed. The company also modified some of its offerings to provide health-conscious consumers lower-calorie alternatives. [6] After the U.S. economy weakened in 2009, Starbucks announced it would begin selling instant coffee for about a dollar a cup to appeal to customers who were struggling financially but still wanted a special cup of coffee. The firm also changed its communication with customers by utilizing more interactive media such as blogs. Whereas Starbucks might have overexpanded, McDonald’s plans to add fourteen thousand coffee bars to selected stores. [7] In addition to the coffee bars, many McDonald’s stores are remodeling their interiors to feature flat screen televisions, recessed lighting, and wireless Internet access. Other McDonald’s restaurants kept their original design, which customers still like. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Assignment-Case-Study-Of-Nintendo-878245.html http://www.papercamp.com/essay/46271/Nintendo-Case ï‚ · http://www.xbitlabs.com http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/2030?e=fwk-133234-ch07_s02

The Aral Sea Desertification

The Aral Sea Desertification Desertification is the process by which a habitable place of land becomes a desert due to climatic changes or ill human practices in the environment. The Aral Sea is a victim to such adversity due to malpractices and power hungry nature of humans. Thus becoming a saline lake from its previous form of being the 4th largest lake in the world. It used to be the leading site of fisheries, reed growing and other trading due to its ports. All these services have been vanquished due to the desertification which seeped into the sea and its atmosphere. Thereby becoming one of the worlds greatest disasters caused humans. People have always had a greed for power and gold. Such was an instance for the Soviet Government in the 1960s. The need to grow heat absorbing crops such as rice, cotton, grapes and other vegetables made two prime rivers The Amu Darya and The Syr Darya, feeding the Aral Sea to be diverted to irrigate the crops. Due to such malpractices the Aral Sea shrunk in size from being the worlds 4th largest sea to a dry barren sea basin. But even though they have caused an ecological disaster, actions are now being taken to replenish the sea of its thirst and recover it back to its natural beauty. The Aral Sea : The Aral Sea has a catchment size of 1,549,000 km2 . It was a sea that situated in Central Asia and lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, (a region of Uzbekistan) in the south. It used to have an area of 68,000 square kilometers and it was due to the two main rivers, in fact the 2 largest rivers in central Asia the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya to fill up the sea. Around 1960, about half of this water replenished the Sea the rest evaporated, transpired, or filtrated into the ground naturally as the rivers flowed through the deserts and some was taken for other human uses. Everything was going well keeping the environment intact until the former Soviet Union decided to divert the rivers to grow white gold- cotton, rice and other vegetables. This was a major plan for them to become a lead exporter in cotton. Which eventually happened as Uzbekistan is one of the lead exporters of cotton to this very day. But cotton and rice being extremely thirsty plants required immense amounts of water and instead of the 2 rivers irrigating the desert it was used to irrigate the 7.6 million hectares of thirsty crops. Due to the diversion of the water the water level started to decrease as the river discharge started to drop. Subsequently as the years passed by the rivers brought lesser water to the sea. The sea was retreating from its original shores, leaving behind dry land covered by the crust of salt. The irrigation project was enormous and no attention was given to downstream requirements. The irrigation techniques were not efficient with open waterways leading to waste. Very little care was given to the need for proper drainage. On average there was a decline in water level during the 1960s of 0.21 m/year, in the 1970s of 0.6 m/year, and in the 1980s of 0.8 m/year. Now it has lost 80 % of its volume and uncovered 3.6 mil hectares of seabed .The surface level has contracted by half, the level significantly reduced by 19 m and in some areas the seas edge is more than 100 km from its former shore. The Soviets were not surprised of the slow recline and eventual fading of the Aral Sea, as they had predicted this to happen. In 1964 , at the Hydroproject Institute Aleksandr Asarin stated that the lake was doomed, explaining It was part of the five-year plans, approved by the council of ministers and the Politburo. Nobody on a lower level would dare to say a word contradicting those plans, even if it was the fate of the Aral Sea. Plans were taken to refill the Aral Sea after a while but the estimated costs were staggering, the authorities rejected the project in 1966. Ecology ,environment and climate : The future of the Aral Sea looked very grim. The surrounding environment and the marine ecology of the started to depreciate. The local climate, hydrology and natural habitat were also affected greatly due to the declining sea- level. As the sea level reclined, few areas started to get exposed. The deltas in the sea was lush and abundant with flora and fauna that provided flowing food supplies for the livestock , and reeds for the industry , an abundant breeding ground for its fish industry and sites for hunting. When the deltas started to dry up, deserts started to form thereby the number of wildlife, fish and livestock started to drop. Only 38 of the 173 living species that once habited the deltas survived. Just 30 years ago the sea was a major contributor to the fishing industries; in 1957 Muynak and Aralsk were flourishing sea ports processing catches of 48,000 metric tons of fish. Now these fishing ports are situated many kilometers from the sea line and the fisheries are only open at very expensive costs with fish coming in from the Barents and the Caspian Seas. By the 1980s almost 20 of the 24 native sea fish species disappeared. The Soviet planners realized that if they were to expand the irrigation systems it would have contrary impacts on the sea, yet still nothing was done about it. They did not realize that it would have an effect on the surrounding natural climate. As the irrigation and the recline of the Aral Sea continued huge dust storms developed due to the sea drying up. As a result the agricultural productivity started to decline making it inhospitable for crops. As the sea dried up more places in the sea started to get exposed and at the upper layer of the seabed the concentration of the toxic salts at the seabed combined with the lack of water and its nutrients made it difficult to provide a stable plant cover. Due to this dust storms started to brew and this increased in frequency and magnitude, as a result it carried an estimated of 43 million metric tons of salt per year over the enormous areas. These dust storms contained sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, which are toxic to plants. As the salt levels in the regions started to rise in the water and soil contents it started having adverse effects on the agriculture in the region. Due to this excess of water was needed to meet the requirements of the plant but the problem was drainage was often poor together with the fact that it was more saline than the soil. This accumulates and raises the level of the groundwater table. As the water table rises into the root zone, the crops suffer from curtailed oxygen supplies. Thus the capillary action draws salts from the shallow groundwater tables upward toward the surface. As the water evaporates, high concentrations of salt are left on the surface, thereby ruining the agricultural potential of the land. Soviet research suggests that 60 percent of the irrigated soils in Uzbekistan, 80 percent in Turkmenistan, 35 percent in Tadzhikistan, 40 percent in Kirghizia, and between 60 and 70 percent in Kazakhstan suffered moderate to strong salinity problems in 1985. The climate of the area was also affected, summers have become hotter, winters have become cooler and growing seasons have significantly become shorter. Precipitation has also decreased thereby increasing daytime temperatures. Average May temperatures were 3.0-3.2 degree Celsius higher, average October temperatures are 0.7 to 1.5 degrees higher and the growing season has declined by 10 days. The Aral Sea, a large saltwater lake, is losing more than half of its surface area in 40 years. 3 Cows walk in the desert which used to be the seabed of the Aral Sea 4 Human Impacts : Not only was the climate and animal life affected but even humans were affected from this disaster. Drinking water supplies were contaminated by pesticides. Many other diseases were released due to the desertification. Over the last 15 years diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B, kidney disease, gallstone ailments, chronic gastritis have increased; infant mortality rates have gone up and the frequency of esophagus cancer and tuberculosis have reach epidemic levels. One survey found 80 percent of the women suffering from anemia and 70 percent of the children ill. Due to the rise in morbidity and reduced mortality in the people, hospital rates went up and poverty increased. Because of the vast no. of health problems in the population hospitals were lacking in essential medicines and health care. On account of the rising diseases, many of them were found in the blood and breast milks, as toxins found in pesticides and other toxic gases from the dust storms seeped into foods and contaminated food supplies. As the waters are highly saline and contaminated, drinking water supplies have significantly decreased leading to liver and kidney diseases. The people have also been exposed to airborne toxins found in the dust storms causing respiratory diseases. Due to the desertification the fishing industry and other local occupations such as reed growing, farming and other occupations disappeared causing unemployment rates to sky rocket, leading people to poverty. They were unable to grow agriculture due to the high salinity of the water. Shipping ports closed and the Aral Sea became a ship graveyard. Aral Sea Restoration : Finally attention was given to the Aral Sea in the 1980s and 1990s but the government realized that it would not be possible to restore the Sea to its original size back in 1960. But if it was left to continue to degrade a major catastrophe would occur. Looking into the problems 5 countries volunteered to try and restore or at least alleviate the cataclysm. Those 5 countries are: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan; the countries that neighbor the Aral Sea. They created the ASBP (Aral Sea Basin Program) in 1994 which was established to be conducted in four steps: To stabilize the environment of the Aral Sea Basin, To rehabilitate the disaster area around the sea, To improve the management of the international waters of the Aral Sea Basin, To build the capacity of institutions at the regional and national level to advance the programs aims. More water would have to pump into the Aral Sea if it had to be revived. The five countries referred to Interbasin Transfers (IBT); but it has not been put into place. They projected to divert the Caspian Sea into the Aral Sea but they anticipated that the same catastrophe might occur in the Caspian. This was just a hypothesis to be carried out, so ASBP was put into place. The first phase was to directly improve the land around the basin without touching the water system. This began from 1992 until 1997. This was because they found it difficult to implement the phase. Phase two began in 1998 till 2003. They wanted to increase awareness of the area to the public but they had little concern of the propaganda thus causing this plan to fail as well. Phase three was implemented in 1997 as the government constructed a new plan to back up the previous ones. The main objective of this plan is to improve the irrigation systems that are still there but aiming at the water management at a local view. The North Aral Sea is the largest project of this phase. The main idea is to build a dam across the Berg Strait ( a channel which connects the North and South Aral Sea). The dam is eight miles long and can facilitate twenty nine cubic kilometers of water to be stashed away in the North Aral Sea and allowing the excess water to overflow into the South Aral Sea. Currently work is going on in the North Aral Sea to restore it. Irrigation in the Syr Darya have been improved and mended to increase the flow of water. In October 2003 the government began construction of a concrete dam, Dike Kokaral which separates the Aral Sea from the North and South. Construction finished in August 2005 and due to the dam water level in the North has increased also decreasing the salinity of the river. It is a minute growth but a valuable one over time. Few of the fish stocks were released into the river to bring back the past occupation and revive the fishing industry once again. This outstanding project caused small changes to the climate causing few rain clouds to brew up. The sea depth and sea surface has increased over the years. Seeing these achievements in the area the government has decided to construct a second dam to further the healing process of the Northern side. The South of the Aral Sea only receives overflowed water from the North of the Aral Sea but apart from that no other measures have been taken. But plans have been pulled up to create a channel to connect the North and South and continue the replenishing projects in the South as well but political constraints are limiting its progress because of the oil exploration in the South of the Aral Sea. Conclusion: The Aral Sea was the fourth-largest Sea in the world at one time but today it does not exist in any last apart from the top ten ecological disasters caused by humans. Even though measures are taken to restore the Aral Sea back to its original form predictions are being made that because only the North Aral Sea is being refilled it may divide up into the North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea as two completely separate basins. All these decades of problems and catastrophes were just over the greed of making more money, yes maybe it might increase the revenue of a nation but it should not be at the cost of another whole biome. There is a sufficiency in the world for mans need but not for mans greed. -Mahatma Gandhi

Zen Buddhist Perspectives on Modern Education Essay -- Educational Bud

Zen Buddhist Perspectives on Modern Education ABSTRACT: Many articles and books on Buddhism have been published in recent years, but publications dealing with Buddhist educational views are rarely available. In this paper, I wish to expound on Zen Buddhist perspectives on modern education. The history of Buddhist education is long and complex. In early centuries (400 BCE- 800 CE), Buddhist monasteries in India and China functioned as educational centers where vinaya, sutras and other subjects were taught. Many men and women were refugees from social injustice and the sangha provided them with education, security and dignity. Spirituality and pedantry were always combined in Buddhist education. But from a Zen perspective, modern education has become an occupational training program to promote financial interest. Capitalism, science and technology have formed a new world view; to wit, occupational training has become more essential to one's way of living than the spiritual quest. Today, most students are concerned with finding fin ancial stability and material gain. Against this trend, Zen education encourages students to seek spiritual stability. Because of Buddha nature, this is a natural human inclination, while not everyone is talented to become a computer specialist or an investment banker. Zen education guides students to grasp the "twist and turn" of the samsaric world, teaching them to be compassionate, understanding, patient listeners and well-balanced individuals. Many articles and books on Buddhism have been published in recent years, but publications dealing with Buddhist educational views are rarely available. In this paper, I wish to expound on Zen Buddhist perspectives on modern education. In the first section... ...nd appreciate ordinary things to fulfill the other missing fifty percent. Learning, then, becomes more complete. Notes (1) Bapat, P. V. 2500 Years in Buddhism. (New Delhi: Government of India, 1956), p. 158. (2) Ibid., p. 162. (3) Ibid., p. 165. (4) Chen, Kenneth. Buddhism in China. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 43. (5) Ibid., p. 44. (6) Ibid., p. 83. (7) Lin chi. The Record of Lin Chi. tr. Ruth F. Sasaki. (Kyoto, Japan: The Institute for Zen Studies, 1975), p. 14. (8) Hosaka, Gyokusen. Zen no yotei. [ Secret of Zen] (Tokyo: Kyoiku shincho sha, 1968), p. 57. (9) Ibid. (10) Merton, Thomas. Zen and the Birds of Appetite. (New York: New Directions, 1968), p. 31. (11) Pang yun. The Recorded Sayings of Layman Pang: A Nineth-Century Zen Classic. tr. Ruth F. Sasaki. (New York: Weatherhill, 1971), p. 46. Zen Buddhist Perspectives on Modern Education Essay -- Educational Bud Zen Buddhist Perspectives on Modern Education ABSTRACT: Many articles and books on Buddhism have been published in recent years, but publications dealing with Buddhist educational views are rarely available. In this paper, I wish to expound on Zen Buddhist perspectives on modern education. The history of Buddhist education is long and complex. In early centuries (400 BCE- 800 CE), Buddhist monasteries in India and China functioned as educational centers where vinaya, sutras and other subjects were taught. Many men and women were refugees from social injustice and the sangha provided them with education, security and dignity. Spirituality and pedantry were always combined in Buddhist education. But from a Zen perspective, modern education has become an occupational training program to promote financial interest. Capitalism, science and technology have formed a new world view; to wit, occupational training has become more essential to one's way of living than the spiritual quest. Today, most students are concerned with finding fin ancial stability and material gain. Against this trend, Zen education encourages students to seek spiritual stability. Because of Buddha nature, this is a natural human inclination, while not everyone is talented to become a computer specialist or an investment banker. Zen education guides students to grasp the "twist and turn" of the samsaric world, teaching them to be compassionate, understanding, patient listeners and well-balanced individuals. Many articles and books on Buddhism have been published in recent years, but publications dealing with Buddhist educational views are rarely available. In this paper, I wish to expound on Zen Buddhist perspectives on modern education. In the first section... ...nd appreciate ordinary things to fulfill the other missing fifty percent. Learning, then, becomes more complete. Notes (1) Bapat, P. V. 2500 Years in Buddhism. (New Delhi: Government of India, 1956), p. 158. (2) Ibid., p. 162. (3) Ibid., p. 165. (4) Chen, Kenneth. Buddhism in China. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 43. (5) Ibid., p. 44. (6) Ibid., p. 83. (7) Lin chi. The Record of Lin Chi. tr. Ruth F. Sasaki. (Kyoto, Japan: The Institute for Zen Studies, 1975), p. 14. (8) Hosaka, Gyokusen. Zen no yotei. [ Secret of Zen] (Tokyo: Kyoiku shincho sha, 1968), p. 57. (9) Ibid. (10) Merton, Thomas. Zen and the Birds of Appetite. (New York: New Directions, 1968), p. 31. (11) Pang yun. The Recorded Sayings of Layman Pang: A Nineth-Century Zen Classic. tr. Ruth F. Sasaki. (New York: Weatherhill, 1971), p. 46.

Immigration to Canada :: Canadian Canada History

Immigration to Canada Early immigration to Canada was generated by a network of emigration agents who were salesman who advertised to Canada's attraction's to prospected immigrants. They targeted wealthy farmers, agricultural laborers and female domestics, preferably from Great Britain, the United States and Northern Europe. Canada's first immigration legislation, the Immigration Act of 1869 reflected the laissez-faire philosophy of the time by not saying which classes of immigrants should be admitted but , merely that the "governor" could prohibit the landing of pauper or destitute immigrants at any Canadian port. The Chinese, who were arriving in large numbers to build the railway, were a special target of fear and suspicion. An act passed in 1885 to "restrict and regulate" Chinese immigration, was later complemented by head taxes designed to discourage Chinese immigration. It wasn't until the 1960's that regulations and restriction to Chinese immigration were completely lifted. The 19th century closed with a world wide depression and a slow down of immigration to the West. But all that changed in 1895, when Clifford Sifton was appointed as Minister of the Interior at the start of an economic recovery. Sifton believed that "a stalwart peasant in sheep skin coat" made the most desirable immigrant , and set out to attract people suited for farming, In 1896, 16,835 immigrants entered Canada. When Sifton left in 1905, the population was 141,464. It rocketed to 400,970 by 1913. Some three million newcomers arrived between 1896 and the outbreak of World War 1. But Sifton's policies triggered criticism, despite success in attracting farmers. Immigration from central and southeastern Europe raised a ground swell of hostility on the prairies because residents didn't believe theses newcomers could assimilate readily into the dominant Anglo-Saxon society. The authorities wanted to keep African-Canadians out of Canada because they thought that they were useless to Canada.

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood and Brave New World by Aldous Hu

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. While there are many differences between the societies portrayed in dystopic literature, they still have the common bond of lacking the fundamental freedoms required for a properly operated society to exist. This cannot be truer for The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. These novels prove that the individual's freedom are sacrificed in dystopic societies when the government controls the knowledge, individuality and relationships of each person in order for there to be stability in the society. Dystopia is shown in each of the novels through: the use of conflict demonstrating the authority over knowledge, the use of theme to establish the lack of identity and the use of character to show the control of knowledge. It is evident in both novels that a dystopic society exists through the authors' use of conflict to illustrate the control of knowledge of the past and present in order for there to be stability. For example, in The Handmaid's Tale, all Handmaids are forbidden from reading or writing, this is an attempt by the leaders of the society to control the knowledge their citizens can utilize. This control extends over any form of written word, and if the rules are disobeyed, there are consequences: "Scrabble!. This was once the game of old women, old men to be played in retirement villas when there was nothing good on television. Now it's forbidden, for us. Now it's dangerous. Now it's indecent . Now it's desirable" (Atwood 174). In this society, Scrabble is considered "forbidden" because of what it represents -- freedom of expression. The consequences the leaders have imposed create a c... ...ge, individuality and relationships of each person in order for there to be stability in the society. Through the use of conflict, dystopia is established in both of the novels using the control of knowledge of the past and present in the society in order for stability. In addition, through the use of theme, dystopia is established using the lack of identity of each member of the society in order for stability to be in the society. Finally, through the use of character, dystopia is established through the control of the relationships in each member of the societies. In order for there to be stability in a society there must be sacrifices made, especially in a society that is considered dystopic. Works Cited ----------- Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. U.S.A: Seal Books, 1986. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Hammersmith, London: Flamingo, 1994.

Week 1 Assignment

Working for a big company, there is always something new to learn and new work that comes our way. There are many different personalities. We were always training and learning new material and tools to use to make our work more effective and productive. We would have meetings that were hours long so everyone can train on the new work and tools we had coming our way. Most of the people were struggling to learn the new tools. I was taking a class in which we were learning about peoples’ different learning styles. I thought all the training we were doing would be a great project for the class I was taking.I brought it to my bosses’ attention that I think that people are not learning because everyone has a different learning style. She was convinced that people were just tired and busy that’s why they could not understand the material. I wanted to test this theory. I suggested if we can give the employees on our team a learning test to see which way they better leane d. The results were exactly what I thought they were. Everyone had different learning styles. It turns out that most of the people on our team learned best Hands-On. Others were visual and the rest learned best by reading the material.This type of research method is best described as Correlation Research (positive correlation) because I was determining if two sets of variables are associated and if the variables increase or decrease. In this case when people used a learning method that fit best for them, they had better results for learning. When they were using a learning method that was not best for them, they were not learning the material. If I could have done anything different it would have been to test peoples’ personalities to determine if certain personalities learned a certain way. This would have gone more in depth as to why people learn the way they do.

Good Will Hunting Movie Analysis

Good Will Hunting Movie Analysis The movie Good Will Hunting is about Will Hunting, a janitor with an Irish background and a pure gift for math. He is the janitor at the notorious college MIT and often cleans near a prominent math/chemistry professor’s classroom. This professor assigns his class a task that would involve solving a very difficult math problem and the reward would be an automatic A in the class and the ability to work with the professor on research. Will, having an excellent background of knowledge, views the problem one day while cleaning in the evening. With no surprise for himself, he completes the problem and leaves it on the board. The professor sees the problem finished the next day. He does not know who had completed it, so he asks the members of his class who completed it. None of them answer, so he is forced to post another problem because nobody claimed the first. Will again finished the problem and once again the professor is puzzled as to who had completed the problem a second time. The professor posts a third problem, but this time has his assistant closely monitor the board to see who completes it. The professor catches Will posting the answer and stops him because he thinks Will is vandalizing on the board. To the professor’s amazement, Will is completing the problem and tells him to continue. Will completes it and walks away before the professor can find out who he is. The professor goes and finds out his name from other janitors and find out Will just got arrested for battery and assault and is being held on bail. With his MIT â€Å"power† and â€Å"persuasion† the professor gets Will on probation instead of jail time to work with and help use his knowledge for good. Will initially does not say barely a single word in the probation time with the professor. The professor tells him that he could be jailed if he wants to, but Will knows he doesn’t want to go back to that. After a few sessions, Will begins to open up to the professor. After opening up to the professor for the first time, the professor soon understands Will’s situation. He is very poor, he does not have a stable financial situation on his home, and he has no other family than his â€Å"brothers†. Will refuses to use his knowledge as a positive thing, and the professor has to send him to his college roommate, Sean (played by Robin Williams) who specializes in psychological practices of Will’s sort. He gets Will to realize that happiness can only come from inside and that if he wants to be happy he has to use his abilities and have fun with them. Will begins working with the professor on some not so basic problems and they get along quite nicely. Within the movie are some aspects of psychology that stand out and some that don’t. One that stands out is the wanting from others for Will to succeed. Although Will may not see his potential in his future, almost every other character in the movie does. His best friend Chuckie, says â€Å"You're sitting on a winning lottery ticket. It would be an insult to us if you're still around here in 20 years. † It seems everybody wants him to succeed but him. Will also falls in love with Skylar, which completely alters his perspective on life. He goes from not believing in anything but alcohol and bars, to believing in love and a future.