Practices prevent the abuse of school funds Essay Example for Free

Practices prevent the abuse of school funds Essay The education of students and the welfare situation of the staff are paramount issues in addressing school finance. The nature of the education cadre in high schools is an important part of the formal education of the young child who has in between the childhood and adolescent stages of human development. It is therefore important for he head teacher who is saddled with the responsibility of promoting education within the school to commit the available resources to the right channels to achieve the intended results of infrastructure development and provision of facilities to ensure continuity of education in the school. Some of the Infrastructure development- that needs be upheld include library, art and technical studios, computer rooms, music room; environmental sanitation, provision of teaching and learning aids, game centre and kits, award ceremony for staff and students In this age and time, it is needful to realize that education is a social and economic good; this implies that it is an avenue to build viable human capital which would contribute to , national economic wealth and health alongside the effective utilization of material, capital and natural resources within the environment. This economic good also contributes to individual health by establishing an individual as a positive force within the community where he resides. Although education does not preclude evil but its positive impact apparently outweighs its negatives. This issue is important because it informs the decision of the principal of head teacher of the high school about the judicial use of the funds available to him from various sources. What are these sources of funds to the high school? These include the federal allocation to public schools, the state allocation to schools within the jurisdiction. These two forms the socio-political source of funds, while there is the local source from payments by the attending students. Besides, there could also be internally generated funds from projects, programs and economic activities approved for and/or by the school. Realizing the economic good in education and the source of funding of schools are important tools that can contribute to stemming abuse of funds in schools especially high schools. While it is illegal to misuse funds for personal goals, aspirations like acquisition of political power or savings towards retirement, it is necessary for head teachers to realize the role of education in the growth and development of the adolescent child that attend high schools. If they realize the import this can have on the morals and social development of these kids, the propensity to embezzle schools funds would diminish in our schools. One of the practices that prevent abuse of funds includes fiscal accountability. Realizing that for every allocation by the government or payment by the attending students would be accounted for contribute to stopping the abuse of funds. This fiscal accountability is achieved by tracking fund though the means of revenue and expenditure track, monitoring of accounting transactions and auditing. As part of this measure, auditing is an inevitable tool; it includes internal and external audit. While the former uses local staff, the latter adopts using the appropriate institutions within the society which can rarely be influenced the caprices of a local head of high school. In any situation there is inconsistency in the tracking of the funds, which shows that there is need for more scrutiny of such heads. If this auditing can be effectively carried out at all levels of education especially at high schools, it would drastically change the shape of funding and spending within schools by their principals. Another equally important tool is Budgeting: this includes organizing financial transactions, balancing them through stipulated revenue and expenditure plan with a view to meeting staff needs, fund student activities and attain social and local goals. Organizations can incremental, use of school site, outcome-focused or tailored towards program planning. Balancing includes planning revenue and expenditure in such a way as to achieve a balance, deficit or surplus. The aim of budgeting is basically to draw a financial plan to meet specific needs. This gives rooms for identifying challenges and tackling them within the limit of available resources. A comprehensive budget would meet staffing needs which covers recruitment and selection, compensation, and continuous training and retraining on advancements in technological and teaching practices. It would also make provisions for student’s activities and embark of appropriate programs that can meet school and district missions. There would also be allocations for infrastructure development to cover construction works, architectural lay-out and provision of necessary education facilities. Such a budget would encompass all areas that need improvement within the school; when these goals are outlined and there is institutional will to meet them, it would be difficult to abuse funds. Usually available funds may not even be sufficient to meet needs driving fund-raising and capital programs for increased revenue generation. When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable. This is the essence of the budget. Realizing the importance of good governance with respect to financial prudence on the morals of staff and students makes a leader a judicious custodian of available financial resources. Fiscal accountability through auditing by internal and external outfits dampens the propensity to divert school funds towards personal goals. Since knowledge does not preclude this evil, strict disciplinary measure meted to offenders who are convicted of this white collar crime is another practice that militates against abuse of school funds. These are measures that prevent misuse of school funds. REFERENCES Safeguarding School Funds by Henry Linn. 4th edition. †¢ Review of Educational Research, Vol. 3, No. 5, 399-408 (1933) 1933 American Educational Research Association Chapter VI: School Finance †¢ Does money matter? GT Burtless Policy Studies Journal, 1997 †¢ Pritchett, Lant Filmer, Deon, 1999. What education production functions really show: a positive theory of education expenditures. Economics of education review. Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 223-239, April. †¢ Goldhaber, Dan D. , 1996. Public and private high schools: Is school choice an answer to productivity problem. Economics of education review. Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 93-109, April.

Microsoft shares the wealth :: essays research papers

Why MICROSOFT decided to pay dividends in 2003? 1.1 The company might see itself stepping in  ¡Ã‚ §Maturity Stage ¡Ã‚ ¨ -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Harder to grow, revenue growth slide down Investors buy stock for one of two reasons; either it will grow in value or pay a dividend. If a company stops growing, stockholders will demand a dividend. If they don't get it, they will sell their stock. In the history, Microsoft enjoyed incredible growth, so dividend was unnecessary. Recent Microsoft dividends may tell us that the company has ended its growth phase and is now a 'mature' company. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  More competitions from Open source like Linux and open office Windows and Office continue to supply most of Microsoft ¡Ã‚ ¦s profit. But that profit is being squeezed as more and more companies are using Linux servers and even Linux desktops. For example, China is developing its own OS (Operating System) and planning to use for the whole country (their intention is to keep Microsoft away from the country). The company has been forced to slash prices for some key customers to avoid large scale defections, which leads to difficulties to locate the right price because high price may reduce the market share, but low price to compete against open source may reduce its core revenue. 1.2 Expecting the stock price will increase after dividends paid - Investors can buy more shares Experts say most investors will also likely use the extra cash to buy more shares. And there ¡Ã‚ ¦s no guarantee the investors will spend money in the economy. Indeed, most investors will probably reinvest it or keep it in a cash account at their brokerage. - Stocks buyback policy from Microsoft itself Even if Microsoft use  ¡Ã‚ §Optimal Distribution Policy ¡Ã‚ ¨ in which there is a balance between cash dividends (around 32 billions USD) and stock repurchase (around 30 billions USD). This may affect the decrease in stock price a little while after the announcement of dividend payout, however investors still hope for the rising price in the future. 1.3 The company reserves the great amount of cash liquidity As we can see from the article that Microsoft can pay around 32 billions USD for cash dividend, 30 billions USD for stocks repurchase and another 3 billions USD, for the goodness, to Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. Agree / Disagree with the decision, explain why? AGREE because: „I  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the company is reaching the maturity stage, dividend payout is another option instead of company growth only „I  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  30 billion USD buy back will contribute to keep the stock value up and make investors happy

Imposing a Narrative: Political Agendas in Film Essay

Writers all face the same sensitive situation when beginning to compose a story, to create a narrative which accurately reflects the appropriate political commentary. Journalists often claim to be apolitical and purely objective, however, the fact of the matter is that the best a journalist can do is to aim to be as nonbiased and formal as possible in their political assertions. Other writers have it easier in that they are able to perhaps lean a bit further into one political direction over another, to make a story more personal and informal. For example, Michael Moore’s recent film Sicko places focus on the health care system as being in need of reform, utilizing obviously pro-Democratic rhetoric (2007). Moore calls attention to the socialist ideals in Europe which have strengthened the health care system in ways such as reducing costs to patients and increasing quality of life, in comparison to the United States. Some screenplay writers are confident in their aim to politicize certain issues, to use their artistic talent to call attention to social problems. See more: how to start a personal narrative essay examples Nora Ephron claims that â€Å"for something to matter it must be political†, asserting the point of view that it is vital for writers to impose a narrative on the audience in an effort to open minds to political perspectives (1992, 453). In incorporating the objective truth of events into films, it is essential to add enough personal and political opinion to be able to create a story which is full of touching meaning and excitement rather than purely disjointed factual analysis. Purpose of Screenwriter Ephron claims that imposing a narrative about an actual event or true life story is the writer’s â€Å"version of what†¦ happened† (1992, 454). This version of reality necessitates some elements of fiction, in that there is rarely a time when any writer knows the exact sequence of events in detail. The best that a writer can do, the responsibility of a writer, is to fill in the gaps with educated, plausible, exciting, and political guesses as to what may have occurred. When researching events, even events which may have just happened the day before, the writer is often faced with â€Å"historical fact and ongoing myth† (Ephron, 1992, 454). It is the responsibility of the talented and politically minded writer to supplement what is known with what is unknown, in order to weave a fuller fabric through storytelling. In screenwriting, the writer is concerned with taking what is known to be objective fact and interspersing these facts with creative images and ideas, so that the writer is able to tell a story which has a political agenda and imposes a certain narrative on the audience. Although many journalists disagree with the artistic elements of screenwriting, in which known facts are supplemented with interesting guesses and thought provoking speculations, there is simply no other way to produce an effective film without the influencing element of subjective narration. It would be impossible to create a movie about the life of Marilyn Monroe without adding some devised elements of pure fiction to what is actually known to be factual information about her life. Without the fiction, the facts would stand alone, hanging there as spots of time. No one person knows exactly the thoughts and activities of any other person, so if one person wants to create a film about the life of another person, is it essential to be able to inject the story of what actually occurred with what may have occurred. In this way, the story becomes full, interesting, and rich. The writer is able to contribute something of oneself into the final product. In this way, the completed film becomes a personal and meaningful sequence of events, some events being factual, and some events being fictional. In any case, one can rest assured that writers take time and energy necessary to infuse their documentary screenplays with colorful characters and powerful emotion, so that audience members are able to be moved and swayed in accordance with the intention of the creative process. Narrative in Film When considering the purpose of storytelling in film, particularly when the film is based upon the true story of a person’s life, it is important to be able to appreciate the ways in which facts are coupled with fiction in the effort to produce scenes and characters which come to life for the audience. This liveliness is often romantic, dramatic, political, yet is vital for the richness of the tale and the ability of the writer to devote oneself to the story on a personal and passionate level. One particularly moving film is A Beautiful Mind, based on the life of John Forbes Nash, Jr. , Nobel Laureate in Economics (Howard, 2001). Nash developed a highly respected theory of economics which is referred to as the Nash Equilibrium, which basically states that the motives of the individual and the motives of the group are correlated, in support of cooperative decision making. Nash was also known to have been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a fact acknowledged in the film. However, the bar scene where Nash unsuccessfully tries to strike up conversations with women and admits to his pals that he is â€Å"better with numbers than with people† is a fictional story devised by the screenwriter. It is personal situations such as this, the drawing together of Nash’s tremendous genius and social insecurity into a college bar excursion with his buddies, which aim to personalize and politicize the story of a person’s life. It is up to the audience to determine whether or not they believe Nash tried to pick up on women and failed, if his insecurity was the result of a mental illness or of experiencing the assault of human society, if he was simply shyer and less aggressive than other men, if he was learning something about economics when faced with this social situation. The possibilities are endless. In creating this personal interlude into what could have been a plausible occurrence in Nash’s life, the writer brings the audience into a fabricated yet intimate scene of what could have contributed to the experience of what it meant to be Nash. Conclusion In addressing the truth of the world through the medium of film, it is essential for writers to be aware that their documentaries necessarily must be empowered by bridging cultural divides and inspiring hope in overcoming political turmoil. It is essential that writing expose the harsh realities of a volatile world, educate and motivate people, and utilize entertainment through modes of humor and drama (Barnard, 2007). In films such as A Beautiful Mind, the lives of the characters become intimate appraisals of the human soul, and audience members reflect upon their own personal experiences and judgments as a result of this delving into the story of another person’s life. Political events in films, such as suggesting that psychiatric medication was not helpful to Nash, have a reverberating effect on the entire society and force people to make personal conclusions about what is right and wrong in the world. Although it is not the job of a screenwriter to misconstrue the facts, it is certainly the job of a writer to decorate the story with intimate yet fictional events, to make certain that the audience is absorbed in the entertainment of the imposed narrative, and to take the meaning of the story in just enough of a political direction to inspire people to think about their world a little bit differently than they may have done before.

Syphilis Alive and Well Essay - 2401 Words

Syphilis: Alive and Well Syphilis, the word brings to mind to most a disease of the past. In truth syphilis is alive and well today and a very active participant in that select club known as sexually transmitted infections (STI). By no means is syphilis the terrible killer that it was for over 400 years. The invention of penicillin reduced the cases of syphilis astronomically. Yet, even though there is a simple treatment for syphilis, people still are infected with it today and fail to receive treatment and then infect others keeping the vicious cycle of syphilis alive. Syphilis is an infection caused by a bacteria called Treponema Pallidum (CDC, 2004). This bacteria is extremely fragile, and cannot be spread during contact with†¦show more content†¦The two main theories of the origin of syphilis are the New World/Columbian Theory and the Old World/ Pre-Columbian Theory. The New World/ Columbian Theory holds that syphilis was endemic on the island of modern day Haiti, when Christopher Columbus and his crew discovered this island in the New World. Columbus and his crew were infected by syphilis through sexual contact with the natives and then carried syphilis back to Europe in the late 1400s (Rose, 1997). This theory would make sense in that it is a great coincidence that the epidemics of syphilis that ravaged Europe only begun soon after Columbus and his crew returned from the New World. As Voltaire said, Syphilis was the first fruit gathered from the New World by the Spaniards (Hayden, 2003). Possibly syphilis was a poetic justice from the New World that reeked havoc and death on the Old World for the atrocities that it committed against the New World and its native people. The other theory on the origin of syphilis is known as the Old World/ Pre-Columbian Theory. It holds that syphilis originated in central Africa and was introduced to Europe prior to the voyage of Christopher Columbus and was unrecognized and confused with other disease such as leprosy or was actually less virulent before the late 1400s and that the social turmoil, urbanization, and promiscuity of that era created unique conditions suitable for the arrival of aShow MoreRelatedA Doll s House And Ghosts1118 Words   |  5 PagesHenrik Ibsen incorporates syphilis as a motif to represent the moral corruption that lies within the characters in A Doll’s House and Ghosts. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can result in extremely fatal consequences if not treated properly and in a timely matter. Syphilis, in Ghosts, leads Mrs. Alving having to make a life-changing decision for not only herself but a person she loves dearly, her son Oswald. 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(Yacovone) In the next chapter, Whitehead uses a play on words.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the third chapter of The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead describes a research study of the African American residents in South CarolinaRead MoreThe Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks1425 Words   |  6 Pagesleft of the opening to her womb.† She promptly went to the local physician to go get checked. A local doctor took a look and thought the tumor was a sore from syphilis after the test coming up negative. The doctor suggested for her to go john Hopkins gynecology clinic. Henrietta medical record was one with many untreated disease such as syphilis and gonorrhea. The reason she never went back is because the hospital was an unknown and strange place to many poor black folks in this time. 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