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

Issues in Contemporary Management - Essay Example In this essay, the most important characteristics of an effective organization and the main obstacles to effective organizational performance and the ways to overcome them are discussed. The success of an organization depends on the nature of the human resource. According to Whetton and Cameron, (2005) the most important personal qualities essential for a manager are the awareness of one's own self and ability to solve problems analytically and creatively. First and foremost quality that builds clarity in the thought process is the self awareness. Self awareness does not stop at the individual level, but the awareness of one's inner potential and capabilities as a team and as an organization. Self awareness helps to understand the customers more by taking a closer look at their lifestyle and environement as expressed by Anita Roddick in her interview about her best management practice. Cox(1994) in his work mentions that, self awareness is very essential to have a concept of self regard and worthiness to define the persons' emotional intelligence . More awareness of the person's personal values gives direction when decisions have to be made. When a person is aware o f the inner self, then they can appreciate the differences between individuals when working in a group. An effective manager feels comfortable in welcoming different viewpoints and can create a shared sense of commitment in a team. The other personal skill that has to be possessed by a manager is the ability to solve problems analytically and creatively. A manager should be able to think beyond the traditional boundaries of thought. If the manager has the ability to do so, he can create alternative solutions which are far beyond the traditional options available. Like Anita Roddick remarks, the team should not be rigid in its thought process so that the spirit of trying new ideas is killed. He should be able to combine unrelated alternatives to create an alternative solution for a problem which can create a platform for innovation. Managers in an organization are supposed to have a range of interpersonal skills like coaching, counseling, offering supportive communication, exercising influence, motivating others and managing conflicts. Of all these interpersonal skills the ability to offer supportive communication is very essential. According to Golen (1990), supportive communication is the communication that seeks to preserve a positive relationship between the communications while still addressing the problem at hand. It allows you to provide negative feedback or to resolve a difficult issue with another person and as a result can strengthen the relationship. The most important barriers to communication are the semantic barriers such as the symbols with different meanings, badly expressing the message, faulty translations, unqualified assumptions and the use of highly technical language loaded with technical jargons. There can be some psychological barriers also which include, premature evaluation which is caused by premature judgments made without proper analysis, lack of attention when the message is sent across, loss in the transmission of message and poor retention by the audience, undue reliance on the written word and ignoring the value of face to face interactions and distrust

Marketing Cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Marketing Cultures - Essay Example Subway India unlike USA offers various veg and non-veg stations specialized in fast food services. These stations give fast food service ranges from: This is a crunchy, crispy, and delicious Veggie Delite sandwich. It is a tasty combination of tomatoes, garden fresh lettuce, green peppers, olives, onions and pickles sandwiched on freshly baked bread Most vegetarian who loves this subway fast food livened up! It is a light, golden brown patty that combines the flavors of high-quality carrots, beans, bell peppers, and other assorted ingredients. As Indians say, the spice of life is variety! All these varieties emerge from the various veg and non-veg stations in Subway India but one may not necessarily get them in Subway USA due to the fact that there is only one veg and non-veg station in Subway USA. The Subway sandwich chain intended to team up with Softcard in an effort to offer customers a means of buying food via their own mobile phones (Gong, 2013:28). Indeed, Subway lived to its words and kicked off the NFC-based mobile payments using Softcard, a payments venture engineered by T-Mobile USA, AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless. Previously known as Isis Wallet, Softcard provided an app which supported mobile payments in at least 80 mobile devices sold by T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon and was preloaded on at least 30 different devices. Consumers were now able to utilize their NFC-enabled mobile devices to access payment terminal at their regional Subway restaurant in USA when paying for their food. This pilot program was only launched in Subway USA in 2013 and not in Subway India. The intention of payment service from the NFC-enabled mobile device was to reach at least 26,000 Subway locations within the US. The question as to whether iPhone 6 users will tap into Apple Pay to take advantage of these new systems was still valid by late 2013. However, Softcard and

History of AIDS Essay Example for Free

History of AIDS Essay AIDS is a disease that destroys a person’s immune system. AIDS is a blood born pathogen. It was originally only found in gay men. This led to people calling it the â€Å"gay men disease. † They use to think that this was punishment from God for their being gay. Then researchers found out some drug users were also getting the HIV virus, which leads to AIDS, from sharing needles. After that, it was referred to as the â€Å"gay man and druggy disease. † All of the labels AIDS has been given are completely wrong; even heterosexual, sober people can get AIDS. Considering the many ways of contracting HIV/AIDS it seems foolish to limit the causes to sex and drug use. Jonathan Mann wrote: We do not know how many people developed AIDS in the 1970s, or indeed in the years before. We do now know that the origin of AIDS and the virus HIV was probably in Africa. What we also know is: â€Å"The dominant feature of this first period was silence for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was unknown and transmission was not accompanied by signs or symptoms salient enough to be noticed. While rare, sporadic case reports of AIDS and sero-archaeological studies have documented human infections with HIV prior to 1970, available data suggest that the current pandemic started in the mid- to late 1970s. By 1980, HIV has spread to at least five continents (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia). During this period of silence, spread was unchecked by awareness or any preventive action and approximately 100,000-300,000 persons may have been infected. (qtd in â€Å"History†) The first awareness of AIDS was in June of 1981, when they found traces of PCP in five men in Los Angeles, California. This event occured when they believed only gay men could get the disease, so they were not worried about it spreading to heterosexual people. This was all also before the method of transmission was known; they thought a person could catch it if he or she were standing to close to someone who had the disease. In December of 1981 the first cases of AIDS were reported in intravenous drug users. In 1982 AIDS was still nameless. People started calling it numerous names, such as â€Å"Gay Compromise Syndrome,† â€Å"GRID (gay-related immune deficiency),† â€Å"AID (acquired immunodeficiency disease),† â€Å"gay cancer† and â€Å"community-acquired immune dysfunction. (â€Å"History†) Later that year, reports emerged of children and transfusion recipients getting AIDS. Everyone knew this was no longer a gay related disease. Persons who may be considered at increased risk of AIDS include those with symptoms and signs suggestive of AIDS; sexual partners of AIDS patients; sexually active homosexual or bisexual men with multiple partners; Haitian entrants to the United States; present or past abusers of IV drugs; patients with hemophilia; and sexual partners of individuals at increased risk for AIDS. qtd in â€Å"History†) This was the message that CDC (Center for Disease Control) sent out when researchers discovered that AIDS was spread through body fluids. It was not until March 1983 that researchers discovered this. Between 1987 and 1992 there were many prevention groups created. ACT-UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was founded to attempt to end the AIDS crisis. â€Å"On April 2, 1989, Hans Verhoef, a Dutch man with AIDS, was jailed in Minnesota under the federal law banning travelers with HIV from entering the USA. †(â€Å"History†) In July of 1990, Kimberly Bergalis was infected with HIV by her dentist, David Acer. The CDC would not believe Kimberly, they didn’t think this type of infection was possible. Her father kept telling the CDC that Kimberly would not back down, thus by the end of it all the CDC supported her conclusion. Early in 1991, the CDC confirmed that the same dentist infected two other patients. In the fall of 1991 Kimberly requested mandatory HIV testing for all health care workers, so that â€Å"others don’t have to go through the hell that I have. (â€Å"History†) A few years after the CDC chose not to do the mandatory testing, Kimberly Bergalis died. In 1991 Earvin (Magic) Johnson announced that he was HIV positive; he then retired from professional sports. He wanted to use his celebrity status to educate kids about the disease. He also said, â€Å"I think sometimes we think, well, only gay people can get it – it is not going to happen to me. And here I am saying that it can happen to anyone, even me Magic Johnson. † (â€Å"History†) In 1992 the FDA(Federal Drug Administration) approved the use of two drugs combined, it was the first combination of drugs that was successful. This new drug is not a cure, but it constitutes an important addition to the expanding group of antiviral drugs currently available, including AZT and DDI, for treating people with AIDS. † stated James Mason. (â€Å"History†) On December 1, 1993, World AIDS Day, Benetton and ACT UP Paris put a giant condom (22m x 3. 5m) in the time square equivalent in Paris to raise awareness of the disease. (â€Å"History†) One of the television ads, entitle Automatic, features a condom making its way from the top drawer of a dresser across the room and into bed with a couple about to make love. The voice-over says, ‘It would be nice if latex condoms were automatics. But since they’re not using them should be. Simply because a latex condom, used consistently and correctly will prevent the spread of HIV. ’ (qtd in â€Å"History†) This was a commercial that attempted to make men wear condoms to keep the HIV virus from spreading. If a man wears a condom it will reduce the chance of the woman contracting the virus. In 1994 scientists found a medication that reduced the spread of HIV from mother to infant by two thirds. This was the first sign that mothers can decrease the spread of HIV to their children, and maybe stop it all together. In 1996, a heavyweight boxer was tested positive for HIV before a fight. This was his reaction: â€Å"I thought AIDS was something that happened to gays and drug addicts. A macho guy like me who loves ladies and super fit – he doesn’t get AIDS! † stated Tommy Morrison. (â€Å"History†) In his State of the Union address on 28th January, US president George Bush proposed spending $15 billion in combating AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean over the next 5 years. He called the scheme a great mission of rescue. This comprehensive plan will prevent 7 million new AIDS infections, treat at least 2 million people with life-extending drugs, and provide humane care for millions of people suffering from AIDS, and for children orphaned by AIDS. †-President Bush Just two days later, US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson was elected as the new chairman of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria. It was hoped this move would prevent a conflict between the Bush administration and the international health community. (qtd in â€Å"History†) Symptoms of AIDS include; heart infections, intestine infections, and other infections that are uncommon. When a person has AIDS he or she gets very uncommon infections that a healthy immune system could fight off. Since his or her immune system slowly gets destroyed he or she can’t fight off infections and viruses that most people can. The most common cause of AIDS is sexual transmission. This can be between two men, two women, or heterosexual intercourse. The second highest cause is being exposed to blood borne pathogens. This can happen from blood donations, or just having open wounds. This however cannot happen from close contact, like some people believe. The least likely way to contract the virus is from mother to child, because we now have drugs that make it so less than one percent of children will get it from their mother. AIDS is a disease that will completely destroy your immune system. It attaches to your white blood cells and keeps them from doing their job. White blood cells would normally fight off any infection that get into your body, but when the HIV virus changes to AIDS it will block the receptors from the message your brain sends saying to attack this bacteria. This means AIDS does not kill you, rather the illness AIDS won’t let your body fight kill you. There are many ways to prevent AIDS, the most effective way is abstinence. If you are not sexually active, you cannot get an STI. However, if you feel you have to have sex use a condom. Not only does it prevent unwanted birth, but it will also reduce the transmission of STIs. (â€Å"CDC†) The importance of condoms in the fight against STDs is readily apparent, whether one focuses on the past, the present or the future. But condoms clearly have not been used as widely as they must be to significantly slow the spread of infection. One solution is the greater promotion of condoms through advertising, education and public-awareness campaigns. We believe another necessary step is to improve condoms – making them more user-friendly, sexy and pleasurable. (qtd in Pinkerton) Another way to prevent the spread of AIDS is to avoid infected blood. So if you are a doctor working on an HIV positive patient, wear rubber gloves. Also, if you are HIV positive, don’t have sexual relations with multiple people, and tell them if you are going to sleep with them. The least you can do is let them know they are risking their lives. William B. Kaliher has investigated cases of venereal disease for more than twenty-five years. In the following viewpoint, Kaliher asserts that while it is mandatory for health departments to find and notify the sexual partners of patients with venereal disease, partner notification in HIV cases is not mandatory. He argues that partner notification is especially important in HIV/AIDS cases, however, as AIDS is always fatal. Without mandatory notification, he contends that those who have HIV can continue to infect other people. If people with HIV/AIDS are notified that they may be infected, they can get tested. qtd in Kaliher) In this society, two things are very clear. The government is not making decisions in the best interest of the public health. The government is also not utilizing every tax payer’s dollar; they are not doing as much to prevent the spreading of AIDS as they can do. Also another way of preventing the spread of AIDS would be to educate the people most likely to spread the disease. The health official could do this by going into the areas where drug users live, and tell them that if they share needles they are at risk of dying earlier than normal people are. They could also talk to the prostitutes in Las Vegas, the women who are with ten, fifteen, or twenty men a night. They could tell them not only are they at higher risk for spreading the disease, but they could also spread it to hundreds of other men. (Kaliher) There is no vaccine against HIV, and no cure for AIDS. The key to decreasing the spread and reducing the impact of this disease is to promote healthy behaviors that prevent infection or minimize the adverse effects of treatment. Health promotion, disease prevention, and symptom management are key components of the research conducted by the biobehavioral scientists supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). The Institute funds both domestic and international HIV/AIDS research programs. (qtd in NINR) There are also many myths about AIDS. First of all AIDS is not just the gay men disease. Anyone can contract AIDS, and not a lot of people try to prevent spreading it. Like the saying â€Å"gay as AIDS† that statement is very inaccurate. AIDS is present in many heterosexual peoples’ lives. Also AIDS is not only in drug addicts who share needles. Someone cannot call AIDS the druggy disease or the gay men disease just because they were some of the first people to have it. The solution to the myths about AIDS is to increase awareness on all of the aspects of AIDS. People need to know that people can get AIDS from more than just sharing needles and having gay sex. People can catch AIDS from their mother when they are born or being breast fed, people can catch it from having heterosexual sex, and people can also catch it when they receive a blood donation from an infected donor.

Introduction to MATLAB

Introduction to MATLAB 3.1.1. What Is MATLAB? MATLABÂ ® is a high-performance language for technical computing. It integrates computation, visualization, and programming in an easy-to-use environment where problems and solutions are expressed in familiar mathematical notation. Typical uses include Math and computation Algorithm development Data acquisition Modeling, simulation, and prototyping Data analysis, exploration, and visualization Scientific and engineering graphics Application development, including graphical user interface building. MATLAB is an interactive system whose basic data element is an array that does not require dimensioning. This allows you to solve many technical computing problems, especially those with matrix and vector formulations, in a fraction of the time it would take to write a program in a scalar non interactive language such as C or FORTRAN. The name MATLAB stands for matrix laboratory. MATLAB was originally written to provide easy access to matrix software developed by the LINPACK and EISPACK projects. Today, MATLAB engines incorporate the LAPACK and BLAS libraries, embedding the state of the art in software for matrix computation. MATLAB has evolved over a period of years with input from many users. In university environments, it is the standard instructional tool for introductory and advanced courses in mathematics, engineering, and science. In industry, MATLAB is the tool of choice for high-productivity research, development, and analysis. MATLAB features a family of add-on application-specific solutions called toolboxes. Very important to most users of MATLAB, toolboxes allow you to learn and apply specialized technology. Toolboxes are comprehensive collections of MATLAB functions (M-files) that extend the MATLAB environment to solve particular classes of problems. Areas in which toolboxes are available include signal processing, control systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic, wavelets, simulation, and many others. 3.2: The MATLAB System The MATLAB system consists of five main parts: 3.2.1: Development Environment This is the set of tools and facilities that help you use MATLAB functions and files. Many of these tools are graphical user interfaces. It includes the MATLAB desktop and Command Window, a command history, an editor and debugger, and browsers for viewing help, the workspace, files, and the search path. 3.2.2: The MATLAB Mathematical Function This is a vast collection of computational algorithms ranging from elementary functions like sum, sine, cosine, and complex arithmetic, to more sophisticated functions like matrix inverse, matrix eigen values, Bessel functions, and fast Fourier transforms. 3.2.3: The MATLAB Language This is a high-level matrix/array language with control flow statements, functions, data structures, input/output, and object-oriented programming features. It allows both programming in the small to rapidly create quick and dirty throw-away programs, and programming in the large to create complete large and complex application programs. 3.2.4: Graphics MATLAB has extensive facilities for displaying vectors and matrices as graphs, as well as annotating and printing these graphs. It includes high-level functions for two-dimensional and three-dimensional data visualization, image processing, animation, and presentation graphics. It also includes low-level functions that allow you to fully customize the appearance of graphics as well as to build complete graphical user interfaces on your MATLAB applications. 3.2.5: The MATLAB Application Program Interface (API) This is a library that allows you to write C and FORTRAN programs that interact with MATLAB. It includes facilities for calling routines from MATLAB (dynamic linking), calling MATLAB as a computational engine, and for reading and writing MAT-files. 3.3: MATLAB Working Environment 3.3.1: MATLAB Desktop MATLAB Desktop is the main MATLAB application window. The desktop contains five sub windows, the command window, the workspace browser, the current directory window, the command history window, and one or more figure windows, which are shown only when the user displays a graphic. The command window is where the user types MATLAB commands and expressions at the prompt (>>) and where the output of those commands is displayed. MATLAB defines the workspace as the set of variables that the user creates in a work session. The workspace browser shows these variables and some information about them. Double clicking on a variable in the workspace browser launches the Array Editor, which can be used to obtain information and income instances edit certain properties of the variable. The current Directory tab above the workspace tab shows the contents of the current directory, whose path is shown in the current directory window. For example, in the windows operating system the path might be as follows: C:MATLABWork, indicating that directory work is a subdirectory of the main directory MATLAB; WHICH IS INSTALLED IN DRIVE C. clicking on the arrow in the current directory window shows a list of recently used paths. Clicking on the button to the right of the window allows the user to change the current directory. MATLAB uses a search path to find M-files and other MATLAB related files, which are organize in directories in the computer file system. Any file run in MATLAB must resides in the current directory or in a directory that is on search path. By default, the files supplied with MATLAB and math works toolboxes areincluded in the search path. The easiest way to see which directories is soon the search path, or to add or modify a search path is to select set path from the File menu the desktop, and then use the set path dialog box. It is good practice to add any commonly used directories to the search path to avoid repeatedly having the change the current directory. The Command History Window contains a record of the commands a user has entered in the command window, including both current and previous MATLAB sessions. Previously entered MATLAB commands can be selected and re-executed from the command history window by right clicking on a command or sequence of commands. This action launches a menu from which to select various options in addition to executing the commands. This is useful to select various options in addition to executing the commands. This is a useful feature when experimenting with various commands in a work session. 3.3.2: Using the MATLAB Editor to create M-Files The MATLAB editor is both a text editor specialized for creating M-files and a graphical MATLAB debugger. The editor can appear in a window by itself, or it can be a sub window in the desktop. M-files are denoted by the extension .m, as in pixel up. m. The MATLAB editor window has numerous pull-down menus for tasks such as saving, viewing, and debugging files. Because it performs some simple checks and also uses color to differentiate between various elements of code, this text editor is recommended as the tool of choice for writing and editing M-functions. To open the editor, type edit at the prompt opens the M-file filename. m in an editor window, ready for editing. As noted earlier, the file must be in the current directory, or in a directory in the search path. 3.3.3: Getting Help The principal way to get help online is to use the MATLAB help browser, opened as a separate window either by clicking on the question mark symbol (?) on the desktop toolbar, or by typing help browser at the prompt in the command window. The help Browser is a web browser integrated into the MATLAB desktop that displays a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) documents. The Help Browser consists of two panes, the help navigator pane, used to find information, and the display pane, used to view the information. Self-explanatory tabs other than navigator pane are used to perform a search.

Movie Essay - The Film Based Upon of Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club :: Movie Film Essays

Joy Luck Club - The Movie! "I am waiting like a tiger in the trees, now ready to leap out, ready to cut her spirit loose." The Joy Luck Club, an Oliver Stone production, depicts four women and their strife bringing up their American born daughters. Directed by Wayne Wang, this rated R movie featured actors and actresses such as Ming-na Wen, Rosalind Chao, Russell Wong, and Lisa Lu. The Joy Luck Club is an emotional tale about four women who saw life as they had seen it back in China. Because the Chinese were very stereotypic, women were treated as second class citizens and were often abused. Through sad and painful experiences, these four women had tried to raise their daughters to live the American dream by giving them love and support, such things which were not available to them when they were young. These women revealed their individual accounts in narrative form as they relived it in their memories. These flashbacks transport us to the minds of these women and we see the events occur through their eyes. There were many conflicts and misunderstandings between the two generations due to their differences in upbringing and childhood. In the end, however, these conflicts would bring mother and daughter together to form a bond that would last forever. The setting played an important role in the effectiveness of the movie. The setting of The Joy Luck Club was set in various locations. Some were filmed in San Francisco and others were taken in China. Because the story dealt with the Chinese people and their customs, it would be logical for the producer to direct the film in China where it all started. The producer moved the setting back to the United States when they dealt with the daughters. Because the movie moved back and forth from the forties to the sixties and to the nineties, the producers had to use various symbolic signs to tell its viewers the period of time. For example, songs, costumes, and hair-do's help us determine the time. The Joy Luck Club displayed a variety of costumes. They used Chinese garments and clothing to give its viewers a sense of the Chinese tradition and culture.

My Socialization Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My socialization while growing up had everything to do with my parents. In my household I didn’t have just one certain style of parenting. My mother was a permissive parent, and my father was very much an authoritative dad. This was able to happen because my father travels a lot of the time and is out of the house, therefore giving me the chance take advantage of my mom being so much of a push over. When my father was gone on business I could get away with anything such as not cleaning my room, staying up as late as I wanted, and receiving anything I wanted. If my Mom did not giving in to my requests I would just throw a simple temper tantrum and five minutes later victory would be mine. On the other hand when my dad was around everything was to be done his way. If he didn’t think I needed it, I did not get it, no matter how much complaining and whining. In my Dads mind I had to deserve everything I received, if I did something wrong couple days earl ier he would remind me about it as I was asking for a bike or what ever else it is I wanted. Don’t get me wrong my dad wasn’t a mean guy or an abusive father, I knew my limits and when every I would get dumb enough to cross that line, he was right there to put back in my place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It isn’t hard for me to think back to my gendered socialization, strictly because me being a man was drilled into my head since the day that I was born. I was born on January 6th 1985 in a suburb of Olathe Kansas, and In Olathe high school sports are everything. I have pictures of me when I was five months old with cowboy outfits, and football uniforms. As I became old enough to walk I was thrown into every sport possible. I played football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. I had practice year round sometimes everyday, and no matter how much complaining I did I was at every practice everyday. My father wanted me to be the best at everything I did; therefore I spent many nights after practice practicing with him. When I was that young I enjoyed every second of practice with my father. Being the best was so deeply instilled in me that anytime I failed it was a catastrophe to me. For example in baseball I would probably only strike out three to four times a s eason, which is great looking back now, but when I did strike out I became irate. I would be kicked out of those three or fo... ...ang around them but they were way to boring for me. Now days I have a new group of friends, but homophily still takes place. They are my friends in my fraternity. We are all almost exactly alike, some may say too much alike and we have no diversity, but that’s the way we like it. We all like to go have a good time, and stay on the edge of breaking the law without falling over. I guess propinquity can be a role also because many of my fraternity brothers I met living in the dorms with them. I think that both homophily and propinquity plays roles in everyone’s relationships with others because when you see someone often you get to know each other whether you’re alike or not, and of course you’re going to get along with someone who has the same interest as you.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As I write this paper I realize that all of these questions I was asked to answer all go back to the way I was raised. My anger with sports likely was cause by my dad longing for me to be great. Me homophily with all of the football players was a product of my parents making me do all of the sports. All in all I had a great upbringing and I wouldn’t change one thing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Katznelson White Essay

Ira Katznelson in his article, â€Å"When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America† published in 2005 by W. W. Norton & Company, London, gives his take on how services were rendered to ex-soldiers of the Second World War. In a nutshell, Katznelson strongly believes that the GI Bill which was enacted in June 1944 to provide a lifeline to US veterans was marred by racial prejudice, although many were led to think that all beneficiaries would be treated equally. Based on the facts that he has presented in this article, I strongly agree with the author that although the program seemed unrivaled in its promise for egalitarianism, it was quickly discerned and employed as a policy â€Å"For White Veterans Only†. Equal treatment under the GI Bill was most likely an illusion. Although there was no racial segregation contained in the new law, the transfer of power to individual states instead of a centralized federal government quarter ensured discrimination against the blacks who sought the services prescribed in the bill. To ensure continuity and a throttlehold of Jim Crow laws, the key lay in bringing different local states and their agencies (which were nearly all-white decentralized units charged with administration) into the set-up. To begin with, a look at the team that spearheaded the making of the legislation is enough to raise eyebrows. The Committee on World War Legislation in the House of Representatives was chaired by a blatant segregationist, John Rankin. Rankin used the Southern approach of decentralizing administration and give racial discharge of the policies to states and localities. The Veterans Administration and the American Legion, which were at the forefront of implementing the GI bill, clearly approved of racial segregation and were reluctant to dispute racial policies embedded in the South. I think this was a calculated move aimed at garnering Southern support to pass the bill in Congress. Like Katznelson, I read malice in the whole affair. If the objective was genuinely to help national heroes, why is it that service was not rendered through direct federal welfare provision? Roosevelt’s government put forth a proposal to manage the postwar benefits for veterans from a â€Å"strong central directive agency† that would collaborate and direct all other agencies. The South would hear none of it. The commander of the Legion proffered a persuasive argument that sought to explain why they preferred individual states to control majority of the elements in the bill. Apparently they intended to coin the law in line with the South’s racial rules and customs. Racism had severely taken shape in the US and one bill may not have been enough to ensure equality of the subjects. Several lobby groups expressed their reservations concerning the new bill with valid reasons. They explicitly ascertained that racial bigotry in the South prevented Negro veterans from acquiring full benefits under the GI bill. I feel that the barriers that black veterans faced in trying to access services described in the GI Bill clearly ridiculed the legislation’s â€Å"open-hearted promises†. How is it that an initiative that sought to help white and black ex-soldiers alike is the same scheme that ensured that blacks would never benefit from the rewards of its provisions? In the education front for instance, I see that a profound world of discrimination along the lines of color existed. Prior to the war, most blacks failed to join college due to lack of funds; but thanks to the federal disclaimers a large number of returning veterans would take advantage of the opportunities. Consequently, it would only be logical to develop the institutions to hold the new entrants. Unfortunately, in black colleges the budget, facilities, staff, fields of specialization offered among other prerequisites remained the same despite the overwhelming number of people who were interested in enrollment. Moreover, instead of rooting the Supreme Court’s policy of separate schools for white and colored persons, individual states fortified it. In Mississippi alone for instance where black population was more than 50%, only 7 out of the 33 institutions were allocated for blacks. Poor and inadequate facilities, less and unskilled personnel, lack of space, and denial of state support were among the many reasons that most black institutions were incapable of admitting all the qualified veteran soldiers. Very few colleges were endorsed by the Association of American Universities. Furthermore, hands-on training was also offered for those who did not have the minimum qualification for college entry. However, in the agricultural sector where a significant number of veterans applied, blacks were faced with the problem of perverse white administration. In my opinion, the whites indeed felt threatened by the fact that blacks would access better wages and they would be able to own farms. With money in their pockets and a higher social standing, blacks would not be willing to take up menial jobs as farm laborers and housemaids; and as such whites offered on-the-farm and on-the-job training for very few of Negro veterans. Since nothing had been done to challenge local racial customs, white owners of businesses who were the majority at the time disinclined to accept black trainees. Additionally, vocational schools too reeked of impediments for interested blacks. According to Katznelson, surprisingly black veterans were exploited by training schools that offered little or no actual training while swindling them of the GI bill grants. Because the VA could not directly impose rules on state schools, the majority of state departments mandated to supervise and consent worthy institutions disregarded the recommended standards. As such, these schools became profit-making ventures at the expense of African Americans. What’s more; for black veterans who wished to set up the own business ventures, they were denied access to loans promised in the GI Bill. Banks rejected them on the basis that they did not have adequate personal capital, credit ratings and good environments for the establishment of their investments. In conclusion, I concur with Katznelson that the GI Bill indeed presented the black veterans with the best opportunities they would ever access. It was, as Michael Bennett put it, â€Å"America’s first color-blind social legislation†. African Americans and whites alike were offered sponsored mortgages, investment loans, benevolent educational grants, and job training; a feature that was not typical of the society at the time. Nonetheless, the manner in which the program was set up and overseen completely undermined its initial intent. It is common knowledge that â€Å"new wine is not put into old skins†; similarly for the promise of fair treatment to be realized, its implementation needs to consider these primary narrow-minded racial practices and traditions. References Boulton, M. (2008). How the G. I. Bill Failed African-American Vietnam War Veterans. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 58, 57-61. Katznelson, W. (2005). When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. London: W. W. Norton & Company.