Comparison of Business Model and Development

Comparison of Business Model and Development The growth and development in the field of information communication technology has more or less changed the buying preferences of consumers. Currently Tesco not only sells products through its physical stores but also through online store. Tesco was the first explorer of the new market which began online sales in 1994 (Ocado, 2011). Tesco is the UKs largest retailer and one of the worlds re-known leading international retailers operating in fourteen countries (Tesco, 2013). During the next 10 years a number of internet retailers emerged in the United Kingdom not only to saturate the online market but also to fight the traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Among them were the Amazon established business in the UK in 1998 (Brown, 2008) and the British start-up Ocado an online grocery shop launched in 2001(Ocado, 2011). Like wises Sainsbury also a third largest retailers in the UK initiated online selling in the year 1995. Although these four businesses are not in direct competition at a first glance, they definitely explore and shape the future of e-retailing and retail industry in general for the coming decades. The aim of this work is to compare the four companies, their business models, logistics set ups and challenges they face. It is important to highlight that unfortunately almost no information is available in open sources about Tesco Direct and Amazons performance and development indicators as they are incorporated in the annual reports of the American mother company. In order to achieve the aim required I assumed that more or less of these four companies have similar business model but dealing with the daily logistics in the supply chain network is different from each other and in terms of KPIs. There was also some limitation in finding out resourceful data. Amazons business model and development over the last 5 years Amazon appeared on the internet in October 1998 as a rebranded website bookpages.co.uk purchased by amazon.com (Brown, 2008). From the very beginning it was a bookstore offering a range of books wider than any traditional book retailer. Nowadays in addition to books Amazon sells a wide range of product lines: books, music, films, games, electronics, computers, home garden, toys, childrens accessories, apparel, sports goods, DIY and (so far) limited grocery range. Tesco Direct- business model and development over the last 5 years Tesco started selling non grocery products online since 2006 by expanding its products range and integrate home / office electronic, furniture, DIY products and other entertainment related products such as DVD, CDs, Blue ray, Games etc. Tesco non-food business in the UK is also growing rapidly and in-fact it is over 13% a year (Tesco, 2013a). Tesco manages its own supply chain through its distribution centre located in Hertfordshire, which is responsible to supply goods to south eastern part of England. Moreover, Tesco is generating sales by promoting everyday low price concept not only through stores but also through online. The Tesco non-food online business was also expanded by the acquisition of blinkbox in 2011 (online movie service), We7 (free music) and Mobcast in the year 2012. The transitional period of success in selling general merchandise is sighted over past four years and also expected to grow more in this particular area because the demand is increasing. Ocados business model and development over the last 5 years Ocado was born out of strategy. Three ex-bankers spotted a market opportunity in the rapidly developing e-commerce and set up in 2001 the first fully dedicated online grocery retailer in the UK (Ocado, 2011). The market spotted was online sales and home deliveries of upmarket food and grocery initially were sourced from Waitrose (Ocado, 2011). As of 2012 Ocado sells 100% of goods via its web store, companys only sales channel (Ocado, 2011). The company is responsible for order processing, picking and shipping to the customer. It also bears full responsibility for the customer service, technology and inventory availability. Ocado uses a fleet of own dedicated vehicles to ensure deliveries to the customers. Ocado sells own-brand goods from Waitrose and Carrefour, wide range of branded goods from a number of producers, and small but expanding range 1of private label goods (Ocado, 2011). The total number of SKUs is over 22,000; approximately 4,300 SKUs out of that are Waitrose-branded pr oducts (Ocado, 2011). Sainsbury- business model and development over the last 5 years Sainsbury one of the UKs top five top grocery retailers founded in 1986. Offering thirty thousand diversified daily use food products and currently operating over 1000 supermarkets and convenience store employs around 150000 colleagues. Sainsbury starts selling products such as electronic entertainment as well as sports equipment through online in the year 2010. According to the financial performance till 2012 the underlying profit before tax is  £712m with the market share of 16.6% (Kantar). It can be seen that since the year 2008 the sales (including VAT fuel) grew from  £19,287m to  £24,511m (Sainsbury, 2013 a). Working mainly through four (CFC) strategic fulfilment centres and four Primary consolidation centres (PCC). Many of the stores are also offering non food products. The non- food products sales started back in 2010. In the year 2008, total sales for fourth quarter up 6.7% excluding (5.1% fuel), like for like (LFL) was 6.0% excluding (4.0% fuel). Comparing it with t he financial performance of up to the 3rd quarter of the year 2013 the total sales remains 3.9% excluding (3.3% fuel). It shows that in the third quarter of the year 2013 the sales remain lower than it used to be in same quarter in 2011. Role of logistics and supply chain of Amazon UK Amazon can be called a pioneer of innovative SCM solutions of the online retail industry. Although a significant progress has been made so far there are a lot of challenges still facing the business including supply chain infrastructure development, inventory optimisation, sourcing optimisation, order fulfilment, last mile solutions etc. Amazon runs a number of fulfilment centres in the UK four in England (forth opened in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire 2012), two in Scotland and one in Wales (Amazon, 2011). These centres are responsible for keeping the minimal stock of goods and fulfilling customer orders. Amazon operates system of hubs (also called injection points) to reduce transport cost. The idea is to transport goods ready for delivery in full truck loads to the area of their delivery and after that hand them over to Royal Mail, DHL and others for the last mile delivery. Inventory optimisation has been a key issue for Amazon from its creation. As a response to it Amazon created a multi tear inventory network to optimise own costs and improve performance. The web store manages and owns relationship with the customer with the immediate access to the Tier I level of the supply chain Amazons fulfilment centre. If for some reason the product is out of stock within own facilities the IT system checks availability with the Tier II level partner DCs and wholesale DCs. If the product is missing there as well, the IT system turns to the Tier III suppliers, publishers and third party providers. As a result of this architecture Amazon keeps information flows under control and manages inventory through all three levels to its own benefit (Amazon, 2011). Distribution process is the customer facing supply chain part. Although Amazon outsourced the last mile solution its IT keeps the process under control to ensure transparency for the customer and feedback collection. Role of logistics and supply chain of Tesco Direct Tesco Direct established in 2006 providing a large range of home, furniture, appliances, computers and much more. The overall financial performance of Tesco Direct sales were impressive, up by more than 16%, with Click Collect once again proving a particularly attractive option for customers ahead of Christmas. Many customers chose to collect their orders from one of over 600 Express stores now offering Click Collect, providing an even greater level of convenience. Due to the growth in the online business Tesco is reopening its Fenny Lock distribution centre (DC) to handle its online growing business. It is also planned to open two (DCs) in Reading and Deganham which will improve its customer services and less impact on environment (Tesco, 2013). Some of the major business also transferred to rail transport in Daventry (DC) which will remove 40000 lorries from the road and save 10000 CO2 emissions (IGD, 2013). Tesco using automated ordering system that keeps updating operations at CFC and warehouses. The operating profit margin relatively remain same 5.9% in 2008 -09, where as little growth was seen around 6.4% in 2011 which came back to 6.1% in 2012 (Tesco, 2013). Related to the Amazon UK the business is different comparing to Tesco Direct. Amazon has expertise in this area more than Tesco Direct which has start selling non-food products just few years ago. But since 2010 non-food products business show positive financial returns which has led Tesco to grow in this particular area of business within the UK and international. Tesco is focusing more to operate internationally because they believe UK market is mature now. Role of logistics and supply chain of Ocado Supply chain model implemented by Ocado is far more straightforward comparing to Sainsbury due to only one sales channel and the nature of products delivered to the customer (grocery, substantial part of which can be perishable). Ocado runs a system of hub and spoke network with so far the only warehouse (the customer fulfilment centre or CFC) in Hatfield and seven hubs across England. As a result Ocado covers up to 70% of British households (Ocado, 2013a). The 2nd CFC expected to be openned in the 1st quarter of 2013 at Dordon in central England, which would also increase the order fulfilment capacity from 120,000 units per week to 180,000 units per week (Ocado, 2013b). Sales growth also is seen after improving the operation at Hatfield fulfilment centre which is also expected to be rise more than 13 % in the following months of 2013. The gross sales increases jumped over from  £ 551m to  £ 716m since 2008 to 2012 (Ocado, 2013c). All online orders, which consumers place, are fulfilled in Hatfield CFC. Now all picking process of product goes through highly automated machineries: plastic totes containing up to three bags move around the warehouse through the conveyer belt. Along the journey the totes are stopped opposite the aisles where members of staff pick ordered good from the shelves and put it into the relevant bags. Then packed orders are allocated depending on the delivery area and loaded onto delivery truck to bring goods to a hub or a delivery van for home deliveries. Ocado owns a fleet of branded lorries for hub deliveries and a fleet of refrigerated Mercedes-Benz brightly coloured vans for the last mile solution. Ocado benefits from a number of advantages as a result of running such a centralised set up including ease of inbound deliveries, demand forecasting, operations and control over the supply chain in general. Accurate demand forecasting allows Ocado not only to optimise inventory but also to minimise waste of unsold goods which is crucial for a grocery retailer. Ocados supply chain is using its own IT customise software in its business. Current service delivery is improved 151 DPV and CFC efficiency improved by 120 UPH. Role of logistics and supply chain of Sainsbury online grocery deliveries Currently Sainsbury is working mainly through four (CFC) strategic fulfilment centres and four Primary consolidation centres (PCC) offering. Many of the stores are also offering non food products. The non-food products sales started back in 2010. Over the past five years development has been seen the growth in the overall sales. The Sainsbury is using Manhattans Extended Enterprise Management (EEM) solutions in the newly built with fulfilment centres. Sainsbury is an experience retailer of supermarkets serving customers with both food and non food products. Reducing delays in logistics operations supply management by covering an area on 600000 sq. ft, runs over 2.5 km of conveyer belt with 10 automatic ambient storage and retrieval cranes. Sainsbury operations are spread all over the UK with a larger capacity to store and higher in efficiency output than Ocado so that is why not the right to compare logistics / supply management to each other. Changes effecting logistic performance of the companies I selected three major changes that could influence performance of the four companies Tesco Direct, Amazon-UK, Ocado Sainsbury. Increasing fuel costs would have mixed effect on all four companies. On one side it would increase their costs and undercut profits. On the other side consumers would be more reluctant to drive for shopping and would be more eager to shop online. In the profit margins would be squeezed but the sales volumes would most probably increase making the market space far more competitive. Environmental regulations: Environmental problems to be consider seriously by using alternate bio fuels in the road transport network to lower carbon emission. Increase the use 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse Recycle) in logistics and supply chain management both at national and international levels would generally have positive effect on all companies. At the moment all four companies are working closely to reduce waste and more recycling. Source locally: Almost all of the four retailers are not fully sourcing their products locally but also dependent on international sourcing. But Amazon UK could be effected in future if the Government announces any new taxes on business, whereas Tesco, Ocado and Sainsbury are as a local retailer would suffer less. Suggested actions to improve financial performance Ocado as it is still in its developing phase of business with a lot of opportunities to explore within the UK. Ocados still needs to focus more toward to south- east part of the England specially by covering London area, once the market demand of Ocado products increases then to move towards geographic expansion in the UK. The newly built 2nd CFC in north of England would definitely increase the coverage area allowing the company to serve the north of England and Wales. Location play important role in business success hence, Ocado needs to concentrate on those strategic areas which are nearer to the suppliers and market. Once the market is covered a next step the company should consider starting operations in Scotland. The current financial performance is not very good to suggest Ocado to operate outside the UK. Another option would be to increase product range well beyond recent 21,000 SKUs and enter the non-grocery market if they want to compete Sainsbury. Sainsbury has an upper ha nd by offering products around 30,000. Having appropriate coverage and customer service in place this would be a very sound option for development. In-house structured trainings should be given to all working in the area of logistics supply chain management. Weekly trainings should be given to the drivers who face the customers mostly and plays key part in the future development. Company reputation should be kept on priority by meeting the KPIs. Customer services level needs to be maintained all the time. The last mile problem should be dealt seriously. Lower the customers services are, higher the possibilities in financial growth. Providing high quality products range in competitive prices would certainly attract the customers through proper marketing. Making sure the product availability all the time in store based or online based, growing the product range would benefit the business. Given the size and expertise of the company it should not be a big issue. Price always was a key matter for the Amazons success. I believe tracking and adopting prices in line with the market fluctuations may be not enough in the future. It would be interesting for Amazon to explore promotion campaigns widely used by traditional retailers. Summary This studies is based on four top retailers of the UK companies studied are advanced players in the market of online retail. There business operations are facing more or less similar challenges are similar in-spite of the fact that they are technically serving different markets. Amazon is a well know global market leader still hungry for growth and success in the UK industry and expanding more. Sainsbury is also expanding but inside the UK, Ocado just passed a set up stage and actively growing in the UK and building plans for global expansion. Tesco is performing well in it food grocery and non-food grocery which is performing well and giving hard time rivals also planning to expand in India. I do believe that they work in the exiting online market during the exiting times when everything is still possible and the most innovative and brave will win the marketplace. References: Amazon.com Inc, 2011 annual report. [online] Available from: [Accessed 09/03/2013] IGD (2013), Tesco in major network shake up, [online] Available from: [Accessed 09/03/2013]. Ocado (2011, b), Groundbreaking ceremony for new Ocado CFC, [online] Available from: [Assessed: 08/03/2013]. Ocado (2011, c), [online] Available from: [Assessed: 12/03/2013]. Tesco (2013), , [Assessed: 11/03/2013]. Tesco (2013), Five year financial summary, [online] Available from: [Assessed: 11/03/2013]. Tesco (2013 a), [online] Available from: [Assessed: 11/03/2013]. Sainsbury (2013), [online] Available from: [Assessed: 07/03/2013]. Sainsbury (2013 a), Five year summary, [online] Available from:  http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/about-us/financial-performance/5-year-summary/#tabbed_section  [Assessed: 07/03/2013]. Sainsbury (2013 b), Sainsbury trading statement, [online] Available from: [Assessed: 08/03/2013].

School Counsellors for Gifted and Talented Students

School Counsellors for Gifted and Talented Students This paper critically reviews previous studies that have explored the role of school counsellors for gifted and talented students. School counsellors in Saudi Arabia receive little specific training in the needs of gifted students, and it is very rare for counsellor training programmes to require counsellors to take courses on gifted students as part of the degree requirements. Therefore, this article considers theories of counselling, and the role of school counsellors, and gifted student programmes in the USA, the UK and KSA. This review considers the counsellors role in different contexts and discusses it in the Saudi context. In doing so, the psychological, educational and professional skills of counsellors need to be understand in order to meet the needs of gifted and talented students so that they can live up to their ambitions and aspirations. Background of the study The role of the school counsellor is complicated and one of the most demanding careers when compared with other educational professions. It involves interaction with students from different cultural, economic and social backgrounds. The primary responsibility of the school counsellor is to develop the skills that will enable them to meet the challenges of this technological era. In the era of globalization, this objective is more important than ever, where we have to search for and develop the skills of talented students. In 1981, the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia established the General Directorate of Guidance and Counselling for Gifted Students. Since that time, guidance and counselling has become formalized and recognized as a profession, and counsellors have been appointed to deal with psychological, social, educational and vocational problems and to deliver protective counselling (Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, 1999). For this reason the current paper will highlight the historical background of school counselling and counsellors of the gifted and talented in the USA, UK and KSA. In the 1955 Yearbook of Education, reference is made to counselling as a process of helping individuals through their own efforts to discover and develop their potentialities both for personal happiness and social usefulness (Hall Lauwerys, 1955, cited in Milner, 1974). A more recent definition is that counselling is to help an individual to make his own decisions and choices in the light of his feelings and needs (Milner, 1974). Jones (1970) suggested that counselling Is an enabling process, designed to help an individual come to terms with his life as it is and ultimately to grow to greater maturity through learning to take responsibility and to make decisions for himself. The American School Counsellor Association (ASCA, 1999) defines counselling as an interactive process as follows: it is a confidential relationship in which the counsellor meets with students individually and in small groups to help them resolve or cope constructively with their problems and developmental concerns. In Coreys (2002) words, the central function of counselling is to help clients recognize their own strengths, discover what is preventing them from using their strengths, and clarify what kind of person they want to be. Counselling is a process by which clients are invited to look honestly at their behaviour and lifestyle and make certain decisions about how they want to modify the quality of their life. McLaughlin (1993) mentions that effective school counselling has three elements: an educative function whereby attention is focused on the social development of the student within the school context; a reflective function which explores the possible impact of the school practices and societal conditions on the personal and mental health of the student, and a welfare function which is concerned with planning for and reacting to issues that affect the students welfare. Saudi Arabia has conducted research to find out the best approach to gifted education, but of course for females who are severely restricted in the subjects they are allowed to study, these moves are somewhat academic. An interesting survey of computer use in Arabic countries was made by a Jordanian, Subhi (1997). He recommended that gifted pupils records should be computerised for easier monitoring of their progress, and he has designed a programme to help this. The problem, he found though, is that although there are computers in Jordanian schools, there are very few of them and the teachers do not generally know how to use them. It looks as though most, if not all, Arab countries are willing to recognise and help the gifted, and several have made forays into out-of-school activities, but the overall outcome is still difficult to define. Some authors (such as Sternberg et al., 1986, Ziegler and Heller, 2000) believe that a consensus is yet to be reached on what is meant by the term (gifted), and yet multiple efforts have been made to establish criteria for this, which include components such as motivation, creativity, task commitment, and problem solving. However, personal talent is described by Renzulli (1999a, p.4) as exceptional ability to select and achieve difficult goals that fit ones interests, abilities and social contexts. In his view, personal talent is a capability developed in the field of self-management that is concentrated by the individual in the direction of selected outcomes that contain well-being, happiness, personal relationships, hobbies as well as career achievements. He proposes that personal talent can be referred to as a range where those in the centre of this continuum can be explained as personally competent, while those at the high end of the range can be categorized as personally talente d. On the other hand, Masten et al. (2002) argue that resilient individuals learn how to overcome obstacles in order to achieve their anticipated goals, and that this can be described as personal talent. Also, Bland et al. (1994) refer to specific characteristics of resilience as an indicator of exceptional abilities and talent regarding children from poor backgrounds. In this regard, Marker et al. (1996) propose that numerous of the principles of distinguishing curriculum for gifted and talented learners support the development of personal talent. They refer to learning environments that foster independence, flexibility and high mobility as being potentially more promising for fostering personal talents than the more traditional teacher-centred classrooms that concentrate on lectures with academic content. However, some researchers regret the fact that research on giftedness has been somewhat biased, having mainly concentrated on IQ-related abilities that address academic skills, and b y-passing or simply ignoring other basic skills such as vocational skills (Bals, 1999), practical intelligence in everyday life (Sternberg, 2000), and, most importantly, social skills (Persson, 1997). Motivation is another issue that has been the focus of research with regard to gifted children. According to Sternberg (2000), some theories depict motivation as an assisting internal factor in the expansion of giftedness. One of these theories is Gages dynamic theory of giftedness which depicts motivation, volition and self-management as interpersonal catalysts that help convert gifts into talents. However, these theories have failed to provide guidance in assisting youths of high ability to develop motivation. For this reason, some researchers (for example, Colangelo et al. 2000; Alrasheed, 2001) believe that talented students should be identified and given tasks at a higher level than the normal school curriculum. Renzulli (1999b) is of the opinion that gifted students should be pro ducers of knowledge rather than mere consumers of existing information. He believes that specific programmes and services for the talented and gifted are the only solution to allow them to live up to their potential. This idea is further supported by Reis et al (1995) who argues that it is not fair to make a gifted child sit in a classroom where learning something new will not happen until the second half of the year. According to Alhossaini (2000), the effectiveness of the educational process could be seen in table (1): The above figure of methods of interactions could be interpreted in this table. If these roles are all positive, we get the creative outcome. And it is mines, mines, mines, it is less creative. Pattison (2006) suggests that, counselling is an activity that takes place behind closed doors in privacy, the nature of client confidentiality requires this. However, this can make counselling practices and processes mysterious and misunderstood. In placing this research in the public arena, it is hoped that counselling practices and processes have been made a little more transparent and that the case for including young people with learning disabilities in counselling has been strengthened. Bor et al. (2002) state that school counselling is an interaction in a therapeutic setting, focusing primarily on a conversation about relationships, beliefs and behaviour (including feelings), through which the childs perceived problem is elucidated and framed or reframed in a fitting and useful way, and in which new solutions are generated and the problem takes on a new meaning . Research Problem There have been few programmes for gifted students offered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Even though there has been programmes existing, it is new and is for further evaluation to be able to develop it more for the students. It has been believed that if there has been more developed programmes for gifted children then they will be more enhanced and so, benefiting the country. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have put up programmes for gifted students but is new and rare. There has been studies regarding the support of the authorities in the schools on how to support gifted students. 1.5 The research questions Based on the aims articulated in the previous section, the following specific research questions have been formulated: How does the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia support gifted students? Does the authorities in the schools help in the development of the programmes? How do we determine the effectiveness of the programmeswith the school counsellor, principal, and teachers help? 1.6 Sub-questions Two sub-questions will also be explored: Do the teacher, student counsellor and principal who work with gifted students have special qualifications? What is the level and nature of the response of gifted students to these programmes? Historical review of school counselling in USA Schmidt (1999) suggests that the development of school guidance and counselling in the United States has its roots in the vocational guidance movement, which started in 1898 when a Detroit school principal, Jesse Davis, introduced a guidance curriculum that was delivered in each English class in his school to help students develop character, avoid problem behaviour, and relate vocational interests to the solution of their vocational and social problems. Gysbers (2001) argues that in the 1920s and 1930s, the concept of guidance evolved from vocational to educational guidance. Educational guidance was viewed as a set of activities that would address not only occupational concerns but also the personal and educational aspects of individuals. However, although school counselling remained focused on secondary schools, counsellors were beginning to appear in some elementary schools in Boston in the 1930s. Yet, it was not until the 1960s that the need was generally recognized and funds were provided for the training of counsellors in elementary schools (Schmidt, 1999). However, Baker (2001) suggests that despite the progressive movement of the 1960s, school counselling did not fare well in the 1970s. During the 1970s and into the 1980s, a number of school counselling positions were eliminated and fewer jobs were available for newly trained school counsellors due to school budget cuts and financial problems across the US. At the same time, concern was being expressed about the programmes of guidance and counselling and the services offered by counsellors in school (Baker, 1996; Schmidt, 1999). On the other hand, Herr (2001) says that attempts to define the role and functions of the schools comprehensive developmental models w ere better suited to meeting the development needs of students. In 1997, the American School Counsellor Association (ASCA) (1999) adopted the National Standards for School Counselling Programmes. According to these standards, school counsellors are required to address the needs ofstudents comprehensively through the implementation of a developmental school-counselling programme. Historical review of school counselling in the UK School counselling in the United Kingdom dates back to 1913 when London County Council appointed a psychologist to examine backward children and advise their parents and teachers on methods of treatment (Milner, 1974). However, it was not until the 1960s that school counselling began to emerge as a discipline in its own right (Bor et al., 2002). At the time, the American school counselling model which was based on the client-centred approach proposed by Rogers (1961) was influential. Rogers produced a report in which he recommended that counsellors should be appointed to look into the needs of low achieving children. As a result, counselling courses were set up for experienced teachers, and several hundred counsellors were employed by local education authorities throughout the country (Bor et al., 2002). However, according to the Department of Education and Science (1989, cited in Bets et al. 1995) pastoral care is concerned with promoting pupils personal and social development and f ostering positive attitudes. Confronted with pervasive and traumatic social problems such as the collapse of the extended family and increases in rates of violence, the need for school counselling attracted the attention of local education authorities. However, in the light of limited budgets, the 1980s witnessed a shift of emphasis on counselling, and it was felt that counselling should be integrated into teaching practice, so that teachers themselves should take responsibility for pastoral care (Bor et al., 2002; Mclaughin, 1999). Jones (1970) says that, in the absence of government backing, enthusiasm for counselling courses began to fade, and the majority of schools were left without counsellors. To exacerbate the situation even further, cuts in education funding at thehands of the Conservative government in the 1980s resulted in a reduction in the number of existing counsellors (McLaughlin, 1999). According to one estimate, only fifty counsellors were left in schools in England and Wales following the introduction of the local management of schools in 1987 (Robinson, 1996). Bor et al. (2002) argue that since the 1980s and despite heavy workloads, growing social problems and immense psychological pressure, teachers in the United Kingdom still continue to play a major role in counselling their students. To add to their problems, they have recently fallen under pressure to fulfil all of the criteria of an over-demanding National Curriculum. As a result, teachers now find it difficult to fulfil a pastoral role, and schools are beginning to feel the need to employ counsellors to meet the educational, psychological and emotional needs of students. To provide teachers with the necessary counselling skills, a sizeable number of studies in the field of pastoral care began to appear (e.g. Raymond, 1985; Watkins, 1994; Hamblin, 1984; Marland, 1989). In general, these studies focused on good student-teacher relationships (Mclaughlin, 1999), emphasized the importance of assisting children to improve their lives, and used study skills to guide them in making their own decisions (Raymond, 1985). Nonetheless, although the literature on counselling and pastoral care in the United Kingdom is vast, it is still not integrated and provides only a few guidelines on practice (Al-Rebdi, 2000). On the other hand, some still argue that teachers have to manage complicated and demanding situations, channelling the personal, emotional and social pressures of 30 or so youngsters (Black et al., 1998). The debate is still raging between those who argue that counselling should be provided by specialists and those who suggest that teachers should bear the burden. Inthis context it is worth listing the duties and responsibilities of the school counsellor as outlined by the British Association for Counselling (1997). These are: Â · To offer pupils, parents and staff individual or group counselling. Â · To provide information on the counselling service, the role of the counsellor and boundaries of confidentiality. Â · To cooperate with head teachers, governors, parents and, where appropriate, the local education authority, in setting up a suitable appointment system. Â · To keep suitable case records of counselling conducted in a secure place. Â · To report back to management on a regular basis on the numbers that use the service and to give a general overview of the types of problem encountered. Â · To liaise with the pastoral management team, year tutors, class teachers, governors, parents and caring agencies. Â · To network with personnel from other agencies with a view to easing referrals and accessing specialist consultants. Â · To devise and, where appropriate, deliver a programme of training to support and develop the counselling service. Â · To attend supervision with a suitably qualified supervisor. Historical review of school counselling in the KSA Initially, in 1981, the Ministry of Education established the General Directorate of Guidance and Counselling. Since that time, guidance and counselling has become formalized and recognized as a profession, and counsellors have been appointed to deal with psychological, social, educational, and vocational problems and deliver protective counselling (Ministry of Education KSA, 1999). It should be mentioned here that the model for and practice of guidance and counselling in SaudiArabian schools was derived from western sources, mainly the United States. More than two decades have passed since the guidance and counselling programme was established in Saudi schools. Its development has progressed at a slow rate and, currently, it faces various problems. The major difficulty relates to the definition of the role and function of the school counsellor (Al-Gamdi, 1999) which is unclear to principals, teachers, parents, students and school counsellors themselves. Due to this problem, counsell ors have found themselves overly involved in paperwork and administrative tasks and duties not related to school counselling. Additionally, counsellors often complain about lack of support and cooperation from others involved in the counselling service, especially parents (Al-rebdi, 2000). In this situation, if school counsellors in Saudi Arabia are to provide better services for students, their role must be clearly defined. It is also necessary for those involved in counselling to have a clear view of what counsellors should and should not do. Added to this, counsellors must choose carefully how they spend their time and energy. As the role and functions of the school counsellors become clearer, they should be able to respond better to the needs of their students. Furthermore, in 1981, following decree number 216/k issued by the Ministry of Education, the Social Educational Administration was replaced by the Student Guidance and Counselling Service, and guidance and counselling in Saudi schools became formalised. That same year, the name was changed again to the General Administration for Guidance and Counselling (Ministry of Education, 1999). The responsibilities of this administration are as follows: 1- To plan, prepare and develop the programme and services of guidance and counselling. 2- To provide professional staff who are capable of delivering such services to all students at various stages of education. 3- To provide students with the appropriate care applicable to their ages and their psychological, educational and social needs. 4- To assist students to develop their capabilities, potentialities and talents, to allow them to face their problems and to help them feel comfortable with themselves and with the community in which they live. 5- To attain a high standard of mental health in a way that reflects the targets and goals sought by educational guidance in general (Ministry of Education, 1999). Saleh (1987) pointed out that, due to the immediate need for professionals to monitor and guide the counselling service in schools, the Ministry of Education sought personnel from among the existing social education supervisors to act as the supervisors; counselling and guidance programmes in addition to carrying out their normal duties. The Ministry of Education also sought personnel from within the existing teaching force, provided they had the relevant experience, to work temporarily as counsellors in schools. To meet the need for school counsellors in all schools, the General Administration for Guidance and Counselling allowed those with a Bachelors degree in psychology, social work or sociology to perform the role of the school counsellor until enough trained professional counsellors could be provided. In order to meet the need for trained full-time counsellors to work in schools, universities in Saudi Arabia were requested to offer guidance and counselling programmes at masters level. Statistical information for the year 2000 shows that there were 229 counselling supervisors and 3381 school counsellors overall (Ministry of Education, 2000). By 2003, the number of counsellors had increased rapidly toabout 4000(Al-Rebdi, 2004). The Ministry of Education (1999) defined the term counselling as the interactive process though which the counsellor assists the student to understand himself and recognise his capabilities and potentialities and gives him a more enlightened approach to his problems and how to face them. Counsellors also help students to enhance their responsible behaviour and to show conformity with their community. Counselling gifted students Landau (1990) noted that gifted students might become isolated and alienated. Moreover, Rogers (1983) pointed out that in an egalitarian system children not only lack the opportunity for confirmation and social acceptance, but they also often lack the freedom to learn. The need for confirmation and emotional support is well known in the literature which focuses on giftedness and talent (Csikszentmilalyi et al., 1993; Kelley, 1999; Stednitz, 1995). Donna (1999) suggests that teachers and counsellors need to encourage minority students to consider a teaching career in general and gifted student education in particular. Ford (1995) however, believes that from an historical point of view, the counselling of gifted students has not been an important part of educational and counselling discourse. He points out that misconceptions and stereotypes of gifted students as being immune to social, emotional, and academic problems have contributed to the lack of counselling for these students, and in cases where counselling is available it is only limited to academic, assessment and placement issues. According to Ford, the fact that more children are entering school with serious personal and academic problems should entail an expansion in the responsibilities and roles of counsellors to meet the needs of all children who seek guidance andassistance. But nonetheless according to Alrasheed, (2001) the limited availability of counselling services has failed to meet the enormous need for counselling services and research regarding gifted individuals. In this respect he endeavoured to provide counsellors, classroom teachers and educationalists as well as parents with advice regarding the understanding of the academic and social needs of gifted and talented students. Persson (2005) considers mentorship as a possible solution to aid the immediate psychological and intellectual needs of gifted individuals, particularly received mentorship. According to Person, mentorship could be direct or indirect by cooperating with the student to find a mentor of his choice, given the fact that not al l gifted students would be likely to choose their counsellors to be their mentors. Person expresses the conviction that mentorship is the only viable counselling solution in an egalitarian context, which lacks recognition and particular provision for gifted individuals. Ford (1995) outlines the goal of counselling as that of promoting healthy self-concepts and ensuring psychological growth. Bearing that in mind, counsellors must have an awareness and understanding of the many issues that hinder gifted students and affect their psychological, social and emotional well-being. He recognises the role of counsellors in ensuring that such students remain in gifted programmes once identified and placed. Finally the concept of counselling needs to be defined within a context where it is not a task assigned merely to a particular group. Instead, as Brown et al. (1992) suggest the task has expanded from an initial concern with educational and vocational guidance to the remediation and prevention of personal, interpersonal, vocational and educational concerns. Consequently, according to Persson (2005), the aim of the intervention is for the individual to gain an understanding of self and context, in which case individual differences become a sensitive and even problematic issue, particularly in cases where gifted individuals are involved. Research Design The design of the study is intended to determine: first, the relationship of the roles of student counsellor, teachers, and principals to the performance of the gifted students; second, the effectiveness of the programmes in developing the capacity of the gifted students. Instrumentation and Data Collection The researchers visited the [Insert name of University Library or City Library] for journals, articles and studies needed for the research paper. The researchers gathered time-series data from different physical training institutions to assure of its validity and consistency. The primary data will be gathered using quantitative method, as this is best useful with questionnaires. The use of quantitative method will be appropriate for the research because the results in the questionnaires consist of numerical information, mostly based from the ratings included in the questions. Quantitative methods are used to provide reference to numeric calculations and are often used with questionnaires that have a specific goal and a target to achieve. This is helpful in the research, and its instigation in the process needs to be further culminated so that the problem is solved with efficiency and precision. In gathering data, the researcher would like to clear certain ethical issues that might hinder the processing of data. First, confidentiality will be kept at all costs. As the main reason why questionnaires will be used in the research is for the respondents to feel secure and to be assured that their answers will not be related to who they are. There may be instances wherein the respondent will divulge information that will be detrimental to the company, or to its competitors, depending on the case. Hence, there is a better chance at more responsive respondents if they can be assured of their confidentiality. Second, the Data Protection Act will be followed at all costs. The compliance with the act will be transparently said to the respondents so that they are further assured that anything they say in response to the questions asked them will only be used for the benefit of the research and not in any other practices. It should also be clear to the researcher that any information regarding the respondents cannot be released to anyone who is not immediately connected with the research unless permission from the subject respondent has been secured beforehand. Third, the research must always bear in mind the objectives of the study and never stray away from them. A researcher who has no definite purpose in doing the research is going nowhere and is exerting effort in a research that is not delimited properly and punctually. The purpose of the research is explicitly stated at the beginning of the research and is implied in every step of the realization of the research so as to not delineate the researcher from his goals. Lastly, the researcher must opt to practice objectivity. As the researcher, he is expected to keep an open-minded approach to the topic, keeping from his mind and personal bias in the subject matter or on the people involved. The reason for doing research is to test existing information, validate, prove or disprove existing ideas, or to test the limits of a certain prospect. Given this simple definition, it is clearly seen that in no form is the personal opinions of the researcher expected to hinder in the subject. Any act that might be biased or subjective will hint of the researchs failure to achieve its goals. Planned Method of Analysis The researchers plan to analyze the different test conducted through constant evaluation of the gifted students and how they perform. There will be a weekly evaluation in terms of how the programmes and the role of the authorities, and the effect of it to their performance. The performance in the field will be evaluated by the gifted students progress and development. Time Schedule Literature Review History of programmes for gifted students in KSA Observation Questionnaires Evaluation of performance Analysis of performance of the students Findings and Recommendation Conclusions Conclusion The role of school counsellors for gifted and talented students has been discussed widely in the literature. However, school counsellors urgently need to be provided with the appropriate skills in the areas of education and psychology so that they are capable of providing guidance to talented students and thereby respond to their needs in a way that will boost the educational process in the school. Counselling gifted students and their relatives is one of the mainly challenging and satisfying functions for a counsellor. Gifted students have wonderful variability, not only in their cognitive capability, but in their affective progress. While there are obviously frequent themes in the social-emotional issues tackling gifted students, there are also reflective individual differences amongst them. The talented student faces numerous problems that make life hard for him at school. However, anxiety and tension may affect his social life as well as forcing him to live in isolation. Moreover, decisions in relation to gifted learners should be part and parcel of a wider programme. This implies the identification of the task as being one which helps children conform with their culture, or empowers children to advance in their society, or challenges social, political and economic inequalities. Schoolcounsellors receive little specific training on the affective needs of gifted students and it is rare for counsellor training programmes to require counsellors to take a course on gifted students as a degree requirement. The role of the school counsellor is to develop the skills of the pupils in general, giving special attention to those who are talented and innovative by discovering their areas of interest, and by responding to their needs in a way that will achie

War on Drugs is a Domestic Problem Essay examples -- essays research p

WAR ON DRUGS IS A DOMESTIC PROBLEM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The new policy that the government has unfolded on the War on Drugs, has pointed the finger of responsibility toward stopping terrorism by stopping the individual drug users. Terrorism affects the entire world, and the United States has assumed a position at the spearhead to confront it. There is no way to actually stop terrorism, but one way to financially divert the problem is to stop the money from flowing to the organizations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The War on Drugs has been taken to a new level since the attack on the United States in September. Just two days before the attack in New York and Washington D.C. a shipment, being distributed by the Columbians, of Afghan heroin, reported to be 53 kilograms, was seized in New York. (Denny) This event demonstrates how the terrorist and the narcotics trade are linked together. Without the funding of drug trafficking, many terrorist organizations would not be able to continue operations at the current levels.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Drug traffickers share common traits along with the terrorists of the world. A drug trafficker does not have a general regard for human life. The only thing that matters to the trafficker is the money that is made from the illegal sale of the product. Whether the money comes from a twelve year old in anyone of the main cities in the United States or from a terrorist organization does not matter to a trafficker. This di...

The Problems Defining Genre :: Literature Essays Literary Criticism

The Problems Defining Genre Genre denotes a systematic way to categorize literature. The term might be considered academic jargon; however, it produces up a set of expectations that allow us to judge literature. These expectations or criteria also allow us to compare with other literature in the same as well as different genres. In spite of these expectations, genre does not dictate a set of rigid rules; in fact, genre is more descriptive than prescriptive. Problems in defining genre often arise because there are frequently sub-genres: romantic comedy might be considered a sub-genre of comedy, revenge tragedy of tragedy and gothic horror of horror. It becomes increasingly difficult to see where one sub-genre ends and another begins. Also these categories are seldom pure. For example, Hamlet, a revenge tragedy, includes aspects of romance and even a comic scene or two. Our popular culture makes defining genre challenging because what is vital one day might disappear the next. An example of this is the current insistence upon a happy ending. Since tragedy is often characterized by an unhappy or "right" ending, according to Aristotle, popular culture no longer welcomes the tragedy with the relish it did at other times in history. Our Town being the exception that comes to mind, as well as the one-man shows. Poetry makes frequent use of this voice. In Daddy by Sylvia Plath, the author address "Daddy" throughout the poem. Shannon Chamberlain's use of Aesop's fable The Parrot and his Cage was another example of this single voice narrative. A second voice option is the drama or dialogue that involves talking between two characters with no narration. All of the plays we are reading in class fit this category as well as Stacy Burleson's example of Merlin as a legend in film. Finally, the combination of the narrator plus dialogue is just as it seems, a narrator talks to the audience (or reader) but the characters talk to each other. The TV shows The Fugitive, Dragnet, and Twilight Zone come to mind as examples of this. Narrative genre, by contrast, focuses on the storyline or plot. Tragedy frequently introduces a problem, there is struggle for control, finally a realistic and often unhappy ending that resolves the problem.

Money management Essay

Ever since trading began, money existed, thus, it can be said that money and trading co-exists. The earliest form of money is actually very different from what we are using nowadays in this modern world. The history of money begins around 2500 years ago. Money is any clearly identifiable object of value that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts within a market or which is legal tender within a country. Barter Barter is a system of exchange in which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods and services. No money is needed in barter system as it does not involve the process of buying and selling. Although there is no evidence pointing towards a society or economy relies solely on barter system, it is believed that barter basically dominated the pre-historical world and at that time, people would just exchange things according to necessity. Thus, barter system can be said to be a primitive form of money as it contributes towards the birth of money. There are several complications of barter system : Absence of common measure of value: In a monetary economy, money plays the role of a measure of value of all goods, so their values can be measured against each other; this role may be absent in a barter economy. Indivisibility of certain goods: If a person wants to buy a certain amount of another’s goods, but only has for payment one indivisible unit of another good which is worth more than what the person wants to obtain, a barter transaction cannot occur. Lack of standards for deferred payments: This is related to the absence of a common measure of value, although if the debt is denominated in units of the good that will eventually be used in payment, it is not a problem. Difficulty in storing wealth: If a society relies exclusively on perishable goods, storing wealth for the future may be impractical. However, some barter economies rely on durable goods like pigs or cattle for this purpose. Adapted from Wikipedia Statement of the problem It was discovered that only a small portion among university students actually know how to manage their money well. Most of university students are still struggling with basic money management. They do not have enough of a handle on their cash flow to spend less than they get from their loans. In other words, poor money management such as overspending is the main cause of this problem among the university students. Purpose The purposes of the study is to investigate money management of the students in UniSZA. Objectives 1) To investigate the way of the students in UniSZA spend their money 2) To determine the main cause of monetary problem for students in UniSZA. 3) To suggest the ways to solve monetary problems faced by students in UniSZA by providing them with the best money management plan. Research questions 1) How do the students in UniSZA spend their money? 2) What is the main cause of monetary problem for students in UniSZA 3) How can the problems faced by students in UniSZA be solved? Significance of the Study It is an undeniable fact that university life and normal daily life do have differences when it comes to money management. The author of the article wrote that university students should be taught the value of money as they will be earning their own very soon. This is true. University is a boundary that separates us from the real world, the working world. Without proper management of wealth, especially for students, it could spell disaster. Not only there would be butterflies flying out the purse and holes being burnt in the wallet, bank account could also stumble to single digit and finally naught. Things might get worst when they enter the society without knowing concerning money management and if this situation occurs, their bright future might be at stake and this could jeopardize their chances to succeed in life. Thus, financial management should start early, when there’s still money in the bank account for one to manage. For students in UniSZA like us, we might often be bothered by monetary problems. We don’t know where our money went to. Well, they do not just disappear into the thin air, nor would they escape from our wallet, thus, we must know where we spent our money on so that we can cut down on expenses and inculcate proper financial management. As university students, there’re a few money management skills that should be practiced and here are some explanations that may provide some insight or clues for one to properly manage his or her money so as to get the most out of one’s money. #1 Have a plan for it There’s a saying goes, those who fail to plan, plans to fail. Thus, proper money management starts with a plan for our money. For the study loan such as PTPTN, bursary or JPA scholarship received each semester, we should have a plan for it so that everything would go on smoothly. Knowing the debits and credits is equally important here and tracking our own expenses is surely a must as we can track all the unneeded stuff we bought by keeping the receipt of the things we’ve bought and later revise on our spending to cut down expenditure. Getting ourselves organized and preparing and jotter to jot down our expenditure is also a brilliant idea. #2 Understand our financial aid and financial status As university students, one of the best steps towards proper financial management may be to add up all our income and also the money we’ll need to fork out. Income includes the money allowance given by the governments, student loan, scholarships, bursaries etc. Bursaries, on the other hand offers RM 2550 for bursary recipients. Bursary is actually money given to students as a kind of financial aid. In this content, bursary is eligible for students who got 9A+ and above in their SPM. Besides, we can also look out for scholarships such as JPA. By being aware of our financial status, we can look into every nook and cranny of our daily life to save money. Take ATM machines for example, it may charge card holder of other banks some additional fee whenever transaction is made, thus, by being aware of this, we can take the measurements needed and save money. We should also be cautious towards burglary as that is the worst possible way for one to lose  money. #3 Use the available tools towards our benefit We should also use the benefits meant for students to our advantage. When buying books, going for a movie and buying food, for example, we can produce discount cards exclusive for students in order to enjoy discounts. Though it’s not a whole lot of money we’re saving, it could sum up to a considerable amount of money over time. For example, Kad siswa which was launched a few years ago provides card holders with a plethora of discounts in almost anything. Besides, 1 Malaysia book voucher is another tool available that would be of great help in our money management. Scope of Study The report will cover the methodology for money management of students in UniSZA. Survey and research will be done in order to get the results before discussion about the findings. The main points of the report will be summed up as the conclusion and some suggestions for solving monetary problems faced by students in UniSZA will be found.

Walt Disney

The Magic of Walt Disney Jenna Weinstein February 18, 2011 US History 10H Mr. Diamond Period 3 Jenna Weinstein 2/18/11 U. S. History 10H Mr. Diamond Period 3 The Magic of Walt Disney Walt Disney is considered an icon of American pop culture and has made many contributions to the American entertainment industry. A self-made-man from the Midwest, he became an inspiration to all American children and adults. Hailing from the heart of America, he was very patriotic and contributed a great deal to our country in times of need. What was most likeable about Walt Disney was that he was relatable; he came to embody the American values of courage, determination, wholesomeness, innocence, imagination, and self-confidence. Although Walt Disney was influenced by the setting in which he grew up, he shaped the American pop culture and everyday life of virtually the entire twentieth century, and he supported our country in times of need; his legacy continues today. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, but his family moved soon after his birth. Although Walt Disney shaped most of twentieth century pop culture, he himself was influenced by his small midwestern hometown: Marceline, Missouri. Walt Disney only lived there for a few years as a child, but it still had a major impact on his life and career. It was a traditional, Midwestern town which made Disney just an average guy, relatable to any other typical American. This ordinary town lacked magical and fantastical features, which could have contributed to his craving for magic and fantasy later in life. He grew up around animals on a farm; so many of his early animations consisted of animals and rural themes. He used a lot of â€Å"outhouse† and farm humor in his cartoons such as outhouse gags, goosing gags, bedpans, Johnny-pots, thinly disguised farts, and cow udders. Even though Disney grew up in a traditional American small-town, his childhood occurred during the onset of the decline of small-town America. Disney loved small-town America so much that he wanted to preserve and live by its values, such as self-determination and hard work, because they were fleeting so fast. Disney brought these values to everything he did in life and tried to encourage them in others. Walt Disney’s first claim to fame was the animated character, Mickey Mouse. Disney created Mickey Mouse in 1928, and from the very moment Mickey hit the public eye he appealed to all Americans. Mickey’s story of â€Å"rags to riches† touched the hearts of many Americans and gave them inspiration to follow their dreams. He was memorable and loveable in that he was the stereotypical hero, coming out victorious in many difficult situations. His courage, strength, will, ingenuity, and faith in himself allowed ordinary Americans to relate to him, and brought hope to them in troubling times. Mickey played many different roles, so many different people could relate to him. Mickey was know all over the world, – Michael Maus in Germany, Michel Souris in France, Miki Kuchi in Japan, Mikkel Mus in Denmark, and Miguel Ratunocito in Spain- and eventually became one of the most well known symbols in the entire world. Mickey Mouse helped bring the world a little closer together, and brought joy and courage to people in times of need. The Great Depression was one of the bleakest periods in American history, but it became a bit more enjoyable with a little help from Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club. The original purpose of this children’s club was to attract more young moviegoers with discounted ticket prices, and its first theater-based club meeting was on January 11, 1930 at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California. It gave kids something fun to do during the depression. â€Å"By 1932, there were already over a million boys and girls belonging to the Mickey Mouse clubs all over America. † Local businesses benefitted from the club too: bakeries, ice cream shops, drug stores, and banks all donated prizes for the kids. The free goodies won the kids’ hearts, and the local businesses gained a loyal customer base. The Mickey Mouse Club made kids feel like they were a part of something; at the start of every meeting the club members would recite an oath, and each club member received an ID card with the oath printed on it upon joining the club. Like the Boy Scouts, the Mickey Mouse Club taught kids how to be good and useful citizens, truthful, honorable, to follow their dreams, respect their elders, and take care of the aged, helpless, and smaller children. The Mickey Mouse club instilled values in the children of the depression, which were then carried through the rest of the century and helped make good citizens out of generations of children. Walt Disney’s empire grew from a small â€Å"studio† over a garage to a world famous corporation. Walt Disney Studios was built in 1939 in Burbank California, specifically for the animation process. As Disney Studios became more popular, they began selling products featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other familiar Disney cartoon characters. All of America was covered with Mickey Mouse wallpaper, dishware, cookie jars, ashtrays, salt and peppershakers, watches, clothes, wallets, pocketbooks, lunchboxes, and other household items. Mickey Mouse infiltrated every home and became a part of everyday life. Disney merchandise helped stimulate America’s economy during the Great Depression; people may have been short on cash, but they always had enough for Disney merchandise. Disney sold approximately twenty million dollars worth of merchandise from mid-1933 to mid-1934. Disney even saved several companies from going bankrupt during the depression. Ingerscroll-Waterbury got the license to sell Mickey Mouse watches, and Lionel Corporation got the license to sell Mickey and Minnie themed electric train toys. These companies were saved from bankruptcy because people could not resist buying anything Mickey Mouse-themed. In the 1950’s the Mousecap was the primary symbol of Mickey Mouse pop culture. Children were proud to wear them and say that they were official members of the club. That decade Mickey â€Å"appeared on five thousand different items, which had contributed a quarter of a billion dollars to the gross national product. Mickey Mouse became an authoritative figure in the merchandise world. Whatever companies Mickey Mouse endorsed, such as General Food, Standard Oil, National Biscuit Company, and National Dairy Products, consumers would always buy their products. Numerous of companies fought to get Mickey Mouse as their spokesperson. Liquor, cigarette, and pharmaceutical companies vied for Mickey’s support, but Disney would not sponsor anything that went against Mickey’s wholesome image. Mickey Mouse had a huge influence on the merchandise industry of the twentieth century, and in doing so Disney Studios extended its power to the economic and everyday part of American life. During World War II Walt Disney expanded his studios to play a role in American politics. After the attack on Pearl Harbor the U. S. government commissioned Disney Studios to create military training videos and propaganda films. Since Mickey Mouse was so popular the government thought they could make military training a little more enjoyable by employing Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters for the movies. Disney Studios became the first and only Hollywood studio the army took over, when 500 US army troops were stationed there. They stored repaired equipment in the soundstage and held ammunition in the sheds. President Franklin Roosevelt used Mickey Mouse as an international symbol of peace to improve the U. S. ’s Good Neighbor Policy; Walt Disney led a Goodwill Tour in South America in 1941 where a vast amount of kids who did not even speak English were eager to meet the creator of Mickey Mouse. Disney was also commissioned by the United States Treasury Department to create a film that would encourage people to pay their taxes. Mickey Mouse appeared as an Uncle Sam type figure and was the symbol of American patriotism during World War II. Mickey was the star of many U. S. nd Allied war posters and propaganda. He appeared on at least 35 home-front insignia designs created by Disney Studios, and he was the mascot for the Red Cross during the war. Disney and Mickey Mouse were such a big part of American culture and the war effort that â€Å"the password for the Allies who stormed the beach at Normandy to crush the German army was ‘Mickey Mouse. ’† Even people on t he Axis Powers looked to Mickey for inspiration during the war. Walt Disney’s help in the war effort further incorporated Disney into the pop culture and everyday life of Americans. One of Walt Disney’s greatest contributions to American pop culture was the amusement park, Disneyland, in Anaheim, California. With Disneyland Walt Disney changed the whole idea of an amusement park. It was not simply a park; it was a whole world; a full imaginative experience. Building Disneyland allowed Walt Disney to live out his imagination, and visiting Disneyland allowed every person to live out his or her wildest dreams. Disneyland appealed to everybody. The park’s traditional turn-of-the-century American main street- Mainstreet USA- made everyone feel at home. Disney filled the park with iconic American images along with images that he had created such as Cinderella, Snow White, the Three Little Pigs, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Disneyland exemplified how much Walt Disney had influenced the imaginations of Americans by creating a certain psychological experience in the park; it was not too loud, crowded, or chaotic like other parks, and everything was soft, harmonious, and unthreatening. The park was also appealing in its cleanliness, the efficiency of the lines, the weather, and even the sound of the park. Disneyland manipulated people into being happy by bringing out the child in everyone, but people were fine with the fact that they were being manipulated because it was executed so well. Disneyland also provided a lesson in American heritage; it taught Americans to remember their roots and traditional post-war values before they go on to fulfill their dreams. Disneyland was also a reflection of Walt Disney himself. Walt Disney put every single one of his living fibers into his park. He micromanaged everything and obsessed over every little detail until it was perfect. His commitment to the quality of the park was one thing that made it so successful; he continuously improved the park, came up with new ideas, new angles, and new additions to make Disneyland more attractive. He felt like this park was another chance to create his fantasy world and make everything exactly how he wanted it. Disneyland portrayed Disney’s sense of wish fulfillment, and life experiences and journey with the use of the different worlds of Disneyland. The images and different lands created in Disneyland could also be applied to the history and growth of America. Frontierland displayed traditional turn-of-the-century images and transported the guests back in time. Fantasyland allowed Americans to live out their wildest dreams and imagination. Adventureland depicted America’s desire for excitement and new experiences. Tomorrowland illustrated the promise of coming technological advances and America’s desire for progress. Disneyland was more than just an amusement park: it affected the lives of generations of people. Walt Disney had such a great effect on people because he embodied the idea of a true American. He represented the typical self-made, family man that people could look to and think if he can make it big, then so can I. Disney was simple, clean, moral, and innocent, and these qualities were infused into his animations and transmitted to people. His old-fashion values such as hard work, perseverance, generosity, and integrity emanated from everything he did and people were just drawn to him. These qualities and values gave people what they needed in troubling times: hope and the ability to believe in themselves. Disney’s personality made him a beloved figure in millions of middle-class households, and he affected the lives of many Americans. Walt Disney died on December 16, 1966, but his legacy continued long after he was gone. In Disney’s mind his greatest legacy would be his work with the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, California. Mrs. Nelbert Chouinard created the Chouinard Art Institute in 1921 with the belief that an art school was needed on the west coast of the United States. Disney had been interested in the Chouinard Institute since the 1930’s and when Mrs. Chouinard fell ill could not take care of it anymore he took over the institute. Disney knew how difficult it was to get admitted to art school and become successful, so he wanted to help out aspiring artists as much as he could. He financed the school, expanded it, and eventually combined it with the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and renamed it the California Institute of the Arts. Walt even said that CalArts would be what he is remembered for. Walt Disney’s legacies continue to have an ongoing impact. Disney’s brother, Roy, once said about Walt Disney, â€Å"There is no way to replace Walt Disney. He was an extraordinary man. Perhaps there will never be another like him. † He distracted people from the strife of the Great Depression, helped our country during World War II, and provided support afterwards. He taught children how to be responsible citizens, while still allowing them to have fun and follow their dreams. He reinforced traditional American values into the minds of Americans. He helped connect the cultures of the world through the use of an iconic cartoon image, while making American culture the most dominant. He recreated the idea of an amusement park and encouraged wish fulfillment. Most importantly he demonstrated how one could turn dreams into reality. Walt Disney inspired the live of millions of children and adults all over the world, and he is considered one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. Works Cited â€Å"Art: Profound Mouse. † Time, 15 May 1933 http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745525-2,00. html (2 November 2010). Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney The Triumph of the American Imagination. New York: Random House, Inc. , 2006. Heide, Robert, and John Gilman. Mickey Mouse The Evolution, The Legend, The Phenomenon!. New York: Disney Enterprises, Inc. 2001. Press, Petra. A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades The 1930s. San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc. , 1999. Schickel, Richard. The Disney Version The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Ibid. , 6. [ 2 ]. Robert Heide and John Gilman. Mickey Mouse The Evolution, The Legend, The Phenomenon. (New York: Disney Enterprises Inc. , 2001). 6. [ 3 ]. Ibid. , 9. [ 4 ]. Art: Profound Mouse,† Time (1933). http://www. time/magazine/article/0,9171,745525-2,000. html (accessed November 2, 2010). [ 5 ]. Heide. 22. [ 6 ]. Petra Press. A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades The 1930’s. (San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999). 94. [ 7 ]. Heide. 22. [ 8 ]. â€Å"Art: Profound Mouse† [ 9 ]. Heide. 86. [ 10 ]. Watts. 148. [ 11 ]. Ibid. , 148. [ 12 ]. Heide. 101. [ 13 ]. Ibid. , 103. [ 14 ]. Heide. 101. [ 15 ]. Ibid. , 103. [ 16 ]. Ibid. , 71. [ 17 ]. Watts. 228. [ 18 ]. Heide. 72. [ 19 ]. Watts. 231. [ 20 ]. Heide. 73. [ 21 ]. Ibid. , 77. [ 22 ]. Ibid. , 81. [ 23 ]. Ibid. , 76. [ 24 ]. Neal Gabler. Walt Disney The Triumph of the American Imagination. (New York: Random House Inc. , 2006). 632. [ 25 ]. Ibid. , 496. [ 26 ]. Ibid. , 497. [ 27 ]. Gabler. 498. [ 28 ]. Ibid. , 535. [ 29 ]. Ibid. , 499. [ 30 ]. Ibid. , 496. [ 31 ]. Watts. 390. [ 32 ]. Gabler. 492. [ 33 ]. Ibid. , 499. [ 34 ]. Watts. 393. [ 35 ]. Ibid. , 146. [ 36 ]. Richard Shickel. The Disney Version The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of alt Disney. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968). 72. [ 37 ]. Watts. 146. [ 38 ]. Ibid. , 358. [ 39 ]. Gabler. 591-592. [ 40 ]. Ibid. , 631. [ 41 ]. Ibid. , 632. Walt disney Disney is one of the most recognized names in the world, but few know as much about the man behind the Magic Kingdom, not to mention the hundreds of animated cartoons countless feature films and endless toys that bear his name As the man of his time Walt Disney was an innovative animator and created the cartoon character Mickey Mouse that inspired children around the world. Coming up as a kid, Disney had four brothers and one sister.He lived most of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri were he began to start drawing as a kid Disney unlike most was an entrepreneur , as fast as he could draw he would sell his paintings and his pictures o the neighbors and family friends. When Disney was 16 he dropped out of high school to Join the army, but was rejected for being underage. Instead, he Joined the red-cross and was sent to France for a year.Soon after returning from France his brother Roy got him a Job at the Pesman-Rubin art studio where he made commercials based on cutout animation. In the late 1930s and early 1940s were tough times for American businesses. Disney made it through the Great Depression and World War II by dedicating much of his new studio to producing health, education and propaganda films for the U. S. government. It also produced short comedies aimed at boosting national morale. To raise additional money Disney took his operation public in 1940.He would win 26 Oscars over the course of his career, the most awards given to any individual. During the next few years, Goofy- Donald Duck and several other memorable characters Joined Mickey. But Disney believed the future of company was in feature-length films, and released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. It was the first feature-length animated movie to be produced in Technicolor, and cost nearly $1. 5 million to make an unheard of amount in Depression-era America. Walt Disney The Magic of Walt Disney Jenna Weinstein February 18, 2011 US History 10H Mr. Diamond Period 3 Jenna Weinstein 2/18/11 U. S. History 10H Mr. Diamond Period 3 The Magic of Walt Disney Walt Disney is considered an icon of American pop culture and has made many contributions to the American entertainment industry. A self-made-man from the Midwest, he became an inspiration to all American children and adults. Hailing from the heart of America, he was very patriotic and contributed a great deal to our country in times of need. What was most likeable about Walt Disney was that he was relatable; he came to embody the American values of courage, determination, wholesomeness, innocence, imagination, and self-confidence. Although Walt Disney was influenced by the setting in which he grew up, he shaped the American pop culture and everyday life of virtually the entire twentieth century, and he supported our country in times of need; his legacy continues today. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, but his family moved soon after his birth. Although Walt Disney shaped most of twentieth century pop culture, he himself was influenced by his small midwestern hometown: Marceline, Missouri. Walt Disney only lived there for a few years as a child, but it still had a major impact on his life and career. It was a traditional, Midwestern town which made Disney just an average guy, relatable to any other typical American. This ordinary town lacked magical and fantastical features, which could have contributed to his craving for magic and fantasy later in life. He grew up around animals on a farm; so many of his early animations consisted of animals and rural themes. He used a lot of â€Å"outhouse† and farm humor in his cartoons such as outhouse gags, goosing gags, bedpans, Johnny-pots, thinly disguised farts, and cow udders. Even though Disney grew up in a traditional American small-town, his childhood occurred during the onset of the decline of small-town America. Disney loved small-town America so much that he wanted to preserve and live by its values, such as self-determination and hard work, because they were fleeting so fast. Disney brought these values to everything he did in life and tried to encourage them in others. Walt Disney’s first claim to fame was the animated character, Mickey Mouse. Disney created Mickey Mouse in 1928, and from the very moment Mickey hit the public eye he appealed to all Americans. Mickey’s story of â€Å"rags to riches† touched the hearts of many Americans and gave them inspiration to follow their dreams. He was memorable and loveable in that he was the stereotypical hero, coming out victorious in many difficult situations. His courage, strength, will, ingenuity, and faith in himself allowed ordinary Americans to relate to him, and brought hope to them in troubling times. Mickey played many different roles, so many different people could relate to him. Mickey was know all over the world, – Michael Maus in Germany, Michel Souris in France, Miki Kuchi in Japan, Mikkel Mus in Denmark, and Miguel Ratunocito in Spain- and eventually became one of the most well known symbols in the entire world. Mickey Mouse helped bring the world a little closer together, and brought joy and courage to people in times of need. The Great Depression was one of the bleakest periods in American history, but it became a bit more enjoyable with a little help from Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club. The original purpose of this children’s club was to attract more young moviegoers with discounted ticket prices, and its first theater-based club meeting was on January 11, 1930 at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California. It gave kids something fun to do during the depression. â€Å"By 1932, there were already over a million boys and girls belonging to the Mickey Mouse clubs all over America. † Local businesses benefitted from the club too: bakeries, ice cream shops, drug stores, and banks all donated prizes for the kids. The free goodies won the kids’ hearts, and the local businesses gained a loyal customer base. The Mickey Mouse Club made kids feel like they were a part of something; at the start of every meeting the club members would recite an oath, and each club member received an ID card with the oath printed on it upon joining the club. Like the Boy Scouts, the Mickey Mouse Club taught kids how to be good and useful citizens, truthful, honorable, to follow their dreams, respect their elders, and take care of the aged, helpless, and smaller children. The Mickey Mouse club instilled values in the children of the depression, which were then carried through the rest of the century and helped make good citizens out of generations of children. Walt Disney’s empire grew from a small â€Å"studio† over a garage to a world famous corporation. Walt Disney Studios was built in 1939 in Burbank California, specifically for the animation process. As Disney Studios became more popular, they began selling products featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other familiar Disney cartoon characters. All of America was covered with Mickey Mouse wallpaper, dishware, cookie jars, ashtrays, salt and peppershakers, watches, clothes, wallets, pocketbooks, lunchboxes, and other household items. Mickey Mouse infiltrated every home and became a part of everyday life. Disney merchandise helped stimulate America’s economy during the Great Depression; people may have been short on cash, but they always had enough for Disney merchandise. Disney sold approximately twenty million dollars worth of merchandise from mid-1933 to mid-1934. Disney even saved several companies from going bankrupt during the depression. Ingerscroll-Waterbury got the license to sell Mickey Mouse watches, and Lionel Corporation got the license to sell Mickey and Minnie themed electric train toys. These companies were saved from bankruptcy because people could not resist buying anything Mickey Mouse-themed. In the 1950’s the Mousecap was the primary symbol of Mickey Mouse pop culture. Children were proud to wear them and say that they were official members of the club. That decade Mickey â€Å"appeared on five thousand different items, which had contributed a quarter of a billion dollars to the gross national product. Mickey Mouse became an authoritative figure in the merchandise world. Whatever companies Mickey Mouse endorsed, such as General Food, Standard Oil, National Biscuit Company, and National Dairy Products, consumers would always buy their products. Numerous of companies fought to get Mickey Mouse as their spokesperson. Liquor, cigarette, and pharmaceutical companies vied for Mickey’s support, but Disney would not sponsor anything that went against Mickey’s wholesome image. Mickey Mouse had a huge influence on the merchandise industry of the twentieth century, and in doing so Disney Studios extended its power to the economic and everyday part of American life. During World War II Walt Disney expanded his studios to play a role in American politics. After the attack on Pearl Harbor the U. S. government commissioned Disney Studios to create military training videos and propaganda films. Since Mickey Mouse was so popular the government thought they could make military training a little more enjoyable by employing Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters for the movies. Disney Studios became the first and only Hollywood studio the army took over, when 500 US army troops were stationed there. They stored repaired equipment in the soundstage and held ammunition in the sheds. President Franklin Roosevelt used Mickey Mouse as an international symbol of peace to improve the U. S. ’s Good Neighbor Policy; Walt Disney led a Goodwill Tour in South America in 1941 where a vast amount of kids who did not even speak English were eager to meet the creator of Mickey Mouse. Disney was also commissioned by the United States Treasury Department to create a film that would encourage people to pay their taxes. Mickey Mouse appeared as an Uncle Sam type figure and was the symbol of American patriotism during World War II. Mickey was the star of many U. S. nd Allied war posters and propaganda. He appeared on at least 35 home-front insignia designs created by Disney Studios, and he was the mascot for the Red Cross during the war. Disney and Mickey Mouse were such a big part of American culture and the war effort that â€Å"the password for the Allies who stormed the beach at Normandy to crush the German army was ‘Mickey Mouse. ’† Even people on t he Axis Powers looked to Mickey for inspiration during the war. Walt Disney’s help in the war effort further incorporated Disney into the pop culture and everyday life of Americans. One of Walt Disney’s greatest contributions to American pop culture was the amusement park, Disneyland, in Anaheim, California. With Disneyland Walt Disney changed the whole idea of an amusement park. It was not simply a park; it was a whole world; a full imaginative experience. Building Disneyland allowed Walt Disney to live out his imagination, and visiting Disneyland allowed every person to live out his or her wildest dreams. Disneyland appealed to everybody. The park’s traditional turn-of-the-century American main street- Mainstreet USA- made everyone feel at home. Disney filled the park with iconic American images along with images that he had created such as Cinderella, Snow White, the Three Little Pigs, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Disneyland exemplified how much Walt Disney had influenced the imaginations of Americans by creating a certain psychological experience in the park; it was not too loud, crowded, or chaotic like other parks, and everything was soft, harmonious, and unthreatening. The park was also appealing in its cleanliness, the efficiency of the lines, the weather, and even the sound of the park. Disneyland manipulated people into being happy by bringing out the child in everyone, but people were fine with the fact that they were being manipulated because it was executed so well. Disneyland also provided a lesson in American heritage; it taught Americans to remember their roots and traditional post-war values before they go on to fulfill their dreams. Disneyland was also a reflection of Walt Disney himself. Walt Disney put every single one of his living fibers into his park. He micromanaged everything and obsessed over every little detail until it was perfect. His commitment to the quality of the park was one thing that made it so successful; he continuously improved the park, came up with new ideas, new angles, and new additions to make Disneyland more attractive. He felt like this park was another chance to create his fantasy world and make everything exactly how he wanted it. Disneyland portrayed Disney’s sense of wish fulfillment, and life experiences and journey with the use of the different worlds of Disneyland. The images and different lands created in Disneyland could also be applied to the history and growth of America. Frontierland displayed traditional turn-of-the-century images and transported the guests back in time. Fantasyland allowed Americans to live out their wildest dreams and imagination. Adventureland depicted America’s desire for excitement and new experiences. Tomorrowland illustrated the promise of coming technological advances and America’s desire for progress. Disneyland was more than just an amusement park: it affected the lives of generations of people. Walt Disney had such a great effect on people because he embodied the idea of a true American. He represented the typical self-made, family man that people could look to and think if he can make it big, then so can I. Disney was simple, clean, moral, and innocent, and these qualities were infused into his animations and transmitted to people. His old-fashion values such as hard work, perseverance, generosity, and integrity emanated from everything he did and people were just drawn to him. These qualities and values gave people what they needed in troubling times: hope and the ability to believe in themselves. Disney’s personality made him a beloved figure in millions of middle-class households, and he affected the lives of many Americans. Walt Disney died on December 16, 1966, but his legacy continued long after he was gone. In Disney’s mind his greatest legacy would be his work with the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, California. Mrs. Nelbert Chouinard created the Chouinard Art Institute in 1921 with the belief that an art school was needed on the west coast of the United States. Disney had been interested in the Chouinard Institute since the 1930’s and when Mrs. Chouinard fell ill could not take care of it anymore he took over the institute. Disney knew how difficult it was to get admitted to art school and become successful, so he wanted to help out aspiring artists as much as he could. He financed the school, expanded it, and eventually combined it with the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and renamed it the California Institute of the Arts. Walt even said that CalArts would be what he is remembered for. Walt Disney’s legacies continue to have an ongoing impact. Disney’s brother, Roy, once said about Walt Disney, â€Å"There is no way to replace Walt Disney. He was an extraordinary man. Perhaps there will never be another like him. † He distracted people from the strife of the Great Depression, helped our country during World War II, and provided support afterwards. He taught children how to be responsible citizens, while still allowing them to have fun and follow their dreams. He reinforced traditional American values into the minds of Americans. He helped connect the cultures of the world through the use of an iconic cartoon image, while making American culture the most dominant. He recreated the idea of an amusement park and encouraged wish fulfillment. Most importantly he demonstrated how one could turn dreams into reality. Walt Disney inspired the live of millions of children and adults all over the world, and he is considered one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. Works Cited â€Å"Art: Profound Mouse. † Time, 15 May 1933 http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745525-2,00. html (2 November 2010). Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney The Triumph of the American Imagination. New York: Random House, Inc. , 2006. Heide, Robert, and John Gilman. Mickey Mouse The Evolution, The Legend, The Phenomenon!. New York: Disney Enterprises, Inc. 2001. Press, Petra. A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades The 1930s. San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc. , 1999. Schickel, Richard. The Disney Version The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Ibid. , 6. [ 2 ]. Robert Heide and John Gilman. Mickey Mouse The Evolution, The Legend, The Phenomenon. (New York: Disney Enterprises Inc. , 2001). 6. [ 3 ]. Ibid. , 9. [ 4 ]. Art: Profound Mouse,† Time (1933). http://www. time/magazine/article/0,9171,745525-2,000. html (accessed November 2, 2010). [ 5 ]. Heide. 22. [ 6 ]. Petra Press. A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades The 1930’s. (San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999). 94. [ 7 ]. Heide. 22. [ 8 ]. â€Å"Art: Profound Mouse† [ 9 ]. Heide. 86. [ 10 ]. Watts. 148. [ 11 ]. Ibid. , 148. [ 12 ]. Heide. 101. [ 13 ]. Ibid. , 103. [ 14 ]. Heide. 101. [ 15 ]. Ibid. , 103. [ 16 ]. Ibid. , 71. [ 17 ]. Watts. 228. [ 18 ]. Heide. 72. [ 19 ]. Watts. 231. [ 20 ]. Heide. 73. [ 21 ]. Ibid. , 77. [ 22 ]. Ibid. , 81. [ 23 ]. Ibid. , 76. [ 24 ]. Neal Gabler. Walt Disney The Triumph of the American Imagination. (New York: Random House Inc. , 2006). 632. [ 25 ]. Ibid. , 496. [ 26 ]. Ibid. , 497. [ 27 ]. Gabler. 498. [ 28 ]. Ibid. , 535. [ 29 ]. Ibid. , 499. [ 30 ]. Ibid. , 496. [ 31 ]. Watts. 390. [ 32 ]. Gabler. 492. [ 33 ]. Ibid. , 499. [ 34 ]. Watts. 393. [ 35 ]. Ibid. , 146. [ 36 ]. Richard Shickel. The Disney Version The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of alt Disney. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968). 72. [ 37 ]. Watts. 146. [ 38 ]. Ibid. , 358. [ 39 ]. Gabler. 591-592. [ 40 ]. Ibid. , 631. [ 41 ]. Ibid. , 632. Walt disney Time Series Forecasting Introduction: The Walt Disney Company is known to be the worlds most admired entertainment company. It has recently decided to open up a new Paxar themed park in California. In order to do so, the company will need to assure their bank that It Is capable of paying back loans In the future as well as reassuring owners and Investors that they will not lose any money In the future.In order for Walt Disney to carry on with their plan, they need to be able to show their banks, owners and investors a model to predict future values based on historical values. How lucky for them that a group of highly trained time series forecasters are available for a top-dollar price! The group of analysts will decide on a few methods to enter in their data and then determine which technique works best with the corresponding data. They will base their decision by determining which method has the least amount of error as well as the most dependability.With a company this large and a lot at stake, it is crucial for the results to be as efficient as possible so that the proper decisions can be made to follow. The ingenious analysts will use historical data from the past eight years (31 raters) to determine the revenue of the thirty-second quarter. The forecasting will help banks determine whether It is a good Idea to support Walt Disney with a loan. In Dalton, forecasting for the thirty-second quarter will give Important Information can prepare and make plans.Data: The company's historical data involving revenue was collected from the past eight years, a total of thirty-one quarters, from the years 2005 to 2012. Our dependent variable (the variable being predicted) is revenue and our independent variable (used to assess the value of the dependent variable) is time. Revenue was measured in millions and time was measured in quarter periods. Thirty-one observations were included in the dataset in order to receive effective forecasting results.Our source of data was collected from the Walt Disney quarterly earnings report, which is accessible through the following link: http://telecommunications. Com/investors/ financial-information/earnings. Preliminary Analysis When observing the scatter plot above, we look for whether our data is stationary, meaning that it has no trend or seasonality, whether the data shows a consistent rend, or whether the data shows both a trend and seasonality. Using Disney's historical data from the past eight years we determined that there is a slight upward trend from looking at the scatter plots.When forecasting for a positive or negative trend with no seasonal patterns, the Regression method is the technique that works best. In our data set, the variable being predicted is revenue (dependent variable) and time (independent variable) is used to estimate the value of revenue. Plotting these variables allows for us to find the slope of the regression line to determine whether there is a trend. If the slope is zero then there is no trend. If the slope is positive or negative then a trend exists.A line drawn through our data permits us to calculate the slope and create an equation for the line. The slope of our regression line is 79. 218; meaning $79 million in revenue will change for each one quarter time period. Basically, revenue will increase with each quarter time period. Our data will continue to follow the same trend. Essentially we used actual values of revenue from the past eight years to come up with a regression line to predict future values of quarter time periods.Forecasting: Forecasting using Naive Forecasting using Exponential Smoothing Forecasting using Classical Decomposition Evaluation: We can evaluate the different errors of each method by using Bias (mean of errors), MAD (mean absolute deviation), MAPLE (mean absolute percentage error), MUSE (mean square error) and SE (standard error) to determine which forecasting method is the best one. Bias can determine whether we have over or under forecasted the outcomes of our Y variables for each method. If there is a positive bias then are under forecasting (meaning we predicted too low of a future revenue).If there is a negative bias then we are over forecasting (meaning we predicted too high of a future revenue). Bias in a regression method is always zero because half of the errors are positive and the other half are negative logically equaling them out to zero. In the Naive method, our bias is 80. 73 meaning we forecasted too low of a future revenue. In the Exponential Smoothing method, our bias is 473 meaning we forecasted too low of a future revenue. Naturally our bias for regression came out to be zero. MAD gives us the true degree of error in within each method. Walt disney Time Series Forecasting Introduction: The Walt Disney Company is known to be the worlds most admired entertainment company. It has recently decided to open up a new Paxar themed park in California. In order to do so, the company will need to assure their bank that It Is capable of paying back loans In the future as well as reassuring owners and Investors that they will not lose any money In the future.In order for Walt Disney to carry on with their plan, they need to be able to show their banks, owners and investors a model to predict future values based on historical values. How lucky for them that a group of highly trained time series forecasters are available for a top-dollar price! The group of analysts will decide on a few methods to enter in their data and then determine which technique works best with the corresponding data. They will base their decision by determining which method has the least amount of error as well as the most dependability.With a company this large and a lot at stake, it is crucial for the results to be as efficient as possible so that the proper decisions can be made to follow. The ingenious analysts will use historical data from the past eight years (31 raters) to determine the revenue of the thirty-second quarter. The forecasting will help banks determine whether It is a good Idea to support Walt Disney with a loan. In Dalton, forecasting for the thirty-second quarter will give Important Information can prepare and make plans.Data: The company's historical data involving revenue was collected from the past eight years, a total of thirty-one quarters, from the years 2005 to 2012. Our dependent variable (the variable being predicted) is revenue and our independent variable (used to assess the value of the dependent variable) is time. Revenue was measured in millions and time was measured in quarter periods. Thirty-one observations were included in the dataset in order to receive effective forecasting results.Our source of data was collected from the Walt Disney quarterly earnings report, which is accessible through the following link: http://telecommunications. Com/investors/ financial-information/earnings. Preliminary Analysis When observing the scatter plot above, we look for whether our data is stationary, meaning that it has no trend or seasonality, whether the data shows a consistent rend, or whether the data shows both a trend and seasonality. Using Disney's historical data from the past eight years we determined that there is a slight upward trend from looking at the scatter plots.When forecasting for a positive or negative trend with no seasonal patterns, the Regression method is the technique that works best. In our data set, the variable being predicted is revenue (dependent variable) and time (independent variable) is used to estimate the value of revenue. Plotting these variables allows for us to find the slope of the regression line to determine whether there is a trend. If the slope is zero then there is no trend. If the slope is positive or negative then a trend exists.A line drawn through our data permits us to calculate the slope and create an equation for the line. The slope of our regression line is 79. 218; meaning $79 million in revenue will change for each one quarter time period. Basically, revenue will increase with each quarter time period. Our data will continue to follow the same trend. Essentially we used actual values of revenue from the past eight years to come up with a regression line to predict future values of quarter time periods.Forecasting: Forecasting using Naive Forecasting using Exponential Smoothing Forecasting using Classical Decomposition Evaluation: We can evaluate the different errors of each method by using Bias (mean of errors), MAD (mean absolute deviation), MAPLE (mean absolute percentage error), MUSE (mean square error) and SE (standard error) to determine which forecasting method is the best one. Bias can determine whether we have over or under forecasted the outcomes of our Y variables for each method. If there is a positive bias then are under forecasting (meaning we predicted too low of a future revenue).If there is a negative bias then we are over forecasting (meaning we predicted too high of a future revenue). Bias in a regression method is always zero because half of the errors are positive and the other half are negative logically equaling them out to zero. In the Naive method, our bias is 80. 73 meaning we forecasted too low of a future revenue. In the Exponential Smoothing method, our bias is 473 meaning we forecasted too low of a future revenue. Naturally our bias for regression came out to be zero. MAD gives us the true degree of error in within each method. Walt Disney The Magic of Walt Disney Jenna Weinstein February 18, 2011 US History 10H Mr. Diamond Period 3 Jenna Weinstein 2/18/11 U. S. History 10H Mr. Diamond Period 3 The Magic of Walt Disney Walt Disney is considered an icon of American pop culture and has made many contributions to the American entertainment industry. A self-made-man from the Midwest, he became an inspiration to all American children and adults. Hailing from the heart of America, he was very patriotic and contributed a great deal to our country in times of need. What was most likeable about Walt Disney was that he was relatable; he came to embody the American values of courage, determination, wholesomeness, innocence, imagination, and self-confidence. Although Walt Disney was influenced by the setting in which he grew up, he shaped the American pop culture and everyday life of virtually the entire twentieth century, and he supported our country in times of need; his legacy continues today. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, but his family moved soon after his birth. Although Walt Disney shaped most of twentieth century pop culture, he himself was influenced by his small midwestern hometown: Marceline, Missouri. Walt Disney only lived there for a few years as a child, but it still had a major impact on his life and career. It was a traditional, Midwestern town which made Disney just an average guy, relatable to any other typical American. This ordinary town lacked magical and fantastical features, which could have contributed to his craving for magic and fantasy later in life. He grew up around animals on a farm; so many of his early animations consisted of animals and rural themes. He used a lot of â€Å"outhouse† and farm humor in his cartoons such as outhouse gags, goosing gags, bedpans, Johnny-pots, thinly disguised farts, and cow udders. Even though Disney grew up in a traditional American small-town, his childhood occurred during the onset of the decline of small-town America. Disney loved small-town America so much that he wanted to preserve and live by its values, such as self-determination and hard work, because they were fleeting so fast. Disney brought these values to everything he did in life and tried to encourage them in others. Walt Disney’s first claim to fame was the animated character, Mickey Mouse. Disney created Mickey Mouse in 1928, and from the very moment Mickey hit the public eye he appealed to all Americans. Mickey’s story of â€Å"rags to riches† touched the hearts of many Americans and gave them inspiration to follow their dreams. He was memorable and loveable in that he was the stereotypical hero, coming out victorious in many difficult situations. His courage, strength, will, ingenuity, and faith in himself allowed ordinary Americans to relate to him, and brought hope to them in troubling times. Mickey played many different roles, so many different people could relate to him. Mickey was know all over the world, – Michael Maus in Germany, Michel Souris in France, Miki Kuchi in Japan, Mikkel Mus in Denmark, and Miguel Ratunocito in Spain- and eventually became one of the most well known symbols in the entire world. Mickey Mouse helped bring the world a little closer together, and brought joy and courage to people in times of need. The Great Depression was one of the bleakest periods in American history, but it became a bit more enjoyable with a little help from Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club. The original purpose of this children’s club was to attract more young moviegoers with discounted ticket prices, and its first theater-based club meeting was on January 11, 1930 at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California. It gave kids something fun to do during the depression. â€Å"By 1932, there were already over a million boys and girls belonging to the Mickey Mouse clubs all over America. † Local businesses benefitted from the club too: bakeries, ice cream shops, drug stores, and banks all donated prizes for the kids. The free goodies won the kids’ hearts, and the local businesses gained a loyal customer base. The Mickey Mouse Club made kids feel like they were a part of something; at the start of every meeting the club members would recite an oath, and each club member received an ID card with the oath printed on it upon joining the club. Like the Boy Scouts, the Mickey Mouse Club taught kids how to be good and useful citizens, truthful, honorable, to follow their dreams, respect their elders, and take care of the aged, helpless, and smaller children. The Mickey Mouse club instilled values in the children of the depression, which were then carried through the rest of the century and helped make good citizens out of generations of children. Walt Disney’s empire grew from a small â€Å"studio† over a garage to a world famous corporation. Walt Disney Studios was built in 1939 in Burbank California, specifically for the animation process. As Disney Studios became more popular, they began selling products featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other familiar Disney cartoon characters. All of America was covered with Mickey Mouse wallpaper, dishware, cookie jars, ashtrays, salt and peppershakers, watches, clothes, wallets, pocketbooks, lunchboxes, and other household items. Mickey Mouse infiltrated every home and became a part of everyday life. Disney merchandise helped stimulate America’s economy during the Great Depression; people may have been short on cash, but they always had enough for Disney merchandise. Disney sold approximately twenty million dollars worth of merchandise from mid-1933 to mid-1934. Disney even saved several companies from going bankrupt during the depression. Ingerscroll-Waterbury got the license to sell Mickey Mouse watches, and Lionel Corporation got the license to sell Mickey and Minnie themed electric train toys. These companies were saved from bankruptcy because people could not resist buying anything Mickey Mouse-themed. In the 1950’s the Mousecap was the primary symbol of Mickey Mouse pop culture. Children were proud to wear them and say that they were official members of the club. That decade Mickey â€Å"appeared on five thousand different items, which had contributed a quarter of a billion dollars to the gross national product. Mickey Mouse became an authoritative figure in the merchandise world. Whatever companies Mickey Mouse endorsed, such as General Food, Standard Oil, National Biscuit Company, and National Dairy Products, consumers would always buy their products. Numerous of companies fought to get Mickey Mouse as their spokesperson. Liquor, cigarette, and pharmaceutical companies vied for Mickey’s support, but Disney would not sponsor anything that went against Mickey’s wholesome image. Mickey Mouse had a huge influence on the merchandise industry of the twentieth century, and in doing so Disney Studios extended its power to the economic and everyday part of American life. During World War II Walt Disney expanded his studios to play a role in American politics. After the attack on Pearl Harbor the U. S. government commissioned Disney Studios to create military training videos and propaganda films. Since Mickey Mouse was so popular the government thought they could make military training a little more enjoyable by employing Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters for the movies. Disney Studios became the first and only Hollywood studio the army took over, when 500 US army troops were stationed there. They stored repaired equipment in the soundstage and held ammunition in the sheds. President Franklin Roosevelt used Mickey Mouse as an international symbol of peace to improve the U. S. ’s Good Neighbor Policy; Walt Disney led a Goodwill Tour in South America in 1941 where a vast amount of kids who did not even speak English were eager to meet the creator of Mickey Mouse. Disney was also commissioned by the United States Treasury Department to create a film that would encourage people to pay their taxes. Mickey Mouse appeared as an Uncle Sam type figure and was the symbol of American patriotism during World War II. Mickey was the star of many U. S. nd Allied war posters and propaganda. He appeared on at least 35 home-front insignia designs created by Disney Studios, and he was the mascot for the Red Cross during the war. Disney and Mickey Mouse were such a big part of American culture and the war effort that â€Å"the password for the Allies who stormed the beach at Normandy to crush the German army was ‘Mickey Mouse. ’† Even people on t he Axis Powers looked to Mickey for inspiration during the war. Walt Disney’s help in the war effort further incorporated Disney into the pop culture and everyday life of Americans. One of Walt Disney’s greatest contributions to American pop culture was the amusement park, Disneyland, in Anaheim, California. With Disneyland Walt Disney changed the whole idea of an amusement park. It was not simply a park; it was a whole world; a full imaginative experience. Building Disneyland allowed Walt Disney to live out his imagination, and visiting Disneyland allowed every person to live out his or her wildest dreams. Disneyland appealed to everybody. The park’s traditional turn-of-the-century American main street- Mainstreet USA- made everyone feel at home. Disney filled the park with iconic American images along with images that he had created such as Cinderella, Snow White, the Three Little Pigs, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Disneyland exemplified how much Walt Disney had influenced the imaginations of Americans by creating a certain psychological experience in the park; it was not too loud, crowded, or chaotic like other parks, and everything was soft, harmonious, and unthreatening. The park was also appealing in its cleanliness, the efficiency of the lines, the weather, and even the sound of the park. Disneyland manipulated people into being happy by bringing out the child in everyone, but people were fine with the fact that they were being manipulated because it was executed so well. Disneyland also provided a lesson in American heritage; it taught Americans to remember their roots and traditional post-war values before they go on to fulfill their dreams. Disneyland was also a reflection of Walt Disney himself. Walt Disney put every single one of his living fibers into his park. He micromanaged everything and obsessed over every little detail until it was perfect. His commitment to the quality of the park was one thing that made it so successful; he continuously improved the park, came up with new ideas, new angles, and new additions to make Disneyland more attractive. He felt like this park was another chance to create his fantasy world and make everything exactly how he wanted it. Disneyland portrayed Disney’s sense of wish fulfillment, and life experiences and journey with the use of the different worlds of Disneyland. The images and different lands created in Disneyland could also be applied to the history and growth of America. Frontierland displayed traditional turn-of-the-century images and transported the guests back in time. Fantasyland allowed Americans to live out their wildest dreams and imagination. Adventureland depicted America’s desire for excitement and new experiences. Tomorrowland illustrated the promise of coming technological advances and America’s desire for progress. Disneyland was more than just an amusement park: it affected the lives of generations of people. Walt Disney had such a great effect on people because he embodied the idea of a true American. He represented the typical self-made, family man that people could look to and think if he can make it big, then so can I. Disney was simple, clean, moral, and innocent, and these qualities were infused into his animations and transmitted to people. His old-fashion values such as hard work, perseverance, generosity, and integrity emanated from everything he did and people were just drawn to him. These qualities and values gave people what they needed in troubling times: hope and the ability to believe in themselves. Disney’s personality made him a beloved figure in millions of middle-class households, and he affected the lives of many Americans. Walt Disney died on December 16, 1966, but his legacy continued long after he was gone. In Disney’s mind his greatest legacy would be his work with the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, California. Mrs. Nelbert Chouinard created the Chouinard Art Institute in 1921 with the belief that an art school was needed on the west coast of the United States. Disney had been interested in the Chouinard Institute since the 1930’s and when Mrs. Chouinard fell ill could not take care of it anymore he took over the institute. Disney knew how difficult it was to get admitted to art school and become successful, so he wanted to help out aspiring artists as much as he could. He financed the school, expanded it, and eventually combined it with the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and renamed it the California Institute of the Arts. Walt even said that CalArts would be what he is remembered for. Walt Disney’s legacies continue to have an ongoing impact. Disney’s brother, Roy, once said about Walt Disney, â€Å"There is no way to replace Walt Disney. He was an extraordinary man. Perhaps there will never be another like him. † He distracted people from the strife of the Great Depression, helped our country during World War II, and provided support afterwards. He taught children how to be responsible citizens, while still allowing them to have fun and follow their dreams. He reinforced traditional American values into the minds of Americans. He helped connect the cultures of the world through the use of an iconic cartoon image, while making American culture the most dominant. He recreated the idea of an amusement park and encouraged wish fulfillment. Most importantly he demonstrated how one could turn dreams into reality. Walt Disney inspired the live of millions of children and adults all over the world, and he is considered one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. Works Cited â€Å"Art: Profound Mouse. † Time, 15 May 1933 http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745525-2,00. html (2 November 2010). Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney The Triumph of the American Imagination. New York: Random House, Inc. , 2006. Heide, Robert, and John Gilman. Mickey Mouse The Evolution, The Legend, The Phenomenon!. New York: Disney Enterprises, Inc. 2001. Press, Petra. A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades The 1930s. San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc. , 1999. Schickel, Richard. The Disney Version The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Ibid. , 6. [ 2 ]. Robert Heide and John Gilman. Mickey Mouse The Evolution, The Legend, The Phenomenon. (New York: Disney Enterprises Inc. , 2001). 6. [ 3 ]. Ibid. , 9. [ 4 ]. Art: Profound Mouse,† Time (1933). http://www. time/magazine/article/0,9171,745525-2,000. html (accessed November 2, 2010). [ 5 ]. Heide. 22. [ 6 ]. Petra Press. A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades The 1930’s. (San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999). 94. [ 7 ]. Heide. 22. [ 8 ]. â€Å"Art: Profound Mouse† [ 9 ]. Heide. 86. [ 10 ]. Watts. 148. [ 11 ]. Ibid. , 148. [ 12 ]. Heide. 101. [ 13 ]. Ibid. , 103. [ 14 ]. Heide. 101. [ 15 ]. Ibid. , 103. [ 16 ]. Ibid. , 71. [ 17 ]. Watts. 228. [ 18 ]. Heide. 72. [ 19 ]. Watts. 231. [ 20 ]. Heide. 73. [ 21 ]. Ibid. , 77. [ 22 ]. Ibid. , 81. [ 23 ]. Ibid. , 76. [ 24 ]. Neal Gabler. Walt Disney The Triumph of the American Imagination. (New York: Random House Inc. , 2006). 632. [ 25 ]. Ibid. , 496. [ 26 ]. Ibid. , 497. [ 27 ]. Gabler. 498. [ 28 ]. Ibid. , 535. [ 29 ]. Ibid. , 499. [ 30 ]. Ibid. , 496. [ 31 ]. Watts. 390. [ 32 ]. Gabler. 492. [ 33 ]. Ibid. , 499. [ 34 ]. Watts. 393. [ 35 ]. Ibid. , 146. [ 36 ]. Richard Shickel. The Disney Version The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of alt Disney. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968). 72. [ 37 ]. Watts. 146. [ 38 ]. Ibid. , 358. [ 39 ]. Gabler. 591-592. [ 40 ]. Ibid. , 631. [ 41 ]. Ibid. , 632.