Collaborative E-learning in Saudi Arabia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cooperative E-learning in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example The new advancements give the special chance to e-learning as a feature of the dynamic instructive procedure. The advanced education organizations in Saudi Arabia can utilize the e-learning assets to improve the nature of the conveyed instruction. Community oriented e-learning has the upside of being adaptable for the students and the coach. It is additionally profoundly important for bunch work since there is the need of class conversations which should be possible in online structure. Thusly, the individuals from the gathering would have sufficient opportunity to reevaluate their situation without the social weight of the eye to eye contact (Flexible Learning Website). Another angle worth referencing is the capacity of the understudy to establish the tone of the learning procedure. In this manner the student can understand the benefit of assuming liability for his/her own improvement. As it were, e-learning trains the understudy to be proactive and take a fundamental part during the time spent obtaining new abilities. Diverse learning styles are additionally tended to by setting the accentuation on one own pace of learning (Flexible Learning Website). The advantages of e-learning can be experienced particularly in Islamic nations, for example, Saudi Arabia. As per the Koran a lady can't be seen without her cloak by guys aside from her closer family members. The male educators may encounter troubles from strict embodiment while instructing to female understudies. Albeit direct instructing was utilized before 1990, it is not true anymore. The issue is developed by the absence of female teachers in advanced education ( Mirza, 2007; Using Distance Learning Technologies to Deliver Courses in a Segregated Educational Environment). The most advantageous approach to address this issue is through e-learning. Innovation may be incorporated in such cases. One model is the shut circuit TV which is utilized by the educator to convey a talk to female understudies who get the data legitimately at the female grounds. Another example is the utilization of broadcast communications at the King Saud receptacle Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. The program is arrangement in a manner to such an extent that a course is educated to both male and female understudies simultaneously, with both auditoriums being inside nearness to each other. In actuality, the male and female auditoriums are straightforwardly contiguous each other. Every understudy has an individual customer machine associated through a neighborhood to the teacher's PC ( Mirza, 2007; Using Distance Learning Technologies to Deliver Courses in a Segregated Educational Environment). All things considered, e-learning may present different issues to the guide and the understudies. In spite of the fact that, it is profoundly intuitive, it cuts the immediate contact between the educator and the understudies. It prompts powerlessness to grasp the material and misconception of the genuine reason for contemplating the specific subject. Great usage of separation learning requires incredible information on the pre-owned programming and immaculate PC education There are teachers as well as understudies who need more opportunity to obtain the particular abilities required for the execution of the e-learning. Another part of e-learning is the general freedom of the learning procedure which may be hard to understudies with terrible time-the executives propensities. They would be scared by the advancement of the others while not having the option to set schedule for their

THE REAL VALUE OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL AND HOW IT IS INCLUDED IN A Essay - 1

THE REAL VALUE OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL AND HOW IT IS INCLUDED IN A COMPANYS FINANCIAL STATEMENT - Essay Example The information on an association is what is at time alluded to as the intellectual prowess; accordingly, insightful capital can be seen as the elusive resources utilized by the organization really taking shape of its administrations and items. Scholarly capital, in this way, can be thought to be the key parts of the company’s benefit and misfortune articulations, just as its monetary records. In that capacity, the estimation of a business is, thusly, contained its income created through its scholarly gifts, monetary resources, scholarly resources, and physical resources (Barney, et al., 2001). Three components of scholarly capital include: Human capital predominantly contains the qualities gave by business representatives through use of mastery and aptitudes ‘know how’. This segment of scholarly capital isn't possessed by an organization, and in this manner when a representative leaves the organization, the human capital thusly diminishes (Peloso, 2008). Human capital can, along these lines, be utilized to gauge how successful an organization is utilizing its kin assets as a proportion of advancement and innovativeness. Basic incorporates the strong foundations, databases and procedures of an association that empowers the human money to work. Segments of auxiliary capital incorporate structures, procedures, programming, etc. Moreover, auxiliary capital likewise incorporates things, for example, data framework, restrictive databases, innovative work foundation offices and organization’s picture. The decent variety of auxiliary capital requests that it is separated into: procedure, advancement, and association capital. Procedure capital incorporates strategies of projects and the methods that execute and upgrade the conveyance of administrations and products. Advancement capital incorporates impalpable resources and scholarly properties of the partnership. Hierarchical capital, then again

UK Schools in Anti-Gay Marriage Scandal

UK Schools in Anti-Gay Marriage Scandal The OE Blog Serious questions have been raised about the impartiality and non-political nature of UK schools after claims emerged that some may have encouraged students to sign a petition against same sex marriage. The Department for Education is investigating after it emerged that the Catholic Education Service sent a letter to all Catholic secondary schools, arguing against the legalisation of gay marriage, which is currently being debated in the UK. The letter describes marriage as “a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman” and argues that “neither the Church nor the State has the power to change this fundamental understanding of marriage itself”. Equal rights campaigners have been angered by the rhetoric of the letter, which sets out a “Catholic vision of marriage”, which it subtly implies necessitates the participation of both a male and female partner in order to be successful. But its referral to the importance of marriage as enshrining the production and education of children has been deemed offensive by many activists, as gay adoption is legal and common in the UK. The letter also inadvertently angered many others by referring to “an instinctive understanding that the stability of a marriage provides the best context for the flourishing of their relationship and for bringing up their children.” Many might interpret this as outright criticism of unmarried cohabiting couples, single parents and unmarried mothers and fathers, as it explicitly suggests that their children are likely to suffer as a result of their choices. The main objection to the letter, however, centres not on its contents, but on the fact that it was sent to schools at all, as, by law, politically one-sided arguments are not allowed to be promoted to children by teachers or schools. The idea is that schools should provide a ‘safe space’ for education and development free from the risk of political influence, prejudice or bias. But the Catholic Education Service has tried to circumvent this problem by claiming that “the Catholic Church’s view on the importance of marriage is a religious view, not a political one”. This is a tricky area, as Catholic schools have indeed always been allowed by law to teach sex and relationships education that is in line with the teachings of the church, including stressing the importance of marriage. The furore over schools teaching potentially harmful or prejudiced ideology to children has recently centred on Michael Gove’s pet ‘free school’ scheme, as the government’s ‘laissez-faire’ attitude towards these schools has raised fears that they would be allowed to indoctrinate children with extreme religious and social beliefs. In fact, a similar row erupted in February, when a booklet condemning homosexuality was handed out at Catholic schools in Lancashire. The fear is that the Equality Act of 2010 (which protects students from discrimination on the grounds of their protected characteristics, including sexual orientation) does not extend to the contents of the curriculum, meaning that potentially deeply damaging attitudes such as homophobia might be legally ‘taught’ in the classroom. Those concerned about this politicisation of children in education have been further enraged by the claim, reported by pinknews.co.uk, that one school actually went as far as to stage a presentation about the issue and “urge” pupils to sign the anti-gay marriage petition. The article also includes a quote attributed to Greg Pope, the deputy director of the Catholic Education Service, in which he admits asking schools to “draw attention” to the petition. There are fears that this politicisation of vulnerable students at a time in their lives when they are arguably most open to influence, particularly from trusted authority figures such as teachers, could extend further under the new free school regime. Not to mention the potential knock-on-effect on the marginalisation and persecution of pupils in schools whose sexual orientation does not conform to the attitudes being promoted in RE lessons. It is surely problematic to conform to an Act that protects children from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation on the one hand, and yet allow the teaching of homophobic ideology on the other, as the two must inevitably be inextricably linked. It seems some greater clarification will be needed from the Department for Education to prevent such issues from taking centre stage on the curriculum again in the future.

Twinkle, Little Star - 1512 Words

Twinkle, Little Star Entwined within two poems, one titled Bright Star and authored by John Keats, the other called Choose Something Like a Star penned by Mr. Robert Frost, emerges the similar theme of the human need for stability and sense of permanence. Although varied in literary devices, sub themes, and structure the like poems strongly convey this common ideal and do so with the powerful icon of the star, or the heavens. The star historically represents the eternalness of the heavens and the unattainable by human beings. Initially, Keats establishes the immediacy of his words in speaking directly to the star in question. The use of apostrophe in the very opening line, as Mr. Keats addresses the star, Â…would I were steadfast as†¦show more content†¦All of the above mentioned words are instructive and bland in reference to human emotion. Rather than wanting the unrealistic fortune of being the eternal star itself, Frost suggests knowing the secrets of its longevity i s of a more comprehendible nature. Accessing word choice and tones are not the only methods Frost and Keats use to align meaning in their work. Structure and movement are also woven masterfully in to guide a path from entertaining prose, to ultimate meaning. Easily the most obvious difference in style is that Bright Star is a Shakespearean sonnet. Fourteen lines in all and constructed with an (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) rhyme scheme, the piece is armed with words and ideas of dream-like wishes and unreachable odds. Comparatively, Choose Something Like a Star follows a disjointed rhyme scheme and is categorized into no particular style of poem, equipped with 25 lines. Generally, the piece follows a mimicked system to that of Keats modeled by an (AABA AA CBCB) rhyme scheme; however it does include several couplets lodged about (hence, the AA). While a rhyme scheme incorporated at all always implicates a natural movement, it can also work reversely to create a more matter-of-fact approach to p rose. Specifically, Robert Frosts disorderly schemes remove the romantic effect of flow seen in Keats poem. It is not, essentially, as ‘nice to read nor as easy to maneuver. Keats steady pentameter reemphasizes the dreamlike essence that is so vividlyShow MoreRelatedRole of Music in My Life1518 Words   |  7 Pagesat kindergarten. I do a lot of performance that are related with music when I’m in my school age and I really enjoy it. I can say that music has become part of my life. Even in kindergarten, I had been taught by music such as ABC’s song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday song, If You Are Happy and others. There are so many different categories and genres of music such as ballad, rock, Jazz, hip hop, pop, techno and others. Whatever kind of music that I heard, it always gives joy and entertainmentRead MoreAnalysis of The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot Essay1367 Words   |  6 Pagesthe overall feeling of the hopelessness in just the opening lines, W e are the hollow men / We are the stuffed men(lines 1-2) establish a grim feeling of emptiness. Images like This is the dead land / This is cactus land#8230;Under the twinkle of a fading star (lines 39-44) create a bleak, dry, desert land setting. The theme of the poem parallels those of Conrads Heart of Darkness (Smith). The degradation of ritual (religious or otherwise) and the emptiness or reduction of human to childishRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Blazing Sun 2271 Words   |  10 Pagesâ€Å"Twinkle, twinkle little star, how you wonder what we are†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The ghostly figures sing, standing in the hall. Everything goes dark, but Daniel can hear voices talking. He is unable to make out what they are saying though. It sounds like a different language of some kind. There is one word he is able to recognize, ‘Virgo’. â€Å"Hello, what is going on?† Daniel says, hoping for some kind of answer. The chatter of voices continues, as if Daniel said nothi ng. â€Å"When the blazing Sun is gone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Repeats as it didRead MoreDescriptive Essay : Sleep, My Mother 1737 Words   |  7 Pagesparents would leave me soon, I could feel it, they always smiled a little bit more when we made trips like these, I would be hauled into the car, gripping what little luggage I could throw together, and sent to a relatives for the night. There, I would be ushered into an assuredly uncomfortable and terrifying room, and left in the dark with the instruction to rest. I was six now, and perhaps I would finally be permitted to stay out a little longer. I couldn’t remember when we had driven this way beforeRead MoreWriting And Writing Of Writing952 Words   |  4 Pagesdid not make any mistakes. Over my years of writing I have enhanced my expressiveness, originality, and creativity. Growing up, I loved writing poems. My love for poems developed from listening and loving nursery rhymes such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Ring around the Rosie, and many others. When I was five years old, I wrote and presented a poem of mine in my church auditorium with members present. I had anger problems growing up, and my psychologist taught me to let outRead MoreDescriptive Essay : Unforgettable Strangers1373 Words   |  6 Pagesthousands of people wondering what I would do. What instrument would I play? Would I make a mistake? Would I be any good? Most people probably saw a short girl wearing a floppy pink dress and assumed I would be playing a basic rendition of â€Å"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.† I did n’t blame them. I would have made the same assumption. The only difference was that I wasn’t part of the crowd. I was up on stage, and for the moment, I only had to please myself. I broke the silence with a soft, lingering note thatRead MoreEssay on Nicki Minajs Negative Influence on Your Children674 Words   |  3 Pagesfemales doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot and I thought that to have the success they got; I would have to represent the same thing. Minaj was named the 2011 Rising Star by Billboard. Brent Staples of The New York Times suggests that some consider her, The most influential female rapper of all time. Nicki’s music plays on all the hottest stations and many channels on your television at home. Young people areRead MoreDescription And Description Of Center 11335 Words   |  6 Pagesaround both centers. We learned that music is helpful in cognitive development because it is very rhythmic and repetitive. So and SSO †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..center used the xylophone to play twinkle twinkle little star and using hand movements to sing the itsy bitsy spider. With activities such as these that used their hands to represent stars and make diamonds in the sky and represent spiders with their hands, they were encouraging fine motor skills . Read MoreMy Childhood Memories Of My Grandfather And Me1223 Words   |  5 Pagesthings on our way to his house, we always sang â€Å"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star†. I remember looking out the windows while we sang and admired the beauty of the night. Coming up to the big red barn I knew that we were almost there. My grandparents lived near Saint Peter, Minnesota on Lake Washington. And every night after eating dinner, we would make a fire, look out upon the lake, and lay on the grass looking for constellations. My favorites were the Little Dipper and the Big Dipper. But of course, weRead MoreStars and Nuclear Fusion Essay662 Words   |  3 PagesA star is luminous point in the night sky that is a large, Indecent bodies like the sun. Stars are made up of big exploding balls of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium. The sun is similarly a star made up of huge amounts of hydrogen, undergoing a continuous nuclear reaction like a hydrogen bomb. Stars come about when vast clouds of hydrogen, helium and dust contract and collapse due to gravity. The clouds came from astronomical plasma from â€Å"The Big Bang†, but the dust comes from the supernovae of

Essay on The Three Modes of Persuasion Socrates Apology

Ciara Watson The Three Modes of Persuasion: Socrates’ Apology In speaking of effective rhetorical persuasion, we must appeal to our target audience in a way that will get them to accept or act upon the point of view we are trying to portray. Aristotle said that we persuade others by three means: (1) by the appeal to their reason (logos); (2) by the appeal to their emotions (pathos); and (3) by the appeal of our personality or character (ethos) (Corbett and Connors 32). When Socrates, an infamous rhetorician, gave his â€Å"apology† to his fellow Athenians after being accused of atheism or not believing in the gods and corrupting the youth with similar teachings, he employed all three modes of persuasion to prove his innocence. Despite the†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"After long perplexity, I thought of a method of trying the question. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser than myself, then I might go to the god with a refutation in my hand† (Plato 199). He validated his belief in the oracle to disprove the accus ation of his atheism and show this as the reason behind his â€Å"mission to find a wiser man.† In â€Å"Socrates: A Companion to the Philosophers, John Beversluis says, â€Å"This disappointing venture had convinced him that the god was right: no one is wiser than Socrates, albeit only in the modest sense that, unlike the others, he does not claim to know what he does not know.† In Alexander Sesonke’s review of â€Å"Plato’s Apology: Republic 1†, he boasts Socrates appeal to logos writing, â€Å"His method in Republic 1 as throughout the early dialogues, is to seek truth via refutation; to elicit opinion and then confront it with a contrary opinion held with equal firmness. It is a method requiring great logical agility whose exercise is based upon the faith that conviction and truth are to be achieved by finding in each respondent the true voice of his true self.† Despite facing the death penalty, Socrates logically defends his way of life and maintains his composure. In a large portion of his speech Socrates used the syllogism to appeal to his audience’s reason. The syllogism was a schematic device that Aristotle invented to analyze andShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Benjamin And Plato s Apology872 Words   |  4 Pagestake center stage in a discussion, which essential evolves it into a term of rhetoric. The combinations of those three modes of persuasion really make or break any kind of protest or critique. Within the passages of the book of Amos and Plato’s Apology, both hold those main three concepts within their rhetoric. Regardless of the subject, time period, or religious view, having those three components is what makes and supports a good healthy discussion, which, in my eyes, effectively appeals to the audienceRead MoreCMNS 304 Notes Essay5778 Words   |  24 PagesLECTURE 4 Rhetoric = Art of persuasion (form and content = important) Craft of effective communication, message and convincing people to act Logic - reasoning / grammar - written language Notion of Expectation = What do you expect to be convinced? Logic = Presentation that shows truth and the opposite 2 Kinds of Logic Formal (ways of making statements that can be math proved/ scientifically proved â€Å"if not this, then that† Informal (everyday reliance, involves persuasion) May use techniques of deception

Oprah Winfrey’s 2008 Stanford Speech Free Essays

This speech was about three lessons that Oprah Winfrey has come across in her professional and personal life. She talked about striving to be yourself and not anyone else and how you can grasp failure and turn it around by embracing it and finding the solution, and lastly how happiness comes when you give back to others. Her first lesson was about striving to be your own self; she talked about in the beginning of her professional career when she had a job in Baltimore as a news anchor. We will write a custom essay sample on Oprah Winfrey’s 2008 Stanford Speech or any similar topic only for you Order Now She was constantly holding Barbara Walters as the image she wanted to be in her career and wanted to be like. So she was always trying to talk like Barbara, look like Barbara and act like Barbara†¦ And she kept getting it wrong. She felt the need to be spontaneous and more of herself when she would read some of the headings†¦. Especially upsetting headings with disasters involved. So she would sometimes not pre-read any of headings until she was live so it would come across more realistic. She once covered a story of a horrible fire and afterwards ran to the scene and helped the fire victims by providing blankets. She never lost her empathy. She ran into some barriers during this job that ultimately helped her find her true purpose in life. The first barrier was that her boss let her know that they did not like the way she looked, and that they wanted to give her a new name that they thought would be more â€Å"friendly† and would be remembered by the public. She refused to change her name but did try to improve her looks by getting a perm that eventually made her hair fall out. She was let go from her position as the news anchor and placed on a talk show instead. It was there on the talk show that she felt she was at home and knew she had found her purpose in her life. So here she learned that she should never try to be anyone other than herself†¦ and that when you are doing something you are supposed to do you will feel right about it. She referred to it as feeling â€Å"at home†. Her second lesson was about embracing your failures and leaning with them instead of resisting them to find the solution. She talked about some of her failures and how she gained from them instead of being devastated. She mentioned her job loss in Baltimore†¦ at first she was upset but it turned out to be one of the best things to have ever happened to her because out of t she would up on a television show and found her place in her future HUGE professional life. She talked about how your gut can tell you a lot. When you are doing something you’re supposed to be doing your gut will let you know it. When you’re doing something you probably shouldn’t be doing, your gut will also tell you. Something just won’t feel right. That th ere is an inner voice inside you that you must follow and that it guides you through life. She calls is â€Å"life’s whisper†. Oprah stressed that when devastation hits you, take a step back and ask â€Å"what is this trying to teach me? She told the story of building a school in Africa for girls and took so much effort into making sure the building was perfect for the girls. Then she found out that one of the dorm matrons was suspected of sexually abusing the girls. She expressed how devastating this was to her and that she had to take a step back and ask herself what was the lesson here? She realized she was paying attention to all the wrong things. That she built that school from outside in, when what really mattered was the inside. She also expressed that she feels you never stop learning. She was referring to the graduates of Stanford that their education journey does not end her and that looks to the earth as a huge school never ending learning experience, and that she is still learning to this day. She went over a few quotes by her father and by BB King. Her last lesson was about giving back to others. And in order to be happy you MUST give back to others. And with that comes happiness. It gives you gratitude and makes you feel good. She also said to be a part of something bigger than yourself because life is a reciprocal exchange. She expressed that giving back is the greatest lesson of all to her. She talked about how in her career how she has given back in numerous amounts of ways and gave advice for whenever you’re in a mess, you help someone else get out of a mess†¦ whenever you are in pain, help someone else in pain, whenever you have a loss help someone else with a loss†¦. She talked about how the founders of Stanford University lost their son and how they took their pain and sorrow and channeled it into grace and started the University and helped other people with children like their son. She told the students that whatever their career may be that they use their ability to help others and pass along greatness. She ended with a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote. Speech Analysis Oprah gained the audience’s attention right away because she is a widely known influential media leader. She is the Oprah Winfrey. She started by telling the audience she had a secret and that one of the students Kirby (Gail King’s daughter) was her god daughter and gave a quick story of how she knows Kirby and how proud she was of her god daughter for graduating. This was also part of an attention getter. Oprah used good eye contact and her voice manner was very pronounced and sure of herself. She is obviously a very experienced speaker, being Oprah. She used humor throughout her speech such as saying â€Å"Stanford† with a serious tone in her voice. She kept her speech very relatable to the graduates of Stanford by talking about her professional career and all her goals she met and would occasionally talk to them specifically and give them advice about when they go out in their career how they can help, or not to give up because of failures, etc. Oprah had good body gestures and moved her arms around when talking, gave great pauses for emphasis and looked around at the audience. She did not seem to read her speech word for word, but rather just glance down at her notes and just speak freely of her own experiences. She talked a lot about her college career in the beginning of her speech which also gained attention from the graduates. O Oprah’s vocal tone was as always, inviting and I think that really kept the audience engages and very attentive towards her and what she was saying even though her speech was pretty long (30 min). Oprah was never repetitive and her examples were very witty and relatable. She gave each audience member two books from inspirational writers that she claimed helped her with her own life. She joked with the audience saying she wished she could have gotten everyone cars, but couldn’t pull it off. Oprah’s speech was very inspirational, impacting and I believe left a huge impression and impact on those 2008 graduates’ lives. I loved the speech and am happy I watched it and picked this one to analyze. How to cite Oprah Winfrey’s 2008 Stanford Speech, Essay examples

International Education, Its Benefits and Issues

Education scholars argue that international education helps in creating awareness of other people’s cultures, world regions, and further makes students familiar with global and international issues. It also helps in fostering the spirit of multiculturalism as a key driver of globalization enabling students to communicate in foreign languages amongst other benefits.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on International Education, Its Benefits and Issues specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, the extent of international education to achieve these goals precisely is dependent on the existence of homogeneity of its approaches deployed by global education institutions. To determine whether this homogeneity exists, it is rather pertinent that a comparison methodology exists for all international education institutions to adopt. However, this paper argues that various problems exist in making international comparisons . The first problem in making international comparison stems from the existence of differences in the definition of the term itself. The term international education attracts valid and often highly debated definitions. Some scholars have considered the meaning of the term from two general perspectives, which are dependent on levels of student’s involvements. One perspective lies on the perception that international education prepares students from differing nations to take an active part as participants in social, economic and political matters of an interconnected world (Cambridge Thompson 2004, p.162). To achieve this, it is necessary that students learn foreign languages. Spellings (2007) supports this argument and further argues that learning foreign languages would enable the U.S people to communicate effectively the American ideas and also values while in return America would come to a better understanding of various global issues (Spellings 2007, p.5). Realization of this dream is apparently impossible due to the existence of varying emphasis on specific areas in international education. Making comparison is then also a problem. As a way of example, Spellings (2007) argues that, in China, Thailand, and the European Union, it is compulsory for the student to study foreign languages.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Compared to America, only 44 percent of high school students studied a foreign language in 2002 with less than 1% studying Korean, Urdu, Japanese and Russian combined (Spellings 2007, p.6). The second approach in defining international education is looking at it as an education that helps in transcending various national borders through promotion of exchanges of various people of different nationalities. In this context, international education entails students travelling to do their studies in various higher learning institutions branche s established in foreign nations as a part of exchange programs (Cambridge Thompson 2004, p.167). This is the position also held by Ignacio and Morentin (2003) who argue that international education is education for international understanding and helps in fostering democracy, peace and human rights among the global society (pp.5 -8). However, Cambridge and Thompson (2004) contest this view. They argue that â€Å"the majority of international schools operate in a variety of local contexts and usually students do not travel terribly far to attend an international school because they reside with their parents, who are expatriates working in a country that is not their home, and attend an international school in their locality or a nearby city† (p.166). In this context, the decision to attend an international school is not by virtue of the need to foster international understanding but because of circumstance. In making comparison of international education, data relating to va rious educational systems coupled with their interrelationships in different nations is necessary. Such data include data on the conditions in which various education systems function in respect to demographics coupled with social-economic traits of the population including public support, special groups of student and financial resources (Schleicher 1999, p.216).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on International Education, Its Benefits and Issues specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Though this data may be available in different nations, variation in structure and governance in international education systems makes educational comparisons a nightmare. This implies that despite such data being widely accurate and sufficient to meet the demand of national requesters, the data may cease being of any significance in relation to international education comparisons due to the existence of differences emanating from differing classifications and definitions. Apparently, education systems may not be possible to hold constant to facilitate validity of various comparisons especially in situations where education frameworks systems and various policy priorities keeps on changing with time. Arguably, one can achieve precise comparisons through narrowing down objects of international education comparison to a given common denominator, for instance age. However, Spellings (2007) informs that â€Å"while about 34 percent of white adults had obtained a bachelor’s degrees by age 29†¦the same was true for just 18 percent of African American and 10 percent of Hispanic adults in the age cohort† (pp.4-5). This shows that differences in term of object under comparison exist and hence uplifting the difficulties of making valid comparisons. Different perspectives of viewing functions of education introduce challenges in making comparisons of international education. As a way of example, some nations s ee education as serving public interests. Others see education as a â€Å"commodity† subject to action of various theories of improvement such as accountability theories, and new public management approaches (NPM). Indeed, Schellenberg (2004) reckons that â€Å"the privatization of education today introduces industry to the provision of education in a new way and changes the notion of education as a public institution to education as a marketable product† (p.80). Lack of harmonized view of function of education makes its international comparisons difficult. This holds true based on the sense that, upon its commoditization, it is a product bought by those who can afford it (OECD 2005). Seeking positions in the international schools consequently ceases from being a way of ensuring harmonization of valid people’s cultures to an opulence living style.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Arguably consistent with Schellenberg (2004), â€Å"as the state’s role in providing education changes, its citizens lose the opportunities in the educational systems to develop all the capacities required for full citizen participation (p. 94)†. On the other hand, where people perceive education as serving public interests, promoting international understanding being one of them, seeking international education evidently serves as a means of breaking down national borders, and exposing students to job opportunities internationally. Different emphasis of certain areas of education also poses problems to making comparisons of international education. Spellings (2007) contend that while the U.S higher education focuses more on creativity and a critical thinking, other nations such as Japan emphasize more on mathematics and technical subjects often making them more competitive both economically and educationally (p.4). Ideally, this implies that attempting to make interna tional comparisons of these two national educations, a common object for analysis is not evident. Consequently, in an endeavor to make students competitive internationally, the U.S needs to focus more on the areas where other nations are emphasizing. From this argument, it is perhaps evident that the focus of international education is valid. While some nations have economic gain associated with it, others seek fostering harmonization of people beliefs and values across the globe and hence common platforms for comparison fail to exist. In my own opinion, and in the light of the above problems in making comparisons of international education, I do not believe that it is possible to make international comparisons. From one dimension, it is apparent that differing nations have different emphasis of their education systems. Where students study in foreign nations emphasizing on technical subjects like math and engineering like in Japan (Spellings 2007, p.4), it is likely that they would follow the same emphasis in selecting their area of specialization as opposed to the emphasis subjects in their native nations. Consequently, making comparison of international education in the two nations is problematic by the fact there lacks common objects of comparison. Additionally, differing demographic characteristics of varying groups under comparison in different nation also makes the whole idea of comparing international problematic. For instance, in cases of differences of average ages at which people acquire bachelor degrees introduces problems in making comparison since people of different ages are anticipated to have differing cognitive abilities. Conclusively, a shift on the way people and state see the functions of education, nonexistent of differing common objects for comparison, and differing areas of educational emphasis make comparisons of international education impossible. Additionally, as argued by Schellenberg (2004), â€Å"as the state’s role in pro viding education changes, its citizens lose the opportunities in the educational systems to develop all the capacities required for full citizen participation† (p. 94). Appreciation of one’s citizenship in the international schools indeed goes far in forming the basis of examination of differences between ones national affiliations and affiliations of other people belonging to different nations in an endeavor to foster international understanding. References Cambridge, J Thompson, J 2004, ‘Internationalism and Globalization as Contexts for International Education’, Journal of Comparative and International Education, vol. 34 no.2, pp.161-175. Ignacio, J Morentin, D 2003, What is International Education? UNESCO Answers, UNESCO Centre, San Sebastian. OECD. 2005, ‘Education Trends in Perspective Analysis of the World Education Indicators 2005 Edition: Trend in Education Participation and Outputs’, Source OECD Education, vol. 1 no.8, pp. 7-51. Sch ellenberg, M 2004, ‘Globalization and Citizenship Education: Implications for the Nation State’, Canadian and International Education, vol. 33 no. 1, pp. 75-98. Schleicher, A 1999, Comparability Issues in International Education Comparisons. OECD, Paris. Spellings, M 2007, ‘Fostering Global Understanding through International Education’ International Educator, vol.16 no. 2, pp. 4-6. 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