Philippine Rice Farmers Socioeconomic Status Essay Example for Free

Philippine Rice Farmers Socioeconomic Status Essay Rice farmers’ socioeconomic status better when they venture into other businesses. The economic and social status of Filipino rice farmers and their families has steadily improved during the last decade, not because they depended on rice, but because they ventured into other activities that supplemented their income from rice. This was shown by a study conducted by the Socioeconomics Division of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). The study group, led by Divina Gracia Vergara, focused on trends transpiring in rice-based farm households and rice lands, and among farmer operators in 33 provinces for the last 10 years. â€Å"This intensive study captures the farmers’ image from 1996 to 2007,† Vergara said. The study shows that the rice-based farm household income is increasing, as gross household income went up from P68,974.85 in 1996-97 to P127,799.95 in 2006-07. The finding is also consistent with the result showing that almost 60 percent of the households are above poverty level (57 percent) in the 2006-07 period. Furthermore, the share of nonfarming activities as a source of income had steadily been increasing, as the study found that rice and rice-based farmers are now engaged in other businesses, such as rubber production, wood craft, welding and work overseas. â€Å"This finding implies an important question. The question in the long run will be about the presence of household members who are willing to pursue rice farming in the future or dependence of rice-farm households on hired labor for the management of their farms,† Vergara said. Aside from improving the status of rice-based households and increasing their income, Vergara also learned that the number of farmers owning rice land had been increasing by 10 percent for the last 10 years. Moreover, there is also an increase in farmers’ yields regardless of season from 3.30 ton per hectare (t/ha) to 3.72 t/ha during the wet season, and 3.37 t/ha to 3.94 t/ha during the dry season. Across three survey rounds, most villages are located in irrigated areas, and results show that irrigation is expanding from 60 percent to 66 percent. The current trend revealed by the study also suggests that highly educated persons are venturing into rice farming, although the majority is modestly educated or with elementary education only. There is a 2-percent increase in the number of farmers with at least a college education venturing into rice farming. In terms of organizing farmers, however, results show that more than 50 percent of the respondents are not affiliated with rice or rice-based organizations. Most of them have not also undergone training since 2004. Noting that half of the farmer-respondents have been farming for 20 years, Vergara also said farmers’ households are benefiting from the technologies and services that are being provided by the government. Despite the interventions, however, average yields gained during the dry and wet seasons are still below the experimental and on-farm trial yields of 7-9 t/ha. Gaining insight from the study, Vergara and her coauthors recommended that training should be sustained to continuously update farmers’ skills and knowledge. She also stressed the need for the government to encourage farmers to form or join organizations as through organization, farmers can pool resources and have easier access to government incentives. She also suggested the expansion of irrigation are as, as this creates â€Å"a more favorable environment for rice farming in particular and agriculture in general.† To attract more people to be involved in rice production, Vergara proposed that technologies lessening the drudgery of rice farming should continually be developed. â€Å"It is important that the government continue to monitor the rice-based farm household to determine or approximate the impact of their interventions. This will also give them enough knowledge on the direction of the policies that they would formulate to improve the countryside,† Vergara said.

Ethical and legal level of counseling

Ethical and legal level of counseling 1. The concept of ethics and legal Ethics is generally defined as a philosophical discipline that is concerned with human conduced and moral decision making (Van Hoose, 1985). Ethics are normative in nature and focus on principles and standards that govern relationship between individuals, such as those between counselors and clients. Morality, however, involves judgment or evaluation of action. It is associated with such words as good, bad, right, wrong ought, and should (grant, 1992). Counselors have morals, and the theories counselors employ have embedded within them moral presuppositions about human nature that explicitly and implicitly question first What is a person and second, what should a person be or become? (Christopher, 1996) For improving the ethical and legal level of counseling, first, the counselor needs to understand what the word ethical means. Before the first counseling session, the counselor should realize how important about making good professional decisions that are both ethics and legal while being helpful to his or her clients. According to the Websters New World Dictionary (1980), it means 1. having to do with ethics; or of conforming to moral standards, 2. conforming to professional standards of conduct. Notice that these two definitions are distinctly different. This first is a personal phenomenon that is, what is moral is decide most often by individuals. In contrast, the second encompasses behaviors that are considered ethical by some professional group. In the mental health profession, that group could be the American Counseling Association (ACA), or the American Psychological (APA), just to name a few. 2. The development of codes of ethics for counselors The first counseling code of ethics was developed by the American Counseling Association (ACA) (Then the American Personnel and Guidance Association, or APGA) based on the original American Psychological Association code of ethics (Allen, 1986). The initial ACA code was initiated by Donald Super and approved in 1961 (Callis Pope, 1982). It has been revised periodically since that time. The ACA also produces A Practitioners Guide to Ethical Decision Making, video conferences on resolving leading-edge ethical dilemmas (Salo Hamilton, 1996), and an Ethical Standards Casebook (Herlihy Corey, 1996). The ACAs latest ethics code is entailed a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. This code is one of the major signs that counseling has developed into a mature discipline because professions are characterized, among other things, by a claim to specialized knowledge and a code of ethics. In the CAC, ethics standards are arranged under topical sectional headings. They contain material similar to that found in many other ethical codes, yet they are unique to the profession of counseling. 3. Following the Guideline for Acting Ethically For improving the higher level of the ethics of counseling, the counselors should follow guideline for acting ethically. Swanson (1983) lists guidelines for assessing whither counselors act in ethically responsible ways. The first is personal and professional honest. Counselors need to operate openly with themselves and those with whom they work. Hidden agendas or unacknowledged feelings hinder relationship and place counselors on shaky ethical ground. One way to overcome personal and professional honest problems that may get in the way of acting ethically is to receive supervision (Kitchener, 1994). The second guideline is acting in the best interest of clients. This ideal is easier to discuss than achieve. At times, a counselor may impose personal values on client and ignore what they really want (Gladding Hool, 1974). At other times, a counselor may fail to recognize an emergency and too readily accept the idea that the clients best interest is served by doing nothing. The third guideline is that counselors act without malice or personal gain. Some clients are difficult to like or deal with, and it is win these individuals that counselors must be especially careful. However, counselors must be careful to avoid relationships with likable clients either on a person or professional basis. Errors in judgment are most likely to occur when the counselors self-interest becomes a part of the relationship with a client (Germaine, 1993). The final guideline is whether counselors can justify an action as the best judgment of what should be done based upon the current state of the profession (Swanson, 1983). To make such a decision, counselors must keep up with current trends by reading the professional literature; attending in-service workshops and conventions, and becoming actively involved in local, state, and national counseling activities. The ACA Ethical Standards Casebook (Herlihy Corey, 1996) contains examples in which counselors are presented with issues and case studies of questionable ethical situations and given both guidelines and questions to reflect on in deciding what an ethical response would be. Each situation involves a standard of the ethical code. As helpful as the casebook may be, in many counseling situations the proper behavior is not obvious (Gladding, 2001). For example, the question of confidentiality in balancing the individual rights of a person with AIDS and society s right to be protected from the spread of the disease in one with which some counselors struggle. Likewise, there are multiple ethical dilemmas in counseling adult survivors about what to do in a given situation, it is crucial for counselors to concern and talk over situations with colleagues, in addition to using principles, guidelines, casebooks, and professional codes of ethics. 4. Counselor Competence and Referral The ACA Code of Ethics (1995) clearly states that Counselors must practice only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, state and national professional credentials, and appropriate professional experience. The APA Ethical Principles (1992) makes a similar statement and adds that: Psychologists provide services, teach, or conduct research in new area or involving new techniques only after first undertaking appropriate study, training, supervision, and consultation from person who are competent in those areas or techniques. The ethical standards are quite clear regarding what a counselor should do if he is not competent to treat a certain client problem. His first and best choice is to make an appropriate referral. If there is no one to whom he can refer (which would be an exception rather than a common occurrence), then it is incumbent on he to educate himself through reading books and journal articles on the presenting problem and to seek supervision of his work with the client. The counselor has the responsibility for the welfare of the client; therefore, it is his professional duty to obtain for that client the best services possible be it from him or from a professional colleague. Clients are not subjects for your trial and error learning but deserve the best professional care possible. One of counselors responsibilities is to recognize his or her strengths and weaknesses and to offer services only in the areas of his or her strengths. Defining a counselors areas of component usually involves critical and honest self-examination. Calling this subjective component an internal perspective, Robinson and Cross caution counselors to do everything possible to gain the skills and knowledge based to the profession. Counselors need to stretch their skills continually by reading and attending to new and developing trends, through attaining postgraduate education, and through attending seminars and workshops aimed at sharpening and increasing both knowledge and skill bases. All counselors must take full responsibility for adhering to professional codes of conduct that address the concepts of proper representation of professional qualifications, for providing only those services for which they have been trained, and for seeking assistance with personal issues that are barriers to providing effective service. Regardless of the area of the area of service being discussed, counselors are the first-line judge of their professional competence. Although credentialing bodies, professional organizations, and state legislatures may set standards for practice, the counselor must be the most critical evaluator of his or her ability to provide services. This often becomes quite a challenge when ones living dependents on having clients who will pay for service. In fact, the ethical is not always the easy choice. 5. Improving Ethics Decisions Making in Counseling The making ethics decision is the crucial key for achieving a higher level of the ethics of counseling. Ethics decision making is often not easy yet is a part of being a counselor. It requires virtues such as character, integrity, and moral courage as well as knowledge (Welfel, 1998). Some counselors operate from personal ethical standards without regard to the ethical guidelines developed by professional counseling associations. They usually function well until faced with a dilemma for which there is no apparent good or best solution (Swanson, 1983). At such times, ethical issues arise and these counselors experience anxiety, doubt, hesitation, and confusion in determining their conduct. Unfortunately, when they act, their behavior may turn out to be unethical because it is not grounded in any ethical code. The researchers found five types of ethical dilemmas most prevalent among the university counselors they surveys there: a. confidentiality, b. role conflict, c. counselor competence, d. conflicts with employer or institution, and e. degree of dangerousness. The situational dilemmas that involved danger were the least difficult to resolve and those that dealt with counselor competence and confidentiality were the most difficult. The surprising finding of this study, however, was that less than over-third of the respondents indicated that they relied on published professional codes of ethics in resolving dilemmas. Instead, most used common sense, a strategy that at times may be professionally unethical and at best unwise. It is in such types of situations that need to be aware of resources for ethical decision making, especially when questions arise over controversial behaviors such as setting or collecting fees or conducting dual relationships (Gibson Pope, 1993). Ethical reasoning, the process of determining which ethical principles are involved and then prioritizing them based on the professional requirements and beliefs, is also crucial (Lanning, 1992). In making ethical decisions, counselors should take actions based on careful, reflective thought about responses they think are professionally right in particular situations (Tennyson Strom, 1992). Several ethical principles relate to the actives and ethical choices of counselors: Beneficence (doing well and preventing harm), Non malfeasance (not inflicting harm), Autonomy (respecting freedom of choice and self-determination), Justice (fairness), and Fidelity (faithfulness or honoring commandments) (Herlihy, 1996). All these principles involve conscious decision making by counselors throughout the counseling process. Of these principles, some experts identify non malfeasance as the primary ethical responsibility in the field of counseling. Non malfeasance not only involves the removal of present harm but the prevention of future harm and passive avoidance of harm. It is the basis on which counselors respond to clients who may endanger themselves or others and why they respond to colleagues unethical behavior. 5.1 Educating Counselors in Ethical Decision Making Ethical can be improving in many ways, but one of the beat is through course offering that are now required in most graduate counseling programs and available for continuing education credit. Such courses can bring about significant attitudinal changes in students and practicing professionals, impairment, and multiculturalism (Coll, 1993). Because ethical attitudinal changes are related to ethical behavioral changes, courses in ethics on any level are extremely valuable. Van Hoose (1979) conceptualizes the ethical behavior of counselors in terms of a five-stage developmental continuum of reasoning: Punishment orientation. At this stage the counselor believes external social standards are the basis for judging behavior. If clients or counselors violate a societal rule, they should be punished. Institutional orientation. Counselors who operate at this stage believe in and abide by the rules of the institutions for which they work. They do not question the rules and base their decisions on them. Societal orientation. Counselors at this stage base decisions on societal standards. If a question arises about whether the needs of society or an individual should come first, the needs of society are always given priority. Individual orientation. The individuals needs receive top priority at this stage. Counselors are aware of society needs and are concerned about the law, but they focus on what is best for the individual. Principle (conscience) orientation. In this stage concern for the individual is primary. Ethical decisions are based on internalized ethical standards, not external considerations. As Welfel and Lipsitz (1983) point out, the work of Van Hoose and Paradise is especially important because it is the first conceptual model in the literature that attempts to explain how counselors reason about ethical issues. It is heuristic (i.e., research able or open to research) and can form the basis gor empirical studies of promotion of ethical behavior. Several other models have been proposed for educating counselors in ethical decision making. Based on Gumaer and Scott (1985), for instance, offer a method for training group workers based on the ethical guidelines of the association for specialists in group work. This method uses case vignettes and Carkhuffs three-goal, model of helping: self-expectation, self-understanding, and action. Kicherner (1986) proposes an integrated model of goals and components for an ethics education curriculum based on research on the psychological processes underlying moral behavior and current thinking in applied ethics. Her curriculum includes counselors to ethical issues, improving their abilities to make ethical judgments, encourage responsible ethical actions and tolerating the ambiguity of ethical decision making (Kitchener, 1986). Her model and one proposed are process oriented and assume that counselors do not learn to make ethical decisions on their own. Pelsma and Borgers (1986) particularly emphasize the how as opposed to what of ethics that is, how to reason ethically in a constantly changing field. Other practitioner guide for making ethical decisions are a seven-step decision making model based on a synthesis of the professional literature, a nine-step ethical decision-making models follow based on critical-evaluative judgments and seven other models created between 1984 and 1998 (cottone Claus, 2000). These ethical decision-making models follow explicit steps or stages and are often used for specific areas of counseling practice. However, through empirical comparisons and continued dialogue, the effectiveness of the models may be validated. In addition to the models already mentioned the ACA Ethics Committee offers a variety of educational experience. For example, members of the committee offer learning institutes at national and regional ACA conferences. In addition, they publish articles in the ACA newsletter. Finally, to promote counseling practices, the committee through ACA publishes a type counselors guide entitled: What you should know about the ethical practice of professional counselors, which is on the ACA website as well as printed (Williams Freeman, 2002). 6. Focus on Clients Rights When clients enter a counseling relationship, they have a right to assume that you are competent. In addition, they have certain rights, known as client rights, as well as responsibilities. These rights have their foundation in the Bill of Rights, particularly the first and fourth amendment of the constitution of the United States, which are freedom of religion, speech, and the press and right of petition and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, respectively. The concept of confidentiality, privileged communication, and informed consent are based on the fourth amendment, which guarantees privacy. Privacy has been defined as the freedom of individuals to choose for themselves the time and the circumstances under which and the extent to which their beliefs, behaviors, and opinions are to be shared or withheld from others (Corey et al., 1988). 6.1 Improving Confidentiality and Privileged Communications The concept of privacy is the foundation for the clients legal right to privileged communication and counselors responsibility to hold counseling communications confidentiality is a professional concept. It is so important that both the APA (1992) Ethical principles and the ACA (1995) Code of Ethics each devote an entire section to confidentiality. However, a clients communications are not confidential in a court of law unless the mental health professional is legally certified or licensed in the state in which he or she practices. Most states grant the clients of state-certified or licensed mental health professionals (such as psychologists, professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists) the right of privileged communications. This means that clients, not counselors, have control over who has access to what they have said in therapy and protects them from having their communications disclosed in a court of law. In order for communication to be privileged, counselors should follow four conditions. First, the communication must originate in confidence that it will not be disclosed. Second, confidentiality must be essential to the full and satisfactory maintenance of the relationship. Third, in the opinion of the greater community, the relationship must be one that should be sedulously fostered. Finally, injury to the relationship by disclosure of the communication must be greater than the benefit gained by the correct disposal of litigation regarding the information. If as a counselor can claim these four conditions, then his clients communications are not only confidential, but they are also privileged and, therefore, are protected from being disclosed in a court of law. One must remember, however, that there is always a balance between a clientss right to privacy and societys need to know. Despite the importance given to confidentiality and privileged communication, pope, and Keith-Spiegel (1987) reported that 62 percent of psychologists in a national survey indicated that they had unintentionally violated a clients confidentiality and 21 percent had intentionally violated a clients confidentiality. These alarming statistics suggest that mental health professionals are at risk for violating this core ethical principle. Therefore, all mental health professionals need to be aware of the professional standards regarding confidentiality, the professional is guilty of breaching the confidentiality. Secretaries are considered extensions of the certified or licensed mental health professionals to which they are accountable. 6.2 Improving Informed Consent The ACA (1995) Code of Ethics is very specific with respect to what should be disclosed to clients in order for them to give informed consent: When counseling is initiated, and throughout the counseling process as necessary, counselors inform clients of the purposes, goals, techniques, procedures, limitations, potential risks and benefits of services to be performed, and other pertinent information. Counselors take steps to ensure that clients understand the implications of diagnosis, the intended use of tests and reports, fee, and billing arrangements. Clients have the right to expect confidentiality and be provided with an explanation of its limitations, including supervision and treatment team professionals; to obtain clear information about the case records; to participate in the ongoing counseling plans; and to refuse any recommended services and be advised on the consequences of such refusal. If a counselor is asked by a client to disclose to a third party information revealed in therapy, have the client sign an informed consent form before making any disclosure. The counselor may be surprised to learn that counselor are not even permitted to respond to inquiries about whether they are seeing a person in therapy even the clients name and status in counseling are confidential, unless the client has granted permission for this information to be released. One exception is when the client is paying for the services through an insurance company. This automatically grants the insurance company limited access to information regarding the client. The client needs to be made aware of the parameters of the information that will be shared with the insurance company prior to beginning therapy. Again, it is evident how important it is to have potential clients sign an informed consent form before they become clients. 6.3 Improving Clients Welfare All the preceding discussion rests on the permission rests on the premise that the counselors primary obligation is to protect the welfare of the client. The preamble to the APA (1992) Ethical Principles specifically states that it has as its primary goal the welfare and protection of the individuals and groups with whom psychologists work. A similar statement is made by ACA (1995) Code of Ethics: the primary responsibility of counselors is to respect the dignity and to promote the welfare and of clients. Dual relationships, counselors personal needs have already been discussed; attention now needs to be given to the third concern. An additional set of guidelines comes into play when a counselor is doing work or working with a couple or family. In a group setting, special issues include qualifications of the group leader, informed consent when more than the group leader will be participating in therapy, the limits to confidentiality and to privileged communication when third parties are present in therapy, and understanding how individuals will be protected and their growth nurtured in a group situation. Unlike individual counseling, clients who want to be involved into a group experience need to be screened before being accepted into a group. This screening not only ensures that the client is appropriate for the group but also protects other group members from a potentially dysfunctional group member. It is evident that client welfare, whether in individual therapy or in group work, rests squarely on the shoulders of the counselor. The counselor must be cognizant of the various aspects of the counseling relationship that can jeopardize the clients welfare and take the steps necessary to alleviate the situation. Robinson Kurpius and Gross offer several suggestions for safeguarding the welfare of each client: Check to be sure that you are working in harmony with any other mental health professional also seeing your client. Develop clear, written descriptions code of what clients may expert with respect to therapeutic regime, testing and reports, recordkeeping, billing, scheduling, and emergencies. Share your professional code of ethics with your clients, and prior to beginning therapy discuss the parameters of a therapeutic relationship. Know your own limitations, and do not hesitate to use appropriate referral sources. Be sure that the approaches and techniques used are appropriate for the client and that you have the necessary expertise for their use. Consider all other possibilities before establishing a counseling relationship that could be considered a dual relationship. Evaluate the clients ability to pay and when the payment of the usual fee would create a hardship. Either accept a reduced fee or assist the client in finding needed services at an affordable cost. Objectively evaluate client progress and the therapeutic relationship to determine if it is consistently in the best interests of the client. Improving the Ethics of Counseling in Some Specific Situations Counselors should check thoroughly the general politics and principles of an institution before accepting employment because employment in a specific setting implies that selves in institutions that misuse their services and do not act in the best interests of their clients, they must act either to change the institution through educational or persuasive means or find other employment. The potential for major ethical crises between a counselor and his or her employer exists in many school setting. School counselors are often used as tools by school administrators. When the possibility of conflict exists between a counselors loyalty to the employer and the client, the counselor should always attempt to find a resolution that protects the rights of the client; the ethical responsibility is to the client first and the school lore other setting second (Huey, 1986). One way school counselors can assure themselves of an ethically sound program is to realize that they may encounter multiple dilemmas in providing services to students, parents, and teachers. Therefore, before interacting with these different groups, school counselors should become families with the ethical standards of the American school counseling association, which outlines counselors responsibilities to the groups with whom they work (Henderson, 2003). One of the most common situations of counseling is about the family and marriage. The reason is that counselors are treating a number of individuals together as a system, and it is unlikely that all members of the system have the same goals. To overcome potential problems, Thomas (1994) has developed a dynamic, process-oriented framework for counselors to use when working with families. This model discusses six values that affect counselors, clients, and the counseling process: (a) responsibility, (b) integrity, (c) commitment, (d) freedom of choice, (e) empowerment, and (f) right grieves. Then, when a counselor faces the counseling of family or marriage, he or she should try to follow this framework. The use of computers and technology in counseling is another area of potential ethical difficulty. The possibilities exist for a breach of client information when computers are used to transmit information among professional counselors. Other ethically sensitive areas include client or counselor misuse and even the validity of data offered over computer links. In addition, the problem of cyber counseling or web counseling that is, counseling over the internet in which the counselor may be hundreds of miles away is fraught with ethical dilemmas. Thus, the national board of certified counselors has issued ethical guidelines regarding such conduct. Other counseling settings or situations with significant potential for ethical dilemmas include counseling the elderly, multicultural counseling, working in managed care, diagnosis of clients, and counseling research (Jencius Rotter, 1998). In all of these areas, counselors face new situations, some of which are not addressed by the ethical standards of the ACA. For instance, in working with older adults, counselors must make ethical decisions regarding the unique needs of the aging who have cognitive impairments, a terminal illness, or who have been victims of abuse. In order to do so, counselors may apply principle ethics to these situations that are based on a set of obligations that focus on finding socially and historically appropriate answers to the question: What shall I do? In other word, Is this action ethical? They may also employ virtue ethics, which focus on the character traits of the counselor and nonobligatory ideals to which professional aspire. Rather than solving a specific ethical question, virtue ethics are focused on the questions: Am I doing what is best for my client? Counselors are wise to integrate both forms of ethics reasoning into their deliberations if they wish to make the best decisions possible. In making ethical decisions where there are no guidelines, it is also critical for counselor to stay abreast of current issues, trends, and even legislation related to the situation they face. In the process, counselors must take care not to stereotype or otherwise be insensitive to clients with whom they are working. For instance, a primary emphasis of research ethics is, appropriately, on the protection of human subjects in research. In the area of research in particular, there are four main ethical issues that must be resolved: a. informed consent, b. coercion and deception, c. Confidentiality and privacy, and d. reporting the results. (Robinson Gross, 1986) All of these areas involve people whose lives are in the care of the researcher. Anticipation of problems and implementation of policies that produce humane and fair results are essential. 8. Improving the Legal Aspects of Counseling Counselors must follow specific legal guidelines in working with certain populations. But counselors may often have considerable trouble in situations in which the law is not clear or a conflict exists between the law and professional counseling ethics. Nevertheless, it is important that providers of mental health services be fully informed about what they can or cannot do legally. Such situations often involve the sharing of information among clients, counselors, and the court system. Sharing may be broken down into confidentiality, privacy, and privileged communication. Confidentiality is the ethical duty to fulfill a contract or promise that the information revealed during therapy will be protected from unauthorized disclosure. Confidentiality become a legal as well as an ethical concern if it is broken, whether intentionality or not. It is annually one of the most inquired about ethical and legal concerns received by the ACA Ethics Committee including dilemmas regarding right to privacy, clients right to privacy, and counselors avoiding illegal and unwarranted disclosures of confidential information (Williams Freeman, 2002). Privacy is an evolving legal concept that recognizes individuals rights to choose the time, circumstances, and extent to which they wish to share or withhold personal information. Clients who think they have been coerced into revealing information they would not normally disclose may seek legal recourse against a counselor. Privileged communication, a narrower concept, regulates privacy protection and confidentiality by protecting clients from having their confidential communications disclosed in court without their permission. It is defined as a clients legal right, guaranteed by statute, that confidences originating in a therapeutic relationship will be safeguarded (Arthur Swanson, 1993). Most states recognize and protect privileged communication in counselor-client relationships. As opposed to individuals, the legal concept of privileged communication generally does not apply in group and family counseling (Anderson, 1996). However, counselors should consider certain ethical concerns in protecting the confidentiality of group and family members. One major difficulty with any law governing client and counselor communication is that laws vary from state to state. It is essential that counselors know and communication to their cli

Classical vs. Keynes Essay -- essays papers

Classical vs. Keynes The Classical model of the economy says that all markets always clear. The labor market failing to clear does not exist in the Classical model because of competitive exchange equilibrium in which prices and quantities always adjust perfectly. The Classical model is of a closed economy and the variables are real output, employment, real and nominal wages, the price level, and the rate of interest. It is easier to understand the classical model using five diagrams that are numbered one through five in Appendix One, The Classical Model. These diagrams represent the separate parts of the model that together illustrate, for the most part, the entire Classical model. Diagram one represents the production function, which shows the assumption that real output, y, is determined by the level of employment, N. So y is a function of N and from the slope of the function we can see that output rises as employment is increased. But there is a diminishing marginal productivity of labor, which m eans that each time employment increases, the increase in output will get smaller and smaller. Diagram one illustrates the relationship between output and employment in the short run, but does not determine the level of output or the level of employment. But when used together with other diagrams of the model, diagram one can be used to figure these things out. Diagram two is the labor market with the real wage, w, on the vertical axis and employment, N, on the horizontal axis. In the classical model, the supply of labor depends upon the real-wage level because as the real wage rises, more people are willing to work. The line SN represents the labor supply function and the line DN represents the demand for labor. As the real wage increases so does the labor supply function, but as the labor supply function increases, the demand for labor decreases. Because the Classical model makes real wages perfectly flexible and allows it to adjust to the level that clears the labor market, the real wage and the level of employment can be figured out by using diagram two. Once given the level of employment determined from diagram two, it is possible to use diagram one to figure out the level of output. So diagrams one and two, also know as the real sector, can be used to determine employment, real output, and the real wage without any knowledge of the monetary... ...se in bond prices. The decrease in interest rate causes an increase in investment and then this causes an increase in aggregate demand, which then causes income and employment to increase. This can be seen in diagram four, and then because of the increase in income, going back to graph three, we can see that this would cause an increase in consumption. From diagram five, we can see because of the increase in employment that this would cause a decrease in real wages. The decrease in real wages would then cause involuntary unemployment to decrease. Because of the different effects that money has on the economy in these models, they arrive at different conclusions. The Classical economy seems to be in favor of no policy since everything works itself out and ends up in equilibrium since all the markets clear. The opposite is true for the Keynes model, where they are in favor of government intervention since it is not inherently self-regulating and the markets do not clear. The Keynes model needs a little help from the government, or the central bank, to achieve equilibrium, where as the Classical model, assuming all assumptions were realistic, is self-regulating and all markets clear.

Effective Cancer Screening Methods Essay -- Health, Screening, Early

Effective cancer screening methods are used to detect or identify the presence of a specific cancer before the individual displays any symptoms of cancer. Early detection of a cancer through screening can save the life of a person who may have died without screening detection. Early detection of cancer can also provide a less costly and more effective treatment than if the cancer progresses requiring more advanced or drastic treatment. Screenings tests for the more common cancers such as breast, colon, prostate or cervical can be non-invasive or only slightly invasive. The majority of screening procedures are non-invasive which is more cost effective, patient convenient, and does not require any patient aftercare. Screening tests usually have a recommended age and frequency. As people age there is a higher risk of cancer and more screening is recommended. There are some considerations on whether to screen or not to screen such as; is the cancer common or fatal, are there detectable symptoms, and how reliable are the test results (Bast, 2000). There are currently two slightly invasive screening tests used to detect prostate cancer. They are the digital rectal exam (DRE) and the prostate-specific antigen blood test (PSA). The DRE is a quick exam that can check the prostates health. A doctor inserts a gloved and lubricated finger into the rectum to feel the back portion of the prostate for size, irregularity or abnormal areas. DRE is the only method in which a physician can physically examine the prostate gland. If a doctor does find an irregularity the conclusion is not necessarily prostate cancer, but a reason to pursue diagnosis (Bast, 2000). â€Å"Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a protein produced by cells of the prostate g... ...te posts coated with antibodies that bind to tumor cells. When blood passes across the chip, cancer cells stick and stains make them glow for easy detection† (Prostate.net, n.d.). This blood test could possibly eliminate tissue sampling and imaging scans (Prostate.net, n.d.). EN2 is a new prostate cancer test measuring the EN2 protein in urine. â€Å"The study found that testing for the protein could accurately identify 66% of men with prostate cancer, and correctly rule out the disease in almost 90% of men without the disease† (National Health Service, 2011). The cases of prostate cancer were confirmed with a biopsy. The University of Surrey, UK studies confirmed that â€Å"even if the EN2 test performs well in larger scale testing, the test would not necessarily replace PSA testing† (National Health Service, 2011) but could be used with PSA (National Health Service, 2011)

Epic Theatres :: essays research papers

Epic Theatres "Epic Theatre turns the spectator into an observer, but arouses his capacity for action, forces him to take decisions...the spectator stands outside, studies." (Bertolt Brecht. Brecht on Theatre. New York:Hill & Yang, 1964. p37) The concept of â€Å"epic theatre† was brought to life by German playwright, Bertolt Brecht. This direction of theatre was inspired by Brecht's Marxist political beliefs. It was somewhat of a political platform for his ideologies. Epic theatre is the assimilation of education through entertainment and is the antithesis of Stanislavsky's Realism and also Expressionism. Brecht believed that, unlike epic theatre, Expressionism and Realism were incapable of exposing human nature and so had no educational value. He conjectured that his form of theatre was capable of provoking a change in society. Brecht's intention was to encourage the audience to ponder, with critical detachment, the moral dilemmas presented before them. In order to analyse and evaluate the action occurring on stage, Brecht believed that the audience must not allow itself to become emotionally involved in the story. Rather they should, through a series of anti-illusive devices, feel alienated from it. The effect of this deliberate exclusion makes it difficult for the audience to empathise with the characters and their predicament. Thus, they could study the play's social or political message and not the actual events being performed on stage. This process is called Verfremdungseffekt, or the alienation effect, where instead of identifying with the characters, the audience is reminded that they are watching only a portrayal of reality. Several well-known Brechtian plays include Drums in the Night, Edward 2, The Threepenny Opera, Rise and Fall of the Town of Mahoganny, The Life of Galileo, The Good Person of Szechwan, Triple-A Plowed Under, One-Third of a Nation, Mother Courage and her children and the Caucasian Chalk Circle. A play whose dramatic structure and didactic purposes epitomises epic theatre is The Caucasian Chalk Circle (CCC). The prologue of this play transpires in a Caucasian village of the Soviet Union, where the people of this village are being presented a play called â€Å"The Chalk Circle†. This play is narrated by a â€Å" Singer† and embarks on the story of a servant girl, Grusha, who rescues the governor's son when their city falls under siege. The son, Michael, has been left behind, without so much as a backward glance, by his fleeing mother. Grusha escapes, with Michael in her arms, to the mountains where they live for over a year. Along this journey, countless places and people are encountered, a number that would only occur in epic theatre. In truly epic fashion, the play then regresses to the beginning of the story and

History and myth Essay

‘The World’s Wife revises fairytale, history and myth and reworks it into contemporary, feminist fables. ‘ With reference to three of the poems in the volume examine the techniques employed by Duffy in writing contemporary feminist fables. Duffy’s volume â€Å"The World’s Wife† is a collection of dramatic monologues where Duffy becomes a ventriloquist inventing the words, which famous, silent, wives from history or myth might have said. Her use of humour and play on clichi s creates a collective female voice where dominant male characters are being criticised. Duffy reworks contemporary feminist fables and adopts different personae by employing different techniques, which are particularly displayed in her poems, â€Å"Mrs Midas†, â€Å"Mrs Lazarus† and â€Å"Mrs Aesop†. Duffy’s use of witty humour in the poem â€Å"Mrs Aesop† allows her to condescend the male counterpart, by turning his famous fables against him and questioning his manhood. On the contrary, â€Å"Mrs Lazarus† portrays a more emotional persona grieving over her husband’s death, where her ‘other half’ fails to consider the impact of his return. Similarly, in â€Å"Mrs Midas†, the male character is overcome by greed, blinding his ability to comprehend the repercussions of his actions. The metaphorical autobiographies allow Duffy to adopt a variety of dramatic personae and assume a multiplicity of voices, which portray issues and views sensitive to her own. She explores the notion of the self in relation to the other, particularly in the poem, â€Å"Mrs Midas†. The poet is able to present a wide range of emotions through the practical persona that feels a sense of exasperation due to her husband’s selfishness. The sensual qualities of the persona are highlighted through the use of soft sounds, ‘breath†¦ brow’, and ‘my fingers wiped the other’s glass’. She is then depicted as multitalented, especially in comparison to her husband who ‘was standing under the pear-tree snapping a twig’. His pointless and ridiculous activity belittles his usefulness and thus increasing his wife’s, as it does not require much talent to carry out such an activity. The persona undertakes an anecdotal approach, principally when the tragedy is building up, belying the serious concern, ‘I said’ and ‘What in the name of God is going on? ‘ show the use of colloquial language, which help the persona’s voice emerge. The phrasing used throughout the poet emphasizes her practicality and ability to make sense out of any situation, ‘I served up the meal’ and ‘So he had to move out’, illustrate that she is not theatrical, but is calm and logical, which is a comparison to her partner’s childish and immature behaviour, ‘he toyed with his spoon’. The persona is able to rise above him, assert her authority and her use of bitter sarcasm introduces comedy to the poem. Duffy’s use of the clichi , which is commonly present in her poems, is used to show how worthless he has become and how ashamed and fearful she is for him, as he is a ‘fool’ who could not think beyond his short-term greed. Similarly, â€Å"Mrs Lazarus†, also has to face the consequences of her husband’s return after she finally manages to deal with her grief over his death and move on. The dramatic persona created in this poem is extremely loyal to her husband and devastated at the fact that she has lost ‘her other half’. ‘Howled, shrieked, clawed’ and ‘one empty glove’ reinforce the imagery of suffering and grief-stricken state. She is a persona very expressive of her emotions and goes through the entire pain of her loss, even to the extent where there are images of suicide because of what she is feeling, ‘double knot†¦ round my bare neck’. The alliteration of soft, ‘slept.. single.. stuffed’ and harsh sounds, ‘gone†¦ gutted†¦ glove’, bring emphasis to the range of her emotional suffering. As her memory of him and grief is receding, she develops a more practical, factual tone in her diction, ‘Then he was gone’, showing that she has finally moved on. When her husband returns, her phrasing and diction changes and it begins to sound more harsh and bitter, ‘rotting†¦ grave’s slack chew’, as a reflection of the fact that he is insensitive to her emotions, despite everything she has been through.

Jack Mapanje as an Imbongi.

HOW JACK MAPANJE FULFILLS THE ROLE OF AN â€Å"IMBONGI†- ON HIS ROYAL BLINDNESS PARAMOUNT CHIEF KWANGWALA. Africa is one of the world's continents, having a unique physical make up of its own which comprises of some of the distinct features in the likes of mountains, lakes, falls and plains just to mention a few. It is from this outset that one of the integral branches of literature particularly African literature sprouted.Practiced and expressed in the southern central nation of Malawi, African literature was used as a tool in a fight for change and was used to question the monstrous leadership of the Malawi nation which was being practiced by the then country's president late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Chirambo (2009: p1) highlights that the government of former president for life Dr. H. K. Banda and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in Malawi was a dictatorship that relied on coercion as well as mobilization of grassroots popular support and consent to maintain itself in power for 30 years (1964–1994).It was this governance that gave birth to different self camouflaging writing styles, a point which Kerr (1987) agrees to by saying that writers formed a Malawian creative writing movement which used literary methods that frequently outwitted Banda and his ever vigilant formal and informal censors. Jack Mapanje, James Gibbs, Leroy Vail and Landeg White all give accounts of how writers managed to beat censorship. Using oral forms, new metaphors from Malawi's indigenous languages, suggestive words, puns, and certain popular phrases, they managed to camouflage some of the critical literature for circulation without reprisal.Depicting such a writing style some of the writers emerged as messengers. These messengers in African literature are termed as â€Å"Imbongis†. This essay intends to bring to the fore how Jack Mapanje fulfills the role of an imbongi through his writings basing its discussion on a three stanza poem â€Å"On His Royal Blindness Paramount Chief Kwangwala†. Mapanje is one of Malawi’s renowned poets who suffered the hand of Kamuzu's readership as he was detained without charge for almost four years between September 1987 and May 1991.At the time of his arrest, Mapanje was serving as Chair of the English Department at Chancellor College of the University of Malawi. To this day the government has not given the actual reasons for his detention (Chirambo: 2009, p4). Writing in the time s of â€Å"Kamuzuism† a term assigned to symbolize Kamuzu's oppressive acts, Mapanje secured the role of an imbongi as his writings circulated against Kamuzu's leadership with criticism, disagreement and at the same time praise. Whereby these are some of the roles of a praise poet (an Imbongi).Mafeje(1967: p193) defines an imbongi as someone who lived in close proximity to the Chief’s Great Place and who accompanied the Chief on important occasions . His performances would be directed at the Chief, decry ing what was unworthy, praising what was worthy and even forecasting what was going to happen. Clearly, the Imbongi's role was one that allowed for criticism . With reference to Mafeje's definition then taking a closer look at Mapanje's title â€Å" On His Royal Blindness Paramount Chief Kwangwala† it can easily be assumed that the poet was describing the leadership of a chief whom the poet himself served as an imbongi.The title on the other hand is brandished with sarcasm as the poet has used the term â€Å"blindness† which represents the lost in direction of the leadership in discussion. This leadership can be equated to that of Kamuzu this is so as Banda regarded Malawi as one big village in which he was the paramount Chief, father, guardian, and protector of all people and went so far as to call Malawi, â€Å"my tribe . . . the whole nation, the tribe of Malawi† (Chirambo: 2001, p 226). This prompts us to earmark Kamuzu as the chief who's leadership the poet is trying to describe with sarcasm.In the opening stanza the poet is praising the chief by describing how the chief (Kamuzu) finds loyalty in the carried-awayness of his people not under the fact that they really are carried away but the chief has instilled in them a sense that he is their hero. This is the Same spirit that those who lived in the Kamuzu era expressed and it was due to the fact that Kamuzu termed himself with all sorts of self praising names for example Banda was called â€Å"Wamuyaya†, meaning â€Å"the immortal†.The other reason for the undeserved praises was that Kamuzu ordered all women and girls to sing songs of praise where ever he was to visit and he named them â€Å"Mbumba za Kamuzu† meaning Kamuzu's children. As an Imbongi the poet in the first two lines of the poem praising his chief but at the same time in the preceding four lines of the stanza the poet is expressing his bad feeling over how the chief talks to his people as he address es.The poet has used the term â€Å"golden breath† which insinuates the importance of the chief's talks simultaneously criticizing him even more by calling the speeches breath wasting, this has been presented in irony in the line that says . â€Å"Those impromptu, long-winded tirades of your might† Thus Mapanje depicting the role of an imbongi. The second stanza is just a continuation ironic praise the poet is expressing towards the Chief to whom he is an imbongi. In the first lines of the stanza th poet is refuting the thinking that he is criticizing the chief's powers which is exactly what he did in the first stanza.He manages to do this by admitting that him too is supposed to praise the leader and this has been developed in the lines that say; â€Å"I know I too must sing to such royal happiness† â€Å"And I am not arguing†. To further show his devotion Mapanje describes the leader's might by talking about how those that questioned his power suffered, and this is praise in disguise making Mapanje to assume the role of an Imbongi. Mapanje brings up the issue of those that suffered Kamuzuism as they questioned the leader's powers, as a away of showing up his might and at the same time exposing the dark parts of the leader's era.This has been brought up in the lines that say; â€Å" How dare I when we have scribbled our praises all over our graves? † Which is a question that the poet has posed to mean how could he question the president's leadership yet he knows that others have died because of doing the same. A point which in similar vain Steve Chimombo raised in his piece â€Å"A Dead Song† in which he picked animals in the likes of lizards and rats and described by saying they kept seeking refuge from time to time. In Chimombo's context these homeless animals symbolized some of the politicians who went into exile and others who died mysteriously.Mapanje in the last lines of the second stanza is using the leader's i ll-treatments for praise and implicitly unveiling the president's monstrosity. Thereby fulfilling his role as an imbongi. In the third stanza Mapanje is proceeding with his criticism by highlighting that he can not go against the president's governance as he knows people have always done what ever they can to make the leader proud and he would not want to defy such a record. This is in the five lines that say; â€Å"Why should I quarrel when I too have known mask dancers Dancers making troubled journeys to the gold minesOn bare foot and bringing back fake European gadgets The broken pipes, torn coats, crumpled bowler hats, Dangling mirrors and rusty tin cans to make their dancing strange? † Mapanje closes the last line by questioning if others did not die trying to please the president. This is to prove how inhuman the president was. In complete closure Mapanje's last stanza is in total refutation of his underlying criticism in the first three stanzas. He addresses the chief as â€Å" His grace† in sarcasm and refers to himself as just a child who is bored by the chief's self-praising, long, meaningless and tedious speeches .Even though he throws such criticism is at the same time praising the chief in the lines that say â€Å"I am only a child surprised how you broadly disparage Me shocked only by the tedium of your continuous palaver. I adore your majesty†. The poet then goes on by reminding the leader that his leadership powers are time bound and will at some point in time come to an end, and this is in total rejection of the term that refers to the president as being immortal the poet has presented this as a simile.He is also making a wake up call to the nation by asking it as to when will it realize it is misled by old age that is being expressed by the president. This has been expressed by the poet in the lines that say; â€Å"But paramountcy is like a rain drop On a vast sea. Why should we wait for the children to Tell us about too thless gums or our showing flies. In conclusion Jack Mapanje as a poet he fulfills his role as an imbongi by using irony, sarcasm, similes, metaphors as poetic tools to camouflage his Kamuzuism challenging ideas which is one of the roles of a praise poet (Imbongi) .Despite highlighting the monstrosity of Kamuzu's leadership, Mapanje at the same time praises the president. Thereby fulfilling his role as an Imbongi. REFERENCES. Chirambo, R. (2001) â€Å"Protesting Politics of ‘Death and Darkness’ in Malawi. † :Journal of Folklore Research 38. 3. Chirambo, R. (2009) â€Å"Subverting Banda’s Dictatorship in Malawi: Orality as Counter-Discourse in Jack: PDF. Chimombo, S. (1987) â€Å"Napolo Poems†. Zomba: Manchichi Publishers. Kerr, D. (1987) â€Å"Theater in Malawi', The Drama Review 31†, Summer. Mafeje, A. (1967) â€Å"The Role of the Bard in a Contemporary African Community† :Journal of African Languages.