OZONE DEPLETION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

OZONE DEPLETION - Essay Example n with focus on chemical aspects such as composition and properties, causes of ozone depletion, chemical actions that define depletion, and chemical effects of ozone depletion. Ozone is a chemical substance, existing in molecular state and consisting or three oxygen atoms. It is a product of chemical reactions and because of its unstable condition, can easily dissociate if triggered. Its formation begins with dissociation of an oxygen molecule to form oxygen atoms through the following path and under ultra violet radiation. The process occurs under photochemical dissociation and the oxygen atoms react with oxygen molecules in the presence of stabilizing factors, such as nitrogen molecules and oxygen molexules, to form the ozone. Ready availsbility of oxygen molecules from which dissociation occurs means ease of formation of the ozone gas. the following equations shows the reaction into formation of ozone (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2010, p. 1). The ozone can also dissociate easily in the presence of such catalysts as nitrogen monoxide, chloride atoms, and chloro-fluoro carbons. The following equation shows the dissociation that also defines depletion of the ozone. The ozone is therefore a chemical substance whose existence also depend on other chemicals in its environment. the other chemicals may facilitate formation of the ozone, as oxygen and nitrogen molecules do, of may facilitate dissociation as do chlorine atoms and chloro-fluoro carbons (Columbia University n.d., p. 1). Ozone is an unstable chemical and easily dissociated into oxygen molecules, in the presence of catalysts. It also has a short half life and therefore dissociates independently to characterize depletion. This means that its continuous formation and minimal chemical dissociation are necessary for stability in its volume. Ozone is also soluble in water and the solubility is a factor of both temperature and concentration. it its gaseous state, higher concentration of

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Business Law - Essay Example What will happen if people will know about the duplication? Will there be legal consequences given the situation? Brief Answer One of the possible effects of what Sam Evening’s act is getting charged of theft by false pretenses. This includes false promises which are promises without intent of performance. In the case at bar, Sam Evening and Janet Evening promised to sell to the customers 1000 pieces of Limited Royal Wedding Collectibles which are handmade and personally painted and signed by the artist. The customers are being promised with the quality and the worth of the product. But selling a product made through the service of duplication company is making false pretenses and future promises about products. They are selling the products with intention to gain. Courts will require having a good materiality of misrepresentation. There should be causal relation between the swindler’s deception and the victim’s loss. The state of mind of the accused with respect to his intentions should be given great importance. In the case, Sam’s situation can be said to be a form of obtaining money by false pretenses. Another possible legal effect of Sam’s action is theft by deception. A different offense and can be define in a broader sense. This is the type of theft which uses deception to obtain property of another or service of another. This happens when a person has an intention to deceive other persons to gain. Sam Evening will also be held liable for damages under the Tort Law. These are the damages that he will eventually cause to his business partners under breach of partnership trust. Under the Tort Law, a relief is provided for those who suffered harm from the wrongful acts of others (Hg.org, Tort Law). Statement of Facts The case at bar is considering the possible legal issues that Sam Evening will face after selling products made through the service of duplication company. The products are to be sold as Limited Edition Royal W edding collectibles. There will only be 1000 limited collectibles to be sold for $100. Janet and Sam are so confident that the plates would increase in value. The sellers decided to guarantee the increase in value by promising to buy any plate back within five years from issuance at an appreciated price of 5% annually. Sam and Janet and a friend of theirs, Largess Bucks, each contributed $1000 to cover expenses Sam began producing and signing the plates and Janet created a website to advertise and sell the plates to customers in the United States. After handpainting, signing and numbering 37, Sam got tired and felt like he was doing all of the hard work. Janet did manage the website, including processing payments and shipping products. Their other partner is Largess did nothing. Sam Evening found a plate duplication service and decided to get the service of a duplication company to finish the works of the plates. The company required a minimum order of 1000 plates in order to perfor m these services and a down payment of $3000 to start the order with the remaining $7000 to be paid upon delivery. Unfortunately of the $3000 that they had contributed, $1000 had been used for initial supplies, $500 to set up the website payment processing service, $185 for initial shipping supplies and $315 had been paid to repurchase three plates out of a total of ten plates that had been shipped so far. Sam thought that income from the first set of plate sales would be given at the end of April. So Sam decided to take the $1000 remaining and added $1000 of his

Bus 303 Practice Midterm Essay Example for Free

Bus 303 Practice Midterm Essay Characters: Cathy and Dave, a well-to-do professional couple Al, a real estate salesman Cathy and Dave are young, upwardly mobile. They hold good professional jobs in downtown Chicago. One day Cathy received an invitation in-the mail, from a resort called Green Acres (GA), which was located near the mountains, about eight hour driving time from Chicago. The mailer invited the young couple to spend two nights free of cost and receive $50 for expenses. All they had to do in return was to listen to a presentation, see a video, and take a tour of the resort for about two hours. Additional conditions included 24 hour advance booking of the room with 24 hour notice for cancellations, and a valid credit card. Green Acres would charge $50 for a no show. Although the letter made no mention of it, Cathy and Dave knew the invitation was a real estate promotion and guessed that the two hours with the GA staff meant a hard sell for a condo or a timeshare near a lake or a golf course, something they did not want. They decided to take the offer anyway in order to get a free vacation and arranged to visit GA the following weekend. Cathy and Dave had a good time at GA. The only sour point of the trip was the last exchange they had with Al the salesman. At the end of the two hour presentation when Cathy and Dave had refused to buy any GA properties, Al looked at Dave in frustration and said, â€Å"If you knew you weren’t going to buy any property here, why did you come? Our company spent $300 to get you down here, and you have taken food off my family’s table. What you did is immoral. Please don’t do it again. At this Dave retorted, â€Å"Your letter was clear, there was nothing in it that said a purchase of real estate was involved, and we had no obligation to buy anything from you. Your invitation was unconditional, I don’t owe you or your family anything and I resent what you just said.† At the end of this uncomfortable exchange, Cathy and Dave left the room with an unpleasant feeling. But the unpleasant feelings did not last long because the drive back through the mountain s was truly spectacular. After a few days Cathy said to Dave, â€Å"You know, Im still mad about what Al said to us at Green Acres. Should we write to his boss, or to the real estate board or to some government agency? You know, if we don’t do something, some poor unsuspecting people might fall for their gimmicks!† Dave replied, â€Å"No, I dont think we should waste any time on this. Most people know, or should know what they are getting into-there are no free lunches! Besides if we complain, Al may lose his job and when we’ll be really taking the food from his family’s table!† What Are the Relevant Facts? 1. Cathy and Dave are educated and well paid. 2. They received an unsolicited invitation from Green Acres (GA). 3. The invitation had nothing in it that said they had to buy anything from GA. 4. They correctly guessed that the GA sales staff would put pressure on them to buy real estate. 5. GA was eight hours driving time from Chicago. 6. Al made a sales presentation. 7. Cathy and Dave listened to the presentation. 8. Al said Cathy and Dave had acted immorally and had deprived him of a chance of earning a sales commission. 9. Dave said that they had fulfilled their obligation, as outlined in the invitation, and had not acted incorrectly. What Are the Ethical Issues? 1. What is the role of inducements in marketing? 2. What is the responsibility of individuals who accept inducements? Do they have any moral obligations to purchase goods if they accept free gifts from merchants? 3. Is giving attractive gifts to potential buyers an ethical practice? Does the size of the gift or the inducement matter? 4. Cathy and Dave were sophisticated, educated city folk and did not feel pressured to buy from GA. Do less educated or less sophisticated consumers feel pressured to buy merchandise under enticements of gifts? Would such business practice be considered ethical? 5. Should Cathy and Dave complain so that other vulnerable people may not be pressured into buying expensive property they do not want? Who Are the Primary Stakeholders? †¢ Cathy and Dave †¢ Al †¢ GA †¢ GA’s stockholders †¢ Other potential consumers, especially the vulnerable ones What Are the Possible Alternatives? 1. Cathy and Dave can forget the incident and do nothing. 2. They can file a complaint with GA. 3. They can file a complaint with the appropriate authorities. 4. They can write to Al. What Are the Ethics of the Alternatives? 1. What is the best course of action for Cathy and Dave from the moral standpoint? What is the best course of action that Cathy and Dave take that will provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number? 2. Do Cathy and Dave and other potential customers have rights not to be pressured or induced into actions they may not wish to take? Do GA and Al have rights to pursue their business and personal interests? Were any rights violated? 3. What is the just thing to do in this case? Which alternative distributes the burdens and responsibilities fairly? If Cathy and Dave act and if GA improves its practices everyone except Al may benefit. Not complaining may mean Al will continue his tactics and undermine GA’s goals assuming that word would get around and additional customers will be offended. What Are the Practical Constraints? None. What Actions Should Be Taken? 1. What should Cathy and Dave do? 2. Which alternative would you choose? 3. Which approach (utilitarian, rights, or justice) makes the most sense to you in this situation? Clearly, no action could mean unsuspecting people may be lured into buying expensive real estate with potentially severe consequences. Complaints could lead to improved practice and better performance but could lead to the loss of Al’s job. 4. What is the right thing to do?

The Challenger Shuttle Disaster Engineering Essay

The Challenger Shuttle Disaster Engineering Essay Abstract The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a global leader in the field of space flight and space science. NASA as an organization is exclusive in terms of mission, vision, objectives, magnitude, control, risk, and complexity. NASAs space flight program is the most complex and difficult task in their history. It is well known that the accident of Challenger space shuttle on 28th January 1986 was attributed to organizational failure. The breakdown of Columbia space shuttle in February 2003 points out again how even minute details play important roles in complex and high risk organizations. Many major organizational failures are result of poor decision making, adverse conditions, and poor assumptions. This paper focuses on Challenger Columbia space shuttle disaster, and validation behind calling it as an organizational failure. If NASA is sincerely thinking about reducing failure, they should consider organizational change to reduce probability of occurrence of such m ishaps. Introduction An organization exists when a group of people work together to achieve goals (Daft, 2007). Organizations are all around us and shape our lives in many ways. Organizations can be classified on the basis of scope, size, clientele, and nature of services. Even though the work culture of every organization is different, the basic principle of operation is same. With rapid globalization, there is added pressure on organizations to outperform each other. The pressure on a firm is the direct pressure on employees to perform. Every individual react to this pressure differently and at times can affect decision making skills in a poor manner. Organizational failure can be described as a single major incident, or chain of incidents, resulting from the action or inaction of individuals associated with the organization (Gillespie and Dietz, 2009). Organizational failures are unavoidable, and it can be consequence of a single cause. The enormity of failure depends upon number of causes. The basic reasons for organizational failures are poor planning, management, and corporate culture. Organizational characteristics of NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an organization with 18,000 employees and a budget of US$ 15 billion was set up in 1958. It is exclusive in the terms of size, mission, and motivations. The motivation factor ranged from winning the SOVIET/US space battle during the 1960s, to becoming a leader in all the areas of spaceflight and space science at present. NASA is considered to be a closely path dependent organization (Bruggeman, 2002). Path dependence implies to the inclination of an organization to make decisions based on their history. During 1960s space race between United States and Soviet Union for technological superiority, cost concerns were less important. During this period the importance of human spaceflight for a successful space program was realized. There were significant budget cuts for NASA by the end of the cold war era; even then the focus was on human spaceflight. To counter budget cuts, some portions of the shuttle program were contracted out to private suppliers (Hall, 2003). The key point is that, even today space shuttle is an experimental vehicle. Lessons are still learned from each shuttle returning to earth. The official development stage for the space shuttle was from 1980 to 1982. After that period, it was considered operational, but still shuttle engineers had contradicting opinions. They considered it to be a developmental aircraft because of constantly changing technology and inexplicable problems that cannot be predicted from design. The unexpected problems continued to occur during shuttle missions, but no disasters occurred. Due to budget constraints, management was not keen on finding the root causes of the problem. NASA allowed these technical flaws to pass, as analyses were costly and time consuming. Even at the suppliers end, due to incessant production pressure, problems were often neglected. The Challenger Tragedy On 28 January 1986, around seventy-six seconds into the mission, the Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed, killing all seven crew members (Rogers Commission report, 1986). This happened due to a design flaw in shuttles solid rocket booster and disintegration of an O-ring on its right solid rocket booster (Lighthall, 1991). The problems mentioned above were significant, but there were many other reasons which contributed to the destruction of Columbia space shuttle. Components of Shuttle The Columbia space shuttle, officially called as Space Transportation System (STS), has three major components; the Orbiter, External Tank (ET), and two Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) motors as shown in Figure 1. Orbiter It is a winged craft that carries astronauts and payloads (satellites or space station) into space and travel back to land on a runway. However, to get additional thrust, two large Solid Rocket Boosters are provided, each attached to the sides of external tank (shown in Figure 1), as Orbiter alone does not provide enough thrust. Figure 1: Challenger Space Shuttle (Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, 2003) Components of the Space Shuttle The three components are attached together during shuttle assembly, whereas the field joints between the sections contain two rubber O-rings. The purpose of O-rings is to fill the field joints and prevent hot gases from escaping. The solid rockets are cheaper and less complicated than liquid- fuel rocket engines. The biggest disadvantage of solid rocket is that it cannot be tuned off once ignited. External Tank The purpose of external tank is to carry liquid fuel for the three engines located in the aft section of the orbiter. The lower two third of the tank carries liquid hydrogen with the upper one third containing liquid oxygen. Cold Temperature Concern for O-rings Before the launch of Columbia shuttle, no experimentation was conducted on space shuttles at temperatures below 51 F (11 C). The air temperature dropped to 18 F (- 8 C) in the night and 36 F (2 C) in the morning before the launch. Even Morton Thiokol, the contractor for construction and maintenance of shuttle SRBs had insufficient data on performance of boosters at lower temperatures. There were some other notable factors which are discussed as follows: 1. The external tank was filled with -423 F (-253 C) liquid hydrogen and -300 F (-184 C) liquid oxygen. The cold breeze in the night and morning before the shuttle launch changed air in external tank to super-cooled state and moved it down to the ground. 2. It was known that passing of cold breeze results in formation of external tank. This observation was not unusual because it happened during warm temperatures also. The direction of wind was western-northwestern that day, resulting in super cooled air to slide down directly to the lower portion of the right SFB. 3. To measure the thickness of ice layer on the external tank, infrared cameras were used by the ground staff before every launch. On the day of the launch, a temperature of 8 F (-13 C) was recorded at the aft field joint of the right SRB. The ground staff did not pass this vital information to the management. Figure 2: Challenger Space Shuttle (Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, 2003) All these factors contributed to the malfunctioning of primary and secondary O-ring causing hot exhaust gases at the temperature of 6000 F (3315 C) to escape from the rocket chamber and led to catastrophic incident. Poor Decision Making Before the launch of the Challenger space shuttle, a teleconference was held between Morton Thiokol, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to decide whether it should be launched or not. The engineers at Thiokol were not in the favor of the launch because of their apprehensions on the performance of O-rings in cold weather conditions (Hall, 2003). However, before the launch of Challenger there were many cases of O-ring damage (Dalal, Fowlkes, and Hoadley, 1989). Due to immense production pressure, the Thiokol engineers were not able to find the root causes, and justify their arguments with substantial evidence. The graphs presented during the teleconference were vague and confusing. Furthermore in their rush to get ready for the conference call, the engineering team erroneously included slides which were previously used for Flight Readiness Review (FRR) to claim that O-rings would not be a problem (Tufte, 1997). The management was not convinced with the case and decided to launch the shuttle. The report on the challenger space shuttle disaster states, After the shuttle became operational in 1980, the workforce and functions of several shuttle safety, reliability, and quality assurance offices were reduced. A safety committee, the Space Shuttle Program Crew Safety Panel, ceased to exist at that time (Leveson, 1995). Recommendations Collaboration with Suppliers: NASA needs to change the conventional thinking about sourcing. The Collaborative sourcing approach is different from the traditional approach on sourcing. The traditional sourcing technique is all about squeezing the supplier to make profit. In collaborative sourcing both buyer and supplier craft a joint vision to achieve their objectives. They should emphasize on improving product and line processes by concurrent engineering, combined testing, and root cause engineering for error finding and rectification (Helper, MacDuffie, and Sabel, 2009). Role of Hierarchy at NASA: A grave problem with NASA was its complicated corporate culture. NASA, which was a research institute, had become a platform, which was used by politicians for their promotion. The management should have understood that minute details play a crucial role in research organization like NASA. Even the decision to launch Challenger was influenced by government officials. As, President, Regan was scheduled to give his State of the Union Address the next night in which he intended to speak about astronaut Christa McAuliffe (Hall, 2003). NASA needs to develop a system for engineers to overcome the bureaucracy and hierarchy. By this way they wont be asked to defend their concerns and intuitions. Importance to minor problems: Acceptance of deviations from standard was one major reason for the challenger disaster. The nature of work carried out at NASA is very sensitive and therefore the specification of tolerance to abnormalities should be suitably low. The O-ring problem was frequent, but management persisted with it on the grounds that it does not possess flight safety risk. If the engineers had succeeded in convincing the management to replace the damaged O-rings, loss of life and vehicle could have been averted. Following steps are recommended for problem analysis: 1. Find the significance and basis of the problem. 2. Prepare a full proof action plan to rectify the problem. 3. All the parameters should be tested against variables like temperature, wind, humidity etc. 4. Importance to Problem Reporting and Corrective Action (PRACA). Conclusions The Challenger shuttle disaster presents various issues that are relevant from engineering management standpoint. One of the key points is change in perspective of engineers who are now placed at managerial positions. It is vital for managers not to overlook their own engineering work experience, or the knowledge of their assistants. A lot of times, even managers with engineering background are not up to date about the latest advancement in the field of engineering. The managers should realize this while taking any decision on technical matters. Another important aspect is the role of ethics in engineering management. The job of engineer is to design, and along with it comes the responsibility that the product or service designed is safe for customers. It is the ethical responsibility of engineers to acknowledge mistakes and present unaltered data to the management. Further, the management decision can have a positive result or negative impact on organizations reputation.

The Role of Humor in Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle :: Cats Cradle Essays

The Role of Humor in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle "I've narrowed comedy down to two words: clown and farts. Because first it makes you laugh, and then it makes you think." Dave Attell's joke comes remarkably close to describing exactly what it is that Kurt Vonnegut is able to do with his writing. First, he makes his readers laugh, and then he forces them to think. By employing such humorous devices as irony and satire, Vonnegut is able to bring humor to a less-than-humorous subject. Cat's Cradle is Vonnegut's novel about the day the world ended. Why, then, is it so full of jokes? By making it so, Vonnegut makes it easier for himself to get his point across. Rather than making the book a crusade against science or religion, he instead creates a light-hearted look at people themselves. By seeing the characters in the book and laughing at them, he is forcing us also to laugh at ourselves. By openly criticizing one religion or another, Vonnegut feared he would have alienated a potential audience or created some discomfort. Rather than offend anyone, then - or perhaps rather to offend everyone equally - he instead created Bokononism, using aspects of all religions, and exaggerating them to the point of absurdity. Though we may laugh at the Bokononists, at the same time we realize that there are certain truths in the creed. In this manner, Vonnegut gets his audience to think about themselves and the follies of their own religions. Another important part of the book is the constant "tirade" against science. Jonah's writing makes it evident that he finds all scientists to be cruel, cold, and unfeeling. At the same time, Vonnegut paints the scientists in a humorous light by employing such techniques as Dr. Breed's scolding of Miss Faust, in which he proudly proclaims how long it's been since a fatal accident. The Role of Humor in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle :: Cat's Cradle Essays The Role of Humor in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle "I've narrowed comedy down to two words: clown and farts. Because first it makes you laugh, and then it makes you think." Dave Attell's joke comes remarkably close to describing exactly what it is that Kurt Vonnegut is able to do with his writing. First, he makes his readers laugh, and then he forces them to think. By employing such humorous devices as irony and satire, Vonnegut is able to bring humor to a less-than-humorous subject. Cat's Cradle is Vonnegut's novel about the day the world ended. Why, then, is it so full of jokes? By making it so, Vonnegut makes it easier for himself to get his point across. Rather than making the book a crusade against science or religion, he instead creates a light-hearted look at people themselves. By seeing the characters in the book and laughing at them, he is forcing us also to laugh at ourselves. By openly criticizing one religion or another, Vonnegut feared he would have alienated a potential audience or created some discomfort. Rather than offend anyone, then - or perhaps rather to offend everyone equally - he instead created Bokononism, using aspects of all religions, and exaggerating them to the point of absurdity. Though we may laugh at the Bokononists, at the same time we realize that there are certain truths in the creed. In this manner, Vonnegut gets his audience to think about themselves and the follies of their own religions. Another important part of the book is the constant "tirade" against science. Jonah's writing makes it evident that he finds all scientists to be cruel, cold, and unfeeling. At the same time, Vonnegut paints the scientists in a humorous light by employing such techniques as Dr. Breed's scolding of Miss Faust, in which he proudly proclaims how long it's been since a fatal accident.

Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): Apathy -- Camus Stranger

Apathy in The Stranger (Outsider) Often times an author incorporates a thought or philosophy into a work that can shape or reshape the attitude emitted from the novel. In Albert Camus', The Stranger, the Existential philosophy that the author fills into the work give an aura of apathy. With the opening lines of "Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure," Camus immediately sets a tone of indifference (1). Though the protagonist, Mersault, is not completely without cares, the overall attitude of passiveness he has toward himself, as well as toward others, give the entire novel a tone of apathy. With an analyzation of Mersault's character, an automatic attitude of nonchalance is quickly seen. Mersault does not lie to himself, let alone to others, because he has no need to. He does not care about the set laws of society, and he feels that he has no one to please, including himself, which is a reason why he has no qualms about being brutally honest and not hiding his feelings. This is ...

Education, not punishment Essay

People have always asked how one can discipline a child in an effective way. For discipline to be considered effective, it must have certain elements. One, an environment of learning that is positive and has good relationships and secondly, it must aim at strengthening positive behaviors and weakening the undesired ones. The most common discipline approach in doing away with undesired behaviors is what is called punishment and which involves using of negative stimulus to eliminate unwanted behaviors. One can punish in two ways; by inflicting physical pain and reprimanding verbally (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1998). Some have argued that punishment creates an environment of fear and anxiety and thus making learning process difficult, impacting negatively on the students’ performance (Human Rights Watch, 2010). Schools are the institutions where teachers have personal relationships with their students; knowing them personally and are likely to care so much for them than any one else other than their parents. Punishments from this point of view can be considered to be playing a major role in educating the students. When punishing these students, the teacher would be telling them in other words that, punishment can be imposed by anybody including the state and not by parents or loved ones only (Benator,2001). Some have claimed that corporal punishment equals physical abuse of the students but there is very insufficient evidence to conclude that. Though some teachers and some parents use physical punishment on children that does not allow people to generalize on the issue and rule out physical punishment completely. Some people have also argued that, physical punishment leads to degradation of students making them become ashamed of themselves. When talking about the element of shame; children have less capacity to be ashamed (Benator, 2001). Physical punishment has also been associated with some negative psychological effects, for example anxiety and fear. Although there is some evidence to prove this, they have not been able to prove that corporal or physical punishment that is not used frequently has the same effects. All what these researches claimed to have been done are not conclusive and are not based on experiments but reports given by people (Benator, 2001). One of the main reasons for objections to physical punishment and any other form of punishment is that it compromises the relationships between teachers and students and as a result, students will tend to fear their teachers. It has also been claimed that learning cannot take place in such an environment since students are being subjected to a kind of tyrannical authority where they have to accept the authority without questioning it (Benator, 2001). This is not the case; learning would be more effective since students are not allowed to challenge the views of the teachers and what they are taught. When they are beaten into accepting the authority of the teachers, it will be very unlikely for them to challenge their authority. Moreover it depends on what grounds a child is punished. If a student is punished wrongly, their relationship with the teacher will suffer serious consequences, but if one is punished for a genuine wrong doing, for example stealing or bullying, the punishment will be received positively for it will be sending a message that, whatever the student was doing was not right and thus a child will be able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong (Benator, 2001). Despite all these arguments, critics have come out very strongly against punishment and they still maintain that, an environment full of fear and anxiety is not good for learning. So many researches have been done on the issue and it has emerged that, punishments actually inflict fear on students. They will develop fear of loosing their possessions which may be taken from them, fear of their privileges being withheld, fear for their safety among others. After being punished, some of them do not usually understand why they are being punished or how they wronged the authority. Sometimes these punishments send a message to children that, one is allowed to inflict pain on others (Kid’s Development Website, 2010). It doesn’t matter what kind of punishment one subjects a child to. The main message that it sends is that, when one breaks rules, he or she will have to put up with some unpleasant consequences. They do not teach the offenders why the rules are there and their significance and why they should follow them to the letter. Another short coming of punishments is that, they do not make the children learn how to be responsible or pay attention to what others feel or think (Kid’s Development Website, 2010). Sometimes, these punishments, even though they are aimed at the well being of the child, some are usually administered wrongly, losing their effectiveness. It has been discovered that some of them are usually used indiscriminately. Some verbal reprimands are usually used when the time is not appropriate and at the end of the day, they are used to slander the character of the offender instead of correcting, which is the main objective (American Academy for Pediatrics, 1998). Some punishments such as the physical ones range from severe ones, for example slapping, beating, and burning among others all which may amount to physical abuse. Physical punishment has always been considered to be ineffective especially when used more frequently. Some of them have also led to physical injury. These kinds of punishments are also said to increase agitation and aggressiveness among students. It has also been found that, the use of physical punishment affect the children even after reaching adult hood because they tend to develop into angry adults (American Academy for Pediatrics, 1998). Many people use punishments believing in the theory that young people must go through some kind of pain in order to be responsible. When punishments are used like this, they force submission but not commitment. In other words, they do the opposite of what they were intended for. Some people think that punishments do work since the bad behaviors tend to stop immediately one is subjected to punishment; this is not the case especially when the offender does not understand why he is being punished (Marvin Marshal, nd). Another thing that has proven that punishments do not work is that in so many schools, more punishments are being prescribed the moment they fail and as a result, the offender ends up not caring anymore after being through so many lectures, being thrown out of class all the time, sent away from school, suspended or expelled. Fear and anxiety produced by punishment do not have positive long term effects on the student. Threatening students with punishment will only make them to comply for a short time but only when the threat is present and this does not change the person in a positive way (Marvin Marshal, nd). Some of these threats on students in class are not relevant especially when they are outside the class with other students. Moreover, the punishments are not consistent in that, what one teacher considers as an offence, does not apply to the other teachers. Those feelings associated with punishment such as fear, are not helpful when it comes to the learning process. Sometimes, the student will do something to see how the teacher will react, a fact that discourages one to learn (Marvin Marshal, nd). In addition, they tend to make students learn what their teachers want, and a student will do exactly that in order to please them. Other students develop feelings of low self esteem. These punishments do not make any one learn how to modify their behaviors in that, the students will always focus on how to defend their behaviors when it comes to punishment and sometimes try to look for ways on how to cover their mistakes. The truth of the matter is that, the one who gets satisfied after punishment is the punisher and he or she mostly uses punishment to show his or her authority, not to discipline (Marvin Marshal, nd). Punishment also impacts negatively to the learning environment. It has been observed that, the states which still encourage corporal or physical punishment in their schools perform poorly academically compared to those which have banned them. Those students who have been subjected to those kinds of punishment have reported cases of anger and depression and as a result, they tend to withdraw themselves from school activities. These punishments make students to have difficulties in concentrating in class, making them perform poorly. It has also made them develop negative attitude towards school (Human Rights Watch, 2010). Sometimes, these punishments put parents and teachers in awkward positions whereby, they have to decide between the students well being and their advancement academically. Some teachers who find themselves in schools that encourage physical punishment sometimes hesitate to send misbehaving students out of class because they fear that they will be beaten up. Physical punishment does not only affect those who are punished but also those who are not. The moment these kinds of physical punishments are used in schools, they create a threatening atmosphere that affects all students negatively especially on their performances. Victims of these punishments will sometimes be violent and even disruptive and at the end, they will disturb the learning of other students, including heir own, making learning process difficult in the long run (Human rights watch, 2010). Spanking as a form of punishment is also known to affect intelligence as it reduces it. Fear and anxiety are known to slow the cognitive development of the child making the presence of neurons in the brain to be very few (Pytel, 2009). In conclusion, it has emerged that, even though punishment is aimed at righting the wrongs, sometimes, it is not the case and it may end up worsening the situation especially of the individuals facing the punitive measures. The fear and anxiety that is usually elicited by these punishments are not good for the learning process, irrespective of the kind of punishments that are used . So long as they produce these kinds of feelings then; they are not good for students. Teachers should be more concerned on educating the children, not punishing them. References American Academy of Pediatrics. (1998). Guidance for effective discipline. Retrieved from http://aappolicy. aappublications. org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;101/4/723 Benator, D. (2001). Corporal punishment. Retrieved from http://www. corpun. com/benatar. htm Human Rights Watch. (2010). Corporal punishment in schools and its effects on academic success. Retrieved from http://www. hrw. org/en/news/2010/04/14/corporal-punishment-schools-and-its-effect-academic-success-joint-hrwaclu-statement Kids Development Website. (2010). Effects of punishment on children. Retrieved from http://www. kidsdevelopment. co. uk/EffectsOfPunishmentOnChildren. html Marvin Marshal. (nd). Discipline need not be stressful, discipline need not be negative. Retrieved from http://www. aboutdiscipline. com/ Pytel, B. (2009). Spanking has negative effects on intelligence. Retrieved from http://educationalissues. suite101. com/article. cfm/spanking_has_negative_effect_on_intelligence