Blog

Department of education

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Introduction

Education has been one of the most contentious subjects or topics in the recent times. It is widely accepted or recognized that an individual’s level of education has a bearing on the quality of life led by an individual. Of course, there are instances where individuals with little education end up as quite successful. That, however, does not undermine the role that education plays in enhancing people’s standards of living and, consequently, the economic capacity of the entire country. This would explain why many countries or governments pay quite a lot of attention on the policies that pertain to education. It goes without saying, however, that access to education has been unequal in the United States for a long time. This is what resulted to the establishment or creation of the U.S Department of Education by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. The law that established the Department of Education stated that it was to serve public interest and promote welfare, as well as ensure that all issues pertaining to education receive the appropriate treatment. In addition, it aimed at enabling the federal government to manage its education activities in an enhanced manner. At the time of establishment, the proponents felt that as much as education was a local and state responsibility education was still of national interest. This was because it directly impacted on the ability of the nation to compete at the international level, as well as defend itself during war times. In essence, its creation provided a direct line of communication and influence with the president as far as matters pertaining to education were concerned. As much as these were extremely noble causes, recent times have seen an increase in calls for the elimination of the Department of Education. Whether these calls are politically motivated or not, there emerges the question as to whether the department has lived up to its calling. Do the cons of having the department in place outweigh the pros of the same? In my opinion, the department should be eliminated if sanity in the education sector is to be restored.

First, it is worth noting that education was under the Department of Health, Education and Welfare prior to the establishment of the Department of education. These are departments that are supposed to be working hand in hand, especially having in mind that, for any child to exploit or take maximum advantage of all educational opportunities, he or she has to be healthy, have a full stomach and come from a safe home. This holistic approach is entirely absent in the federal initiatives pertaining to education (Strauss, 16). Instead, the competing departments are always engaging in bureaucratic turf wars that have tragic results for children. In fact, the establishment of bureaucracies fills the offices with unresponsive individuals who are too busy completing some paperwork to carry out real work, and intrude too much into the state and local decision-making (Strauss, 16). In essence, its elimination would enhance the efficiency and the responsiveness of the government to matters pertaining to education.

In addition, the establishment of the Department of Education tended to transfer the resources away from the state and local sources to a uniform or one-size-fits-all umbrella. This is hardly the appropriate recipe for alleviating educational problems. This explains why the meddling of the federal government in educational matters has been a failure (Murray, 56). It goes without saying that, there is no way that a few federal bureaucrats can sit in Washington DC and come up with a curriculum that meets the distinctive needs of millions of American school children across the country. This control over matters to do with education should be restored to the local and state levels, where parents and teachers will be in charge of the matters. This is because the parents and teachers understand their children best, in which case they are best suited or placed to come up with the appropriate curriculum that suits their children. This would eventually uplift the condition of the education system in the country.

Still on the same case, it is imperative that the government carries a cost-benefit analysis of the Department of Education. The education of the American children is too crucial to be left in the hands of a federal, centralized bureaucracy. It is worth noting that the creation of the Department of Education was a political payoff by Jimmy Carter to the teachers’ unions due to their endorsement in 1976. In essence, it is imperative to judge all agencies of the government, not on their intentions but by their results (Murray, 45). Unfortunately, the Department of Education seems to have only worsened things as far as the educational outcomes of students is concerned. The test scores of students in science, mathematics and reading, have either gone down or remained flat in the last four decades. This is irrespective of the fact that the federal agencies have eaten into the public coffers more than it was initially predicted. In 2011, the Department of Education’s budget was $77.8 billion up from $13.1 in 1980, in terms of 2007 dollars. This is, in fact, close to six times the size of the department’s original budget. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the outcomes of student tests. Studies by Cato Institute have shown how an increase in federal spending has not translated into a positive impact of educational impact. It has always been known that there is no way an individual can use the same apparatus, the same process and the same variables and hope to get different results. Overturning the test scores or the performance of American students goes beyond simplistic strategies and calls for a comprehensive overhaul of the entire educational system. This would be impossible within the bureaucratic framework of the federal system, which implies that the elimination of the Department of Education is imperative.

In addition, the constitutionality of the Department of Education is extremely questionable just like many other things pertaining to the federal government. The Federal Government incorporates approximately 30 enumerated powers, which the constitution delegated to it. It is noteworthy that education is not explicitly listed in the constitution, in which case the authority and control over education should be left to the local and state governments or rather the parents and teachers (Murray, 45). In fact, Ronald Reagan campaigned on the platform of eliminating the Department of Education in 1980, right after Jimmy Carter established it. The GOP platform in 1996 read that the Federal Government incorporated no constitutional authority as far as its involvement in school curricula was concerned. In essence, the government was to eliminate the Department of Education and end the meddling of the Federal government in American schools, as well as enhance family choice in all learning levels (Murray, 34).

Perhaps the worst aspect pertaining to the Department of Education is the fact that, it has regenerated into a monstrous propaganda machine that is funded using public coffers to promote an agenda that is against most American’s values (Goetsch, 23). It is a monstrous entrenched bureaucracy that utilizes the power of the purse to instruct or indoctrinate teachers, administrators and students in ways that promote revisionist history, socialism, multiculturalism and homosexuality. Its programs emphasize on victimhood over personal responsibility, entitlement mentality over work ethic, self-esteem over discipline, and compliance over individual liberty (Goetsch, 23). This is hardly the best way to bring up the American children who happen to be the future of the nation. In essence, it is imperative that the Department of Education is eliminated at least to eliminate the wastage of public funds on unsuccessful schemes and propaganda.

In conclusion, the Department of Education was established in an effort to enhance welfare in the educational system and enhance the quality of education. However, it has regenerated into a monstrous propaganda machine, delivered nothing in terms of enhancing the performance of American children, and has no explicit constitutional basis. In addition, it is devoid of a holistic approach that is necessary in enhancing the education of American children as pertaining to safe homes, and having a full stomach, something that was well catered for when Education was under the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Studies have shown that the educational outcomes have continuously dropped or remained stagnant despite the increase in the amount of money pumped into the Department of Education’s budget. These dismal outcomes can only be remedied through the elimination of the Department of Education.

Works cited

Strauss, Valerie. Why the Education Dept. should be eliminated – Wood. The Washington Post 2010, retrieved 9th July 2012 from HYPERLINK “http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/george-wood/why-the-education-dept-should.html” http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/george-wood/why-the-education-dept-should.html

Goetsch, David L. Should We Eliminate The U.S. Department of Education? 2012 Web retrieved 7th July 2012 from HYPERLINK “http://patriotupdate.com/articles/should-we-eliminate-the-u-s-department-of-education” http://patriotupdate.com/articles/should-we-eliminate-the-u-s-department-of-education

Murray, Charles. Real Education, Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2009. Print

Dental Treatment of a patient

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Dental Treatment of a patient

The patient is a 33 year old female in good health under the care of a physician for her general health. However, auscultation and further examination have revealed that the patient suffers from a heart murmur that does not need to be pre-medicated, although her pulse and blood pressure are both normal at 68 beats per minute and 112/64mmHg respectively. Further, the patient is taking tapazole 5 mg due to hyperthyroidism, as well as over the counter medication such as vitamin D 2000, vitamin b complex and flaxseed for her own general health. The patient reports that she is not allergic to any drug or chemical known to her, with a pregnancy test revealing that she is not pregnant.

According to the ASA code, the patient is a II mainly due to the use of the prescription drug Tamazole and knowledge of the fact that the patient suffers from a well controlled thyroid disorder. Both the patient’s report and records reveal that her last visit was 3 months ago, in November of last year, a visit in which she also had her last bite wing (3 months ago). The patient had an FMX done before her dental appointment, with no contraindication found for dental treatment.

Medications

Tapazole, which is also at times referred to as Methimazole is an antithyroid medication that works through inhibiting the thyroid hormone production. Tapazole therefore, helps regulate the production of T3 and T4 (Thyroid hormones) which play key roles in the body’s metabolism. Some of the side effects of Methimazole include: salivary gland swelling and abnormal taste. At times individuals usually experience joint pains, drowsiness, lightheadedness, headaches, muscle pains, vomiting, stomach upsets, numbing and tingling sensations and nausea. Further, and perhaps of quite great import within a clinical setting, is the fact that Tapazople usually produces drug reactions with the following drugs: Propanolol, metoprolol, warfarin, theophylline and digoxin. Tapazole does not however, react with local anaesthesia, which is quite relevant when it comes to dental treatment.

Flaxseed oil improves general health, digestion, and also reduces the level of water retention. According to the patient, her doctor advised her to take flaxseed as a remedy for the weight gain occurring due to her taking tapazole. In terms of dental treatment, flaxseed is not usually a local anaesthesia concern, and is therefore, by extension not a concern when it comes to dental treatment.

Vitamin D

Vitamin is being used by the patient as a dietary supplement that usually has no adverse reaction with dental treatment or local anaesthesia. The supplement also promotes the mineralization of bone by not only reducing calcium excretion, but also stimulating intestinal absorption.

Vitamin B

Similar to the vitamin D, vitamin B is also a supplement that improves general health and essentially has no adverse reaction with anaesthesia and dental treatment. Essentially, vitamin B complex contains B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B12, a number of important nutrients when it comes to CNS conditions. B1 and B2 particularly, are essential in the functioning of the muscles, the heart and the nerves, while B3 is important in the regulation of the digestive system and the nervous system. b5 and b12 are particularly important for normal growth and development. B6 aids the nervous system, the digestive system and is also essential when it comes to normal growth. B7 is essential in hormone production while B9 is essential in the making and maintenance of DNA. As such, although the client was taking the medication in order to develop thicker and smoother skin, the benefits are numerous.

Denial-of-service attack (DoS)

Denial of Service

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Date

Denial of Service

Denial-of-service attack (DoS)

Dos refer to deliberate efforts by a person to temporarily or permanently suspend or interrupt services of a host connected to the internet. According to The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), this kind of attack has diverse effects on the computer system. Some of them include slow opening of the web sites; inability to open certain web sites; unavailability of certain web sites and a sharp increase in the total number of spasm emails received (Andress, M. et al., 2009).

How it works

In this kind of attacks, the attacker explicitly attempts to prevent the legitimate service users from using it. This can either lead to the crush or flooding of the service. However, it can be perpetrated through the following ways:

Consumption of bandwidth, compressor time, disk space or any other computational resources

Disruption of state data such s unsolicited resetting of the TCB sessions

Disruption of configuration data like routing

Disruption of the components of the physical networks

Blocking of the communication channel between the victim and the intended user in order to obstruct further communication

Prevention

Some of the ways through which this kind of attack can be prevented include the following:

Use of firewalls

The firewalls can be effectively applied here because of their ability to deny or allow IP addresses, ports or protocols. If properly used, they can help in effective prevention of the user from launching flooding attacks particularly from the machines located behind the firewall itself. However, the firewall may not effectively filter certain attacks because of their complexity and inability to distinguish the DoS attack traffic from the good ones (Yuval, F., 2004).

Switches

Switches can also be used to prevent these attacks because they have automatic, TCP splicing, Bogon filtering, wide rate limiting, deep packet inspection and traffic shaping. These enable it to detect and prevent service attack denial through balancing, automatic rate filtering or WAN Link failover. However, this is dependant on the type of attack experienced. For instance, in case of content attacks, deep packet inspection is used. If a proper selection is done, the attacks will be dealt with and prevented before they cause any damage to the computer.

Routers

Routers are manually set to help them prevent any attack to the computer network system. Even if DoS attacks can easily overwhelm them, they possess some ACL and limiting rate capacity which enable them to prevent flooding.

Distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDos)

DDoS refers to the type of attack that involves all computers within a network from any part of the world. In other words, unlike DoS which only involves one computer, the DDoS attack involves a lot of computers. This means that an attack on a single computer will eventually affect all the others in the same system globally (Kristoff, J., 2007).

According to series of researches, the DDoS attacks are so cheap to launch, but extremely expensive to stop. This is due to the complexities involved in it.

Prevention

Just like the DoS attacks, the DDoS attacks are also preventable. It is very important to take appropriate measures to prevent the occurrence of such attacks to a computer network. However, some of the preventive measures include, but not limited to the following:

Use of IP address

The IP address can be used in preventing it by verifying the reverse-path on the in put interface at the end of the router connection. This helps in stopping the SMURF attacks especially at the ISP’s POP. Hence, there is a full protection of all the users of the internet server.

Filtering

It is very simple to prevent DDoS attacks by filtering because they are very easy to spot. This is done by training routers to drop the DDoS connections, thus, preventing the attacks from slowing the server or network (Kristoff, J., 2007). If all the potential threats are spotted in time, it will be easier to deal with them and prevent any possible attack they may cause the user.

Black holing

This is a method of preventing DDoS attacks that help in the elimination of the flooding effects of attacks. It does this by channeling all the traffic to an address which does not exist from the site that is under attack. This eventually prevents the flood from impacting on other sites within the network or server. If this happens, the system will be protected from any attack that would cause unnecessary trouble to the user.

In conclusion, I would like to say that these types of attacks are very dangerous for any computer network system. The DoS attacks can cause a very big problem to all the people relying on a certain server which is affected. Meaning, unsuspecting users may be affected even if they are thousand of miles away from the attacker. Therefore, it is important to be cautious about the kind of server being used. In order to prevent such problems in time, each and every one should be careful. They should always understand that the exposures to such dangers are always there. Therefore, they should seek the advice of their technicians and take the necessary measures in case of attacks. This is the only way through which they will ensure that their data is safe from any corruption or loss.

Refernces

Andress, M. et al. (Eds.) (2009) CIW Security Professional. New York, NY: Hungry Minds, Inc.

Kristoff, J. (2007) Root DDoS Attack Analysis. DNS-OARC.

Yuval, F. (2004) Google Android: A Comprehensive Security Assessment. IEEE Security &

Privacy (IEEE).

Demonstration of Leadership Skills as a Student Leader

Demonstration of Leadership Skills as a Student Leader

In order to be an effective leader, one must demonstrate special leadership skills which include team work, planning, communication, adaptability and persuasion skills. Team work skills ensure individuals work cooperatively and collaboratively together. Planning skills focuses on creating strategies that can help achieve future expectations. Communication skills enable leaders to create an environment where members can express their ideas freely. Adaptability skills enable leaders to be flexible to lead in any given circumstances. Persuasion skills are equally essential since they enable leaders to influence others positively and skills for coaching and development of team members, decision making skills and transparency

Leaders not only need to acquire these leadership skills but to also demonstrate them while practicing. For instance, a student leader needs to have effective communication skills to enhance interpersonal and open communication among the members. To explicit effective communication skills, a leader must ensure that the students can freely share their feelings and ideas with him/her. He must be able to understand and listen to their grievances and give appropriate remedies to them. He must demonstrate ability to understand student’s non verbal communication and be trustworthy to keep confidential information private.

These skills can be demonstrated by encouraging networking among students to deepen their relationships and to encourage cohesions. Student leader need to promote communication by initiating strategies such as discussion forum where students express their opinions to one another, design activities that encourage team work and interactions and creation of an environment where student can express themselves without tension or threat.

Another leadership skill that a student leader must demonstrate is integrity. Integrity refers to a level of honesty and transparency that can be identified by the attitudes and behaviors exhibited by a leader’s integrity can be demonstrated by adhering to principles and behaving in an ethical way with those you interact with. A leader must keep in mind that the students look up to him/her as their role model and he/she therefore need to behave in a way that can be emulated. He must ensure that ethical standards are followed and he must be able to strongly and boldly reject or condemn any behavior that conflict with the ethics even when it involves risk taking. To accomplish this level of integrity, a student leader must provide ethical rules to be followed and be the first one to practice in order to lead others.

In exhibiting leadership skill during practice, a leader may encounter inevitable situations that present difficult challenges. For instance, students may disagree with some of their leader’s decisions which may conflict with their plans and beliefs. Students may also disagree with each other due to issues such as biases, self esteem, peer influence or lack of self realization. When faced with such a situation, a leader should first identify the course of the problems then employ strategic plans aimed at encouraging teamwork to deepen their interactions and initiating effective communication skills to help students to open up and share any underlying issues. The leader must ensure that the problems that arose during the challenging situation are not left unresolved by addressing them together and ensuring that all the students have settled successful and their grievances has been dealt with accordingly. This will ensure a good start in the future decision making process where all past matters has been resolved

Demonstration of Empirically Supported Counseling Procedures

Demonstration of Empirically Supported Counseling Procedures

Suicide Counseling Session

For confidentiality purposes, recording of names will use abbreviations where CLR will represent Counselor/ Therapist while B. will represent the client.

CLR:Welcome B. to our first counseling session. My name is T. and I am happy to meet with you for this session. I look forward to working with you until the therapy is completed, and I’m sure we will be good friends as time goes on. I referred to you as B. because that is what the receptionist told me about your name when sending you in; am I free to call you by that name or you would like me to use another name during the sessions?

B:I am Ok with that. Most of my friends call me by that name.

CLR:Good progress, I am one of your friends from now on, aren’t I.

B:Yes you are.

CLR:Are you comfortable in this room before we begin, or should we find another place for our discussions?

B:I’d prefer that we are not heard by your colleagues in the other offices.

CLR:Nobody can hear what we are saying from outside, as you can see, there is no one near the windows and the door is locked. Just as you can’t hear what they are saying, no one can hear what we will discuss. If you are not Ok with that, we can find somewhere else. Let me see what we can do (standing to look for another place).

B:No. In that case we can use the room. It is only that I don’t want people meddling in my life anymore. I am Ok here.

CLR:I understand what you are saying. I assure you it is going to be safe here. Is there any other concern that we can handle before we proceed?

B:No.

CLR:Good. B, it is important that you become aware of a few session regulations. First, we will be following a timetable kind of a schedule that I will hand to you when we meet next. Secondly, we will observe time since we have a maximum of thirty minutes for a day’s session, unless otherwise stated in advance. Thirdly, professional code of conduct regulating counseling dyads restricts our relationship to purely professional purposes. Fourthly, we shall be guided by the principle of confidentiality throughout the therapy and nobody should be aware of what we discuss. I like the fact that you observed that we need to have a private environment where nobody hears what we discuss. Other regulations will be communicated in bits during our coming sessions.

B:Does it mean that I cannot ask for any favor from you outside my case questions.

CLR:Precisely! That’s right. I case there is a favor that you need from me, just ask and we will discuss if it will compromise the professional and client duties that we need to observe for the sake of the therapy’s success. Don’t hide any detail if we can discuss and clarify things out. I like your attitude in this matter and I promise you my assistance in the session. Is everything clear form there, B?

B:Yes. I appreciate your information. I have not been in a counseling relationship before.

CLR:Welcome. B we are now into the main agenda of the therapy process. First, I need to know the details of your challenge in your own words. Please feel free to tell me what has put you in the state that you are in now that you need professional help. Continue please. (Creating eye contact with a pen and paper to write important facts)

B:I have a problem with my family. Every body thinks that I am insensitive and careless in what I do. Many bad things have happened and I have been blamed by every one. Even those who don’t blame me don’t come to my rescue. My performance in school went down and I felt unwanted at home and at school. I thought it was time that I put this to an end once and for all. I wanted to take poison but my brothers found out from a suicide note that I had written and they reported me. That’s why my mother brought me here.

CLR:Wait a minute B. Sorry for that. That was too quick to make a decision, don’t you think so?

B:I think so. But I have my point to every one.

CLR:Can you tell me what bad things happened?

B:At one time, I was left at home alone because I had a cold. Everyone went to school and others to work. I went out of the room and forgot to switch off the heater and it caused a fire that nearly burnt our hose. Our neighbor’s gardener was quick to help me switch off the power and call the fire brigade. We called our parents and my mum was very mad at me like my elder brothers. My late dad calmed them down but they keep on mentioning it to me that I burned our living room and family treasures that were there. It is painful.

CLR:Sorry for that, B. Are there more bad things?

B:That is the main one. But there is another one. I went to walk our best dog, Milo three years ago, alone and I was still small. Unfortunately, I met two stray dogs on the road that usually met on other days without a problem. That day they got at me and our beautiful Milo, they attacked him biting very badly. I could only manage to pick him and rush him back home. It had cost our family so much money and it was very like. I called our parents from work. My dad came and he was angry at me and asked me to get in the car to take Milo to the animals clinic. He bled profusely on road and unfortunately died shortly after being placed on treatment. I cried and my dad consoled me. He understood it and promised to buy me another dog on the way home. We bought another dog that I named Milo but the rest of the family was not happy and painful memories of the dog’s death are blamed on me. Any security breach in the compound is directed at me since Milo was always alert to keep guard.

CLR:Any more bad things.

B:No. Just the events that crop from the blame placed on me.

CLR:Tell me whether this is what you are precisely saying; that you feel that the blame for the two mistakes and possibly others make you feel like everyone is on your neck.

B:Yes. This is not because I am not responsible but because they blow everything out of control. They make me feel like I am always walking on shells.

CLR:Give me your family background.

B:I have three elder brothers and sister younger than me. My dad passed away tow years ago. I felt like I lost a close family partner since only my dad understood me. Everything is unbearable since the demise of my dad. I miss him so much. (Sobbing)

CLR: I understand how you must be feeling. I am sorry for everything that has been disturbing you. (Leaning forward, hands a soft tissue paper to the client for wiping tears)

My closest friend had a similar challenge in his family when his dad died and felt that the rest of the family was incapable of fitting in his shoes. This happens when we are faced with loss and the grieving is shifted to the worries of the environment around us. I am sorry for the loss.

B: Thank you. From the bitter treatment that the family has given me, particularly from my mum and my brothers, I have been affected in my studies. I was an above average student but since then my performance is very wanting. I was almost discontinued last semester on grounds of poor performance but my previous performance assured the school management that I can turn things around and I got a second chance. I am afraid that my family background is not likely to improve. Every time I go back home I resume my troubles and I feel unwanted in this conditions. Nobody is concerned about me at school either. Since my dad’s death, I don’t have a personal mentor at home. (Sobbing.) All I have are enemies in disguise of family members (sobbing).

CLR:Sorry for that. Things will be different now. Could you tell me what was contained in the suicide note? Tell me what you had written, if you don’t mind.

B: Of course I don’t mind. It was a short note. I had stated that my school performance was embarrassing me and that my family was responsible for not giving the support and love that I needed. I also had included the death of my dad as a big loss that I cannot continue with in my life.

CLR:I want to add the other rule at this juncture concerning your suicide thoughts. It is terribly wrong for any one to think and attempt to take someone’s life. Including your own life and it is punishable by the law. B, I want you to understand that everyone is protected by the society that we live in as a custodian of our rights, the basic one being the right to live. In such cases, when a counseling client insists that they want to take their lives, we are under duty to report them to the authorities, thereby breaking the principle of confidentiality. I will continue asking you in the therapy sessions whether you still hold the suicidal resolve in order to clarify if I should report you to the police. What can you say about that?

B:Oh no! I don’t want anyone to be told about this. It has caused me enough trouble at school and home. I hate myself for being too harsh on myself. But I am confused. I am sorry and I beg you not to report me.

CLR:That is very positive to hear from you. I know what might be going on in your mind. You feel that everybody hates you. Do you think that your classmates hate you?

B:I have lost all of my friends because they don’t want to be associated with my failures. They make fun of me for failing in class. It is painful since most of those that make fun of me were not better than me.

CLR:Neither are they better than you now. It is only that you are undergoing three difficult situations. You are affected by deteriorated school performance and it appears you are affected this much because you are a performer like we are going to see. Secondly, the poor family relations are affecting you such that the environment is unsupportive. The third challenge that has been affecting you is the loss of a parent who appears to be your mentor and close friend. This is called attachment where a child feels specially attached to one family member or parent than the rest. We will address each of these at a time to assist you in finding a reason to avoid suicidal thoughts that rise form these challenges.

B:Does it mean that my performance will improve and I will feel love at home?

CLR:With your cooperation, that is very possible. How do you relate with your classmates.

B:I hate them. They laugh at me because they heard I wanted to commit suicide due to poor performance.

CLR:I would also like to put across an important remark that might assist us in finding a different perspective to the challenge ahead of us. Human beings have a very complex feelings perception and responses, particularly when dealing with the environment that they are dealing with. Both bad and good feelings from the environment are processed in our brains in various ways. In a counseling perspective known as rationale emotive therapy, clients’ minds are opened up to point at their defective thinking and they are assisted to think positively. In fact, every human being is capable of retreating into negative thoughts to think that they are hated, they are stupid and they are unlucky or doomed. Through a little intervention targeted at the wrong mindset, therapy achieves success that enables them to view themselves positively once again. Using negative descriptions for example, hate, don’t, foolish among others; it is very possible for us to retreat into our own negative perceptions. This is inflated into more serious problems such as suicidal thoughts. I think part of these challenges is contributed by that. If I may ask, what would be different if your dad will be alive today?

B:Things will be very different. I would be feeling his love. He was different from every one else in the family. When he died, I cried for several days alone in my room. No one felt that much pain. They told me to stop crying because I was making them sad. So I hid from them to cry. I still feel like it was worse for me than all of them. (Sobbing)

CLR:Sorry for that. (Handing soft tissue)

It is important that you feel free to cry out that feeling. Crying is important in overcoming loss and grief. There is a healing process that every body is supposed to follow without prematurely terminating the process in between the stages. Anger, denial and confusion make up some of the feelings that every client should time to come to terms with. There is nothing wrong with crying as long as you come out of it having known how to deal with the fat that some one you loved is gone and will never come. Moving out of anger may take time if one does not accept the facts of the loss. But with the cooperation that you have demonstrated to me, I am sure you will be out of that state. It happened to my closest friend like I had said before and I had to assist him with all my heart. I am ready to help you also since we are already friends. Aren’t we? (Smiling)

B:Yes we are. I will appreciate your assistance.

CLR:I appreciate that you are young and you have a lot of potential to make some of the discussions we will be having fruitful. I almost forgot but as we wind up, tell me about your relationship with a close person outside your family, like a boyfriend or a very close relative that you share your inside world with.

B:Honestly, I don’t have a boyfriend at the moment.

CLR:That means you had one before?

B:Yes. And we broke up.

CLR:When was that?

B:Exactly a year ago.

CLR:How long did the relationship last?

B:For slightly over a year.

CLR:What happened till you broke up, if you don’t mind?

B:He could not understand me in my difficult moments. He thought that I was oversensitive and I thought he was mean to me. Later I learnt that he was seeing another girl. I let him go.

CLR:And you can be honest that it hurts.

B:Exactly. But I don’t want to talk about that since I have had other serious issues than him.

CLR:Would you have him back, or get in another relationship?

B:With him again, no. I don’t think I am ready now for a relationship.

CLR:Ok, B. It is good to take time off. How about a close relative like an aunt, cousin or somebody else?

B:There is no one closer than my dad was. I don’t have any one to talk to.

CLR:I understand your condition because I also had nobody to talk to. But my social problems became lighter when I started to open up to a friend. A girl came into my life and she has been with me all this time. I hope that your relationship life is also affected due to the fact that there is difficulty in expression of inner feelings. We will work on that too, don’t be worried B.

Empirical Explanation of Interventions

Preparations, Techniques and Theory

Every therapist must take charge of a counseling session and making some rules known to the client is perhaps the first move to thump authority in the session, creating some order in the meetings. This is important at the preparatory stages for future sessions just in case clients become rowdy in the sessions. It is also important that the client is made comfortable with the environment in which the sessions will be taking place. Alternative locations should be made available for the client to choose from, if they are not comfortable with one of them. This is the reason why the client is made aware of the safety of the room since it was her main concern. The rules are also illustrated in the beginning of the session, which establishes the session’s standard based on safety to open up and maintenance of order assured too. According to Loesch and Vacc (2000), preparation for a session must demonstrate the professional duty that the counselor has for the client.

It is important that the professional obligation is important in the entire therapy period with particular emphasis on the counseling dyad features and the duties of each of the parties to the dyad. Similar session preparation information is contained in the work of Clawson, Hernderson and Schwieger (2003) to the effect that the counseling sessions must be prepared within the professional obligation perspective. Professional responsibilities of the counselor are more important since the counselor has to follow the expected professional code of conduct. Reminding the client about duties such as confidentiality and counseling dyad relationship regulation makes an important contribution in the establishment of the initial counseling setting (Fagan, 1966). When the client understands the responsibilities of the parties within the guiding professional framework, it is easy for the therapist to identify various interventions needed in the process.

Perhaps the most important preparation stage regarding the therapy itself is based on the requirement to have the client give their own account of the story all over again even if it might be reported at the reception in bits such as names. Understanding the client’s historical and family background should be established in the first session in order to assist in diagnostics and detecting the actual case presenting challenges. This is important in the formation of an understanding of the client’s challenge, which assists the therapist to find the appropriate techniques for the therapy, which are founded in theoretical approaches (Nelson-Jones 2005).

A number of counseling techniques are applied in the session in order to capture various interventions as guided by theory. Therapists are guided by counseling techniques in order to manipulate theoretical tools in driving the therapy process towards a certain desired end. The client may be informed at some points of the technical application if the therapist feels that the client will understand and related well with the technicalities of the therapy as applied. Using one technique is inadequate since there are several interventions that the client needs for the presenting challenges.

Firstly, the session applied eye contact technique from the beginning of the client’s narration, since the therapist needed to establish some communication agenda. Eye contact is important in therapy as it enables the therapist to demonstrate the importance of the client’s narration. By shifting eye contact, a client may get the perception that their story is not important to the therapist (Geldard and Geldard, 2008). This is a form of communication tool that the therapist uses to enhance trust in the client that they are important in the sessions. By establishing trust through communication signals, the sitting position is important to the therapist. Observing the sitting position of the client and gestures enables the therapist to manipulate the techniques in order to bring the client back into the session with all the attention. This is important for the therapy.

Additionally, as mentioned before, the client’s sitting position is a useful cue in determining the level of concentration in the therapy but the sitting dynamics for the therapist are important too. In the session, the therapist is reported to be leaning forward towards the client in an emotional episode whereby another action is also facilitated by handing a soft tissue to wipe off the tears. This is important in the demonstration of understanding the client’s emotions and moving towards assisting them further creates an important communication impact. Brown (1957) reckons that communication for emotionally disturbed persons should be handled sensitively, which is done by offering tissue sends an image of being cared for, especially for a sensitive client who has negative ideas of being under the threats of others other than their care and love. Trust is eventually created which is important in the development of therapy foundations.

Alternatively, facial expressions such as smiles being spread throughout the therapy are important in changing the mood of the client in order to manipulate and invoke further important developments of the session. Gestures such as nodding may be used to enhance this perspective which moves the attention of the client from one mood to another. Invoking humor may complement the mood changing aspect that is very important in communication during the session (Nelson-Jones, 2005). Furthermore, probing and questioning the client in an attempt to reveal details of their feelings and case facts is important in formulation of conclusions. Without asking the necessary questions to the client may prove to be prejudicial and judgmental in end, since conclusions may be made on wrong facts about the client. This is important in alleviating biases and wrong conclusions, which is human and inherent in many decision making processes. Wrong conclusions are avoided by paraphrasing the client’s statement in the session, in order to clarify areas of misunderstandings (Sanders, 1996). In addition, giving examples that the client associates with such as of a close friend and of the therapist’s own relationship life enables the therapist to further strengthen the counseling dyad relationship. Trust is built when a client understands that the therapist is willing to share their own experience in dealing with the client’s challenge. Use of sympathy and empathy is important on the client’s perception about the process.

Theory

There are a few instances of mention of rationale emotive therapy (RET) in the session which has been explained to the client since the therapist feels that the client will grasp the meaning of the technical perspective (See, 2007 and Dryden, 2003). To supplement to RET, the session applies cognitive therapy (CT) perspectives in dealing with the clients perceptions about their environment in order to correct wrong thinking regarding self worth and esteem. The application of these two perspectives is similar since the establishment of their application is based on personal thinking and cognitive behavior (Maddux

Smaby, 2011). Grief and loss therapy theory has also been invoked in the session and equally explained to the client regarding the healing process. Relationship issues relating to the client’s environment have been approached from a behavior therapy (BT) perspective which pays attention to the facts on the client’s environment and context.

Understanding the theory of suicide therapy is important in determination of how to assist clients with guilt to cope with their feelings, for instance in an environment where they feel judged. According to Worden (2003), dealing with fears that the client has for having been associated with a serious social vice must be facilitated. Confronting thinking likely to aggravate fear and feelings of rejection from the family and friends leaves the client in a sensitive perception which is almost always wrong. The youthful thinking of the client must be confronted to assist the client in shaping up their perceptions about their relationships with others (Schuster, 1999).

Bibliography

Barry, D., Bazerman, M. H., Dreu, C. K., Lituchy, T. R., O’Connor, K. M. & Schroth, H. (2002) “What We Want To Do Versus What We Think We Should Do: An Empirical Investigation of Intrapersonal Conflict,” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15(5):403-418 DOI: HYPERLINK “http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.426” 10.1002/bdm.426

Brown, F. F. & Rainer, J. P. (2007) Crisis counseling and therapy. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press

Brown, J. S. (1957) “Principles of Intrapersonal Conflict,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1(2):125-154 DOI: 10.1177/002200275700100204

Clawson, T. W., Hernderson, D. A. & Schwieger, W. K. (2003) Counselor preparation: program, faculty, trends. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge

Daniels, J. A., D’Andrea, M. J., Lewis, J. A. & Lewis, M. D. (2010) Community counseling: a multicultural-social justice perspective. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning

Dryden, W. & Ellis, A. (1997) The practice of Rational emotive behavior therapy. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company

Dryden, W. (2003) Rationale emotive therapy: theoretical developments. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge

Fagan, R. A. (1966) Confidentiality in counseling. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press

Geldard, D. & Geldard, K. (2008) Personal counseling skills: an integrated approach. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher Ltd.

Hostetler, B. & McDowell, J. (1996) Josh McDowell’s handbook on counseling youth: a comprehensive guide for equipping youth workers, pastors, teachers and parents. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

Loesch, L. C. & Vacc, N. A. (2000) Professional orientation to counseling. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner-Routledge

Maddux, C. D. & Smaby, M. H. (2011) Basic and advanced counseling skills: skilled counselor training model. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning

Nelson-Jones, R. (2005) Introduction to counseling skills: texts and activities. Thousand Oaks: CA: SAGE Publications

Nelson-Jones, R. (2006) Theory and practice of counseling and therapy. Thousand Oaks: CA: SAGE Publications

Restle, F. (1975) Cognitive theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers

Sanders, D. (1996) Counseling for psychosomatic problems. Thousand Oaks: CA: SAGE Publications

Schuster, S. C. (1999) Philosophy practice: an alternative to counseling and psychotherapy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group

See, L. A. (2007) Human behavior in the social environment from an African-American perspective. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press

Slimak, R. E. & Whitaker, L C. (1990) College student suicide. New York, NY: Routledge

Worden, J. M. (2003) Grief counseling and grief therapy: a handbook for the mental health. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company

Democrats & Republicans

Democrats & Republicans

Both democrats and republicans fear the hard road head they see ahead. The groove that has cut between the two is growing bigger day by day even inside the houses, yet they are the ones supposed to govern this great nation together for the next term. The American people decided to leave the Republicans to control the lower house but let the democrats stay on top of them so they voted in President Obama. Even though they expressed frustration due to the stand still that almost pulled the nation into defaulting on its loans in the last year, they showed a sort of 50-50 split among the supporters considering the very narrow win against a republican, Mitt Romney. This will be a divide that will in a major way; slow down the progress of any issues maybe for the next 2 years and this might soon be an arousal of a crisis in the American nation. During the campaigns, Obama put his focus more on giving help to the middle class and the high number of believers of “yes we can”. Even with Mitt Romney and his allies spending more than $1 billion trying to throw him out, Obama’s tactics were more of a coalition of identity rather than ideology. Other than winning himself the seat, as a democrat of the nation, he also won himself a seat in history next to those other eight men who were re-elected more than once.

Even with the re-election of democrat and President Barrack Obama, the republicans continued hold of the house with House Speaker John Boehner saying that they will have as much mandate as Obama. They had made it their goal four years ago that they would work towards the loss of power for President Obama. Mitch McConnell, a senate republican leader, in his remarks following the elections said that the voters were not looking at the failures and excesses of the president’s first term. This showed their effort toward throwing him out of the white house. The republicans also went against the health care law that Obama tried to push through. They did not give even one single house or Senate vote for it but instead beat down the efforts towards ending tax cuts targeting the richest households, instituted during the Bush era. They had tried to use the high rates of unemployment in the states to show his incapability for a second term. In an attempt at deficit reduction, republicans have failed to raise taxes targeting the rich citizens.

Democrats however think that Obama has learnt his lesson in his first term that has led him to the realization that at times he will have to get involved in not just the crafting of, but also the negotiation of legislation. In addition, democrats topped up that such tax hikes by the republicans might always accompany such deals. By re-electing Obama back to power, the democrats made sure even with the number of republicans in the house, democrats sat on the throne. It is probable that the larger number that voted him in were democrats.

Obama proceeded to show the urge for unison between the republicans and democrats in the house when in his victory speech he stated that he was looking forward to working with leaders from both sides of the divide in order to meet the challenges that can only be solved through collaboration. This greatly supports my personal view of the situation. The United States of America will either have to change this name or rephrase by the end of this term if they do not set aside their differences and lead this nation together.

democratic self-government , democracy, political science

Political Science

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During the better part of the 19th and 20th centuries, authoritarian regimes predominantly dictated, controlled and influenced the political life in many Asian, Western and African countries. In the modern times however, many countries have displayed examples of democratic system of governance that have not only been successful but has also deterred re-occurrence of dictatorship. However not all the countries have pure democratic ruling because the system that have put in place not only encourage impunity but not effectively let go dictatorship. It has been a great challenge installing democracy in some countries especially those in Africa. The Islamism is a good paradigm that the western style democracy faces a lot of challenges in large parts of the world. There has also been return of the centralized authoritarian ruling in Russia. Although democracy has been progressing very well, the progress may be negated behind by those countries that resist letting go of the authoritarian ruling. Africa for example is a good example of the victims of authoritarian ruling (Magstad, 140). However Zambia served as emulation when they let go of dictatorship and allowed their country to be democratic.

Totalitarian regimes are termed as false utopias because they make promises that are they never fulfill. There is usually complete domination and those in control seem to run everything without the opinion of the followers. Those countries that have totalitarian governments aim at achieving total political, economic and social control of the people. The outright characteristic of this type of ruling is that those in power have the total say over the society and the state in general (Magstadt, 151). These are some of the reasons that make it to be referred as false because it is concerned with the needs of the society but is only concerned with gaining power over those who are in charge. This kind of ruling involved a lot of violence especially the killing of innocent people who were deemed dangerous for no particular reason.

The Russian government was run by a union called the Soviet Union. This union had emerged from the totalitarian regime and therefore it involved domination. The people were tied of having such kind of a ruling therefore decided to fight it. The citizens of Russia were more determined to promote nationalism, a belief in self determination and egalitarianism. They could not anymore take in the fact that there were people like them trying to take control over their country. They believed that it was high time to promote equality in their state and society as well. Russia has faced a lot of rebellion by many of its neighboring countries. This is because most of those countries became victim of the nuclear weapons that the Soviet government had deployed at the time of its reign. There was a lot of tension among those newly independent nations (Magstadt 242).

Economic development and political stability do go hand in hand. If a country is politically unstable, the most possible outcome is that the economy is usually at stake. In most cases it is not possible for a country that is politically unstable to do well with its economic structure. For example the economy of a country is highly affected when that country is experiencing internal wars most of which are politically driven (Magstadt 288). On the other hand if a country is politically stable, the economy is not much affected. If leaders ensure that their countries are politically stable it will not consume time trying to maintain peace but rather use that time to improve the economy of that particular country. It may not be necessary for either factors to depend on each other but each contributes to the success or failure of the other.

The concepts of citizenship and democratic self-government have certain correlations. Citizenship requires that one be patriotic and strives to see his country and fellow citizens develop and prosper. Democratic self government is based on the principle of popular mandate and sovereignty. As such citizenship enforces democratic self-government as the citizens would have their democratically elected leaders to rule their independent and sovereign territory on their behalf, while at the same time maintaining law and order but guaranteeing the same citizens fundamental human rights and freedoms.

I cannot claim to be politically active because basically politics puts me off. This is because most people misuse the positions that they acquire making it look like a bad venture. If people would change their perspective about politics, not viewing it as a base of competition, politics would have some relevance. Those involved in politics always think of what they will gain out of it and not how they will help those involved. For one to be a good leader and citizen they have to stick to the regulations and norms of that state. That is what would increase my level of participation and support towards politics (Magstadt, 352).

In most cases, people who seek political offices and are in search of fame do not do it for the good of the public. It is usually a matter of what will make them famous and what they will gain out of all that. These kinds of leaders will not show that they are there to cause any harm and neither will they show any good that they are willing to do to their followers. Their main aim is for them to gain the leadership and to ensure that they are re-elected the next time there is an election. For a good leader, his or her interest is not whether they are elected but rather to ensure that they fulfill the major needs of the society. Some of the leaders that were driven by the desire for fame include George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison (Magstadt, 401). According to them leadership was a way of pursuing fame but at the same time they were patriots and were ready to serve their country.

Works Cited:

Magstadt, T., Understanding Politics, Cengage Learning Academic Resource Centre, CA: California, 2009.

Democracy without Democrats

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Democracy without Democrats

In this article, John Waterbury argues that lack of sustainable democratic involvement among the Arab Middle East countries is fueled by the existence of several factors. The most prevalent cause of the failure of democracy is the continued warfare and conflict that many states in this region have experienced. This as a resulted has created authoritarian political leaders who further suppress the possibility of exercising democratic rights among the citizens. In addition, existence of middle class with no decision on whether to support democracy or not has made the situation worse. This worsened by the fact that most of these middle class citizens depend on public employment thus have to follow what the authoritarian leadership tells them while those in private sectors live in fear of losing their financial position if they go against the government. In addition, the existence of the culture of obedience among the Islamic communities have made the citizens become slow in seeking for democratic change as they have to obey what their law and leaders state.

The reasons for those seeking the need for democracy may also be termed to lack a specific goal. While some groups in the Middle East states have lobbied for the end of authoritarian leadership, most of these groups are motivated by divided interest thus creating lack of unity in pushing for democracy. According to the writer, those who have put an effort towards seeking democracy are the people in the community who may have failed in accomplishing their political agenda and as a result, they feel that democracy is the suitable way of achieving their personal goals. In addition, existence of oppression towards the poor and religious groups in Middle East makes those belonging to such groups feel that democracy may help in ending the oppression. This shows that democrats are not entirely rejecting the current regime but they feel that democracy is an alternative way to ending the existence of conflicts of interests.

Democracy plays a very pivotal role in the governance of a country

Introduction

Democracy plays a very pivotal role in the governance of a country. Such kind of governance may be initiated by the citizens or by their representatives whom they have elected. At the outset, democracy provides a suitable system of governance where different calibre of people coexists despite their class, gender, origin, ethnicity, religion and culture among other affiliations. The more striking aspect of democracy is the provision of political freedom to the citizens in a country given the fact that majority dictates what is good for them. In essence, the civil rights of people is upheld and respected. However, democracy should be coiled with elaborate institutional framework as the majority who has the say can abuse such privileges and oppress the minority group within their area of jurisdiction. Different countries have varied degree of democracy given their status of civilization hence the variability in the freedom enjoyed by their citizens. In highly democratic states, citizens enjoy a variety of freedom including freedom of speech, association and assembly among other freedom issues. It is however, worth noting that coiling democracy with other values such as trust enhances the positive coexistence of different people within same environmental setting. This paper therefore examines the relationship of democracy and the social values by comparing and contrasting nations that have different degree of freedom.

To begin with, political freedom is one such important factor in a society that everyone is willing to benefit from. It is however dependent on the mode of governance and the legal as well as political framework existing in a state that guides such governance approaches. Different nations have varied degree of freedom brought about by the levels of democracy practiced within a nation. Some states such as France and Germany have high freedom rates while other nations such as Iraq and Iran enjoy little freedom. The first two states were democratically established a long time ago unlike the latter two countries which have had their struggle for democratic space for a short period of time notably after the disintegration of communist bigwigs. Varieties of values are correlated to democracy in many ways and are therefore important in upholding the democratic space within a nation. It is therefore important to examine the various values, beliefs and attitudes that are have tried to shape up the democratic systems in the aforementioned countries. It is partly true though majorly hypothetical that the post-communist states of Iran and Iraq have to undergo a long and challenging task in an attempt to gain democratic stability currently enjoyed by Germany and France. The choice of the aforementioned countries was based on the fact that these nations share some things in common such as culture and religion. For instance, Iran and Iraq are Islamic nations while France and Germany are Christian-based States.

The procedure of democratization is affected by a variety of social issues including religion, tradition, and emphasis of education among others which shapes up the social values and beliefs which in turn affects the behavior of the populace. To begin with, Germany and France are predominantly Catholic territories even though East Germany is occupied mainly by the Protestants. Iraq and Iran on the other hand are strongholds of Islamic religion. The values and beliefs of the two cliques of countries are sharply different. As Germany and France campaign for the respect and upholding of individual human rights of each and everyone in their country, Iraq and Iran on the other hand lobby for the elevation of group ideals and the subsequent handling of individual or personal issues as secondary in priority. According to the Islam religion, the ethics and virtues of the believers emphasize the support an individual is supposed to offer to his/her group and not putting his personal needs a head of the group’s needs. This has negative impact on democratic practices lobbied by the western countries that requires that individual human rights be respected. Besides, Islamic religion has other beliefs and values that hamper the process of democratization. To begin with, the issues concerning of morals are highly demanding according to the Islamic teaching unlike Christianity practiced in Germany and France. According to the Confucian morals churches give answers to all the moral problems an individual faces. The World Values Survey provides statistics where 64.3% and 77.3% of respondents in Iran and Iraq respectively supported the idea compared to 42.6% of similar respondents in Germany. 35.7% and 22.7% of the respondents in Iran and Iraq opposed the idea as 54.7% of the German respondents believed that churches do not offer solutions to moral problems.

Moreover, the rule of virtue and not the rule of law are prominent in the two Islamic countries of Iran and Iraq as opposed to Germany and France which enforces the latter. According to Muslims, individuals are supposed to define their interest in the interest of where they come from and not their personal interest. In essence, in politics and governance, there are no basic human rights in Iraq and Iran but the rights of community as a whole. This is in contrast with the two secular countries of France and Germany where civil human rights is respected. Democracy is deeply rooted in the rule of law and provides an environment for the upholding of human rights. The Islamic value that campaigns for the primacy of group over individual interest may be a factor derailing the democratization process in Iraq and Iran compared to Germany and France which have well established democratic processes.

Besides, the Confucian morality stipulates that the relationship between an individual and his/her parents are based on loyalty as well as filial piety unlike contracts or mutual benefits as witnessed in the pro-western countries. According to the Confucian morality individuals are judged by the honor and benefit they have brought to the family as the latter forms the basic facet of governance in Iraq and Iran. However, this is greatly different with Germany and France’s moral beliefs where an individual is entitled to be independent and therefore guided by personal liberty. He makes his own decisions and therefore does what he deems necessary. According to the statistics, 86.4 % of the French, 93.8 % Iranians, 96.1 % Iraqis as well as 81.8 % German believed that family was very important in day to day life. Democracy requires that on be is left to make his own choice in a free world. Individuals are required to accountable to what they do as individuals not as a group. The important moral goods encompass independence, individual rights, freedom, as well as self-determination.

The Confucian morality also presents a hierarchical form of relations in a Muslim family. It argues that the siblings should respect any decision made by the parents particularly by the father. The children are bound to respect this without questioning such decisions no matter how wrong they might prove to be. This is in contrast to the pro-western constitutions which enable the son to criticize apparent and disregard a decision when he feels that it has been wrongly made. Democracy provides for freedom of speech and that everyone with a sound mind should be allowed to criticize any decisions by anybody that the individual is uncomfortable with.

Furthermore, emphasis on education is another vital social value affecting the democratization process in a given nation. To begin with, the pro-west countries of Germany and France introduced education long time ago compared to Iran and Iraq which initiated such similar programs after communism had been overthrown hardly ten years ago. For instance, statistics retrieved from the world values survey provides highlights on an initiative of primary education established by Germany. According to the survey, 51.1% give the initiative top priority while 34.5% gives it high priority, 12.3% and 2.1% prioritizes the project as medium and low respectively. Other data are actually missing. Besides, gender equality should also be considered while offering educational services to the citizens. Responses on the whether university is more important to a boy then a girl demonstrated how Iran and Iraq despised undermined girl child education compared with Germany and France. According to the statistics, 13.8% strongly oppose the idea of elevating boys at the expense girl education while 13.3% strongly agree with the idea. 27.1% strongly oppose the idea in Iraq while 24.8% strongly agree with the idea. On the other hand, Germany and France presents sharply contrasting data results. In Germany, 49.3% strongly disagree that university is more important to a boy than a girl and 3.1% strongly agree with the idea. France presents even stronger data results in opposition of the idea. 73.1% strongly disagree while 1.8% strongly agrees. For any state to claim efficient democratization, subjecting its populace to education procedures is a fundamental aspect in the process. Education is vital for the democratic life of students as they can now to think critically, be efficient, and participate in all political spheres through engagement in lobbying, voting as well as involvement in decision-making processes. Issues of gender are also vital in the democratization process.

Besides, egalitarianism is another vital social value that can also be used in the comparison of the four countries in respect to democracy. Egalitarianism entails the belief on the equality of human beings concerning issues of economic, political as well as social factors. At the outset, democracy provides a foundation for the facilitation of equality in all the aforementioned spheres. Equality has been campaigned for by a variety of human groups as well as some state governments in the western region. Christian-based countries such as Germany and France encourage equality on the issues raised above by citing the bible that everyone is equal before God. Such equality is important in the democratic space where everyone is accorded equal opportunity so as to be productive. However, equality is highly disputed by Muslims world they undermine women in many occasions. This is exemplified in Iran and Iraq where men are elevated above women in many instances. For instance, a question was asked concerning the performance of women compared to men in the position of company executive. The responses were not surprising. French respondents disagreed strongly with the idea that women would make good chief executive compared to men.54.8% strongly agreed while 2.2% strongly opposed the idea. Germany had 44.8% respondents strongly disagreeing with idea as 3.0 strongly agreeing. On the other hand, Iran strongly agreed recording 20.7% followed by strong disagreement with the idea at 5.3%.

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Political system and Justice are also other important aspect of democratization process. To begin with, fairness in the offer of judgment is very vital in any civilized society. In respect to the four countries of France, Germany, Iran as well as Iraq, equal justice to all people is a vital component of attaining democracy in a country. Political system on the other hand provides a framework as well as guideline that would control all the political activities. Different countries have different political system in their government. For instance, some countries have systems that have democratic system. World Value Survey presents such analysis as used in the four nation’s analysis. The data presented are more or less similar in trend. For instance, Germany is rated at 56.7% as very good but at 1.0% as very bad political system. This is the highest score that insinuates that has political system with very goods political system with democratic political system. The table below summarizes all the data pertaining to the four nations. Iraq for instance had a very good score of 54.8% with the very bad score of 3.7%. Sound political system is the basis to the governance needed in the modern democratic world.

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Social trust is another equally important social value that has close relationship with democracy. To begin with, social trust entails the ability of a person or a group of people to embrace another stranger(s) in his/their midst. When people can have such behavior and attitude to accommodate other people no matter the differences in origin, class, ethnicity, religion or race, then harmony and unity can be effectively achieved. It is believed that people with trust are active and always connected to other people be they families or just friends. In the process, they try to uphold and maintain the positive character trait so as to sustain the friendship. It is more important to stay connected to other people so that an individual’s mistake or undoing is corrected. If such an action is not pursued one may end up getting used to the wrongs he/she has been committing.

Trust is however affected by a variety of factors. Firstly, the prevailing political and economic climate in a country has an impact on the trust on other people or certain things such as media, health care and education among others. The trust on a given political view in a media such as press is highly relevant to democracy in a state. Such trust ensures that we are in a position to accommodate other people’s ideas and opinions concerning pertinent issues of politics. It is however, worth mentioning that the confidence in press has deteriorated in France as statistics show that only 2.1% have trust in the press but 19.1% do not have trust at all. This is almost similar in Germany where 2.1% are known to have trust in the press but 15.8% lacks the trust in the press. Unlike the aforementioned statistics of the two pro-western countries, Iran presents a different scenario. In this survey results, 5.1% do not have trust in the press while 8.4% have trust in the press.

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Even though social trust is not in many instances associated with the usual set of economic, social as well as political variables including gender, age, education, income, race, and employment, it is sometimes found in some of the aforementioned social categories. It is always associated with high status, high education as well as high income and is therefore more likely to be exhibited among the middle aged men and women and the psychologically satisfied individuals in respect to their jobs or general lifestyle.

It is noteworthy that trust has a close relationship with the democratization process. The ability of an individual to embrace a stranger within his midst despite differences in class, religion, ethnicity, race or culture is an encouraging undertaking since it ensures that unity and harmony prevails. The occurrence of social trust among people in a society contributes to certain aspects of solidarity, productive cooperation as well as peaceful coexistence and stable relations which are suitable for the nourishment of democracy. Democracy is known to prevail in such aforementioned environments as peace and harmony.

Generally, the difference witnessed between the four discussed countries is partly dependent on time factor when democracy was established in the aforementioned nations as well as the differences in the social values of the Asian countries from those of the pro-western. For instance, Germany and France had established the democratization process long ago before Iran and Iraq which are in still the process of establishing democracy following the fall of communism. France and Germany established liberal democracy many years back and have therefore positioned themselves in vantage points as far as political freedom is concerned. Their citizens enjoy the fruits of freedom as well as respect for human rights. Iran and Iraq on the other hand are still on the verge of trying to integrate the native Confucian value of the East Asia in an attempt to enhance democratization process. They lack freedom of expression and still engage in violations of civil rights.

Conclusion

As mentioned above, democracy is a fundamental aspect in good governance of any nation. Sound democratic practices employed by those in power ensure a suitable environment characterized by high degree of freedom. Democratization process may be initiated by the leaders themselves or compelled by elected people. The aspect of democracy is related in one way or another to a number of social values including morality, tradition, culture, social trust, and education among other values. The above discussed nations have demonstrated sharp differences in various aspects of the social values according to the world value survey. For instance, such sharp contrast has been witnessed in the issue related to gender and education. The pro-western countries of France and Germany strongly oppose the idea that university is more important to boy than girl as supported by Iran as well as Iraq. Countries such as France and Germany had long time ago established democratically compared to Iran and Iraq which are developing their democratic process after the fall of communism. It is therefore noteworthy that the social values associated with democracy would be developed at a similar slower pace as the democratic process. Finally, a democratic process, practice as well as institution should ensure high quality public policy that is in the interest of the public.

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