Essay --

In todays’ hard economic times, academic issues such as increased in college students’ mean age, student drop outs due to financial difficulties, and increased in average students’ lending has started to plague universities even in developed countries. In Taiwan, most of the college students are either enrolled in the morning or in the evening sessions, wherein, the evening sessions are opened specially for the on the job students. However, upon asking, many of the morning session students are actually working part-time. It is hypothesized that properly managed part-time jobs would have a positive effect for the students, in terms of job preparation and value adding experiences. In light of these issues, the current study shall seek to determine the key factors that students consider while looking for a part-time job. Furthermore, the study also seeks to determine the practical effects of having part-time job while still studying. A survey was developed and admin istered to 450 college students in a Technical and Vocational University in Taiwan. Statistical analysis shows that students’ part-time job selection is much dependent on two key factors, namely: Job matches my future and Job is able to help my future career. Further implications are also given to provide a much bigger outlook on how students plan their career. 1. Introduction Part-time (PT) job has long been a part of the university student experience. Observation shows that most students tend to work in industries such as retailing, service industry, and restaurants where the demand for labor has always been available. Employers in these industries need cheap and flexible labor in order to remain viable [1], while the students wishing to find a PT job fulfill this requir... ...riences as priority for taking a job. In the survey, it is also could be found that our students do not feel threatened or strained as facing competence. Supposing we have opportunities to take a job in all studying periods, and actually students will have four years to learn relevant skills or enhance practical experiences. Nevertheless, â€Å"closer to home† is their first choice always. It seemed that we remain unconscious about what is called the reality. Spending all the time on something unnecessary is our defect or the common problem of college students in Taiwan. By these outcomes, we recommend more speeches could be held, which get us more familiar with the intense of competitions and to realize â€Å"survival of the fittest.† In addition, instead of living a life with nothing, we are supposed to be vigilant that how the other countries make progress on their skills.

Managing Overtime Worked in the Workplace

In the following report, I will be give illustrations and possible solutions for an overburdening problem that exists in the U.S. Postal service Operations throughout the country. Overtime is an age-old problem that has gone long overdue without someone or a group paying serious attention to correcting this problem. The United States Postal Service is a large organization with many facets of operations; I will be concentrating on what we call the Field Operation or Area Office. This is where the public comes into personal contact with the Postal Service either by way of the individual letter carrier (mailman) or the window clerk who assists with business transacted at the post office. Every community across America has a Post Office. We are one of the most visible employers in the world. The U.S. Postal Service employs approximately 750 thousand diverse people. Many different cultures and nationalities come together to combine as an efficient workforce that gets the job done. The pay is moderate, so it would be pretty difficult to become independently wealthy working for the Postal Service. But, there are some employees that believe if they work, as much overtime as possible, maybe they can become rich. Unfortunately, this poses a daily obstacle to overcome for most managers in the U.S. Postal Service. The U.S. Postal Service is a production driven outfit therefore; everything is based on production verses cost ratio. The average workday for a postal employee is eight hours. It does not take a genius to figure out that the longer it takes to do the job, the more money is made. So, the employee that desires more money would be motivated to take longer to complete his or her assigned task(s). Historically, the Postal Service has been plagued with managers that were not diligent in doing their jobs with regard to overtime management. Because of this clusters of employees became accustomed to a Carte Blanche style of working. Employees were in effect managing the overtime and work production. During my career as a letter carrier, I completed my assigned tasks within my eight-hour shift working overtime only when deemed necessary by my manger. When I became a manager, I expected everyone who worked for me to have the same work ethics that I had. If this was not case, I attempted to force them to work as hard as I did. I later found out that this was not a good management approach. In fact, this was the easiest way to harvest disgruntle employees. Here was my dilemma; I was the new young manager who expected an honest day†s work, for an honest day's pay, paired with a staff that had been allowed to do whatever they wanted for the past ten years. The office of my first management assignment had 90 percent of the employees working an average of 10-16 hours of overtime per week. My performance as a manager as well as well as the production performance for our office was based on the amount of manpower hours used to deliver the total volume of mail. I will present information about the systems put in place that worked as a check and balance format. These systems enabled me to demonstrate to my employees that my requests were not unfair or unreasonable. I will discuss the areas that the employees were able to assist in helping to aleve the excessive use of overtime. I will also discuss in detail areas that contributed to the excessive use of overtime that did not involve my employees. With implementation of the new systems, my office has reduced its overtime to 14 percent.    While controlling overtime may seem as easy as just making an announcement â€Å"that no one is allowed to work overtime†; this is very far from true in the U.S. Postal Service area offices. There are many variables that come into play, the first of which is staffing. In order to do a good job; the office must be properly staffed. We have percentage breakdowns that factor in amounts of carrier routes; amounts of deliveries per zip code that derives to an employee complement. Each office has a number that satisfies their complement. If for any reason a particular office is operating under their complement that makes the task a more difficult. Any office can be fine one week and short the next, due to retirement, injuries, or details to name a few. If any of the aforementioned were to occur a manager could request replacement for these employees, whether they will be granted or not is another story. Then we have the day-in day-out mystery of who will call in on sick leave. Having any of these instances to take place in a given day can simply cripple an operation. If we take a carrier operation anywhere in the world that has 35 city carrier routes and 4 carriers call in sick on a Monday, that manager now has to scramble to get coverage for those four vacant routes. It is not like other organizations where your work can carry over by one day; the mail must be delivered daily without exception. This makes it difficult to get the work done in an eight–hour day for the remaining employees. The first thing the manager must do is to telephone four employees who would normally have the day off and ask them to come in and work their day off. Bare in mind that the U.S. Postal Service has something called an Overtime Desired List, a voluntary list of employees who wish to work overtime on assignments. When the manager telephones employees to come in on their day off, he must first call those on the Overtime Desired List. If the manager does not get four employees from the list, he may then exercise the option to call employees not on the Overtime Desired List. The only alternative to this situation is to have employees already present complete their assignments and pitch in to help deliver the vacant assignments. The advantage of this situation is that it allows you to minimize your overtime usage for the day. If the manager was able to get four employees from the Overtime Desired List to come he has automatically used 32 hours of overtime for that day. By having employees already present work additional hours, you are able to use far less overtime for that day. This is an area I feel managers need to stress to their bosses so that all efforts are exhausted in hiring more employees for offices to operate under their complement. The earlier mentioned example could have been avoided had that office been properly staffed. A fully complemented office would have unassigned employees who would have been given those assignments for the day avoiding the need for overtime. In order to be a successful office you must be fully complemented. When I was finally able to get my office fully complemented my overtime was reduced by 10% – 30% as shown in the graph below. The U.S. Postal Service has another formula that we use to gauge an employee†s production. There is a standard based on demonstrated ability. We can not hold Carrier A to Carrier B†s standards. This formula is for sorting letters and flats (magazines, newspapers, etc.). The formula allows 1 hour to sort 2 feet of letter mail. This is 2 linear feet, 2 linear feet equals 454 pieces of letter mail or 230 pieces of flat mail. So in order to standardize an employee the manager must count out 2 feet of mail, letters or flats, and calculate the amount of time it takes the employee to sort this mail. The average carrier has no problem at all meeting this quota, but there are those who attempt to outsmart their managers. If the manager is not focused on them during the sorting period there are those carriers who have the tendency to leave their areas to socialize among their coworkers, or â€Å"slow sort† their mail. The longer it takes a carrier to sort his mail, the longer it takes that carrier to get out of the office on the street to deliver this mail, making this same carrier late in returning from his assignment guaranteeing this carrier overtime for the day. You multiply this by several carriers in one office daily and you come up with an unaccountable amount of overtime usage as a manager. This affects your production numbers for the office as a whole. This where a manager has to jump in and approach the individual carriers immediately. As a manager I that this has happen to, I have approached the individual and asked some very basic questions to make certain that there are no health or personal issues going on with the carrier affecting their productivity. If nothing out of the ordinary exists, I point out that they are not meeting their productivity quota and make certain suggestions to assist them in meeting their quota. There are those times when you are challenged as a manager to verify your findings. When those situations arise, I go out and measure, with the carrier present, the actual number of feet of mail for them to sort and time them sorting this mail. Once you demonstrate to your employees that you are only expecting from them what is minimally required, and that you will hold them accountable for just that you run into this type of problem less and less. Another major contributor to overtime usage is the actual mail flow itself. Most days this is not a problem, but when it is a problem it is usually a big problem. In Northern Virginia we have two mail distribution centers, one in Merrifield and one in Dulles. For the Falls Church Post Offices, we receive our mail from Merrifield. Each morning we receive 3 dispatches of mail from 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. When these dispatches are on time everything runs smoothly, but when these dispatches are late an office goes from running smoothly to being hectic. One of the main reasons for a delayed dispatch is the mechanical failure of a mail-processing machine in Merrifield. In preparing itself for the new millenium, the U.S. Postal Service Distribution Centers are equipped with high-tech automated mail processing machines that do the job of ten employees sorting mail. In the event of a mechanical failure, one of our dispatches can be delayed by 1 – 2 hours. This 1 – 2 hour delay is passed along to my operation in 1 – 2 hours of down time for my carriers while they are waiting for their mail to deliver. That equals approximately 1 –2 hours of unforeseen overtime per employee that day. As demonstrated in the graph below this is a large usage of overtime for an entire office when calculated. The combination of mail volume and properly scheduled mail dispatches is critical in minimizing overtime. In closing, I would suggest that as we approach a new millenium the U.S. Postal Service would be better served by doing away with some of the older ways of thinking. The Overtime Desired List should be dismantled. This forces managers to go outside of the employees already present for work as a first solution to a vacant assignment list. To me this encourages overtime usage. I would also suggest for offices receiving mail dispatches late at least 3 times a week to move their scheduled time for mail receipt back and bring their carriers in a little later to accommodate for the dispatch schedules. For example if an office has consistently been receiving their dispatches an hour late, instead of having the carriers report to work at 6:30 a.m. they would move the carriers reporting times up to 7:30 a.m. instead eliminating that hour of downtime per person that they are losing.

Wal-Mart Evaluation Report - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1735 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/09/21 Category Advertising Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Wal-Mart Evaluation Report Axia College of University of Phoenix Analyzing Wal-Marts annual report provides a positive outlook on Wal-Marts financial health. Given the specific ratios and its comparison to other companies in the same industry, Wal-Mart is leading and more than likely will continue its dominance. Though Wal-Mart did not lead in all numbers, its leadership and strong presence of the market cements the ongoing success of the company. The review of the current ratio, quick ratio, inventory turnover ratio, debt ratio, net profit margin ratio, ROI, ROE, and P/E ratio all indicate an upbeat future for the company. The current ratio, which is defined as current assets divided by current liabilities, is a measure of how much liabilities a company has compared to its assets. Wal-Mart in the year of 2007 had a current ratio of . 90, and as of January 2008 it had a current ratio of . 81. The quick ratio, which is defined as current assets minus inventory divided by cu rrent liabilities, is a measure of a companys ability pay short term obligations. Wal-Mart in the year of 2007 had a quick ratio of . 25, and as of January 2008 it had a ratio of . 21. Both the current ratio and quick ratio are a measure of liquidity. Wal-Mart is not as liquid as its competitors such as Costco or Family Dollar Stores, Inc. The reason why Wal-Mart is not too liquid is because they are heavily investing their profits for expansion and growth. Management claims in their financial report that holding their liquid reserves in other currencies has helped Wal-Mart hedge against inflationary pressures of the United States dollar. The next ratio to look at is the inventory ratio which is defined as the cost of sales divided by average inventory. In the year of 2007, Wal-Mart’s inventory ratio was 7. 8, and as of January 2008 it was 7. 96. Because Wal-Mart has a lot of sales, it does not have too much of a problem with holding too much inventory. The competitors of Wal-Mart have similar ratios, but they do not have as many sales as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s ability to sell at lower prices for the same quality gives them the edge against the competition. As of the year 2007, Wal-Mart had a debt ratio of . 58, and as of January 2008, it had a debt ratio of . 59. The debt ratio is calculated by dividing the total debt by its total assets. Wal-Mart has a ot more assets than it does debt, so Wal-Mart is not overleveraged. Wal-Mart far exceeds their competition in comparison of assets. Wal-Mart is the 800-pound gorilla in this industry and looks to remain that way. The next ratio to look at is the net profit margin ratio, which basically measures the return of sales. Wal-Mart had a 4% net profit margin ratio in the year 2007, and had a net profit margin ratio of 3% as of January 2008. The industry average is similar, so the comparisons between the competitors remained flat. The ROI or also known as return on assets compute the efficiency of an   investment. Wal-Mart had an 8% in the year of 2007 and as well as of January 2008. Wal-Mart had one of the highest ROI’s in the industry; however the most important of the number is its consistency. Wal-Mart is more consistent than its competitors when comparing ROI, or return on assets. The return on net worth is also known as the return on stockholder’s equity which gives a clear picture of the performance of Wal-Mart, and in the year 2007, it had a ROE of . 19 and as of January 2008, it had a ROE of . 19. Wal-Mart’s dependable profits make it a great company. It was able to get close to a 20% return for its shareholders. The final ratio that solidifies Wal-Mart’s impressive performance is the P/E ratio. It is calculated by dividing the market price per share and the current earnings per share. Wal-Mart had a P/E ratio of 17. 89 in 2007, and as of January 2008 it had a 16. 28 P/E ratio. In general, a high P/E  suggests that investors are expecti ng  higher earnings  growth  in the future compared to companies with a  lower P/E. Wal-Mart’s ability to turn their inventory into cash is remarkable. They have the shortest operating cycle of its industry. By adding the inventory conversion period and receivable conversion period, one would get the operating cycle. Wal-Mart had 49. 36 days for its operating cycle as of January 2008. A very similar computation of Wal-Mart’s bottom line is its cash conversion cycle. It is calculated by subtracting the days of payable deferral period from the operating cycle. The number of days for Wal-Mart to turn its resource inputs into cash is about 12. 36 days. There cash cycles are much more optimized and the best among its competitors. It spells success given that they are able to sell their inventory in a very quick time frame. The shorter the cycle, the less time capital is tied up in the business process, and thus the better for the companys bottom line. Wal-Mart ’s system is very efficient because of their superb capability to need less working capital given their short cash cycle. Below is the list of long term debt with maturity dates and yield to maturity. Wal-Mart sells only common stocks with a current selling price of 58. 62 per share. It had a 52-week average price between high 40’s and low 50’s. The average cost of capital for the year 2007 was 5. 3% and as of January 2008 was 4. %. These numbers are very impressive given how Wal-Mart borrows very cheaply. The primary reason why Wal-Mart is able to do so is because Standard Poor’s rates Wal-Mart’s long term debt as â€Å"AA. † Wal-Mart is a good credit risk, meaning bondholders are safe in terms of Wal-Mart’s ability to repay. Their strong recognized brand helps its sales, and I believe along with their great management, Wal-Mart is in no trouble to pay its creditors because it has a strong history of paying its obligations and the c heap borrowing rates reflect that. Wal-Marts stellar performance has created optimism for those invested in Wal-Mart whether it be a shareholder, bondholder, employee, management, and as a consumer. Wal-Mart is a great buy; however, one should wait for the stock to dip a little lower. The current economic conditions in America especially, Wal-Mart might suffer because consumers in America will be less inclined to spend as much money. Though they are still going to grow because Wal-Mart has expanded its operations in emerging markets such as Asia, it will be able to bounce back. Its long term growth and outlook is still positive however stock prices will probably take a dip in the near future as Americas economy begins to decline and contract. Wal-Mart still, however, gathers hundreds of millions of customers and continues in its growth. Their mission of providing low prices will help attract customers who want the most out of their money. Many analysts agree that Wal-Mart will perform well into the future and when looking at Wal-Marts revenue and market cap compared to its competitors, Wal-Mart surpasses and moves ahead. With the right system and leadership in place, Wal-Mart may even monopolize their market as a retailer. It sells a diversified range of products such as foods, consumable goods, clothing, pharmacy, gasoline through distributors, photo processing, video rental stores, and just about everything else one might need. Wal-Mart has become the one-stop-shop place for a person, and it has provided quality as well as quantity. They will continue to be the leader in providing a unique service of diversified goods with a combination of low prices and customer satisfaction. Wal-Mart has given a lot of value to its customers. However, the same cannot be said to its workers. The labor force of Wal-Mart has complained about lack of benefits and low pay. Things are slowly changing, as the CEO of Wal-Mart shared in Wal-Marts annual report that empl oyees will be given more incentives such as health care benefits. There also has been much controversy that Wal-Mart has discriminated against female workers. The CEO of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott, has said in the annual report that Wal-Mart has been constantly promoting women especially in the companys growing market of China. Wal-Mart has better positioned itself for opportunities in all aspects and has become more aware of peoples needs inside and outside of the business. In analyzing investments and businesses, numbers tell the story. The eight ratios analyzed were all good or above average in its industry. The current ratio was good, however not the best in the industry. The primary reason why it has more current liabilities than it does current assets is because the capital used to buy wholesale products and sell retail are used heavily to keep the business booming. Many customers are constantly shopping in Wal-Mart, and this need has to be met with enough inventories. The quic k ratio which measures short term obligations, suggests that Wal-Mart is capable to pay its creditors and has above average number than the industry. The inventory ratio proves Wal-Mart is the best as it sells a lot more products than its competitors. The inventory is always moving because Wal-Mart sets its prices to sell. The debt ratio of Wal-Mart is good but not the best however has done better than most of its competition. Wal-Mart as a larger net worth and market cap than any of its competitors. There net profit margin ratio is good however is not performing than it should. The problem is that they price it too low. Wal-Mart can raise prices to prove this ratio; however, their volume of business makes up for this. Their ROI on its assets as well as their ROE is consistent unlike its competition. As Wal-Mart gains more market shares, they will dominate their competitors beyond what it is now. The P/E ratio is not too low or high as it suggests that Wal-Mart is poised for more gr owth especially as business is expanded to other markets. Wal-Mart is a great company with very little blemishes, as its management and leadership make small but important changes to improve its bottom line. References Moyer, C. (2007). Fundamentals of Contemporary Financial Management (2nd ed. ). Thomas-Southwestern, OH (n. d. ) Annual Reports. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from https://www. annualreports. com/ (n. d. ) Thomson One. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from https://tabsefin. swlearning. com (n. d. ) Wal-Mart. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from https://finance. yahoo. com/q? s=wmt Don’t waste time! 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A Literature Review On Adult Adults With An Intellectual...

A literature review addressing overweight and obesity in male adults with an intellectual disability, living in rural and remote Australia. The literature review involved collating information about the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australian adults, identifying key documents related to overweight and obesity in the population group of 35-50 years old men. A literature search was conducted to identify recent reviews and evidence based research on the prevalence of obesity in male adults aged 35-50 years with an intellectual disability, living in rural and remote Australia. Initial searches were limited to systemic review and meta-analyses. This is a highly appropriate approach as it makes use of major international research collaborations and manages the volume of published literature. It also ensures that the review considers and reflects on international perspectives. Particular focus is placed on studies conducted within rural communities and those on male adult. Overweight and obesity is suffering from an intellectual disability. A widespread and serious problem for about half of adult Australians with 66% of men and 30 and over, and approximately 47% of women in the same age group being overweight or obese. Men are more likely to be overweight then women, particularly in rural and remote communities (AIHW, 2010). The recent report on ‘Rural, regional and remote health’ (AIHW, 2010) notes the importance of differentiating between the effects of living in aShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Autism On Children With Autism857 Words   |  4 Pagespeople with Autism are employed. This statistic is especially concerning, when the generally high academic and creative ability of many adults with Autism is considered. This review evaluates three categories of parental factors, demographic, psychological, and behavioral, to determine what effect, if any, they may have on the work participation outcomes for adults diagnosed with Autism. 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Normality and Human Behavior - 1674 Words

The concept of being â€Å"normal† is one that is often spoken about being the front of conversation, spoken with much defence and controversy. In contrast, this topic is spoken about with great â€Å"hush† because it is seen as a taboo in society; due to the sensitive issue of an individuals expected behaviour. On the other hand, the topic of â€Å"abnormal† is often given a similar light to the idea of being â€Å"normal†. Many psychologist have tried to explain one of these labels often using the starting point of normality, then any behaviour that deviates away from this is seen as abnormal. However, as many psychologist and theorists have found there is much more complexity behind each label, this is due to diversity of people, cultural relativism and mixed societies within the world all trying to define their own concept of what is â€Å"normal† and â€Å"abnormal† human behaviour. 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Candide and the Enlightenment Free Essays

Conor Brown Western Civ. 9/17/11 Candide: A Reflection Harsh criticism abounds in the enlightened satire Candide by Voltaire. The author constantly goes against the popular flow and challenges the status quo of the Enlightenment. We will write a custom essay sample on Candide and the Enlightenment or any similar topic only for you Order Now Nothing is off limits for Voltaire and topics stretch from love, class, warfare and even religion. In the ever-changing society of the Enlightened period many just believed in the teachings of the supposed leading philosophers of the time, but Voltaire challenged these ideas and brought about new and what he believed were logical ways of thinking. Even though the Enlightenment is constantly satirized in the book it is in its self a work of the Enlightenment. Which is very ironic but true nonetheless. However, through these harsh criticisms Voltaire presents his work in an extremely humorous and approachable way. Perhaps the best example of how the Enlightenment is satirized is Voltaire’s view of optimism. One of the movements most regarded philosophers was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. He founded this idea of supreme optimism. His theory was that since God is a benevolent deity all is good in the world no matter what happens. In other words everything happens for a reason, but that reason is always a good one. Voltaire saw it otherwise and gave multiple examples to back his defense. The first example revolves around Candide’s teacher Pangloss who is a supreme believer in the optimistic teachings of Leibniz. Pangloss had gone missing for a while but Candide soon finds him as a beggar with many sores all over his body. Pangloss explains that he had contracted syphilis from a servant in the Baron’s mansion. Now, usually any terrible disease is a bad thing but in Pangloss’ mind it is a good thing. He explains to Candide that syphilis comes from Columbus’ discovery of the New World and says that without it Europe would have never been able to benefit from the new discoveries made there. For example without syphilis the Europeans would have never had the privilege of enjoining chocolate. That definitely seems extremely far-fetched that in order for someone to enjoying chocolate millions needed to suffer from syphilis. Voltaire’s satirizing is clearly evident in this example. Another example of optimism is the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. This was one of the worst tragedies of the time and over 30,000 people were killed during it. Even Jacques, a faithful friend to Candide, dies drowning while trying to save a bad sailor. How the heck could this be thought as a good thing? Well Pangloss reveals that it is for the best because the Lisbon harbor was constructed in order for Jacques to die and even though the harbor and thousands or people suffered it was completely necessary. This is totally ridiculous and not realistic. These exaggerations of optimism are meant to be unrealistic simply to bring about how flawed Voltaire sees the views are. Personally to me optimism is a good trait to have in certain situations. When 30,000 thousand people must suffer or millions must contact syphilis in order to get a piece of chocolate optimism does not seem like a logical term. Optimism is good to help people get through tough times but it should not be the sole reason for why things occur. I do believe that everything does happen for a reason but I also believe that not everything occurs for a good reason. Sometimes things just happen because that is what God intended but it will not always lead to something good. The Enlightened leaders did present some good ideas in optimism beliefs but they were not all true. There are quite a few elements in Candide that show Voltaire’s criticism on society. Class and order is visited frequently through out the book. There is this belief of how class and order are the only things that matter in life and that’s how one can get far in life. Frequently individuals and families in seats of authority abuse their power by hurting and mistreating servants and slaves. Voltaire presents these characters as ruthless idiots who care nothing about the subjects they rule over but only look out for themselves. At this time in history the servant and master relationship was still alive and well. Voltaire criticizes this view by showing how corrupt and distraught this system really is. Voltaire harshly criticizes warfare. Candide shows us how he hates warfare and believes it to be futile and wasteful. He is forced into the army and is beaten for reasons he cannot explain. Women are also raped and beaten badly. Candide finds all of this so bad that he escapes from the army. Voltaire is providing an anti-war view that seems very logical. Excess war is not good and most times war is not good because of how people go about it. Voltaire has very strong beliefs concerning this and he shows it through his character Candide. Voltaire also criticizes religion quite often. Whether it is by mocking a faith or showing the true side of an accepted belief. When Candide enters Holland and refuses to call the Pope the antichrist a group of Protestants calls him a heretic and pours waste on him. An Anabaptist named Jacques comes over and helps Candide by cleaning him and giving him some food. The Anabaptist helps again by trying to save a sailor who has fallen off the ship during the earthquake. Jacques’ only reward for helping others is his own death by drowning. Voltaire shows how society hates a man just because his religion is different even when the man is nothing but good to others. The Protestants are accepted by society even though they are frequently mean and intolerant of others religious beliefs. A harsh but true criticism is explored here. Several punches are thrown at Catholicism throughout the book. The clergy of the Church especially gets the worst of it. When in Lisbon an old woman takes care of Candide after he is flogged. They share stories and she casually states how she is the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of Palestrina. The supposed corruption of the Catholic Church was revealed here in order to show how the Catholics were being ruled by a liar who was suppose to be celibate. A serious problem for a religion considering their leader is a fraud. Society is asked how can you truly believe in your religion when your leader does not even believe? Another huge criticism of religion and society in general is when Candide visits the mythical city of El Dorado. Voltaire paints this utopian society that criticizes the modern day beliefs of religion and tries to show the ideal religion in El Dorado. Here is a place where they believe that God has created everything and simply then left it alone, providing a Deist approach. The real kicker that Voltaire throws in is how the inhabitants of El Dorado constantly thank God but they do not attend mass and there are even no priests. Voltaire believes that priests are unnecessary and often get in the way and a much simpler approach to religion should be thought of in Europe. Even in this paradise of great religion Candide leaves to find his love and become happier. Which shows that Voltaire believes that society is never completely happy and always wants more even when they are in paradise. Candide has many humorous moments through out but some of my favorite revolve around the over exaggerations in order to criticize. Each approach to optimism is funny because of how wildly outrageous it is. The fact that someone could believe that syphilis was a good thing because it brought about chocolate or that 30,000 people dying was necessary are so outrageous that it is hard not to chuckle even just the slightest. I also find the names of all the things very humorous. The term metaphysico-theologico-cosmoloonigology is very funny and also pokes fun at how the philosophers of the time considered themselves to be very sophisticated and extreme intellectuals. The name of the area where Candide is from, Thunder-Ten-Tronckh, is also quite humorous and might be used to show how the Baron thought he was extremely powerful. The humor provided a very approachable way to talking about very touchy topics at the time while still stating Voltaire’s mind as well as making fun of people along the way. Regardless of Voltaire making fun of the ideals of the Enlightened period, Candide is still a book of Enlightened values. The Age of Enlightenment is also often referred to as the Age of Reason. The philosophers and intellectuals of the time were just simply trying to give reasonable explanations to numerous topics and mysteries. In reality that is all Voltaire was trying to do as well. He was providing a critique to the intellectual beliefs and reasons and he himself was providing his own reasoning through this book. By showing his own paradise and criticizing the religion of the time he was trying to provide a reasonable approach to society’s view on religious beliefs. He was also reasonable explaining how ridiculous the idea of optimism really was. Voltaire was of the Enlightened age and he himself was trying to reason. Sure he did it through some bold and unorthodox ways but all he was trying to do was enlighten the reader and explain how he viewed the great mysteries and beliefs of the world. How to cite Candide and the Enlightenment, Papers

St. Thomas Aquinas Theology free essay sample

Major ideas of 13th Century. Christian philosopher. Rational proofs of God, influence of Aristotle, methodology, ethics, metaphysics. Philosophy, religious faith, and theology are complementary aspects of the writings and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, among other religious philosophers. Philosophy is a mode of thought, a means of speculating based on logic and experience. Philosophy is the means by which human beings have of examining their place in the universe. Religious faith is an accepted truth based on belief rather than close analysis. Theology is the study of God and the study of religious teaching. Aquinas combines all three of these conceptions as he analyzes human nature, the relationship between the human being and God, and the meaning of teachings of the Church. Plato held that the body and the soul were separate and of a very different constitution, while Aristotle saw the soul as form of the body, a view accepted by St. We will write a custom essay sample on St. Thomas Aquinas Theology or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thomas Aquinas. Thomas was a