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Keeping fish as pets is a pleasurable experience. It is also a less laborious business than keeping most other kinds of pets. However in order to get the best out of the experience you have be prepared beforehand from the time you decide to buy fish.

Selecting the correct fish thank from offered fish tanks for sale is in fact the second most important decision when it comes keeping fish as pets. The most important decision is of course the selection of fish but fish tank comes second.

Fish tank will also be a focal point in the room in which it is situated. They also work as beautiful decorations for homes and offices. These are further important reasons for selecting a fish tank correctly from fish tanks for sale.

You can find variety of fish tanks for sale both offline and online. It is important that before coming to a decision to buy, to do some research online among the fish tanks for sale. This will give you an idea about the kind of features and sizes each type of fish tank for sale offers. Even more importantly it will give you an idea about the comparative prices of fish tanks for sale. You should also check out the reviews and other details provided by the websites that cater to the fish pet owners. That way you would not be totally clueless when checking out the fish tanks for sale.

Another significant consideration that buyers of fish tanks forget to inquire beforehand is how the transportation of the fish tank is carried out. You should ask the seller offering fish thank for sale whether the tank will be delivered to your house and whether that will cost you extra. Remember that in spite of appearances transporting a fish tank can be bothersome business.

You should also inquire from people offering the fish tank for sale whether they will install tanks. Fish tanks require convenient plumbing and electricity outlets for their water and air filtering systems. Some fish tanks for sale will have these items preinstalled so all you have to do is to plug in the appropriate connections. Others will require professional installation.

For more information about Fish Tank For Sale, feel free to visit us at: http://www.fish-tanks-land.com/Fish-Tank-for-Sale.html

With everyone being very conscientious about their finances, you’re probably looking for ways to save on your everyday necessities. One of the biggest costs in household budgeting is in pet supplies. Whether you’re shopping for a growing puppy, a spoiled cat, a roomful of birds or even an exotic iguana, who can deny that pet supplies are expensive? The solution is not to reduce the amount of food or health supplies that a pet needs; rather, you can save money by buying discount pet supplies online. Consider these four tips.

1. Order Quality Discount Pet Supplies

Resist the urge to buy the cheap stuff. It will harm your pet’s health, and in the long run, cost you more money due to pet doctor visits. Cheap products are made from cheap ingredients that can become toxic over time, making your pet feel sick and depressed. Change the way you buy, not the quality of food you buy.

2. Order Discount Pet Supplies From Other Sources

Our first reaction when buying supplies is to take the advice of the veterinarian or his/her assistant. The doctor and his or her assistants will usually try and sell you pet supplies at an inflated cost. They are going to be honest about most things, so don’t turn against the pet veterinarian’s office entirely! They are just doing their job in trying to push over-priced food and pet supplies, as that is part of their office income as well. What you should remember however, is that you can buy practically anything from the vet’s office online at a lower cost. It’s the same great quality product, but at a much more affordable cost. Plus, you don’t have to stop by the veterinarian’s office every time you need to purchase pet food or flea control.

3. Invest in Preventive Measures

Many families make the same mistake when it comes to their pets. They pet and cuddle the furry fellow, ignoring tips on how to improve the creature’s general health when things are going well. Then they have to spend hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars a year in professional treatment. If these households would simply devote some attention to preventive treatment, they could improve the quality of life of their pet and avoid more doctor visits. Make a checklist of what a pet needs and ways to provide a safer environment when it is well.

4. Look Online for Discount Pet Supplies

Discount pet supplies can be found by way of mail coupons, online website specials, discount online stores and other special promotions. Remember to figure in shipping and handling costs as well as bulk discounts, because this is where you really find the biggest savings.

Take a more strategic approach to stocking your pet food and supplies. Research the brand of food you’re buying and what other options are available to you. This is the best way to find discount pet supplies.

PetSupply Store provides you with easy access to your most needed pet supplies. No matter what type of pet you have, you can find supplies easily through their online store. For more information, visit http://www.PetSupply-Store.com

Online Automotive Training Schools offer instruction on the basic concepts and functions of automotive engines through instruction modules. Online Automotive Training begins with instruction on the fundamentals of electrical circuitry, fuels, batteries, motor functions, etc., presented in written, diagram, and sometimes animated forms.

Automotive Training curriculums must continually be updated to keep apace of rapidly changing technology in the automotive industry. Today electronic systems and complex computers run automobiles while measuring performance on the road. Automotive technicians have become high-tech diagnosticians, using electronic diagnostic equipment and computer-based reference materials. The ability to diagnose the source of a problem quickly and accurately can be the most challenging and most rewarding skill for a good Automotive Training student.

Students can expect to learn the essentials of maintenance and auto repair procedures from tires and suspension to computerized functions through Online Automotive Training modules. Courses will emphasize the development of a solid understanding of functions that will be necessary to effectively diagnose and analyze automotive problems.

Course studies in Online Automotive Training may include good communication skills and techniques in relation to customer service. Other skills that will serve an Automotive Technician are sound reasoning capabilities and a thorough knowledge of the complex components and interactions of auto bodies and motors.

Fulfillment of examinations for the basics of automobile functions can be completed online. Passing the Online Automotive Training examinations will allow students to enter the laboratory phase of their automotive education with hands-on experience in a shop.

Online Automotive Training programs may take up to a year. Completing an Automotive Technician Associate Degree, which includes laboratory studies, can take up to two years. Certified Automotive Technicians can expect to be subjected to regular review and recertification requisites.

Find an Online Automotive Training program at http://www.schoolsgalore.com and begin your training for a career in automotive maintenance and repair.

Copyright 2006 – All Rights Reserved

Michael Bustamante, in association with Media Positive Communications, Inc. for SchoolsGalore.com

M. Bustamante is a staff writer for Media Positive Communications, Inc. in association with SchoolsGalore.com. Find Automotive Training Online at SchoolsGalore.com; meeting your needs as your educational resource to locate schools

Many Americans rely on their automobiles to get to work. No automobile means no job, no rent or mortgage money, no food. A single parent, struggling to make ends meet in the suburbs with 100,000 miles on the odometer, would presumably welcome the guaranteed opportunity for low-priced insurance that would take care of every possible repair on her auto until the day that it reaches 200,000 miles or falls apart, whichever comes first. Especially if the insurance is valid regardless of whether she even changes the oil in the interim.

So why aren’t the auto insurance companies writing such coverage, either directly or through used auto dealers? And given the importance of reliable transportation, why isn’t the public demanding such coverage? The answer is that both auto insurers and the public know that such insurance can’t be written for a premium the insured can afford, while still allowing the insurers to stay solvent and make a profit. As a society, we intuitively understand that the costs associated with taking care of every mechanical need of an old automobile, particularly in the absence of regular maintenance, aren’t insurable. Yet we don’t seem to have these same intuitions with respect to health insurance.

If we pull the emotions out of health insurance, which is admittedly hard to do even for this author, and look at health insurance from the economic perspective, there are several insights from auto insurance that can illuminate the design, risk selection, and rating of health insurance.

Auto insurance comes in two forms: the traditional insurance you buy from your agent or direct from an insurance company, and warranties that are purchased from auto manufacturers and dealers. Both are risk transfer and sharing devices and I’ll generically refer to both as insurance. Because auto third-party liability insurance has no equivalent in health insurance, for traditional auto insurance, I’ll examine only collision and comprehensive insurance — insurance covering the vehicle — and not third-party liability insurance.

Bumper to Bumper

The following are some commonly accepted principles from auto insurance:

* Bad maintenance voids certain insurance. If an automobile owner never changes the oil, the auto’s power train warranty is void. In fact, not only does the oil need to be changed, the change needs to be performed by a certified mechanic and documented. Collision insurance doesn’t cover cars purposefully driven over a cliff.

* The best insurance is offered for new models. Bumper-to-bumper warranties are offered only on new cars. As they roll off the assembly line, automobiles have a low and relatively consistent risk profile, satisfying the actuarial test for insurance pricing. Furthermore, auto manufacturers usually wrap at least some coverage into the price of the new auto in order to encourage an ongoing relationship with the owner.

* Limited insurance is offered for old model autos. Increasingly limited insurance is offered for old model autos. The bumper-to-bumper warranty expires, the power train warranty eventually expires, and the amount of collision and comprehensive insurance steadily decreases based on the market value of the auto.

* Certain older autos qualify for additional insurance. Certain older autos can qualify for additional coverage, either in terms of warranties for used autos or increased collision and comprehensive insurance for vintage autos. But such insurance is offered only after a careful inspection of the automobile itself.

* No insurance is offered for normal wear and tear. Wiper blades need replacement, brake pads wear out, and bumpers get dings. These aren’t insurable events. To the extent that a new car dealer will sometimes cover some of these costs, we intuitively understand that we’re “paying for it” in the cost of the automobile and that it’s “not really” insurance.

* Accidents are the only insurable event for the oldest automobiles. Accidents are generally insurable events even for the oldest autos; with few exceptions service work isn’t.

* Insurance doesn’t restore all vehicles to pre-accident condition. Auto insurance is limited. If the damage to the auto at any age exceeds the value of the auto, the insurer then pays only the value of the auto. With the exception of vintage autos, the value assigned to the auto goes down over time. So whereas accidents are insurable at any vehicle age, the amount of the accident insurance is increasingly limited.

* Insurance is priced to the risk. Insurance is priced based on the risk profile of both the automobile and the driver. The auto insurer carefully examines both when setting rates.

* We pay for our own insurance. And with few exceptions, automobile insurance isn’t tax deductible. As a result, the fear of increasing insurance rates due to traffic violations and/or accidents changes our driving behavior and we sometimes select our automobiles based on their insurability.

Each of the above principles is supported by solid actuarial theory. Although most Americans can’t describe the underlying actuarial theories, most everyone understands the above principles of auto insurance at the intuitive level. For sure, as indispensable automobiles are to our lifestyles, there is no loud national movement, accompanied by moral outrage, to change these principles.

Unsustainable Market

In contrast, similar principles are routinely violated in health insurance. To demonstrate this, let’s return to the same suburban mother from the opening paragraph. She’s busy working, driving to and from work, and driving her kids to school and activities. She ends each day exhausted, sitting on the couch with fast food. She’s obese, has a sedentary life, a bad diet, and hasn’t taken the time to go to the doctor in years. After a simple injury doesn’t heal for weeks, she turns up at the emergency room and learns she has type II diabetes. Although type II diabetes is controllable, changing diet and exercise habits and properly tracking her condition takes time and effort and she’s never quite successful in implementing the necessary lifestyle changes.

So the initial emergency room visit is only the first of a long list of health care related to non-controlled diabetes and other problems associated with obesity. Whether she has individual or group insurance, her insurance pays for each episode of care, without singling her out for a premium increase, and without charging her any more cost sharing than is charged to the healthiest and most medically diligent insureds. Her coverage continues until she voluntarily changes insurance companies and/or employers or becomes eligible for Medicare. If she’s covered under group insurance she may not even pay any premium. Her insurance continues unabated, even though the disease was caused by neglecting her body and she maintains her poor lifestyle even after the disease becomes known.

This just wouldn’t happen in auto insurance. This scenario is the auto insurance equivalent of guaranteed access to low-priced auto insurance that takes care of every possible repair, including damage already done, until the day the car falls apart so completely it’s unsalvageable (death) or reaches 200,000 miles (Medicare), regardless of whether she even changes the oil (takes care of herself) in the interim.

As a society, we don’t expect this in private-market auto insurance, but we expect it in private-market health insurance. Furthermore, there’s a chorus of national and state interests, which continuously pushes us further away from the auto insurance principles.

The current private health insurance market isn’t sustainable. Prices have been consistently increasing faster than inflation for decades. Each year, insureds use more health care than ever before and more people have no insurance at all. Most actuaries and other people in the private health insurance market don’t want national health insurance with its bureaucracy and one-size-fits-all benefits. Yet, we’re trying to sustain a private insurance system, which violates the very principles we know are necessary for private insurance markets.

Yes, health insurance involves the sacredness of human life and is therefore different from auto insurance. But if we’re to sustain a private-market solution to health insurance, actuaries need to explain to the larger society, in terms that society understands, the rationale for the following principles:

* As sacred as health care is, it’s still an economic transaction that has to be balanced by individuals and societies, against other economic choices. It can’t be unlimited. Sometimes it will be secondary to other choices. On a given day, for example, the mother in our scenario may value her car more than her health.

* Insurance premiums should be paid by the individual and tied to controllable risk factors. This will provide the best incentive for the control of risk factors.

* Although it’s hard to draw the line between abuse, neglect and ignorance, self-abuse shouldn’t be insured and we need to draw that line somewhere.

* The private market can’t provide unlimited, self-directed health insurance.

* Routine care and ongoing treatments of chronic conditions can be pre-funded, can even be subsidized, but they don’t constitute “insurable events.”

* Insurance can’t be expected to keep every human body in pristine condition. No amount of health care will prevent everyone’s ultimate death.

* Comprehensive, unlimited, non-subsidized private-market coverage isn’t possible for people with severely impaired health.

* The private health market can provide limited non-subsidized health insurance, such as protection from accidents, to even health-impaired individuals.

* Individuals who can afford to do so and who take good care of themselves should be able to “buy up” to better coverage. People have the option of buying up for everything else in life.

Discussion of these principles is lacking from most of the current health insurance debate. If society can intuitively understand how similar principles apply to health insurance, then they should be able understand the principles in the health insurance context. We need to initiate the debate.

This commentary is solely the opinion of its author. It does not express the official policy of the American Academy of Actuaries; nor does it necessarily reflect the opinions of the Academy’s individual officers, members, or staff

Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at http://www.precedent.com. [http://www.precedent.com]

The role that the educational system should play in the live of people is to educate them to be conscious, critically thinking individuals who do not passively accept knowledge but question the knowledge that is being taught to them. Education should be taught to give students the skills and intelligence they need to understand the world and how the world works in order to survive in it. However, the American educational system has been known to produce students whom are woefully ignorant about the world and different cultures. One of the reasons is because the educational system in its current state does not leave much room for critical thinking but trains individuals to be docile, worker bees in a global economy that keeps the status quo wealthy and “others” barely making it. The problem becomes evident if we look at the varied curriculums and subjects that are being taught. There is a lack of emphasis on academic learning, and the only thing that matters is high stakes testing. The schools in this country have become swamped with fuzzy curriculums that assume that through constant testing, students will be prepared for life in a new global society . . . whatever that is.

I recently had a conversation with a co-worker and we were discussing how African-Americans were treated forty years ago and I was amazed by her naivety about the subject, considering the fact that she was a college graduate and an African-American. From the moment I entered college, I was eager to explore the history of African and African-American history from a view point that did not make them seem sub-human and college affords students that opportunity. I could not help but wonder what type of history and sociological classes she had taken; from her conversation, none. But the sad truth is that when most people make the decision to attend college, it is for the purpose of reaping economic rewards, not for expanding one’s consciousness.

In order for the educational system in this country to produce students who are not clueless about its history and the world surrounding them, it should be restructured in several ways. Parental involvement should be mandatory, just as school attendance for students is mandatory for graduation. Lack of parent involvement is an enormous contributing factor to the current failing educational system. Parents need to instill in their children just how detrimental a lack of education is to their future. Teachers are wonderful people who can take students from the top of Mount Olympus to the cold and desolation of Antarctica but they are there to teach, not parent. Many teachers spend a great deal of their class time disciplining children and playing babysitter, two things that are not a part of their job duties. Teachers need involvement from parents in order for the educational system to work and education begins at home.

Funding for the educational system should also be restructured. Public schools are traditionally funded by property taxes which results in a very unequal distribution of educational opportunity. Communities that are wealthy have more funding for their local schools than those who do not. This situation directly affects the quality of education that children in urban and poor rural areas receive. The No Child Left Behind Act will only make it worse because of the required testing and public reporting of results. When parents are buying a new house, they want to live in a school district that has strong test scores. This drives up the property values in those areas, meaning that only affluent families can afford to live in the top performing school districts. This means more property taxes to those areas, while the lower performing schools lose their funding if they do not meet federal standards. There should be a fair tax system for education that is not based on property taxes of homeowners. Government funding, for the most part, is distributed to the various schools by state and local governments and there is huge disparities in this funding based on race. According the text American Education by Joel Spring, there is a gap of more than $1,000 per student nation wide based on race, with large states like New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, who lead the nation in their unwillingness to fairly fund education (Spring, pg. 77). Children should not suffer because of their economic background or ethnicity and public education should make no distinction between rich and poor, or black and white. Every child attending a public school should be granted an equal education. Equal funding would grant teachers the proper resources to better educate students. School choice and the privatization of the public school system would not be a factor because under my plan, the educational system in America would be fully and equally funded by the federal government and closely monitored. With the influx of money pouring into the educational system from the government, schools would change dramatically for the better because that is the biggest issue in most public schools: lack of money.

The educational system’s curriculum would be changed in order to fit in with the nation’s melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. From elementary to high school, students are bombarded with facts and figures about wealthy, white men as if women and other minorities do not exist or contribute anything worthy to the history of America. No wonder so many students blank out historical facts: they do not care these fact because they cannot relate to the actors in the story. Student should be required to take courses that have will give them a more in depth understanding of the world surrounding them, courses that will discuss the history of marginalized and oppressed individuals in this country and around the world. They should be required to read books that make them think, not just process information for the next test. If more students understood the values and cultures of people unlike themselves, it would not be easy or maybe even possible for the government to lie and use propaganda techniques to lull the masses into believing everything was okay and its leaders competent. High stakes testing would be eliminated because most of the tests are designed by people who do not have a clue about the demographics, ethnicities or economic backgrounds of the students who are to be tested and these tests are biased against minorities and the poor. If students are to be tested, extra tutoring would be available to students, at no cost to the parents.

Having competent teachers, board members, and administrators are also a vital part of restructuring the educational system. Having qualified administrators and board members who know and enforce standards and guidelines is important. What are the qualifications for an administrator? Are there required qualifications? These are the questions that need answers. Just because someone has obtained a degree does not make this person the best for the job. Board members should not be chosen because they golf with the mayor; all board members should have a Master’s degree in Education or have an extensive social justice background. As for teachers, the educational system should make sure that the best teachers are chosen for the positions and evaluations should be given frequently. This would give parents and the educational system a chance to find out what is wrong and what is needed to correct the problems. Public education needs teachers and board members that actually care about the children and their education, not individuals who want the perks of working for school system: summers and holidays off, steady raises and a fat compensation package. American children are suffering due to the inadequacies of the individuals involved with the educational system.

The “culture of poverty” theory that has been used by several politicians to explain differences in learning between different ethnicities would be exposed as a blatant attempt by the status quo to “blame” individuals for their poverty if the educational system was restructured to meet the needs of all students, not just the wealthy. Huge educational gaps between poor students and wealthy students do not occur because the poorer students have adapted to their poverty-stricken existence but because they do not have resources needed to succeed in school. If students have to deal with textbooks that are outdated, lack of toiletries, and computers from the late 1980s, their opportunity to advance academically is dismal and their chances of dropping out of school likely.

In a just and an equal society, the educational system I have discussed would have already been implemented decades ago but it has not and more than likely will not. In a hierarchical society such as in America, there will always be someone on the low end of the totem pole and the best way to do that is through the mis-education of its most vulnerable: the children. The neglect of the educational system in the US threatens the economic well being of the entire nation. Unless the inequalities in education is diminished and its system totally restructured, the wealthy gap between the rich and the poor will continue to widen and the US will be infamous for being the nation of the undereducated. Spring, Joel. American Education. (2006). New York: McGraw-Hill

From bunny hills to black diamond runs, skiing is one of the world’s most admired pastimes and leisure activity. From hobbyist and ambitious skiers to regular individuals who ski a couple of occasions a year (or a decade), skiing’s keen admirers are as distinct as a package of 64 crayons. Young, old and every age anywhere between from areas across the country, skiing is a hobby treasured by hundreds of thousands. The innovative background of skiing is chiefly considered to have begun in 1850 in Norway with the original competitive events taking place soon thereafter.

Ski destinations are encountered covering the United States (and world) with concentration on the western United States. Colorado and Utah, essentially, are considered to have some of the highest quality ski vacation resorts around the world. Vail, Colorado, is deemed to be one of the top ski lodges worldwide. It is the biggest single mountain resort in the United States. Vail began in 1962 and has been a holiday location for skiers in search of the best skiing ever since. Aspen, Breckinridge and Crested Butte are numerous other ski attractions in Colorado that deliver you exceptional runs for a multitude of skill set levels.

Utah’s saying is “The Best Snow on Earth,” and the state includes some of the prime skiing in the world. Salt Lake City was home to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and is largely thought to be a front runner to perform repeatedly as an Olympic coordinator city because of to the triumph of the 2002 Games, which had a lot to do with the snow and the ski activities sensational settings. Deer Valley, Park City, Alta and Snowbird are four of the Salt Lake City/Wasatch Mountain’s best known and most popular ski resorts. Deer Valley was the location for the freestyle moguls and aerials and the alpine men’s and women’s slalom events at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Alta is one of the older ski areas in the United States and is one of the few ski areas left in the US that is open strictly to skiers, not to snowboarders. Alta is most widely known for the leading quality of its “powder” snow and is known for long, straight, fall line ski runs. Park City, Utah is comprised of a number of the US Ski Team’s training courses incorporating slalom and giant slalom runs. At the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Park City managed the snowboarding and men’s and women’s alpine giant slalom events.

Remaining notable western U.S. ski areas include Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Heavenly and Squaw Valley, California; Taos, New Mexico and Sun Valley, Idaho.

Grant Atkins enjoys skiing and the great outdoors. This article is filled with history and ideas about how you can enjoy skiing too.

Every summer, thousands of American kids go to summer youth camps to enjoy not only time away from home, but to learn or experience new things. Summer youth camps have been part of American summers for generations and show no signs of slowing down any time soon. A summer youth camp offers a wealth of possible adventures or learning experiences for kids.

Summer camps can be religious based or adventure camps, swimming camps, horseback-riding camps, or wilderness camps. The sky’s the limit when it comes to the number of activities and duration of camps, and parents can choose from several day, to several week to month long stays.

Most camps offer openings to children seven to eighteen years of age, and depending on location and time of year, anything from cabins to tents to under-the-stars arrangements can be made. Some camps emphasize wilderness skills and camping while others are stable communities that offer swimming, crafts and other base-camp type recreation like tennis, soccer or other sports. Some camps focus on horseback riding or hiking and mountain climbing while others cater to indoor pursuits.

Summer camps offer kids of all ages the opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, and learn skills that they wouldn’t necessarily learn at home. Wilderness skills are a big part of most camps, but others teach different skills. Most summer camps offer a wide variety of activities for all age groups, and camp counselors oversee small groups of kids for each portion of their camp life experience. Most camps offer cabin dwelling in dorm-style quarters, with separate sections for boys and girls, who then come together for meals or group activities or games. Other camps cater to one gender or even focus on particular aspects of a summer camp experience, such as horseback riding or hiking pursuits.

Summer youth camps also offer a way for children of all ages and backgrounds to broaden their horizons and experience new situations, especially when children from different parts of the state or country come together under one roof. City children mingle with those raised in the country, which offers a unique way for each to appreciate different cultures and ways of living.

Most camps also teach children leaderships skills as well as learning how to get along with one another, in addition to learning positive skills in adapting to difficulties or problems. Religious based summer camps offer campers focused religious lessons while a wilderness adventure camps will enable campers to get out and enjoy the great outdoors to their heart’s content.

Camps can be expensive, but good deals are always to be had if you know where to look. If you’re thinking of finding a summer youth camp for your child, make sure you check things like child to adult ratio, camp counselor ratio, first aid facilities, and anything else you’re concerned about. Summer camps offer unlimited choices when it comes to keeping kids happy and entertained every summer, and memories of a good summer camp can last a lifetime.

Still looking for the perfect summer camp? Try visiting http://www.aboutcamps.com – a website that specializes in providing camp advice, tips and resources including information on summer youth camps.

Having an attention-grabbing resume is one of the most important parts of the job search. Your resume and cover letter are your introduction to a potential employer; and without a strong introduction, you may never get another chance to make a good impression. As a result, the success of your job hunt can hang on how well your resume is written.

Maybe you are entering the work force after graduating from college. Or maybe you just need to find a new job. Regardless of why you are looking for work, a skilled resume writer has the power to help you get your foot in the door.

Why Should I Use a Resume Writer?

Resume writing services are more than just a word processing or proofreading service. A resume writer takes your work experience, education, your strengths and weakness, and ties it all up into one little package. Although people usually think of their resume as a simplistic listing of their education and experience, it is actually more like a sales document. In order for your resume to effectively sell you, it not only has to be well written and visually appealing, but also has to present the goods – you – in the best possible light.

Sound easy? Of course not. Why is it, then, that so many people attempt to write their resumes on their own? You wouldn’t try to write a legal contract when the outcome could impact the rest of your life – you would hire a lawyer. By the same token, you should entrust your resume to a professional resume writer.

What Does a Resume Writer Do?

A resume writer’s goal is to convince potential employers that you are perfect for the job. In order to sell your strengths, a resume writer will:

• Discuss your career focus and gear your resume to your unique goals
• Choose the best format to highlight your strengths
• Write an attention-getting summary or list of objectives
• Use convincing language to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses
• Personalize your resume in a way that shows you off to your best advantage
• Make your resume available in different file formats if needed
• Make changes as necessary

Of course, a resume doesn’t really stand by itself. Your career decisions, where and how you search for jobs, and the quality of your cover letter all impact how your resume is received. In other words, if you are looking for work in the wrong places, or don’t introduce your resume properly in the cover letter, it won’t matter how dazzling your resume is.

Resume writing services often offer a whole package approach to resume writing. To ensure that you land your dream job, your resume writer may offer additional services, such as:

• Career consultation
• Job search consultation
• Cover letter writing
• Resume distribution
• Interview preparation

What Should I Look for in a Resume Writing Service?

A good resume writing service is one that offers you everything necessary to get the attention of potential employers. When shopping for a resume writer, you should look for:

• Convincing literature on their services - Whether you are browsing a website or looking at an informational pamphlet, pay close attention to how convincing the literature is. If they can’t sell themselves, they likely won’t be able to do a good job of selling you.
• A good reputation - Don’t forget to Google! If a resume writing service is worth its salt, you should be able to find good reports from happy customers. Even more importantly, if they aren’t any good you are almost certain to find complaints.
• Experience - Your career is in your resume writer’s hands, so make sure you choose someone with experience. If your career is in a specialized field, you might even want to look for a resume writer who specializes in the field – a writing service that knows the industry will also know what its employers look for in a resume.
• Education - Submitting a resume with errors is embarrassing enough, but when you’ve paid to have it done right it’s downright tragic. Make sure your resume writer is educated and/or certified, so that you can be sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
• Personal attention - You don’t want someone who is going to simply plug your information into a resume writing program – you could do that yourself. In order for your resume to stand out, it needs a unique touch that can only be achieved if your resume writer has taken the time to discuss it with you.

Of course, when you are shopping for a resume writing service, don’t forget to listen to your gut. You will have to work closely with the writer during the creation of your resume, so it is important to feel comfortable with him or her.

Putting Your Career First

Hiring a resume writer ensures that your resume looks professional and gets attention. Although the expense may seem unnecessary, consider that you have already invested thousands of dollars into your education so that you could simply get to this point. When your entire career is at stake, don’t throw it away over a typo or a passive verb! A resume writing service can help you make your dream job a reality.

Jason Kay is a professional resume writer who contributes to websites such as JobGoRound, which provides career information and advice. Learn the best resume writing tips, cover letter tips, and interviewing tips. Also read resume service reviews and submit your resume for a free resume analysis

The poet Oscar Wild, wrote these moving lines: “Children begin by loving their parents. After some time, they judge their parents. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them”. It is a well known fact that the well-being of today’s children is inseparable from the peace, progress and prosperity of tomorrow’s world. It is, therefore, important that children be nurtured in an environmentally sustainable pattern to promote national and global peace and progress. The importance of their welfare was underlined during the World Summit for Children in September, 1990, held under the auspices of the United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) where world leaders maintained that “unless the investment in children is made, all of humanity’s most fundamental long-term problems will remain fundamental long term problems”.

Put succinctly, children are a country’s most precious assets and they demand the highest priority on both national and international investments. In spite of this open acknowledgment of the importance of their survival to our collective global future, evidence abounds that children are facing the worst tragedy in the world today. In a recent seminar organised by the United Nations non-government liaison services in Geneva, participants at the seminar from more than 120 countries were in agreement that “millions of children around sub-Saharan Africa live under especially difficult circumstances where special protection measures are required to enable them enjoy fulfillment of their basic rights”. These children in addition to being poor, are exploited, abused, abandoned, neglected, disabled and deprived of liberty.

The greatest manifestations of child abuse, exploitation, deprivation and neglect are very obvious in situations where children are used as a veritable source of cheap labour, soldiers, and prostitutes against their innocent and passive will. Many children seldom report cases of such abuses against them and most child abusers rely on this fact to continue in their wicked acts. Child labour thrives in our societies today mainly because some employers consider it cheaper to employ and over-work children who have very weak resistance to exploitation and oppression than adults. Such employers often betray and take undue advantage of the innocence of children’s dependence and trust. Families also use child labour to make additional income. While some of the hapless children are engaged in domestic duties of hawking goods, others are made to do hard labour meant for adults. Some Non-Governmental Organisations, (NGOs) have continued to express their concern over this unfair practice that is conducted not only in Nigeria, but also in other countries of the world. In an interview granted to a newsmagazine, Mr. A.C. Onukwue, a director of Media Environment Initiative (MEI) in Nigeria said that “children as young as eight years old are being subjected to a bland agreement by their parents to serve as slaves all their childhood and youths in the name of apprenticeship”.

Those working as domestic servants are the most exploited and most difficult to protect. Most of them are girls who live with their employers and are totally dependent on them. The United Nations Organisation (UNO) and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) have made some legal provisions in their bid to checkmate this growing monster. Article 32 of the United Nations Convention of the rights of the child and article XV of the Organisation of African Unity Charter on the rights and welfare of the child, unanimously condemn child labour in all its ramifications. The two articles recognize “the rights of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous, or to interfere with the child’s education or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social developments”. In Asia, South America and some migrant communities in the United States, it has been reported that children even as young as five years of age are forced into what can be termed “slave labour”. They work like little robots in dreadful conditions that damage their immature bodies and minds. Most of them have no education, are homeless and deprived of parental love and care.

Children as Child-Labourers

Most people have argued that the main cause of child labour is poverty. Others are economic and social inequality, war, unemployment, broken homes and juvenile delinquency. The merchants of children peddle stories of pleasurable life awaiting the kids in the cities in order to entice their victims from their poverty-stricken parents. Most poor parents swallow such stories hook, line and sinker and so inadvertently release their children to the slave merchants. Because of the nature of their minds, children believe what they are told by adults without reservation. Some of them on hearing such false stories of bright future awaiting them at imaginary lands, sometimes sneak away from their homes to be taken away without their parents’ knowledge. Most of them also follow child merchants because their parents find it difficult to feed, clothe and train them in school. Though many children in the advanced industrial nations and in some urban centers of the Third World countries enjoy good care and welfare, yet it is obvious that majority of them in some rural and urban areas whose parents are living below subsistence level are more often exposed to this risk. The situation has been considered dangerous enough that it was brought to focus in 1997 at a forum organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) for jourlalists in Lagos to deliberate upon. The theme of the forum was The Impact of Child Labour on Development. Participants at the forum agreed that child labour exists in Nigeria as in other parts of the world. It is interesting to note that most of these unsuspecting children lured from their homes in Nigeria are taken to Gabon in Central Africa and other neighbouring countries where they are subjected to the highest form of child abuse.

Children as Articles of Trade

But how widespread are cases of child abuse? Let us at this stage, embark on a historical excursion in order to reveal the extent of abuse and danger our children had been exposed to. On May 30, 1995 when 330 Nigerian deportees arrived in Calabar from Gabon, 109 of them were children below 16 years of age. Again, in March 1996, four students of Ikono Ibom Comprehensive Secondary School, Ikot Aya, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria were cajoled into embarking on a trip to Gabon by a fellow student. But these students, made up of three girls and a boy whose ages were between 10 and 14 years were lucky as they could not reach their destination. As fate would have it, officers of Nigerian Immigration Service intercepted their boat at the Oron Creek. And in January 1997, 150 Gabon-bound children were rescued from a camp at Mkpanak near Ibeno. Among the children aged between 11 and 18 years were 20 Nigerians. The rest of them came from neighbouring Togo, Benin Republic and Ghana. In February 1997, 86 under aged children were freed after a raid on an uncompleted building at Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State. It was reported that the nefarious dealers on children had intended to ship them to Gabon before they were rescued. A breakdown of the rescued children’s nationalities showed that 25 were from Nigeria, 23 from Togo while 38 were from Benin Republic. Of the 86 kids, 46 were girls.

It is also sad that not all of these children had been lucky. The hapless ones do not get to their destinations and do not live to tell their stories. In January 1996, more than 200 persons perished in the high seas of Ibeno Beach. About 73 per cent of the victims were school children, some of whom were in their school uniforms. These difficult circumstances represent serious hazards and risks to the survival and development of our future generation.

Children as Sex Tools

Apart from child labour and trafficking, sexual harassment is another area of high risk that confronts our children. Convincing indication of the enormity of this crime was tendered at the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1996 which was attended by representatives of 130 countries. For instance, it was documented that in several parts of the world, there are millions of young girls, some even as young as 10 years of age who are constrained to work as call girls. After years of physical, mental, and emotional molestation, these girls are scarred for life. In most cases, they surrender to this atrocity simply because they want to eat and stay alive. The option is like choosing between six and half a dozen. As a result of such abuse, some children develop social and psychiatric problems later in life. Furthermore, the activities of pedophiles who occupy influential positions in our society do not help matters. Pedophile refers to a psychological disorder which causes adults to be sexually attracted to children whose sexual experience is nil. In August 1997, a Dublin Chief Judge, Cyril Kelly, committed Reverend Berndan Smith a 72 -year old Roman Catholic priest to 12 years imprisonment for a case involving 74 count charges of indecent and sexual assaults against children. Rev. Smith who admitted to a 36-year career of sex offenses against a total of 26 children in the Republic of Ireland, pleaded guilty to the charges. The Daily Telegraph of June 2, 1998 carried a report on a 44-year old soccer coach who used his position of trust to abuse young boys. He was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to 23 specimen charges against children. The Chester Crown Court was told that from 1978 to 1992, the coach invited boys from the North West and Midlands to stay with him or go on holiday to North Wales and Spain where the offenses took place. According to The Daily Telegraph: “Benndell would take the boys into his trust by offering them the chance of not only training with his teams but also an occasion at Grewe Alexandra and Manchester City”.

Children As Child Soldiers

Compounding the tragedy further, there has been an increase in the use of child soldiers in guerrilla armies. Children are easily kidnapped, separated from their parents and siblings and conscripted into the army to fight wars. In such situations they are systematically brutalized, at times by being forced to watch gruesome murder. Some have been ordered to kill their own parents, brothers and/or sisters. Where they find it difficult to carry out these bloody assignments as a result of their innocence, such children are encouraged and compelled to take drugs in order to heighten their killer instinct. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, child soldiers whose innocence had been destroyed by the crimes of a protracted civil war resolved that they were not going to hands-off arms. They took the resolution in October, 1998 when Carol Bellamy the then UNICEF’s head in Sierra Leone, asked them in Bo to surrender their weapons. The child soldiers belonged to the hunter militia group known as Kamajor. In addition, children generally suffer a high death rate during civil or international wars. Most of them die of hunger or hunger related diseases such as kwashiorkor. Because they are fragile and defenseless, they are easy victims in war situations. On August 31, 1997 about 21 children fell into a swimming pool in panic and got drowned in Nsele, 60 kilometers east of Kinshasa, capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo when some armed troops tried to maintain order in the area. In Northern Uganda, rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), headed by Joseph Kony, who have been fighting against the Ugandan government have continued to carry out atrocities against children in that country.

It is interesting to note that children are gradually becoming aware of the injustice and oppression against them by the adult world. In July 1997, Eric Ndelema, a councilor from Kaziso, West Rand, was stoned to death by an irate mob of about 200 primary school children. The mob also set his house ablaze. Mary Martins, a sergeant and South African Police spokesman, confirmed the incident that occurred in Johannesburg but said that the motive for the attack was not yet known. If the cause of the attack was not known, perhaps the peaceful demonstration that was carried out by children from January 5 to June 4, 1998 is enough proof that children are gradually getting fed up with the whole game. Pakistan played host to the global march against child labour in April, 1998 as part of a campaign to draw world attention to children’s rights. The campaigners, numbering about 45,000 children from various countries, walked through Manila, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Geneva into the boarder town of Wahgah, 25 kilometers from Lahore, capital of Pakistan, amidst cheers from the citizens. Kailash Trithay, the leader of the demonstration said his group was carrying a message from every working child that “the world should be free of child abuse”.

In spite of the above facts, which are by no means exhaustive, it appears that not many countries of the world have taken definitive stand against this global monster of child abuse which is threatening to turn our God-given children into slaves and make this world an unsafe place for those who are undoubtedly our leaders of tomorrow. The situation quickly calls to mind, the admonition of an erudite scholar, Martin Luther King, who once remarked that “the world is full of evil today not because of those who do evil, but because of men who keep silent and watch evil being done”.

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Victor Izuogu was born on February 8, 1973 in Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria. He attended Egbema Secondary School, Egbema where he obtained his West African School Certificate. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secretarial Administration from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Victor has worked in many reputable organisations as a an Executive Secretary and a Banker. Because of his humble beginning and experience in life, he has a passion for charity and humanitarian services. In order to execute his dream project, Victor formed a charity organisation, GLOBAL INTERCHANGE VENTURES. The proceeds of his literary works go to charity homes, churches and hospitals, e.t.c. You can support his charity and humanitarian services by sending your donations by mail to: GLOBAL INTERCHANGE VENTURES, P.O. BOX 1291, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT

The importance of parental involvement as an accelerating and motivating factor in their children’s education is a worldwide-accepted fact. This research project provides an in depth explanation along with specific reasons, the importance of parents’ involvement in their children’s education. It also discusses the parenting techniques, their types and their consequences if neglected. It also describes the ways to measure the outcome of the positive parental involvement. Furthermore, it mentions the teachers involvement and the difficulties faced by the teachers in getting parents involved in their children’s (this is further supported by the examples of two teachers who with their deliberate efforts won the parents over to devote their maximum attention towards their children), single-parent involvement, children’s own efforts to improve their academic levels and joint home-school based interventions. A detailed analysis of the different main ideas is given, based on the findings from other research surveys and projects.

INTRODUCTION:

Parental involvement can be seen to fall into three types: 1) Behavioral, 2) Intellectual and 3) Personal. The research explores the effect of multi-dimensional participation of parents and the resulting progress of children in their studies when different parental resources were dedicated to them. Actively participating parents help their children in their academic development by going to schools and participating in open houses. By keenly observing the behavior of their children they can rightly judge the kind of behavior or the allocation of resources required by their children. Such caring parents can also motivate teachers to become more attentive towards a particular student, thus maintaining the cycle of parent-teacher involvement. Encourage Building up cognitive and perception abilities in a child is a major concern in the upbringing of the child. The way the parents involve their children in cognitive learning is by exposing them to different cognitively stimulating activities and materials such as books, electronic media and current events at home. This helps the child to practice all sorts of language comprehending skills at the school. The results show a remarkably positive behavior at the school and with peers.

Two parenting processes namely the Supportive Parenting (SP) and Harsh Parenting (HP) helped a lot in the research of parental involvement in their children’s education. By adjusting the levels of supportive parenting, different levels of successful outcomes were observed. Supportive parenting in even kindergarten students yielded positive results. Four measures of supportive parenting were used in the study, they were:

1. Proactive teaching.

2. Calm discussion in disciplinary encounters.

3. Warmth.

4. Interest and involvement in peer activities.

The assessments were conducted when children entered kindergarten and when they reached grade 6. There was a factor noted to hinder children’s development: family adversity. It was the result of a multipurpose negative process that included the risk of low socio-economic status, single-parenting and family stress. Child maladjustments were found to be more common in families with such adversities. No matter how much negative impacts were cast, SP was found to overcome the risks associated with family adversity. SP was strongly related to adjustment procedures in grade 6 children who had single parent family or experienced low socio-economic status (SES) in their early childhood.

In a way to socialize their children, parents adopted the techniques of calm discussion and proactive teaching. They helped lessen the behavioral problems by carrying long discussions with their children, cultivating in them a sense of respect, calmness and peace of mind. Mothers also participated actively in reducing the peer stress among their children. It is also a widely accepted fact that supportive parenting plays an important role in the children’s development of empathy, prosocial behavior and emotional competence. On the negative side, the absence of supportive parenting may be related to the development of internal problems such as anxiety and depression.

Lack of the necessary parental care and attention is the main factor for the subsequent rise in the percentage of juvenile delinquency (crime among children). The absence of parental instructions causes children to develop irreversible behavioral and emotional problems. They in order to seek attention, resort to crimes thinking that in this way they could fulfill their wishes. They may revert to uncontrolled violence if not kept an eye upon. Such criminal activities cannot be brought to a halt until their distressing symptoms of low self-esteem, depression, dysphonic mood, tension and worries, and other disturbances are relieved. And the importance of parents’ role in this regard cannot be over-emphasized.

In an effort to describe parental involvement, many researchers use a term “Transition”(Lombardi, Joan). “Transition” is used to describe the time period in which children move from home to school, from school to after school activities, from one activity to another within a pre-school, or from pre-school to kindergarten. The untiring endeavors of teachers in the phenomenon of transition cannot be ignored. They prepared the children and their parents to face the problems of adjusting to elementary school programs that had different psychology, teaching styles and structure than the programs offered at the kindergarten level. In the elementary level schools the teachers had to face serious challenges in motivating the parents to take interest in their children’s activities. The teachers adopted different methods to involve the parents in day-to-day classroom and home activities. They used to send notes, invitation of parent-teacher meetings, invitation of parental guidance sessions and training sessions, continuously directing the parent’s attention towards their children. Patricia Brown Clark suggests that it is very important to keep the line of communication between teachers and parents open, so that the parents can interact with the teachers and get up to date information of their children’s school activities. One way to involve parents is to schedule school events and arranging classroom activities such as volunteering for libraries, acting as classroom aides or efficiently organizing lunch breaks. The teachers also opt for making phone calls at the children’s houses to keep in touch with the parents and getting to know the extent to which they are contributing towards the welfare of their children. Apart from the above activities, the teachers also assign home activities for both the parents and their children so that the parents remain indulged in their children and the children get to study at home. However, it was a bad and disappointing experience for the teachers when many of the parents failed to respond as expected. Many of the parents were so overwhelmed with their official work that they could hardly take out some time for their beloved children.

Moreover, for some parents their schoolings were not positive and character-boosting experiences, therefore they preferred to keep a distance from their children’s school as well. This made it really difficult and at times impossible for teachers to bring the parental involvement to the desired level. Nevertheless, the activities of two teachers proved greatly fruitful in making parents involved in their children. They were Carlos Valdez, an art teacher and 8th grade class sponsor, and Mike Hogan, the school’s band director. They did it by involving parents in music festivals and other school ceremonies. They proved to be great examples for the future teachers to come.

If the children’s academic development programs are to prove successful they must share two characteristics:

1) Developmentally appropriate practice:

A child’s academic progress is clearly reflected by the appropriate practice he/she administers while in school life. During transitions from pre-school to kindergarten, a child if given the exact developmentally appropriate practice tends to learn a great deal of language and playing skills. He develops a keen interest in exploring his environments and interacting (without hesitation) with his adults.

2) Supportive services:

These include the assistance that the school provides to low-income family students. The services include health care, childcare and community care. This strengthens the relation between school and children and creates a sense of security and confidence among the children. They get to learn that their communities are a part of their school since the school’s supportive services strive to help community development.

It is commonly believed that children are good self-teachers. Their self-initiated strategies help improve their expression, creativity, intellectual capabilities and extra-curricular skills. This idea is proved by the documentation of young children’s work provided by Reggio Emilia :

“The Reggio Emilia educators highlight young children’s amazing capabilities and indicate that it is through the unity of thinking and feeling that young children can explore their world, represent their ideas, and communicate with others at their highest level.”(Edwards, Pope. C, Springate, Wright.K)

The climax rests in the fact that how the parents would know that their sincere involvements are really proving worthwhile for their children. The answer lies in the attitude of the children. The degree of parental involvement can be judged by a child’s attitude towards his school subjects, his academic desires and achievements. There is a direct relationship between academic achievements and the attitude towards school. Schunk in 1981 had the following idea of aspiration or academic desires:

“Level of aspiration is defined as one’s subjective probability that he or she will reach a certain level of education.”(Abu, H. & Maher, M)

As a result children who received adequate parental concern were found to be much more confident in their academic desires and achievements than those who could not get the right amount of parental concern.

The individual involvement of mothers and fathers also plays a vital role in the behavioral development of a child. Students from one-parent household were observed to show less positive attitude towards schools and studies as compared to students from two-parent households. One study aimed at investigating parental concern showed that despite mothers’ sincere endeavors, the role of fathers could not be ignored and both served as an important foundation for the future progress of the child. This can be proved from the following fact:

According to a recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics (1997), compared to their counterparts, children with involved fathers are more likely to have participated in educational activities with their parents (e.g., to have visited a museum or a historical site with their parents in the past month), and are more likely to have access to multiple types of resources at home as well (as measured by the proportion of parents who belong to community or professional organizations, or regularly volunteer in the community). (Flouri, E. And Buchanan, A, Pg.142)

Also, the parental involvement has been discussed and implemented in terms of interventions or prevention programs, which are nothing but safety measures taken to assure healthy and perfect upbringing of the child. The study uses school-based and home-only intervention programs to find out the extent of intellectual capabilities found in children from different family backgrounds. The success of one school-based interventions can be proved from the following fact, which was a part of “Education Service Improvement Plan 2001-2005” of Edinburgh:

—-The Scottish Executive Discipline Task Force, which studied the causes of poor behavior among pupils in schools produced a report of ‘Better Behavior – Better Learning’ in June 2001. The report included 36 recommendations for action, which were then turned into an Action Plan in 2002. Many of these have implications for the Education Authority. (Craig Millar Instep Project)

References

Abu, H. & Maher, M. (2000). A structural model of attitudes towards school subjects, academic aspiration and achievement. Educational Psychology, 20, 75-84.

Angoff, W.H. (1988). The nature-nurture debate, aptitudes and group differences. American Psychologist, 43, 713-720

Berger, D. (2003). The Developing Person, Worth Publishers

Brown, P. C. (1989). Involving Parents in the Education of Their Children. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education Urbana IL.

“Craig Millar Instep Project” [http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/CEC/Recreation/Libraries/] Local_Organisations/local_Craigmillar_Instep_Project.html&

http://www.inspire.edin.org/pages/paperA.htm – context

DeKlyen, M., Speltz, M.L., & Greenberg, M.T. (1998).

Fathering and early onset conduct problems: Positive and negative parenting, father-son attachment, and the marital context. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1, 3-21.

Edwards, Carolyn Pope; Springate, Kay Wright (1995), Encouraging Creativity in Early Childhood Classrooms, Eric Digest.

Flouri, E. & Buchanan, A. (2004). Early father’s and mothers involvement and child’s later educational outcomes. Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford, UK, British Journal of Educational Psychology 74, 141-153

Fortier, M.S., Vallerand, R.J., & Guay, F. (1995). Academic motivation and school performance: Toward a structural model. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 20, 257-274.

Ganzach, Y. (2000). Parents’ education, cognitive ability, educational expectations and educational attainment: Interactive effects. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 419-441.

Georgiou, S. (1999). Parental attributions as predictors of involvement and influences on child achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 409-429.

Grolnick, W.S., & Slowiaczek, M.L. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model. Child Development, 65, 237-252.

Halsey, P. (2004). Nurturing the Parent Involvement, Two middle Level Teachers Share their Secrets. Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Vol 77, No. 4, pages 135-137 WN: 04062038590002

Lombardi, Joan (1992), Beyond Transition: Ensuring Continuity in Early Childhood Services, Eric Digest.

Masse, L.C., & Tremblay, R.E. (1999). Kindergarten disruptive behavior, family adversity, gender and elementary school failure. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 23, 225-240.

Mulkey, L.M., Crain, R.L, & Harrington, A.J.C. (1992). One parent households and achievement: Economic and behavioral explanations of a small effect. Sociology & Education, 65, 48-65.

Pamela A. Halsey (2004) Nurturing the Parent Involvement, Two middle Level Teachers Share their Secrets. Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Vol 77, No. 4, pages 135-137 WN: 04062038590002.

Pettit, G.S., Bates, J.E., & Dodge, K.A. (1997). Supportive parenting ecological context and children’s adjustment: A seven year longitudinal study. Child Development, 68, 908-923.

Ramey, C.T., Campbell, F.A, & Ramey, S.L, (1999). Early intervention: Successful pathways to improving intellectual development. Developmental Neuropsychology, 16, 385-392.

Shepard, J. & Carlson, J.S. (2003).

An Empirical Evaluation of School-Based Prevention Programs that Involve Parents. Oklahoma State University and, Michigan State University, copyright, Wiley Periodicals, Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 40 (6), pages 641-656

Updegraff, K.A., McHale, S.M., Crouter, A.C. (1996). Gender roles in marriage: What do they mean for girls’ and boys’ school achievement? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 73-88.

Yongman, M.W., Kindlon, D., & Earls, F. (1995). Father involvement and cognitive/behavioral outcomes of preterm infants. Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 58-66.

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Automotive technology courses will give you the skills you need to turn your passion for cars into a steady, rewarding and long-lasting career. With very high employment rates, graduates of automotive technology courses can go on to apprenticeships in some of the most successful automotive repair and service facilities around the world.

Most automotive technology courses are intensive in focus, providing students with comprehensive training on all aspects of automotive repair and service. This training will cover all aspects of car repair, including extensive training in brake systems, differentials, transmissions systems, electrical systems, heating, air conditioning and fuel injections systems. A graduate of an automotive technology course will be provided with everything you need to be a successful automotive technician.

In addition to learning the nuts and bolts of automotive repair and service, automotive technology courses will train students for personal and workplace safety, professional protocol, performance standards, effective communication skills, and problem solving. With this kind of training you will have the tools you need to launch a rewarding career in the dynamic, fast-paced automotive repair industry.

Auto Tech programs often use a unique combination of classroom theory, demonstrations and hands-on instruction to provide comprehensive skills training and help you become an automotive repair and service expert. The very best of these courses benefit from strategic partnerships with high profile industry leaders and are able to provide students with extensive hands-on training on some of the best industry standard equipment around. Students in great auto tech programs will spend the majority of their study time in fully equipped automotive facilities with state-of-the-art technical and diagnostic equipment, such as:

• A chassis dynamometer
• Brake lathes
• Hand-held diagnostic scanners
• Engine diagnostic equipment
• Wireless wheel alignment analyzers

With hands-on training on all this equipment, you’ll have the latest skills and knowledge to excel in any automotive repair and service environment. When you complete an automotive technology program, you’ll be certified as an Inspector, and licensed to handle air conditioning refrigerants under your region’s ozone depletion prevention program and regulations.

As a future automotive technician, it will be your responsibility to help to protect the environment through the safe and responsible handling of ozone depleting chemicals. In compliance with the government’s mandatory certification requirements for all persons handling or repairing air conditioning systems. These certifications, a requirement for any auto tech job, will give you a definite edge in today’s repair and service job market.

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Philippe Taza is the founder and CEO of Higher Education Marketing, a leading Web marketing firm. Taza has worked in the Canadian Education market for nearly a decade, specializing in Google Analytics, Education Lead Generation, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Mobile SMS Alerts, Social Media Marketing and Pay Per Click Marketing, among other Web marketing services and tools.

What are the benefits of sending a child to a traditional summer camp? Should you select a summer day camp or an overnight summer camp?

Positive summer day camp or overnight summer camp experiences can be of tremendous benefit to your child’s development. While at a traditional summer camp, either a summer day camp or overnight summer camp, children learn about themselves, learn to be more independent, are expected to live up to expectations and help out younger campers.

A good traditional summer camp program can help increase a child’s self-esteem, teach them respect for others, enable them to learn self-respect and also learn tolerance of others. Living in a group situation, as in an overnight summer camp, campers learn to accept differences such as race, religious beliefs and cultural differences. Both types of traditional summer camps offer benefits that will help your children grow and mature and broaden their horizons.

When you receive a traditional summer camp’s brochure, you will invariably have questions for the camp director about the camp philosophy as well as that of the director. From that first phone call and/or visit to the web site, you begin developing an impression of what a particular traditional summer camp is like and how it’s run.

A traditional summer camp may be described in nothing less than glowing terms in its brochures. The setting can be absolutely breathtaking. Activities offered by the camp may run the gamut from racquetball to modern dance. In the end, however, it’s the human equation of how those activities are operated and conducted that determines the quality of the summer day camp or overnight summer camp program. Remember the marketing materials for traditional summer camps are designed to make you want to send your child there!

Get to know the camp director as a person through telephone conversations, correspondence and if possible, a personal visit. Have the director describe the camp’s philosophy and how it is carried out by the staff. Find out if you have the option of sending your child for summer day camp or overnight summer camp. Ask how many years the director has been at that camp and also find out the total number of years he or she has worked as a traditional summer camp director.

How Much Is It Going To Cost?

One of the biggest questions facing parents when they consider sending a child to a traditional summer camp is the cost. The cost of a traditional summer camp, whether a summer day camp or overnight summer camp, can be substantial especially if there is more than camp-age child. American Camping Association accredited overnight summer camps and summer day camps offer price ranges to fit every budget. While not always the case, if a non-traditional summer camp is designed for a very specialized group of campers, it may be more expensive than traditional summer camps, which are also often called adventure camps.

The cost of a traditional summer camp per week will probably also figure into how many weeks of summer day camp or overnight summer camp your child(ren) will attend. The American Camping Association reports the among its accredited camps, both summer day camps and overnight summer camps, the prices for a week of summer day camp or overnight summer camp ranges from $75 per week to $650 per week.

There are some ways to save money, even if it is not obvious from reading the camp brochure or visiting the camp’s website.

The first question you should ask is whether or not financial assistance is available to help subsidize the tuition costs. It’s not uncommon for all kinds of summer day camps and overnight summer camps to set aside a certain number of spots for families who might not otherwise be able to afford to send their child to traditional summer camp. If they don’t offer to subsidize the full cost of the camp session, they may pay part of it.

Although scholarships for traditional summer camp programs are usually available on the basis of need, there may be extra unclaimed subsidized spots which the camp will allow your child to fill. You won’t know, though, unless you ask. If you are hoping to receive a scholarship or other type of financial assistance, it’s a good idea to apply early before all the slots are taken.

Another way to save on the cost of traditional summer camp is to find out if special discounts are available. Often summer day camps or overnight summer camps will offer a discounted tuition price for early registration, for siblings attending the same camp, or for signing your child up for a particular session of the summer camp program. Again, if you don’t ask, you won’t know what your options are.

What is included in the tuition cost?

Typically, transportation is included as part of the cost for summer day camps. Resident or overnight summer camps may offer transportation from a central location or may require the campers to be delivered to the campground. If the overnight summer camp program includes trips, movies, laundry service, snack bar, special equipment or other costs, find out if they are included in the cost, if your need to pay a separate additional fee, or if you should send extra money with your child to camp.

What is the refund policy?

Refund policies vary greatly from camp to camp. Some refunds cover only illness of the child, while some will give a total refund if it is requested prior to a certain date. Some camps may return all but a registration or administrative fee and some may not offer refunds at all.

What is the camp’s philosophy and program emphasis?

Each traditional summer camp has its own method of constructing programs based on its philosophy. Does it complement your own parenting philosophy? Are the activities at the summer day camp or overnight summer camp of interest to your child? Many traditional summer camps actively promote competition and healthy rivalry among camp teams, as reflected in team sports. For many campers this is pure fun. Some parents feel that learning to be competitive at an early age teaches essential survival skills. However, other parents and educators are in favor of cooperative learning. Research has shown that noncompetitive methods encourage young people to learn more, retain it longer, and develop greater self-esteem and appreciation for others. Knowing your child’s personality and style of learning is valuable in selecting the right summer day camp or overnight summer camp.

What is the camp director’s background?

American Camping Association (ACA) minimum standards recommend directors possess a bachelor’s degree, have completed in-service training within the past three years, and have at least 16 weeks of camp administrative experience before assuming the responsibilities of director.

What training do counselors receive?

At a minimum, camp staff should be trained in safety regulations, emergency procedures and communication, behavior management techniques, child abuse prevention, appropriate staff and camper behavior, and specific procedures for supervision. Often traditional summer camp counselors are college students working toward degrees in various sports-related and human services fields.

What is the counselor-to-camper ratio?

ACA standards require different ratios for varying ages and special needs. Generally, the ratios at overnight summer camps range from one staff for every six campers ages 7 and 8; one staff for every eight campers ages 9 to 14; and one staff for every 10 campers ages 15 to 17. At day camps the ratios range from one staff for every eight campers ages 6 to 8; one staff for every 10 campers ages 9 to 14; and one staff for every 12 campers ages 15 to 17.

What are the ages of the counselors?

ACA standards recommend that 80 percent or more of the counseling/program staff be at least 18 years old. Staff must be at least 16 years old and be at least two years older than the campers with whom they work.

The number and types of programs a particular traditional summer camp offers may also impact the ages of the counselors. Academic camps and other specialty camps may require camp counselors to have a particular level of education or number of years of experience or training.

What percentage of the counselors returned from last year?

Most traditional summer camps have from 40-60 percent returning staff. If the rate is lower, find out the reasons why there isn’t a higher number of staff who return to work at the camp each year.

How are behavioral and disciplinary problems handled?

Are the behavioral expectations clearly laid out and available to campers in advance? They should also be reviewed with the campers on the first day of camp. It’s also important to know the disciplinary steps that will be taken for violation of the rules.

What is the style and personality of the camp director? How much authority do the camp counselors have? These are all important questions to ask because you want to be sure the camp behavior standards and disciplinary policies are a good fit for your child and your family.

What if a child becomes ill, is injured or has a special need?

Find out if trained medical personnel are resident in the camp at all times, especially overnight summer camps. A nurse or other medical professional will be able to tell if an injury is serious and requires more intensive medical attention. You’ll want a professional available if a child becomes ill or needs medical attention in the middle of the night.

If your child has allergies or is insulin-dependent, there should be a designated place for the medication to be stored in a locked container. It should be administered only by trained staff. If your child requires a special diet, find out if the camp is able or willing to accommodate their dietary needs. The wrong answer to any of these considerations can be potentially life-threatening.

Even a child who has slept away from home in the past may become homesick, or simply have trouble adjusting to the overnight summer camp during the first few days. Find out from the director how homesickness is handled by the staff and let your child know what their recourse is if they feel lonely or have trouble adjusting.

Is the camp American Camp Association accredited? Why or why not?

American Camp Association accredited camps undergo extensive scrutiny and must meet very high standards to be accredited. Accreditation reviewers ask over 300 questions about the camp and staff including essential health and safety issues, program quality and the camp’s overall operation and functioning.

What about camp references?

Every summer day camp or overnight summer camp will sound like a dream when you read the brochure or visit the website. Ask the director to provide you with a list of references including past campers and counselors to check the camp’s reputation.

The information in this article was provided to you by William Lawrence Camp, a summer camp for boys in New Hampshire. To find out more about summer camps, please visit http://www.wlcamp.org.

If you’d like to speak with someone directly, you may also call us 603-569-3698. We’re happy to help you answer any questions about summer camp you may have.

I. Overview of Topic

How to blog is a question on many people’s minds these days. Blogging has taken the world by storm. Since 2004, when it first made its appearance, this popular medium of having your own little corner of the world to express yourself has turned into a veritable deluge. Today there are more than 120 million blogs that are currently tracked by the Tecnorati blog search engine. No wonder then, that owning and maintaining a blog has become almost a fashion statement, especially in the U.S.

When first embarking on a blogging journey, there are some knotty questions that usually beset one’s mind regarding how to blog. Let’s start with the basics.

What kinds of topics can be the subjects of blogs?

Just about anything. Simply put, a blog is an online personal diary on just about any topic you care to write about, ranging from politics to sports and fitness to religion, health, freelancing, literature, or whatever suits your fancy. But picking a subject you have solid experience in will enable you to write meaningful content that will pull in an audience for your blog. Without an audience you’ll soon tire of your blog and it will join the millions of abandoned blogs lost in cyberspace.

How are blogs categorized in blog search engines?

Blog search engines like Technorati and IceRocket categorize them by subject. The most general categorization, though, is personal vs. business-oriented blogs. Yours will probably fit into the former of these categories.

Are blogs only text or can they have other features as well?

Though basically consisting of text, many blog users make their web pages more attractive by adding pictures, audio and video files.

How can I make my blog easy to navigate and attractive to readers?

A successful blog usually follows a clear simple format with its articles plainly delineated, archives (in a sidebar), and a place at the bottom for visitors to leave comments. Some also include blogrolls, which are just lists of links to other similar blogs. The best bloggers are usually people who are able to connect with their visitors’ emotions, by means of artistic expression in many cases. To learn how to blog with the winners your number one teacher is other blogs – read and study a lot of them before starting your own. A good place to research blogs on your topic is Icerocket.com.

What are some tips for setting up a blog?

- First, remember your blog is a reflection of your personality. Pick a theme or a topic close to your heart or one you know something about. Correction, one you know a lot about.

- Be consistent. If you want your blog to get really popular you need to connect with your visitors on a regular, predictable schedule. Plan on publishing at least twice a week. If that sounds like too much work, once a week is the absolute lowest you can go, say blog gurus.

- Connect/network. Connect with other blog writers by leaving comments on their posts and by providing links to their blogs on your website. This kind of networking will do wonders for your traffic.

- Keep it simple. Don’t clutter up your blog with meaningless details. Select a simple clean appealing design. Use fonts and colors which increase text visibility. Add videos, audios, photographs and music files only if these make your blog more attractive and/or useful.

- Don’t stick your neck out – or not too far anyway. Blogs can get opinionated, which is fine, but don’t put yourself at risk of a heavy-duty defamation suit. It’s fine to express your opinions – so long as you make it clear they’re just that, your opinions — and always be sure that your blog is not defaming somebody, divulging sensitive information, or giving away corporate secrets.

Okay, I get the feel about how to blog. Now where do I go from here?

To get started, you first need to select suitable weblog software. This is necessary in order to create and manage your blog. There’s quite an assortment of blogging software out there. Some offer ease of design and development while other programs offer more elaborate features, for example, allowing you to add discussion forums, message boards etc. Some weblogs can be downloaded and installed directly on your system. Freeware and open source software are available, though these programs are not as feature-rich as some of the paid proprietary software. Here’s a rundown of the most popular blogging software:

WordPress

WordPress is the number one blog publishing software. Why? — because it’s freeware, easy to install, and has a minimal learning curve. Its extensive documentation and step-by-step installation guide make it a cakewalk even for a novice user. Among its most salient features are –

Easy installation – Even a newbie can get WordPress up and going in 5 minutes. Moreover, web pages are generated dynamically by using thousands of built-in templates thereby greatly reducing your time and effort.

User Management – Restricts access to users while you’re making modifications in your weblog. So in effect you have separate access for readers and administrative users.

Saves precious bandwidth through its Gzip feature, which reduces blog transmission size.

Enables you to place RSS feeds into your blogs and also aids in inter-blog communication by providing features like pingback and trackback.

Comes with lots of plugins making it possible for you to incorporate any feature you want. You can also integrate WordPress with Akismet, a popular anti-spam software program used to protect blogs from spammers.

Other useful features include a database of visitors, capability to save previous drafts, blog previews, and easy formatting.

Want to see some popular blogs that use WordPress. Two to start with are: Ilovetypography and Problogger.

OTHER WEBLOG SOFTWARE

Typepad

Created and owned by Six Apart Limited, Typepad is a blog hosting website currently used by many large organizations in the US, such as Sky News, BBC, and MSNBC for hosting their weblogs. Launched in October 2003, Typepad today can boast that it’s the number one paid blogging service worldwide. Available in multiple languages in different parts of the world, users have three different subscription options: $4.50/month for a basic subscription to $14.50/month for the pro edition. Among its features: The software enables you to associate each article in your blog with a URL, and easy uploading and sharing photo albums from multiple authors have made this a vox populi among professional bloggers. So if writing is your passion and you want to make it a profession, you can start by signing up for Typepad.

Movable Type

The first blogging system developed by Six Apart Limited in 2001, Movable Type hosts some of the world’s top blogs, such as Huffington Post and Boing Boing. Developed using Perl, Movable Type supports LDAP protocol for efficient user management and automatic provisioning of blogs. This blogging system is extremely useful if you want to run multiple blogs using a single installation. The system is enriched with all possible features you could possibly think of, such as a customizable template library, ability to create categories and sub categories of articles, efficient user management directory servers and hordes of independent plugins that can be used to support different services, like creating discussion forums. This blogging system is an attractive choice if you have a technical bent.

Text Pattern

Developed by Dean Allen as an open source content management system, this is one of the simplest blogging systems available today. The most useful feature of Text Pattern is textile that helps in converting simple text documents into stylish HTML web pages using built-in style sheets. Text Pattern has a built-in CSS editor that simplifies the task of changing your web site’s designs, fonts, position of the text and the background color. You can also password-protect certain sections of your blogs and keep regular track of visitors and their comments. The date and time stamp of each article is adjustable and you can save drafts of your blogs for future publication. What makes it most attractive is that Text Pattern provides a built-in search engine and the users can also link XML feeds into their blogs. The simplicity of Text Pattern is its USP. For most beginners choosing this service is almost a nobrainer.

Blogger

Developed by Pyra Systems and bought by Google in 2003, Blogger is one of the most popular blogging systems to date. Google subsequently acquired Picasa in 2004 and integrated the latter’s photo sharing feature ‘Hello’ into Blogger. Alexa ranks Blogger as the 9th most visited site worldwide, indicating its enormous popularity. Blogger offers multiple author support allowing the user to create group blogs. Bloggers can even earn revenue from Google AdSense by integrating it into their blogs. Another interesting feature provided by Blogger is a free add-in for Microsoft Word called “Blogger for Word” that helps blog users save their blogs directly in Blogger from their Word document. Bloggers can also customize their blog templates as per personal preferences. For users having a Google email account, it is a pretty simple matter to link to Blogger and then start writing and maybe earning some extra income.

In addition to the above five blogging systems there are a number of up-and-coming lesser-known blog systems which include all the aforementioned features but don’t require any plugins for extending their feature list. Some of the best of these second-line blogging systems are:

Habari

Habari, meaning ‘news’ in Swahili, is one of the most promising new blogging platforms and one of the finalists in the ‘Best New Projects in 2008′ Sourceforge Community Choice Award. Habari allows the user to launch multiple blogs using a single installation, supports multiple writers and has a modular structure for easy extendibility. All these features will make Habari a formidable competitor in blog publishing.

Symphony

Created for ultra-serious bloggers, Symphony has been developed in XML and XSLT. This is a blogging system for web developers and has an MVC architecture which gives the blogger full control over their website. An extremely versatile system, Symphony can be customized to a high level making it popular among bloggers who want to keep a tight grip on all aspects of their website.

Pixie

Positioning itself as a small, simple website maker, Pixie is also a great blogging platform for all of you who are new to the world of blogging. Ease of installation, lots of creative CSS themes, search engine optimized clean URLs for your website, spam protection, a file manager which supports tags for easy sorting of files and a small memory requirement of just 1 MB are some of the features which explain

Pixie’s fast-rising popularity.

That’s it, our ten minutes are up (okay, maybe eleven or twelve). Below are additional resources on How to Blog.

II. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Following are additional research resources on “How to Blog.”

Tumblr

Tumblr is a popular micro-blogging site where users create and share small posts of about 140 words or less. What makes these micro-blogs, popularly known as tumblelogs, all the rage is their ease of customization and the freedom they provide for posting everything from photos to quotes, to emails, and even links. Moreover, signing up for Tumblr really does take only about 10 seconds. More and more people are attracted to micro-blogging due to its capability for posting short, incisive and hopefully witty messages about the poster’s latest doings, inventions, discoveries, observations, misadventures, etc. Tumblelogs even make it possible for people to post their art works and music audios and videos for public viewing.

Clubmom

If you are a homemaker who loves sharing recipes, health tips, beauty secrets and child care advice and also love getting similar words of wisdom from others, Clubmom is the place for you. It’s a blogging site/forum where moms can meet and share their experiences while at the same time having a chance at winning exciting gifts. From family anecdotes to home remedies, careers to kids, this is a bonding place for moms of all age groups. Joining Clubmom means connecting with individuals at a personal level and sharing information which benefits all.

Joseph Ryan is editor of Web Search Guides (http://www.websearchguides.com), which provides 10-minute guides on how to conduct online research on a wide variety of topics of current interest.

PHP or hypertext preprocessor is a language which in used in developing dynamic web pages for budding e-business and other web applications. According to Wikipedia we can say PHP is an open source, reflective programming language. PHP was actually developed as a high level scripting language for creating vibrant web pages. PHP stands still as the third most popular programming language at the rear of Java and C.

Consumers across the world prefer India as the center point when it comes to PHP programmers as they are efficient enough to provide rising platforms to the owners, with the creation of booster web sites which increases their site traffic and eventually increases their sales. PHP programmers with the use of open source codes benefit from the elasticity of editing, modifying and updating the source code when there is requisite. Such programmers with strong basic knowledge and experience accept all sorts of difficulties and aims at benefiting the consumers at the most. Open source as proved itself a boon for these programmers as resources could be utilized at the max with minimum cost. In India the pay scale for these programmers are a fraction when compared to other developed countries, which is another reason why India has become the first choice at global market.

PHP and MySQL software are very helpful in Content Management System that has become a must for every website to progress properly. It can be said PHP is a fine combination of some features of C and Perl in a simple format. When compared to other scripting languages PHP MySQL is preferred by programmers as it is easier to maintain and update. It is accepted as a boon for easy-to program superb web pages.

PHP-Programming-India caters its professional PHP development services to almost the whole ecommerce in the world and has its offshore Development Center in India e in PHP-Programming-India have a vast number of professional, and experienced PHP developers who are fanatical to their work and ensures total lucidity with the client’s staff.

Every project is always completed within the allotted time given by our customers. Our staffs are very sincere to their work and could help you to become a leader in the business you are involved keeping your competitors behind with their high knowledge and innovative ideas for developing web sites. With the use of PHP MySQL our professional are enthusiastic to take all types of challenges and create new and innovative things. Here at PHP-Programming-India we ensure your business growth and increased sales and fame by using latest features in the business and best coding practices.

PHP-Programming-India and our professional clearly understand that the technologies are changing continuously and therefore have a well maintained in-house team to look over the latest advancements so as to run the continuous activities accordingly. For this we provide project based programmer team to understand the need of a particular project. For the smooth operation for your business activities we offer maintenance procedures irrespective of the location of the application development.

Jemima Holbert is working as Internet Marketing Manager for Cignus Web Services, a well-known Data Entry India Company. PHP Programming India, a premier Web Development India company is a Website Development Company of Cignus Web. They offer range of cost-effective Data Entry, Web Design & Development and SEO Services to their clientele worldwide. Cignus Web believes in providing high quality services at an affordable price. Cignus Web Services is an expert in designing a new website, website redesigning and website maintenance services.

Dr. Tooley: His conclusions on Private Education and Entrepreneurship

Professor James Tooley criticized the United Nations’ proposals to eliminate all fees in state primary schools globally to meet its goal of universal education by 2015. Dr. Tooley says the UN, which is placing particular emphasis on those regions doing worse at moving towards ‘education for all’ namely sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, is “backing the wrong horse”.1

On his extensive research in the world poorest countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, India, and China, Dr. Tooley found that private unaided schools in the slum areas outperform their public counterparts. A significant number of a large majority of school children came from unrecognized schools and children from such schools outperform similar students in government schools in key school subjects.2 Private schools for the poor are counterparts for private schools for the elite. While elite private schools cater the needs of the privilege classes, there come the non-elite private schools which, as the entrepreneurs claimed, were set up in a mixture of philanthropy and commerce, from scarce resources. These private sector aims to serve the poor by offering the best quality they could while charging affordable fees.3

Thus, Dr. Tooley concluded that private education can be made available for all. He suggested that the quality of private education especially the private unaided schools can be raised through the help of International Aid. If the World Bank and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) could find ways to invest in private schools, then genuine education could result. 4 Offering loans to help schools improve their infrastructure or worthwhile teacher training, or creating partial vouchers to help even more of the poor to gain access to private schools are other strategies to be considered. Dr. Tooley holds that since many poor parents use private and not state schools, then “Education for All is going to be much easier to achieve than is currently believed”.

Hurdles in Achieving the MED

Teachers are the key factor in the learning phenomenon. They must now become the centerpiece of national efforts to achieve the dream that every child can have an education of good quality by 2015. Yet 18 million more teachers are needed if every child is to receive a quality education. 100 million children are still denied the opportunity of going to school. Millions are sitting in over-crowded classrooms for only a few hours a day.5 Too many excellent teachers who make learning exciting will change professions for higher paid opportunities while less productive teachers will retire on the job and coast toward their pension.6 How can we provide millions of more teachers?

Discrimination in girls access to education persists in many areas, owing to customary attitudes, early marriages and pregnancies, inadequate and gender-biased teaching and educational materials, sexual harassment and lack of adequate and physically and other wise accessible schooling facilities. 7

Child labor is common among the third world countries. Too many children undertake heavy domestic works at early age and are expected to manage heavy responsibilities. Numerous children rarely enjoy proper nutrition and are forced to do laborious toils.

Peace and economic struggles are other things to consider. The Bhutan country for example, has to take hurdles of high population growth (3%), vast mountainous areas with low population density, a limited resources base and unemployment. Sri Lanka reported an impressive record, yet, civil war is affecting its ability to mobilize funds since spending on defense eats up a quarter of the national budget.8

Putting children into school may not be enough. Bangladesh’s Education minister, A. S. H. Sadique, announced a 65% literacy rate, 3% increase since Dakar and a 30% rise since 1990. While basic education and literacy had improved in his country, he said that quality had been sacrificed in the pursuit of number.9 According to Nigel Fisher of UNICEF Kathmandu, “fewer children in his country survive to Grade 5 than in any region of the world. Repetition was a gross wastage of resources”.

Furthermore, other challenges in meeting the goal include: (1) How to reach out with education to HIV/AIDS orphans in regions such as Africa when the pandemic is wreaking havoc. (2) How to offer education to ever-increasing number of refugees and displaced people. (3) How to help teachers acquire a new understanding of their role and how to harness the new technologies to benefit the poor. And (4), in a world with 700 million people living in a forty-two highly indebted countries – how to help education overcome poverty and give millions of children a chance to realize their full potential.10

Education for All: How?

The goal is simple: Get the 100 million kids missing an education into school.

The question: How?

The first most essential problem in education is the lack of teachers and it has to be addressed first. Teacher corps should be improved through better recruitment strategies, mentoring and enhancing training academies. 11 Assistant teachers could be trained. Through mentoring, assistant teachers will develop the skills to become good teachers. In order to build a higher quality teacher workforce; selective hiring, a lengthy apprenticeship with comprehensive evaluation, follow ups with regular and rigorous personnel evaluations with pay-for-performance rewards, should be considered.12 Remuneration of teaching staff will motivate good teachers to stay and the unfruitful ones to do better.

Problems regarding sex discrimination and child labor should be eliminated. The Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), for example, addressed the problem of gender inequality. BPFA calls on governments and relevant sectors to create an education and social environment, in which women and men, girls and boys, are treated equally, and to provide access for and retention of girls and women at all levels of education.13 The Global Task Force on Child Labor and Education and its proposed role for advocacy, coordination and research, were endorsed by the participants in Beijing. The UN added that incentives should be provided to the poorest families to support their children’s education.14

Highly indebted countries complain on lack of resources. Most of these countries spend on education and health as much as debt repayments. If these countries are with pro-poor programs that have a strong bias for basic education, will debt cancellation help them? Should these regions be a lobby for debt relief?

Partly explains the lack of progress, the rich countries, by paying themselves a piece dividend at the end of the Cold War, had reduced their international development assistance. In 2000, the real value of aid flows stood at only about 80% of their 1990 levels. Furthermore, the share of the aid going to education fell by 30% between 1990 and 2000 represented 7% of bilateral aid by that time. 15 Given this case, what is the chance of the United Nations’ call to the donors to double the billion of dollars of aid? According to John Daniel, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO (2001-04), at present, 97% of the resources devoted to education in the developing countries come from the countries themselves and only 3% from the international resources. The key principle is that the primary responsibility for achieving ‘education for all’ lies with the national governments. International and bilateral agencies can help, but the drive has to come from the country itself. These countries are advised to chart a sustainable strategy for achieving education for all. This could mean reallocation of resources to education from other expenditures. It will often mean reallocation of resources within the education budget to basic education and away from other levels. 16

A Closer Look: Private and Public Schools

Some of the most disadvantage people on this planet vote with their feet: exit the public schools and move their children in private schools. Why are private schools better than state schools?

Teachers in the private schools are more accountable. There are more classroom activities and levels of teachers’ dedication. The teachers are accountable to the manager who can fire them whenever they are seen with incompetence. The manager as well is accountable to the parents who can withdraw their children.17 Thus; basically, the private schools are driven with negative reinforcements. These drives, however, bear positive results. Private schools are able to carry quality education better than state schools. The new research found that private schools for the poor exist in the slum areas aiming to help the very disadvantage have access to quality education. The poor subsidized the poorest.

Such accountability is not present in the government schools. Teachers in the public schools cannot be fired mainly because of incompetence. Principals/head teachers are not accountable to the parents if their children are not given adequate education. Researchers noted of irresponsible teachers ‘keeping a school closed … for months at a time, many cases of drunk teachers, and head teachers who asked children to do domestic chores including baby sitting. These actions are ‘plainly negligence’.

Are there any means to battle the system of negligence that pulls the state schools into failing? Should international aids be invested solely to private schools that are performing better and leave the state schools in total collapse? If private education seems to be the hope in achieving education for all, why not privatize all low performing state schools? Should the public schools be developed through a systematic change, will the competition between the public and the private schools result to much better outcomes? What is the chance that all educational entrepreneurs of the world will adapt the spirit of dedication and social works – offering free places for the poorest students and catering their needs?

Public schools can be made better. They can be made great schools if the resources are there, the community is included and teachers and other school workers get the support and respect they need. The government has to be hands on in improving the quality of education of state schools. In New York City for example, ACORN formed a collaborative with other community groups and the teachers union to improve 10 low-performing district 9 schools. The collaborative won $1.6 million in funding for most of its comprehensive plan to hire more effective principals, support the development of a highly teaching force and build strong family-school partnerships. 18

Standardized tests are also vital in improving schools and student achievements. It provides comparable information about schools and identifies schools that are doing fine, schools that are doing badly and some that are barely functioning. The data on student achievement provided by the standardized tests are essential diagnostic tool to improve performance. 19

The privatization of public schools is not the answer at all. Take for instance the idea of charter schools. As an alternative to failed public schools and government bureaucracy, local communities in America used public funds to start their own schools. And what started in a handful of states became a nationwide phenomenon. But according to a new national comparison of test

scores among children in charter schools and regular public schools, most charter schools aren’t measuring up. The Education Department’s findings showed that in almost every racial, economic and geographic category, fourth graders in traditional public schools outperform fourth graders in charter schools. 20

If the government can harness the quality of state schools, and if the World Bank and the Bilateral Agencies could find ways to invest on both the private and the public schools – instead of putting money only on the private schools where only a small fraction of students will have access to quality education while the majority are left behind – then ‘genuine education’ could result.

Conclusion

Education for all apparently is a simple goal, yet, is taking a long time for the world to achieve. Several of destructive forces are blocking its way to meet the goal and the fear of failure is strong. Numerous solutions are available to fix the failed system of public schools but the best solution is still unknown. Several challenges are faced by the private schools to meet their accountabilities, but the resources are scarce. Every country is committed to develop its education to bring every child into school but most are still struggling with mountainous debts.

‘Primary education for all by 2015′ will not be easy. However, everyone must be assured that the millennium development goal is possible and attainable. Since the Dakar meeting, several countries reported their progress in education. In Africa, for example, thirteen countries have, or should have attained Universal Primary Education (UPE) by the target date of 2015. 23 It challenges other countries, those that are lagging behind in achieving universal education to base their policies on programs that have proved effective in other African nations. Many more are working for the goal, each progressing in different paces. One thing is clear; the World is committed to meet its goal. The challenge is not to make that commitment falter, because a well-educated world will be a world that can better cope with conflicts and difficulties: thus, a better place to live.

1 “Leading educationalist critises UN proposals for global state primary schooling”, 2005 2 Tooley, James. Essay on”Private Schools for the Poor”, 2005 3 Tooley and Dixon. Chapter 2, “The Failures of State Schooling in Developing Countries and the People’s Response”, Index of Economic Freedom. 2006 4 Tooley, James. Essay on “Private Schools for the Poor”, 2005 5 All Eyes Turn to Teachers, Global Action Week 24-30th April 2006 6 Watkins, Tom. “Public Education Continues to Make Our lives Better”, Fall 2001 7 Toolkit for Women, Earth Summit 2002 8 Padgaonkar, Latika. “Education for All Update”, UNESCO New Delhi 9. Ibid. 10 Looking Ahead, EFA 2000 Assessment. 11 Moskow, Michael H. “Remarks”. The Fourth Annual Newman Lecture. May 24, 2005 12 Ibid. emphasis added. 13 Zabala, Earnest M. “Gender Equality in education: world fails to meet MDG 3″ 14 UN-backed meeting calls for more donor aid to meet education for all shortfall 15 Daniel, John. :Education As a Development Priority, 718th Wilton Park Conference, 1-5 Sept. 2003 16. Ibid 17 E.G. West Centre, School of Education, University of Newcastle, England, NE1 7RU 00 44 191 222 3503-egwest@ncl.ac.uk 18 ACORN: Working for Better Public Schools. http://www.ACORN.org 19 Michigan Education Report (2001-04) “Standardized tests vital for improving school and student achievement”. Fall 2001 Issue 20 Charter Schools in America. Aired: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 7-8 PM ET 21 Education for All in Africa: paving the Way for Action.

Most of us are familiar with a variety of cat sounds, including meows, hissing, growls and purrs. A meow can mean anything from “I want food” to “will you play with me?” to “hello there”. Some cats, such as Siamese cats, are much more vocal than others. No one knows exactly how the purring sound is made but it usually indicates contentment. Hissing and growling usually mean the cat feels threatened or unhappy about something. Cats, especially very young ones, might make these sounds when playing too.

Cats rarely meow when communicating amongst themselves. They use a combination of body language, tail movement, scent and eye contact. When communicating with humans, cats differ their sounds by rhythm, intensity, pitch, tone and volume, so we can take a reasonable guess at what they are trying to say.

Cats sometimes use sounds when communicating with one another too. If a kitten wanders off, the mother cat might meow loudly and clearly to call her offspring back to safety. A cat might hiss or growl if another cat or intrudes on its territory. A cat enjoying some prey it has hunted will also use these sounds to warn off another cat coming too close.

Cat Sense of Smell and Communication

A cat’s sense of smell is acute and highly developed. It is used in several ways to facilitate communication. Two cats living together will sniff each other several times a day. This tells the cats where the other has been, what they have been doing, what they have recently eaten and whether they came into contact with another animal. Cats detect pheromones left by other cats, usually when marking territory. If a cat could talk, it might ask these things verbally but a few sniffs tell them everything they need to know.

Cats living together often groom one another. This provides social interaction, removes parasites and keeps the fur clean. A mother cat recognises the scent of her own kittens and grooms them often to provide comfort, keep them clean and encourage bowel movements.

Cat Talk and Hierarchy

Hierarchy amongst cats is determined by the outcomes of social interactions between the cats. Some factors determining hierarchy include gender, the environment, reproductive status, age, size, aggressiveness and submissiveness.

Hierarchy between cats is different to hierarchy between dogs. Dogs are pack animals and exhibit dominant actions, such as growls, stares or body checks. Cats, on the other hand, don’t live or hunt in packs. If two or more cats live together, the hierarchy might be present but humans might not recognise the subtle dominance signals and cat secret talk is used to decide hierarchy. One sure-fire way to upset a hierarchy is to introduce a new cat. The newcomer’s status is unclear so the other cats will use their secret communication to sort the situation out.

Cat Communication and Territory

Cats are territorial animals. Their territory is usually a combination of places they share with other cats and other places they consider theirs and their alone. A cat marks its territory by urinating, scratching or rubbing its body on an object. Other cats can see these marks as clearly as signposts, telling them which other cat’s territory they are in. Cats can detect pheromones in urine or from a place where another cat has rubbed itself.

With so many ways of determining territory, hierarchy and much more, cats hardly need words!

What is Cat Secret Talk?

Most of us are familiar with a variety of cat sounds, including meows, hissing, growls and purrs. A meow can mean anything from “I want food” to “will you play with me?” to “hello there”. Some cats, such as Siamese cats, are much more vocal than others. No one knows exactly how the purring sound is made but it usually indicates contentment. Hissing and growling usually mean the cat feels threatened or unhappy about something. Cats, especially very young ones, might make these sounds when playing too.

Cats rarely meow when communicating amongst themselves. They use a combination of body language, tail movement, scent and eye contact. When communicating with humans, cats differ their sounds by rhythm, intensity, pitch, tone and volume, so we can take a reasonable guess at what they are trying to say.

Cats sometimes use sounds when communicating with one another too. If a kitten wanders off, the mother cat might meow loudly and clearly to call her offspring back to safety. A cat might hiss or growl if another cat or intrudes on its territory. A cat enjoying some prey it has hunted will also use these sounds to warn off another cat coming too close.

Cat Sense of Smell and Communication

A cat’s sense of smell is acute and highly developed. It is used in several ways to facilitate communication. Two cats living together will sniff each other several times a day. This tells the cats where the other has been, what they have been doing, what they have recently eaten and whether they came into contact with another animal. Cats detect pheromones left by other cats, usually when marking territory. If a cat could talk, it might ask these things verbally but a few sniffs tell them everything they need to know.

Cats living together often groom one another. This provides social interaction, removes parasites and keeps the fur clean. A mother cat recognises the scent of her own kittens and grooms them often to provide comfort, keep them clean and encourage bowel movements.

Cat Talk and Hierarchy

Hierarchy amongst cats is determined by the outcomes of social interactions between the cats. Some factors determining hierarchy include gender, the environment, reproductive status, age, size, aggressiveness and submissiveness.

Hierarchy between cats is different to hierarchy between dogs. Dogs are pack animals and exhibit dominant actions, such as growls, stares or body checks. Cats, on the other hand, don’t live or hunt in packs. If two or more cats live together, the hierarchy might be present but humans might not recognise the subtle dominance signals and cat secret talk is used to decide hierarchy. One sure-fire way to upset a hierarchy is to introduce a new cat. The newcomer’s status is unclear so the other cats will use their secret communication to sort the situation out.

Cat Communication and Territory

Cats are territorial animals. Their territory is usually a combination of places they share with other cats and other places they consider theirs and their alone. A cat marks its territory by urinating, scratching or rubbing its body on an object. Other cats can see these marks as clearly as signposts, telling them which other cat’s territory they are in. Cats can detect pheromones in urine or from a place where another cat has rubbed itself.

With so many ways of determining territory, hierarchy and much more, cats hardly need words!

Thomas Kellerman has been training cats for many years. To find out more about cat secret talk and how they communicate, just visit: http://www.ourcatsecrets.com/cat-chat-how-cats-communicate.html

Congratulations!

By deciding to investigate the benefits of television advertising, you are taking the first step to more sales and faster profits. More businesses owners than ever are turning to television as a powerful tool to grow their profits. And it’s not the traditional “deep pockets” crowd either. Small and medium sized businesses are flocking to television advertising like never before. Some are coming away battered and bruised. But many are smiling ear to ear because they have unlocked the secrets to television advertising success – on a print or radio budget.

The Golden Rule?

Don’t let the tail wag the dog. You need to take control of your journey into television advertising so that it pays off.

Does that mean you have to be an expert?

No. But you do need to know how the industry and the medium work in order to end up with a cost-effective television advertising campaign.

Which is exactly why we prepared “An Insider Guide To Crossing Over To TV Advertising… On A Print Or Radio Budget..And Making Plenty Of Profit!”

It’s your GPS to an affordable and profitable TV Advertising experience.

Now is the best time in history for small business owners to use television advertising to explode their sales! Airtime and commercial and television production rates are the most affordable they’ve ever been! Specialty channels let you laser target your ideal sales prospect.

Television adds a level of credibility to you and your business like no other medium can do.

There’s a reason you’re seeing video pop up just about everywhere as more and more business owners come to the realization that the more senses you can appeal to, the more likely it is that you can gain a foothold in the most crowded place anywhere – your prospect’s mind.

Need any proof? Just look at the absolute astounding success of You Tube. People are attracted to watching video.

Isn’t it time you jumped on board and gave it a try?

The 5 secrets revealed below will help you leverage the power of television advertising in your business.

Secret #1 Have A Clear Unique Selling Message

This applies to all your marketing but is especially true when it comes to TV advertising.

You need to provide your prospects with a compelling reason to want to learn more about your product or service.

And, if you’re using a 30 or 60 second commercial to achieve this objective, you need to make sure your message is equipped to get your prospect to take the next step in your sales process.

That’s why you must have a very clear message.

What is the main benefit, promise or solution you want your prospect to walk away with?

Or, put another way, what is your unique selling proposition (USP)?

It’s important to have one otherwise you will have trouble differentiating your offer from those of your competitors.

Not sure how to boil it down to a simple clear message?

You can start by asking and answering the following questions:

• Why do people buy from you? Why do people NOT buy from you? Really give this some thought and make a list.
• What benefits do clients gain from doing business with you? People buy to gain benefits. What does your product or services DO for them
• What emotional appeal does your product or service have? Does it provide a sense of relief? Make your clients feel a sense of pride? Television provides the perfect forum for hitting your prospect’s emotional hot buttons.
• What problem do you solve or what need do you fulfill?

Another way to gather ideas for your USP is to survey your current clients.

Ask them WHY they bought from you. Find out what problem you solved for them why did they pick you over the competition? You may be surprised by the answers. People buy for different reasons.

In developing your USP, what you want to do is figure out the most common reason people decided to buy your product or service and then use that insight to create a powerful selling message that makes you stand out.

Don’t forget to check out your competitors. Many times what is obvious to you and your competitors, isn’t obvious to your potential clients. And you can use that differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack. Here’s an example… Years ago, Folgers coffee decided they needed to increase sales. Competition was everywhere. So what did they do? They started promoting the fact that Folger’s was mountain grown and stamped “Mountain Grown” on their coffee cans. Sales exploded. After all, coffee grown on a mountain simply had to be special. Right? What the average coffee drinker was unaware of is that fact that MOST coffee is mountain grown. Folger’s simply used this little known fact to make itself stand out. The more finely tuned your USP is, the more effective your television campaign will be – and all of your marketing for that matter.

Secret #2 Know Your Ideal Client

Your ability to generate sales leads from your television ad campaign will be greatly enhanced if you have a clear understanding of who your best prospects are and why they buy from you.

Otherwise it’s virtually impossible to create an effective television commercial.

This vital knowledge allows you to create a script that speaks to the specific needs of the people most likely to buy your offering and present your unique selling proposition in a compelling way.

Your message resonates and creates a natural attraction. But let’s say you’re not exactly sure who your ideal client is? Or why they buy? How do you go about finding out?

Well, a quick effective way to do it is to take a look at your current clients. Especially those you really enjoy working with. What do they have in common? Do they share a number of similar characteristics? You may already have a target market and just don’t realize it.

Here are just a few “target market” criteria you can use to define your niche.

• Age – try to narrow the age group range of your best prospects
• Gender – who makes the decision to purchase your products or services? Who might influence it? This is important to know so you can make the right appeal.
• Marital status (single, married, divorced)
• Household Income. Do your best to estimate the income of your target customer.
• Occupation – are your best prospects white collar construction, sales people, entrepreneurs, retired • Geographical region. (ex: Toronto, warm climate, people who live near water)
• Lifestyle (professional, conservative, risk-takers)
• Company size (self-employed professionals, Fortune 500, companies with $10 Million + in sales)
• Industry specific (a marketing consultant who focuses on solo-professionals)
• Leisure Time Activities – what do your customers do to relax and have fun? Hobbies? Pastimes? Once you complete your research – combining the information you have about your existing clients along with additional characteristics – you will be able to build your ideal target customer profile. This will give you will have a clearer understanding of the language and tone you should use in your script and what type of information your target market will be looking for.

And it will help pinpoint the type of audience your television commercial should be presented to in order to produce maximum sales results.

Secret #3 Be Involved In the Process

Many small and medium sized companies that shy away from television advertising quickly latch on to the “perceived” high cost (more about this in Secret #5) as a reason they have been reluctant to give it a try.

But there’s often another factor lurking in the background that keeps many businesses from enjoying the success a professionally created television commercial can create.

Simply put: for some, making the leap to the world of television advertising can be intimidating.

In print, you write your ad and the publication runs it. In radio, you record your commercial and the station plays it.

With television, there are a lot pieces that need to be pulled together to produce a successful advertising campaign and for those who haven’t been through the process before, it can be a real leap of faith.

You need to be a kind of project manager for your television advertising experience. Do you need to be an expert? No. But you do need a sense of what the process involves so you can add to the experience where applicable.

To help you understand the elements that provide the foundation for a successful TV advertising campaign, here is a checklist:

• Budget – Many small and medium sized businesses don’t realize that the money they are currently investing in radio or print ad campaigns could be used to create an effective television advertising campaign – provided you know the secret (we reveal it in Secret#5) to avoiding one of the major hidden costs TV advertising. Production costs and airtime will be the two main components of your budget.
• Script - The script is your ad in words. This is your core selling message. The script dictates who says what, the tone and expressions used, what is seen on screen, who moves when and where. A script will be necessary for your commercial.
• Talent – This includes on-camera talent and voiceover talent. The more well-known and in-demand the talent, the more you pay. For many advertisers, local and regional talent will produce a professional result.
• Production Elements – You need to decide what kind of graphics, audio, or music you want – along with any other special effects..
• Length – Typically, TV commercial spots run 30 seconds. You can also run in 15-second and 60-second increments. An “infomercial” often runs 30 – 60 minutes and costs more to produce and to run.

At the end of the process, your TV commercial should answer one very important question for the viewer:

‘What’s in it for me?’

The way to answer that question so that both you and your prospect end up with a positive outcome is to make sure your commercial is focused on how the viewer can benefit from your product or service.

No one can sell your offering better than you.

You must use every bit of selling information you can to gain favorable attention immediately with the viewer! Otherwise the viewer will click away and your investment will be wasted.

And last, but definitely not least…

Tell the viewer what you want him/her to do next!

It’s incredible how many new TV advertisers (and some longtime veterans) fail to ask the viewer to take the next step in their selling process make this mistake. Do you want them to visit your web site? Pick up a phone and call? Come into your store? You need to lead them to where you want them to go next. Now, let’s move on to one of the costliest mistakes television advertisers make along with tips on how you can avoid it.

Secret #4 Be “Marketing Ready” For Your Prospect

Most businesses today use advertising and marketing as a way of initiating a relationship with a prospect. The same is true of television advertising.

After all, a 30 second spot on TV isn’t going to answer every question.

If your commercial has done its job, the next step is to invite your prospect to learn more about you can benefit him/her.

This could involve an invitation to visit your web site, pick up a phone and call you or drop by your location.

It’s critical to make sure that whatever you ask your prospect to do that you’re equipped to keep your prospect moving toward a sale.

This is where many TV advertisers drop the ball and end up wasting their valuable marketing dollars..

Let’s use a visit to your web site as an example. We’ll assume your prospect has watched your commercial and is shown your web site URL on the screen as it finishes.

Your commercial piqued his curiosity and made him want to know more about you and your offering.

Congratulations. You’re past the first hurdle – getting the prospect to take the next step in your selling process.

But that’s all you’ve accomplished at this point.

Now you’re moving on to the all-important “conversion” part of the sales process. Tons of visitors to your site won’t feed your family, pay your mortgage or let you lie around on the beach in Cabo San Lucas.

For that, you need to convert your prospects initial interest into a sale.

And a web site that doesn’t clearly pick up where your television commercial left off by immediately reminding your visitor ‘what’s in it for him’ and presenting your sales story in a compelling way is going to bring a selling opportunity to a grinding halt.

What’s the point of tempting a bunch of hungry prospects only to have them arrive and you’ve nothing to feed them?

Same thing holds true if you want them to call you. Every member of your team who has public contact must be ready to keep the momentum going.

The job of your TV commercial is to attract the fish. The rest of the job – hooking the prospect (in an ethical way, of course) and getting him into the boat and converting him into a lifelong profitable client is the job of your marketing.

You need to make sure your marketing message is consistent throughout ALL your marketing. Otherwise you won’t get the ROI you should.

Secret #5 Don’t Let Tail Wag The Dog

Television advertising can be rewarding, but you need an experienced hand guiding you past the pitfalls so you can produce a profitable result. So far, we’ve armed you with the knowledge you need to make sure your television advertising efforts position you for a successful outcome. Now it’s time to introduce the key thread that ties it all together. Making sure you partner with an industry professional who knows the ropes. The first place many small and medium size businesses turn for assistance is an advertising agency. A very expensive mistake.

Here’s why: Many ad agencies focus on “institutional” type or branding type messaging. They are image builders. While having a professional image is important, most of the businesses flocking to TV advertising these days need sales. You’re probably the same. You want viewers to watch your commercial and take the next step in your selling process. Maybe a visit to your web site or a phone call. For that, you need direct response television advertising. And many advertising agencies simply aren’t equipped for that. Nor do they know how to “convert” an interested prospect into a profitable lifetime client.

But here’s the dirty little secret they hope you won’t find out about: Many don’t have in-house resources to write your script. Or television production facilities so they can shoot your commercial. Or an editing booth where they can edit your footage. Here’s what that means to you… If the ad agencies don’t have the resources themselves, they have to go outside, cobble together a team of industry professionals who can and pay them. Guess who gets stuck with all the middleman mark-ups? But this ‘don’t worry, the client will pay for it’ old school mentality doesn’t stop there. Once your commercial is ready to air, you need a TV program to run it on. For looking in a book and phoning up to schedule your spots, the ad agency will charge you 15% of your media budget. Is that how you want to spend your valuable media dollars? Having someone round up a bunch of people who can and charge you for doing it? Thought so. Here’s an alternative… Creative Bube Tube is a full-service, one source expert at producing direct response television advertising and corporate videos. We work with small and medium size business to help them generate profitable sales. Many of our clients are newbies. But we’ve opened the eyes of more than a few savvy veterans along the way.

Here are four pillars we’ve built our business model on:

• One Source – Every aspect of your television advertising is handled in-house by our team. This means you avoid the unnecessary added cost mark ups, delays and finger-pointing caused by too many fingers in the pie.
• Expertise – We are television advertising experts. Period. It’s all we do. And we know how to sell. To you, that means campaigns that not only look professional, they send you a steady stream of qualified prospects.
• Cost Efficient – Because we know our craft, we understand how and where to use your budget efficiently – without having to grease the palm of a number of disconnected middlemen. That way, every dollar you invest is working to increase your sales. The media relationships we have built through the years provide you with red carpet access to your target market – for a fraction of the cost you would pay otherwise – with no hidden fees.
• Process – The key to effective affordable television advertising is sales driven creative, efficient production, proper planning and organization. That requires precise communication. Everything we do is in-house. We don’t outsource your creative to a production company that has no marketing background. Then send the footage after filming to a post-production house. Then hire a media buyer who has likely never even seen any of the creative. Then sit back and watch the confusion, as your budget gets chewed up in a sea of disorganization and chaos. Everyone on our team intimately is involved in your project – from beginning to end.

Creative Bube Tube makes television advertising effective and efficient – for both newbies and long-time television advertisers who are tired of wasting valuable marketing dollars propping up old-school practices. If you’ve been thinking about trying television advertising but have been holding off because you were concerned it was very expensive, we’d behappy to show you not only how you can afford it, but also how you can use it to skyrocket your sales results. Please call us today at 1-855 BUBE TUBE or visit our web site at http://www.creativebubetube.com and learn more about how we can help you generate a stream of profitable lifetime clients.

2011 Creative Bube Tube

About The Author: As the President of Creative Bube Tube, Jenny Munford has been directly involved in hundreds of television advertising campaigns and corporate video productions. She created Creative Bube Tube in response to a need she saw for someone in the industry to make television advertising affordable and effective for small and medium sized businesses who felt they were tied to print and radio to market their products and services. By creating a one-source shop that can handle all of a client’s needs, Jenny is able to provide clients with cost efficiency by eliminating one of the biggest costs of TV advertising – middleman markups. To learn more about how Creative Bube Tube can help you sell more of your product or service, please visit http://www.creativebubetube.com or call us at 1-855 BUBE TUBE.

If you have a car then you must know that keeping it in perfect condition is a hard task as your car requires constant maintenance right after you have bought it. The car engine and the various other parts of your car can start wearing down within a few months of using it, so you need to stick to a proper schedule of maintenance and servicing for your car engine and motors. The question about replacing or repairing worn out engines would depend upon the actual circumstances and the condition of your car.

Automotive motor repair and engine replacement can be very expensive, so you need to understand the various parts of your car and educate yourself about the engine requirements to avoid untimely repair and engine replacement of your car. The car engine, brakes and brake liners suffer innumerable wear and tear and generally break down easily, so you need to look out for their maintenance regularly and keep yourself updated about your car health.

You should regularly put your car for engine tune up and examine the ignition system and emission controls of your car, so that the motors of your car remains in healthy condition and your car engine runs smoothly for a longer time. However, sooner or later, problems would arise and you would certainly need to replace certain parts of the ignition system such as the contact breaker and distributor cap or rotor button. Adjustments in the cylinder head bolts and the replacement of filters and spark plugs may also be necessary, so you need to check with your car mechanic to find out more about your car engine and regularly replace parts that are worn out. New vehicles do not need regular engine tune-ups and can run smoothly for years without replacement or repairing, however, you must not take any chances and regularly send your car for servicing.

At times, even with proper engine tune ups, you would find that your car engine is wearing down and may even breakdown eventually. When this happens, you would have to decide about either replacing your car engine or repairing it to drag on for a few more years. Of course, you need to understand that engine repair is only possible if your car engine is still repairable, otherwise you would have to replace your motor engine. Motor repair is possible for cars that produce strange noises and have locked up engines, but for engines that have totally broken down, it is recommended that you go in for engine replacement.

You can replace your car engine with a branded engine or you may try out the affordable used up engines that are available in the markets. Though most servicing mechanics would ask you to buy brand new engines, however, if you are low on your budget, then you may also try out the revamped engines that come in for much cheaper prices. However, whatever may be your choice, ultimately it is the life of your car and your motors that has to be kept in mind while deciding on whether to replace or repair your car engine.

American Engine installations are expert Atlanta engine rebuilders and installers. With over 20 years of Atlanta engine installation experience AEI offers quality service and affordable prices to all customers and vehicle types. Call AEI Today!

You may often wonder what really Internet marketing is. Well, there have been many definitions formulated by various gurus of Internet marketing. Individuals who have tried out the huge and lucrative business opportunity of Internet marketing also have provided various interpretations of it. Though several such definitions and interpretations have been suggested yet hundreds and thousands of aspiring internet marketers are still in the quest for getting the exact definition of Internet marketing. Such Internet marketing aspirants want to get a clear idea of what exactly they are seeking to get into.

In an endeavor to determine the much wanted exact definition of Internet marketing we can examine some situations. With the question of defining Internet marketing being put forward to some 100 individuals- 99 of them point out to the search engine as the ultimate path finder in this regard. Then one can go to one’s favorite search engine and type in the words “define Internet marketing” and click on the searching icon to give…the results.

In the search results pages the top pages will be the ones displaying information/web pages of marketing veterans established as pioneers of Internet marketing. Such persons have rightfully secured a spot to provide a definition of Internet marketing from their viewpoint. There are, however, the placement ads on search result pages and glancing upon them will reveal another story altogether.

It is with the intention of helping websites get more traffic or hits that most of the ads related with Internet marketing have been set up. Indeed Internet traffic is the lifeblood of any website and the sites thrive on Internet traffic. Now we may combine this concept with the traditional concept of marketing conduction with the Internet acting as the marketing medium here. The following conclusion providing a definition of Internet marketing can be arrived at:

“Internet marketing is an income-generating opportunity dependent on the utilization of interactive technology (via the Internet) to build a dialog with potential clients by connecting with them through quality content about your product and/or service offerings”.

Thus, the interactive technology specified as the “Internet” is to be utilized for fulfillment of Internet marketing. Different Internet marketing services existing are involved in the utilization of the Internet. These are the services which are requisite of the Internet to be able to perform its specific tasks in the capacity of marketing medium between Internet marketers and clients pertaining to them.

In order to keep alive their online business all online entrepreneurs need to familiarize themselves with Internet marketing services. These are the services which are vital for their online business’s development and also for making their Internet marketing careers successful.

Information on some basic Internet marketing services is provided here for you to learn about and familiarize yourself with:

Search Engine Optimization- In order to locate websites and finding useful information on the Web the search engines are used. These are powerful tools used by most Internet users for finding the information they are seeking. Efforts need to be made so as to ensure that your site is appearing on the top pages of a search engine page result. By search engine optimization i.e. optimizing your website by reengineering its contents you can expect to secure better search engine placements.

Indexing- The procedure of submission of your web pages for search engine registration and registration in various Internet based directories is involved in indexing.

Keyword research- The highly searched keywords and key phrases relevant to your online business can be identified by keyword research.

SEO consultation need- Internet marketers who are novices in the field can well invest with an SEO consultant. This is suggested if you wish to receive help in planning the methods of successfully marketing your website.

Use net- The Use net is a fast and efficient method for generating targeted traffic for your website. This involves a worldwide bulletin board system in which there are over 14,000 forums covering every interest group. Everyday this is commonly used by millions of individuals all over the world.

E-mail marketing procedures- An electronic mail is made use of here. This is sent to a list of subscribers who wish to receive updates of your products and services. E-mail marketing is a popular Internet marketing advertising method.

Press releases services- Useful information concerning your online business (website) like site launches, special products on offer or other helpful information are announced through press releases. In order to ensure that more people are attracted towards your site the press releases are carefully drafted.

These are the basic and essential ones among the Internet marketing services. There are various other Internet marketing services available too. In order to be successful in your Internet marketing business you need to carefully integrate any of these in your online business so that the best results are derived.

Melvin Perry is an internet entreprenuer that specializes in building large email lists within a matter of weeks. He curently teaches marketers via free step by step video how to earn thousands monthly through the list building model. You can snatch this report at no cost by visiting FREE Internet Marketing Videos