The Investigation of an Ethical Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Investigation of an Ethical Issue - Essay Example Even while acknowledging the validity of a number of the ethical concerns raised, the fact is that not only are they resolvable but the merit scheme is a meritorious strategy. As school populations increase, teacher populations decrease. While the obvious solution to the problems associated with public school teacher shortages is the recruitment and employment of more teachers, Cornett and Gaines (2002) quite rightly maintain that this is a non-solution insofar as public teachers’ wage and benefit packages dissuade potential recruits from joining the public school system. Added to that, both federal and state resources are simply insufficient to meet the demand for across the board pay increases. Needless to say, long working hours and intense levels of on the job-stress versus low pay and unattractive benefits, de-motivates teachers and discourages a significant percentage from investing and dedicating themselves to their work (Cornett and Gaines, 2002). There is, however, a sizeable percentage of public school teachers who do dedicate themselves to their job, put in the extra hours their students by need and, indeed, invest themselves in their te aching. The merit scheme, according to Cornett and Gaines (2002) arose in response to the two points mentioned: low salaries and differentiations in teachers’ performances. Merit pay is designed to compensate the deserving for low salaries while, at the same time, encourage and reward the latter group of educators. Merit pay, when perceived of in the terms outlined in the preceding, does not simply emerge as a solution to the identified problems but as a meritorious concept insofar as it is fundamentally based on rewarding the deserving. As Johnson (2000) maintains, however, merit pay has been critiqued by many as fundamentally flawed and, ultimately, unethical. To this end, Johnson (2000) quotes Olsen (1987, p. 2) as saying that merit

Discuss the photograph below with specifics to the assignment given

Discuss the photograph below with specifics to the given - Assignment Example Iconic images such as "Girl with Flag" taken by Ethan Miller for the Las Vegas Sun become iconic because of their ability to blend a sense of reality with a sense of the artistic to fully convey the feelings of the time. In this image, a little blond-haired girl in jeans and a grey T-shirt with what appears to be an American flag printed on it, sits on the shoulders of her father, causing her to rise clearly above the crowd around them, as she solemnly looks up at the unfurled American flag she holds in one hand and has her other hand uplifted and outstretched. The photo was taken on the night after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 when the Las Vegas community held a massive candlelight vigil for those who died that day (Shine, 2011). The darkened sky above the little girl appears to be filled with sparks of light while the area below her is filled with the faces of sad-eyed adults of multiple different races, all grieving together. Through the artistic use of the camera as well as the experience of the human eye, Miller was able to capture a scene that epitomized the sentiments of the country at that time. The photo spoke to the culture in a number of ways at that time. The crowd is very diverse in both age and race, illustrating the concept that this is a united country, especially in times of trouble. As a nation, we value our ability to unite as this crowd has done within a single emotional response to a terrible event. The fact that they are all of adult size with the exception of the little girl really highlights her youth and the concept that we believe in upholding our children as the future of the nation. The effect of the sparks of light occurring above the little girl in the image combined with the fact that she is looking up gives the impression that these sparks may be the lost souls making their departure, but they are actually just pinpoints of light that are out of focus. This technique is called bokeh and is achieved by opening the aperture a