Ethical egoism asserts that an individual should act so as to create the most good for himself or herself. A leader with this orientation is expected to have a career that he or she well really enjoys. Ethical egoism is usual in some business contexts in which an organization and its workers make decisions to achieve certain aims and maximize profits. Utilitarianism asserts that an individual should act so as to create the good for the largest number. The morally right action would be the action that enlarges social benefits while reducing social costs. Opposed to ethical egoism and related to utilitarianism is the third approach, altruism. It suggests that actions are moral is their initial purpose is to promote the best interests of other people. A leader may act in the interests of other people, even when he acts contrary to his own interests.

I think that some ambitious managers would choose the approach of ethical egoism to make his team the best in the whole company. Altruism is not a too common approach nowadays. The best example of altruist ethics may be found in the work of Mother Teresa, who helped people during all her life. In crisis some managers could use this approach to achieve better results for their departments and companies. Nice example of utilitarianism is an airlines company. Passengers with business class tickets may pay a premium price to have all the amenities of that class that the airline suggests. So, do you really think that the extra luxuries worth the excessive price? You’ll see that the premium price is used to ease out the deficit that the airline would have to cope with, if it is to allow the economy class passengers the opportunity for travel at less price. To connect with their followers, leaders have to use a mindset that will create this connection. The connection calls for a return to the origin of values so leaders may influence the values of the followers.

For Heifetz the primary responsibility of leaders is to create a work atmosphere characterized by trust, honesty and to help followers to cope with a problem. Heifetz thought that leadership as about assisting followers in reaching higher ethical standards when different values conflict. The interaction of leaders and followers must raise the ethical behavior and character of both. Leaders can do so by helping followers to emphasize good qualities like liberty and equality. Greenleaf espoused servant leadership. This perspective is related to altruism. Greenleaf thought that leaders should know everything about follower’s concerns. They are supposed to support and help the followers. Servant leaders help others by their presence. Such leaders inspire followers to gain more knowledge and autonomy. Greenleaf also thought that servant leaders had broader responsibility to society to set right inequalities and injustices. All these perspectives emphasize the relationship between followers and leaders and assert that this relationship is at the centre of ethical leadership. Usage of ethical leadership to an organization is a new phenomenon and herein lays its weakness. People have known the concepts since antiquity, but practical application is still not obvious. Ethical leadership holds a great promise for the future.

The post Essay on Leadership Theories first appeared on Essay Writing Blog.

As for the first one, it is closely related to my own aspirations, dreams, goals and life priorities in general. Educational philosopher Robert M. Hutchins once said: “The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives” (“Quotations on knowledge”,1). Pretty similar idea could be found in the words of Carl Rogers: “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn – and change” (“Quotations on knowledge”,1). In this paper, the validity of mentioned quotes is determined with their ability to show out the roots of my opinion about the importance of college education. Being purposeful and ambitious personality, it looks pretty clear to me that a human’s life is like a set of challenges we face every day, and the quantity of these challenges proportionally increases with the growth of goals a person sets to achieve. In other words, I perceive college education as the tool to response adequately life tasks and problems in future. This statement does not refers career only. There is a talk about entire life. I’m deeply convinced that college education takes incredibly valuable part in human’s consciousness forming. It shouldn’t be treated just like some source of specific knowledge obtaining, according to chosen specialty. It is the way to expand horizons, options and opportunities. I often imagine person without college education, as one who stands in absolutely dark room, with only one seen door to get out, while there are at least ten of them there. On the other hand, those who was lucky to study in college appears in the same dark room, with one seen door still, but with a flashlight in hand. By exerting enough efforts, it will be much easier to find the right door with the help of light then with blind search in a dark room.That is my understanding about the role and mission of college experience.

Thinking about the philosophical background of my views about the importance of education, I still have no right to remain rational side of the same coin unnoticed. Mostly, it is connected to the realities of contemporary labor markets. At all the times, capitalism required tough competition, which allowed to weed out the strongest participants. Thereby, everyone ought to seek for all possible chances to make him/herself maximally competitive, especially, considering the outcomes of world financial crisis and economic recession. The college education is mandatory from this point of view. The economic direction of most countries all around the globe has already changed its vector from manufactures to services. Thus, we witness increased demand on qualified professionals and specialists. Current humans’ experience doesn’t know any alternative to college education, on the way of highly skilled profession obtaining. In this way, the importance of college is grounded from rational point of view. In addition, I would like to mention facts provided by Census Bureau. On average, the statistics for college graduates compared with other education levels are next during an adults working lifetime:

• High school graduates – $1.2 million;
• Bachelors degree holders – $2.1 million (“Statistics On College Graduates”,1).

Seemingly, this data is persuasive and enough to believe in importance of college education.
To sum up, I’ve never was enough respective to people, who treat their college experience as some kind of page from a life story. As for me, it is a key that I dreamed to get during last few years, and now I hope it will help me to open the door to highly consciousness and successful life.

References

U.a. (2008). “Statistics On College Graduates”, 1p. Importance of college. Retrieved from http://www.importanceofcollege.com/statistics.html
U.a. (2005). “Quotations on knowledge”,12p. Think exist. Retrieved from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/like/education_is_only_a_ladder_to_gather_fruit_from/159545/

The post Why Is a College Education Important to Me Essay first appeared on Essay Writing Blog.

At the beginning, it is believed that the main disadvantage of distance education is the lack of communication with teachers, as well as with other students. Into the acknowledgement of this fact Motamedi (2001) stated that “in distance education, neither teachers nor students are physically present to clarify, discuss, or provide feedback – there is no face-to-face contact. Yet, distance education continues to be popular because it provides access to education for those who are unable to attend an educational establishment regularly.” The emotional component of education disappears; students do not feel an individual approach during the process of education, etc. The transfer of knowledge becomes impersonal. In such a way, distance education leads students to social isolation, because students can feel the lack of direct communication with their teachers and classmates in many cases. However, such psychological anonymity can be reduced by using modern communication technologies, such as forums, e-mails, chats, video – and online conferences, etc.

The next drawback of distance education is absence of technical opportunities. For a continued access to the source of knowledge, the student should be well equipped technically. At least one must have a laptop and the internet access. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford this. If the person likes to travel and receive education at the same time, then he / she is seriously dependent on the points of Wi-Fi, flash-modems, etc.

The disadvantages of distance education are also the lack of a permanent control over the students; the student does not feel the practical knowledge. In addition, not all courses are suited to distance learning. For example, it is wrong to expect that the distant courses are suitable to such occupations as a doctor or a pilot of an airliner. But at the present time, according to Prümmer (2000), distance learning is increasingly growing in the fields of education. Demand for such distance education has increased particularly since many require advanced training, but do not have enough time for such full-time programs of education.

Discussing the disadvantages of distance education, we can also mention that there exist some problems with students’ authentication while checking knowledge, because traditional education requires full-time exams, while distance education allows students to cheat their tutors. Tait & Mills (2003) mentioned that distance education does not provide quick feedback. In traditional education the student’s performance can be immediately assessed by questions and informal testing, while the distant student must wait for verification of his work and answer from his instructor exactly with distance education. Many distance learners say that it is easy to relax at home, and they loose interest to learning. Taylor (2007) added that “students who are weaker academically may be at a disadvantage in the distance learning environment. Distance learners have to be self-directed and intrinsically motivated”. As a result, distance education requires rigid self-discipline and strong motivation that would help the student to learn independently and without constant supervision.

And, finally, not every employer recognizes distance education, although the vast majority does not mind. Meyer (2002) said that despite the fact that many distance education diplomas are recognized equally with traditional ones, employers prefer applicants with familiar traditional degrees.

Thus, we have observed the main disadvantages of distance education and proved the thesis that in spite of the fact that distance education is convenient and inexpensive kind of education, it is still limited in practice and live communication. To date, various programs of distance education are not well developed still, because distance education is a relatively new trend in education. By itself, this way of education has a number of features, and they should be considered in the preparation of textbooks, but in practice teachers often use the same materials as for full-time study. In addition, if the student cannot exchange the live communication with the teacher and other students on e-mails, online education is unlikely to suit him.

To sum up, the distance education is a quite convenient and useful opportunity to receive knowledge. There is no doubt that it is a big step in the education of the future. But we should not forget the traditional education that will give the student more advanced skills, particularly in obtaining basic education. As a result, we can recommend to choose distance education as a kind of extra education, or if a person has no opportunity to learn in traditional way for some strong reasons.

References:

Meyer, K. (2002). Quality in Distance Education: Focus on On-Line Learning. Jossey-Bass.
Motamedi, V. (2001). A Critical Look at the Use of Videoconferencing in United States Distance Education. Education, Vol. 122.
Prümmer, C. V. (2000). Women and Distance Education: Challenges and Opportunities. RoutledgeFalmer.
Tait, A. & Mills, R. (2003). Re-Thinking Learner Support in Distance Education: Change and Continuity in an International Context. RoutledgeFalmer.
Taylor, N. (2007). Education Leaders Perspectives: Pros and Cons of Distance Education in a Small Caribbean Island. Distance Learning, Vol. 4.

The post Advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning Essay first appeared on Essay Writing Blog.