Wedding Planning Needs Assessment

Wedding Planning Needs Assessment CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Wedding is once-a-life event in peoples life. For most of families, they are willing to spend a considerable amount of money to ensure the wedding is organized as perfect as possible. According to Howard (2006), wedding today is a $70 billion business in U.S., and the average cost of wedding is $26,000 per couples. As a spinoff the larger discipline of event management, the business of wedding planning will provide business to a broad array of supporting industries, such as hotels, retails, and catering service. Comparing with the other personal events, such as birthday, anniversaries, wedding is more complicated, because it involves friends and families and a range of related service activities covering from catering to entertainments (Shone Parry, 2004). In order to make sure everything goes smoothly in the wedding day, most of the prospective couples would like to plan the wedding in sometimes year in advance. Both brides and grooms put much effort into the wedding preparation including the venue selection, honeymoon booking and dress design etc. However, not all of them have enough time and energy and knowledge in wedding planning to arrange everything themselves. They need someone to assist them in wedding planning, budget preparation, planning detail checklists, venue arrangement as well as onsite supervision and coordination on the wedding day. Wedding planners, the professional dealing with all the details of wedding, provide a one-stop service to potential couples by charging some considerable consultant fee (Wikipedia org, 2009). The role of the wedding planners is to save time, look after details, make couples dream come true, stay on the budget and save money. Wedding planners have become one of the outsourced labours in modern society (Blakely, 2007). With the rapid development of the society in the last decade, more and more couples prefer to go to college and start their own careers after graduation. Marriage is happening later in brides and grooms life (Mayling, 2002). This means couples have more disposable income to afford the wedding expenses; and they are more likely to look for some special unique wedding styles, such as theme wedding, green wedding etc., which probably involves different elements, such as ethic, religious custom, family tradition, class identity, regional practice and individual tastes and preference (Howard, 2006). As a result, wedding planners, who are providing professional advices and assistance to the couples from the moment of distributing the invitations, arranging the style of cake ceremony, table setting, and setting for banquet, are necessarily needed and developed dramatically (Markby, 2006). 1.2 Wedding in China In traditional Chinese culture, marriage was creating alliances between families. Therefore, it was strictly arranged by parents or elder people in families. Wedding should be planned strictly according to the customs. For example, people should choose a good year, a good month, a good day as well as a good time for wedding ceremony; and use â€Å"red† in the declaration for everything with the purpose of auspicious. Wedding is also one of the ways for Chinese families to present their social classes therefore the families are willing to spend a large mount of money on wedding, and much of which were supported by parents or relatives. Because of the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, nowadays, the living standards in China have been dramatically increased. According to the China Statistic Yearbook 2008 (2009), the GDP per capita in Mainland China is increasing steadily and has reached 18,934 RMB in 2007. At the mean time, the social culture is becoming diversified. More and more Chinese people, especially the younger generation who have better education, began to accept the western culture. Most of the prospective couples would like to experience different types of weddings that can make their special day more measurable. For example, some people choose â€Å"white† wedding instead of traditional Chinese â€Å"red† wedding; some may prefer destination wedding instead of having wedding at home, which may require more time and professional planning and organizing throughout the wedding preparation. Therefore, wedding planners, as a new business in China, has developed rapidly during the l ast decade. According to the ministry of commerce of the PRC (2008), wedding service today has become a big business in China covering about 76 industries, such as matchmaking business, wedding planning as well as banquets, tourism industries etc. where the photographer has the highest profit that is above 30% while the wedding planner is 15%. The average expenditure for more than 3.7 million new Chinese couples in 2006 was about 126,600 RMB. Based on the statistics of Ministry of Civil Affairs of the PRC (2009), about 11 million couples got married in 2008 with the growth of 10.8% than 2007. All the statistics above show that wedding business in China has a huge market and potential. This research will focus on Pearl River Delta, the most economically dynamic region in southern part of China. PRD covers nine prefectures of Guangdong province including Guangzhou, Shenzhe, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing; and has become one of the leading economic regions and a major manufacturing center of China, which accounted for 10.2% of Chinas GDP. People in PRD have more purchasing power than the other region. The per capita GDP in PRD ranges from 35,700 to 79,600 RMB which is much higher than the national per capita GDP (HKTDC, 2008). Because of the advantages of its location and open-door policy, PRD became the first region in China which allowed the foreign investments. Thus, apart from the economic strength, people in PRD were influenced by the western cultures earlier than the other places of China. 1.3 Research problem statements Due to the low entry cost in the wedding planning business, the number of wedding planners has increased rapidly in China in the last decade. Generally, two to three persons having relevant planning experience can establish a wedding planning company with around 100,000 RMB investments in China. They just need an office for meeting with clients and an official blog or website for promotion. Despite of the rapid development of the wedding business, the service/product offered by the wedding planners is similar. Comparing with the wedding photo service business, there is a lack of leading brand in the wedding planning business. With the growth of income level and education level, the couples in China are becoming more and more demanding towards the wedding service/products and face a problem that how to choose a suitable wedding planners who can provide excellent service/product. Thus, from the supply side, identifying and satisfying the important and unfulfilled needs of prospective c ouples is one of the ways for wedding planners to differentiate their products from the competitors, and make success in the competition. However, there is few studies indentifying prospective couples needs or attitudes toward products or service of wedding planner in Pearl River Delta even though in Chinese mainland, nor research about how well the wedding planners in China is meeting the needs of prospective couples. Therefore, this study will focus on the following questions to find out the needs of prospective couples (demand side) towards the wedding planners in PRD 1) Whats the reason for couples hiring wedding planners? 2) Whats the factors affecting the selection of wedding planners? Reputation? Price? Or other? 3) Do the needs of prospective couples toward wedding planners in Pearl River Delta vary according to the different demographical characteristics? 1.4 Research objectives: To find out the needs of prospective couples when hiring the wedding planners in the Pearl River Delta; To investigate the relationship between the needs for prospective couples and the choice of product/service offered by wedding planners in Pearl River Delta Region; To investigate how the needs of potential couples are influenced by their demographic profiles; To make recommendations to the wedding planners in Pearl River Delta. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the previous studies related to wedding, wedding planners as well as the consumer purchase behavior will be reviewed. 2.1 Nature of wedding From the view of sociology, Edward (1987) defined that weddings are rites of passage, which belong to the class of rituals that everywhere mark the transition of a person or persons from one status to another. Wedding therefore becomes a private and highly-personalized event in peoples life. Event is held for a purpose that brings people together to share an experience and produce a measurable outcome no matter public or private, commercial or charitable, celebratory or commemorative (Silvers, 2003). Shone and Parry (2004) defined the wedding, together with the other personal events (e.g. birthday or anniversaries), as a type of special events. Their phenomenon arise from leisure, cultural, personal or organizational objectives which are set apart from the normal activity of daily life and their purpose is to enlighten, celebrate, entertain or challenge the experience of a group of people. The characteristics of special events include personal interactions, ritual or ceremony, intang ible, fixed timescale, labor intensive, ambience and service, perishability as well as uniqueness. Getz (2007) also defined wedding as a form of planned events because it is held in venues that cater to individual and small-group clients which may require professionals or be entirely arranged by the participants. From this point of view, Getz (2007) believed that the wedding is a multi-meaning experience in both personal and social aspects, and it is can be considered as celebrations in which a theme and emotional stimulation are essential. Although, wedding is usually defined as a type of small or personal events, it is still an area lack of study and research compared with meeting, exhibition, incentives or other events. There is quite a few academic book or journal devoted to the planning and design of weddings, parties or other private functions. 2.2 Wedding planners 2.21 The nature of wedding planner Arranging an event is complicated as it involves different elements such as the specialist sets, props, customers for participants or guests, and all the range of support requirements from special effects and lighting to music and entertainment. Event management companies are increasingly common in the events business in the last decades, which have specialized in providing of the complete event by careful planning and management. People can enjoy a number of benefits of having an EMC including the expertise, ideas and experience they can draw on (Shone Parry, 2004). Shone and Parry (2004) found that although there are some major companies in the event business, there are a wide range of smaller organizations and individuals that are willing to provide events-related service particular for the personal event market, which include the organization of parties, celebrations, weddings, anniversaries and many of similar events. Professional party planners or event organizers are those pr ofessional who deal with the nitty-gritty details of planning, organizing, operating and managing an event to ensure everything goes smoothly. According to Wikipedia (2009), wedding planners are the professionals who deal with all the details of the wedding, which includes planning, organizing, operating and management, to ensure everything goes smoothly and correctly. Ellis-Christensen (2008) defined that wedding planner as an event professional whose responsibility is not only to plan a memorable wedding, but also to give some professional advices to the couples including the venue selection, equipments preparation etc. They usually act as a wedding advisor, coordinator, supervisor, financial planner and mediator during the wedding (Brush Creek Weddings, 2008). Peters (2007) also stated that the range of service offered by wedding planner is widely. Some may prefer to offer consulting service only while some may prefer to provide comprehensive wedding package. At the meantime, Peters (2007) also pointed out that the global trend of the wedding business has been toward offering total coordination of the entire blessed even t from the beginning to the end, which includes identifying the needs of new couples, budget preparation, planning detailed checklist, venue arrangement, identifying the professionals (e.g. florists, photographers etc.) as well as on-site supervision and coordination on the wedding day. The consultant fee varies widely depending on different locations or different packages. The consultant fee may be higher in larger cities where disposable income of couples is higher than the other places. 2.22 The requirements of a wedding planner Having a strong organizational skills as well as an eye for details are necessary and basic requirements for a successful professional meeting planner because meeting process is both comprehensive and meticulous. Moreover, meeting planners must have the ability to work successful under pressure, to react calmly to constant change, and to make quick decisions (OBrien Shaw, 2002). Howard (2006) stressed that wedding planning is highly customer oriented as most of the couples are looking for special, unique and memorable wedding. Ethic and religious custom, family tradition, class identity, regional practice, and individual tastes and preferences certainly all played a role in shaping wedding consumption. Peters (2007) suggested that good communication skills, good organizational skills as well as good interpersonal skills are very essential for being a successful wedding planner, because wedding planners act as a middle person who deals with both clients and suppliers. The appearance of the professional wedding organization was an important benchmark in the rise of wedding planner business, indicating that wedding planning service today are more and more professional. These professional organizations help wedding planners naturalize particular customs and practices on a potentially national scale by sharing etiquette and customs. They provide some training course for wedding planners. Getting a certificate from professional organization has became one of the evidences for professional and made the customer confident with the service quality. Additionally, the organization also centralized and rationalized a consultants business, providing important resources and information regarding the markets as well as the trend (Howard, 2006). 2.23 Demand of wedding planners Wedding is an important event in peoples life that many people are willing to organize by themselves on the small and more intimate scale. However, not all of them have the time and wish to expend the effort on doing so and happier to pay a professional to come along and deal with all the details of planning, organizing, operating and managing to ensure everything goes smoothly (Shone Parry, 2006). According to Blakely (2007), the supply of commercial service increases dramatically along with the growth of demands for family jobs. Wedding planners are a form of outsourced labor in the modern society. These jobs which are transported from home to the public marketplace are responding to the time crunch produced by work-family conflict. From this point of view, Blakely defined wedding planners as commercial substitutes. Besides, Edwards (1987) conducted a research to examine the relationship between the weddings commercial development and its nature as a rite of passage. He found that the reason of the success of the wedding business was the convenience offered by the wedding planners and the demand from consumers for larger and more sumptuous celebrations. Consumers were looking for a wide range of wedding-related service (one-stop service) through a single organization. 2.4 The trend Firstly, the wedding today tends to be more customized than before. According to Hensdill (1996), because of the cultural exchange among the global village, traditional wedding customs are giving way to the trends of Western societies. Some new styles of wedding exist, such as theme wedding, destination wedding and green wedding, because more and more couples are looking for unique wedding. Destination wedding is a new wedding style that a couple decides to hold their wedding in a location where neither one of them resides (Daniels Loveless, 2007). There are several top destinations for wedding in the world, such as Caribbean, Las Vegas, Hawaii as well as Maldives. Generally, some special theme may be adopted into the destination wedding. For example, hotel in Las Vegas has organized Italian-style wedding for wedding couples (Stratton, 2001). Moreover, the destination wedding often merges into the honeymoon (Daniels Loveless, 2007). Secondly, the internet and e-commerce has shaped the modern wedding consumption and gave it a new immediacy and flexibility. As a result, the wedding planners can target different segments of the bridal markets through developing website that advertised their goods and services and allowed consumers to make agreement or shop directly through their online site (Howard, 2006). 2.2 Consumer purchase behaviors toward wedding â€Å"Consumer behavior is defined as the behavior that consumers display in searching form, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs. It focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources† (Schiffman Kanuk, 2007). 2.32 Factors affecting consumer purchases As people are willing to devote time and effort to the ritual occasions like Christmas and Thanksgiving, some researches regarding the types of purchases associated with ritual occasions have been conducted by researchers in consumer behavior (Lowery, 1994). According to some market analysis, consumer purchase behavior is strongly influenced by social, cultural and individual characteristics. a) Social factors According to Schiffman and Kanuk (2007), consumer behavior is influenced by two major groups, namely the reference group and families. â€Å"A reference group that is perceived as credible, attractive, or powerful can induce consumer attitude and behavior change† (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007) Based on the traditional family life cycle, the prospective couples belong to the stage II, honeymooners, who have available a combined income that often permits a lifestyle that provides them with the opportunities of more indulgent purchasing of professions, which means that the honeymooners are happy to accept the professional products and service and willing to pay more money for them as they pursuit high quality of life. The reason hidden behind may be because they have more disposable income and more free time for themselves before the born of young children. Additionally, for the newlyweds, the advice and experience of other married couples (e.g. parents or friends) are likely to be important when they start-up their expenses to establish a new home (Schiffman Kanuk, 2007). â€Å"For many consumers their family is their primary reference group for many attitudes and behaviors. The members of a family assume specific roles in their everyday functioning; such roles or tasks extend to the realm of consumer purchase decisions. Key consumer-related roles of family members include influencers, gatekeepers, deciders, buyers, preparers, users, maintainers, and disposers. A familys decision-making style is influenced by its lifestyle, roles, and cultural factors.† (Schiffman Kanuk, 2007). Different social classes have different preferences in clothing, home decoration and leisure activities as well as saving, spending and credit habits. Based on the market study by Brides magazine, 20% of the buyers of the wedding products identified themselves as buyers of Brides magazine who were mainly middle class women employed in white-collar, professional and technical fields and had higher medium annual income, when combined with their future husbands. This means that the bride had more control over future consumer decisions that the couple would make (Howard, 2006). Another research about the division of wedding labor and its meaning for couples by Sniezek (2005) indicated that women complete the a disproportionate amount of wedding work just as women do more of kin-work, housework, childcare and managerial family work. He also pointed out that couples were not likely to label the unequal division of labor as unfair which may potentially put the relationship in a state of conflict. From this point of view, his statement highly support Blakelys study (2007) which stated that the wedding planning businesss targeted market is modern career women. Blakely also used the case study of wedding planning to confirm Hochschilds thesis (2003) that feminism plays and important ideological role in the expansion of the commodity frontier. However, after comparison of the emphases that brides and grooms place on artifacts selected for use in their weddings and reception, Lowery (1994) found out that the brides participating in the focus group had no difficulty describing artifacts that were important to them; while grooms had greater difficulty. They also suggest that the emergence of traditional or modern gender roles in wedding planning is partially determined by the attitudes of the bride and groom toward these roles. This is also proved by Schiffman Kanuk (2007) that wedding purchase is a joint-decision in the family where the couples may play different roles in the decision making procedure. b) Cultural factors â€Å"Culture is the sum total of learned beliefs, values, and customs that serve to regulate the consumer behavior of member of a particular society.† (Schiffman Kanuk, 2007) When explaining how culture affects the consumer behavior, Schiffman and Kanuk (2007) indicated that all phases of human problem solving are directed and guided by culture, which includes various ritualized experiences and behaviors. For instance, in practice, rituals accompany with people throughout the human life cycle form birth to death, including a host of intermediate events such as confirmation, graduations and marriage. Besides the culture, subculture also plays an important in consumers behavior which includes nationality, religion, geographic, location, race, age and sex. For example, when comparing the husband-wife decision making between United States and China, Schiffman and Kanuk (2007) found out that there were substantially fewer â€Å"joint† decisions and more â€Å"husband-dominated† decisions for many household purchases in China. Even in the same country, another research showed that in larger city like Beijing, couples were more likely than rural co uples to share equally in purchase decisions. c) Individual factors Apart from the social and cultural factors which affecting the consumer behavior, individual factors play an important role when people make decision (Dholakia, 1979). Schiffman Kanuk (2005) explained the influences of the individual factors through several categories: motivation, personality, perception, learning as well as attitudes. As a driving force within individuals that force them to take actions, motivation is produced by a state of uncomfortable tension unsatisfied needs. Liking to our topic, hiring the wedding planner may be motivated by the needs of couples, such as lack of time for preparation, looking for professional service etc. Personality determines and reflects how a person responds to his or her environment. Generally, people are looking for the balance between the perceived self-image and their behavior including the purchasing products or service. Some may prefer innovative wedding style (e.g. destination wedding, green wedding) while the other may choose trad itional wedding. Moreover, each individual has its own process when he or she selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. This process is highly subjective and is based on what the consumer expect to see. There are several factors that can influence the perception including physical appearance, stereotypes, halo effects, irrelevant cues, first impressions, and the tendency to jump to conclusions. 2.3 Theoretical foundation- Consumer decision making process This research is based on consumer decision making process, which is one of the theories of consumer behavior. Decisions are about the selection of an option from two or more alternative choices. According to Kotler, Bowen and Makens (2006), consumer decision process consists of five essential stages: 2.31 Need recognition From the moment that the consumer recognizes a problem or need, the consumer buying process starts. The consumers needs can be stimulated by both internal and external factors. Advertisements, word-of-mouth, social cues from families, friends and anyone within the families can influence the customers need recognition. In the case of wedding planner, potential couples, their internal stimuli probably is lacking of time for preparation, looking for some unique and special wedding while the external stimuli may be the advertisement in the internet, the promotional events held by wedding planners, especially by the friends or families who have previous experience. 2.32 Information search Searching information about their needs or problems is the second step of buying process. How much information a consumer looks for will depend on the strength of the drive, and the amount of initial information, the value placed on additional information. Linking to the wedding planners, couples will take some time for information searching. This is a stage that couples can decide if they would like to hire a wedding planners or if the products/service offered by wedding planner can satisfy their needs. 2.33 Evaluation of alternatives After searching the relevant information, customers will use the information to arrive at a set of final brand choices. At this stage, potential couples may set up a personal comparison system through different attributes such as reputation, price, theme etc., in order to identify which would be the most ideal brand. 2.34 Purchase decision Subsequently, consumer will buy the most preferred brand based on their evaluation in the previous stage. This is the stage that potential couples choose which brand, what kind of services and check if the product/service is available. This is also the stage that potential couples decide if they would like to hire a wedding planner or not. 2.35 Post-purchase behavior Based on the performance of the service/products, the final stage determines whether the consumer satisfy the service/products or not. 2.4 Summary After reviewing the previous studies related to wedding and wedding planners, we can find out that most of the studies were conducted in the developed countries such as U.S or United Kingdom, while there is a blank area regarding this field in China. Moreover, there is little study regarding the consumer purchase behavior towards the wedding planners conducted before. This research will based on the theories of consumer behavior to conduct three in-depth interviews to find out the reasons for potential couples hiring wedding planners; and the factors affecting their decision. Then, a quantitative research will be conducted to express the findings in statistical terms. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY This research will be designed as an exploratory, quantitative, cross-sectional investigation of prospective couples needs towards the service/products offered by wedding planners in Pearl River Delta. 3.1 Research Design The advantage of semi-structure interviews is that it can allow issues to be explored deeply while questionnaire survey is that it can collect information from a large number of people and express the findings in statistical terms (Jennings, 2001). As limited study regarding the needs of potential couples towards the wedding service has been conduced in China so far, for this research, the important variables are not clear and still need to be defined. In order to develop a more reliable questionnaire to conduct quantitative research at the second stage, the first stage is to explore the important variables through a qualitative research. In-depth interviews with three potential couples will be conducted, which will facilitate the identifying the different requirements made by potential couples when selecting the wedding planners. These in-depth interviews are critical for the whole research because the finding of these interviews will be used to develop the questionnaire. 3.2 Questionnaire design There will be four main parts in the questionnaire. The first part will be the screening questions with the purpose of screening the invalid sample through some questions. Then, the second part will include some questions regarding the prospective couples attitudes towards the service/products offered by wedding planners in Pearl River Delta. Respondents are required to indicate their personal opinions on each statement on a five-point Likert type scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. In the third part, open-end questions will be included in order to examine the personal experience and intention of hiring a wedding planner. Finally, there will be a set of questions regarding the demographic characteristics of the respondents, which will include gender, age, income level, marriage status, and education level. In order to explain the purpose of the research to the respondents, a covering letter will be attached to the questionnaire. The covering letter will include the information that how the sample was selected, the time will take to complete the survey, contact person for questions and assuring the response would be kept confidential and only used for statistical purposes. 3.3 Sampling method The survey will use a convenience sampling method. Total 200 questionnaires will be distributed in 5 major cities in PRD, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan and Zhongshan. Both non-married and married couples will be the target respondents in this survey. In order to ensure that the relevance of information collected can reflect the populations opinion, females under 20-year-old (Minimum age of legal marriage for female in China) or males under 22 (Minimum age of legal marriage for male in China) will not be counted as a valid sample. 3.4 Data Collection The data will be collected from 5 major cities in Pear River Delta including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan and Zhongshan, through different ways including face-to-face interviews and self-completion questionnaires. 3.41 Face-to-face interviews In order to have higher response rate, in the first phase, the face-to-face interviews with potential couples will be conducted at the wedding service companies when they are waiting for the service or outside the Marriage Registries in those cities. 3.42 Self-completion questionnaires At the second phase, self-completion questionnaires will be sent out through e-mail or online survey link, which allows the participants to complete the questionnaires at their own space and at a time convenient for them. In order to secure respondent rate, 2 weeks later, a follow-up letter will be sent out. 3.5 Pilot tests Before the distributing the questionnaires to the targeted respondents, a

Barack Obama

Barack Obama, made history when he became the first African-American President of the most powerful country in the world at the young age of 47. He overcame powerful competition from extremely popular political heavyweights of the likes of Hillary Clinton and John McCain and enumerable obstacles to win convincingly. A brief background : Obama was born as Barack Hussein Obama on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. , a Kenyan and Ann Dunham, a native of Chicago. They were both students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.However, by the time he became two years old, they had separated and later divorced. His mother got married to a fellow student, Lolo Soetoro. As Seatoro was from Indonesia, the family shifted to Jakarta later. After four years of schooling in Indonesian schools, Obama returned to live with his maternal grand parents in Hawaii and joined Punahou Academy from which he graduated with honors in 1979. His first experience with racism happened in this pe riod because he was one of just three African American students. Obama completed his degree in political science from Columbia University in New York, 1983.After gaining a few years of work experience he moved to Chicago in 1985 where he worked as a community organizer. (A&E Television Networks, 2008, p. 1) Opting for a career in law, he joined Harvard Law School in 1988. There he created history by becoming the first African American to be elected as the editor of Harvard Law Review. With the law degree in hand, Obama returned to Chicago and worked in a law firm while teaching at the Chicago Law school simultaneously. Meanwhile in 1992, Obama married Michelle Robinson, also a law graduate. 1992 was an important year in Obama’s career as a politician also.He was an active member in Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign organizing a hugely successful voter registration drive. He wrote an autobiographical book called â€Å"Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inher itance† in 1995. (p. 2) Obama was instrumental in drafting several legislation in ethics, income-tax credit for the poor, health care, education and law enforcement in this period. In 1996, People of Hyde Park elected Obama into the Illinois State Senate. He was also elected the chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee. Post 9/11, Obama was noted as one of the first prominent opponent of President George W.Bush’s strategy to go to war with Iraq. He warned about the costs involved in such a war in terms of lives, hardships and impact on economy. His predictions came true as it turned out to be a very messy affair in the end. In 2004, Obama got in the fray for the U. S. Senate seat held by Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. Voters soon took a liking to Obama and he was able to defeat the multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes. Obama entered the national politics when he gave a stunning performance as the keynote speaker at the 2004 De mocratic National Convention in Boston.In the general election, Obama defeated the republican candidate Alan Keyes, who was also an African-American, in a record landslide victory in Illinois. Obama was very active as a senator with several successful campaigns on wide variety of matters such as transparency on federal spending, elimination of weapons of mass destructions in Europe and Russia, threat of avian flu, rehabilitation of Hurrican Katrina victims, alternative energy initiatives and so on. (p. 3) Obama published his second book, â€Å" The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream† in 2006.In February 2007, he decided to run for American Presidency and became the democratic nominee against a tough competition from the former first lady Hillary Clinton. After running a very systematic and well- organized campaign lasting more than 2 years, Obama became 44th president of the United States by beating republican presidential nominee John McCain. Obama i s blessed with two daughters, Malia and Sasha. Obstacles Obama had to face in his run upto the presidency : 1) His African American origin- The biggest obstacle in his path to presidency was that people of his origin has always found it difficult to get ahead in national politics.Obama was only the fifth African American Senator in U. S. history and just the third to have been popularly elected. 2) His seemingly apparent lack of experience as a leader or executive – The opponents and the media alleged that Obama was not experienced enough to lead the country. But he was successful in establishing that his years of experience as community organizer is as valuable as any other leadership stint. 3) Tough Competition – When Obama announced his campaign in February 2007, it seemed that Sen.Hillary Clinton was the favorite for the Democratic nomination and was touted as the most anticipated presidential candidate in a generation. But in a systematic manner Obama went about h is campaign and step by step his charisma took his popularity ahead and in front of the competition. 4) White Voters, the overwhelming influence on the outcome of the US presidential elections, were not expected to support Obama as several studies and history suggested. 5) Even among the African American community, Obama had trouble with his perceived strongest base.It was only after his victory in Iowa that the black sentiment turned in his favour. There was also Obama’s perceived lack a shared background with the minority population that suffered centuries of social abuse. 6) Obama also had to carefully handle the allegation on his backgrounds, past life, friends or any glitch on his biography that the opposition could use against him. (Sheng, 2008) 8. Exit polls reported from several areas pointed to the fact that one in five white voters would prefer to vote for a white candidate, which meant that Obama’s opponent would get these votes no matter what other consider ations were.9. Obama also had to handle the seemingly ludicrous but highly influencing allegations on his muslim background. A Pew Research Center survey found that 13 percent of registered voters stated that Sen. Obama was a Muslim, which was proof that ignorance of voters could be a big factor that Obama had to deal with. 10. Obama also had to deal with a concerted effort to paint Obama as an outsider that did not belong in the US scheme of things. His mixed family background and alleged muslim connections added to these campaigns. (Bryjak, 2008) Obama’s Leadership QualitiesBarack Obama’s leadership qualities that leaves the people around him to emulate are the qualities that every efficient leader should posses. Intelligence, Good Communition Skills, a wide range of experience, a multicultural background, and an affinity for change. Intelligence -. Obama has shown tremendous intelligence difficulties to find logical solutions to tough problems. His views and thought s of multiple ways to improve the American life shows his application of intelligence. Good communication skills – Obama has been successful in expressing his feelings in their entirety to his audience.His speeches are highly affective and he takes the crowd in his hands. He also used the emerging media such as social networking sites on the internet to fundraise and communicate messages. Experience – 7 years of work in Illinois Senate and his work as a community organizer gives Obama the professional experience to fight through the problems. And his multicultural faceted and varied experience on a personal level gives him the edge over others. Change – Obama has already taken several key decisions with far reaching consequences to affect the change that he has promised so much and so far.( Fu, 2008) As Madore in his article puts it â€Å"Obama’s ideas are fresh with relevant information. He supplies us competent Organization, with well-executed plans. H is Word Choice is measured, precise and powerful. His Voice is honest, inspiring, and credible. His Fluency rings rhythmic and fine-tuned. And finally, his Conventions are clean and polished, showing evidence of following the rules† (Madore, 2008) A study conducted by NextNationalCEO. com. reports that Insightful judgment, vision and trustworthiness top the list of important leadership characteristics for the U. S. presidential candidates.The following leadership traits were given for ranking to the visitors to NextNationalCEO. com with respect to each of presidential candidates, it was found that Obama was placed ahead of the other candidates almost all of these characteristics. They are, â€Å" — #1: Insightful Judgment — #2: Visionary — #3: Trustworthy — #4: Gets Things Done — #5: Inspires Others — #6: Good Judge of People — #7: Influences Others — #8: Courageous — #9: Confident — #10: Energetic† ( Reutors, 2008) Barack Obama’s leadership characteristics could be summed up as follows,Obama is ambitious, strong, bold and determined to achieve his goals. He uses the resources available to him and innovates new ways to do things. For example, the way he used the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace to raise funds and to build a strong influence among the youth. Obama promises a fresh look at everything without pre-conceived notions. His consensus building approach is likely to win friends off enemies. Obama believes in leading by example which was showcased when his stand that high salary levels need to be checked and revised was immediately put into action among the white house staff.Obama has shown tremendous judgment and conviction to take action when he took seemingly complex and controversial decisions such as the closure of Guantanamo prison, withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, getting Congress to pass an $800 billion-plus stimulus package to revive the economy etc. No matter what the occasion, Obama has shown tremendous ability to remain calm and collected. He hardly looses his cool and is not afraid to admit his mistakes. ( Khan, 2009) References Khan, S. (2009, February 15). Obama Leadership – 8 Ways to Lead in the 21st Century.Retrieved May 8, 2009, from http://ezinearticles. com/? Obama-Leadership—8-Ways-to-Lead-in-the-21st-Century&id=1997850 Reuters, (2008,Apr 9). Which Leadership Traits are Most Important to Public in Presidential Candidates? , Retrieved May 8, 2009, from http://www. reuters. com/article/pressRelease/idUS133960+09-Apr-2008+PRN20080409 Madore, R. (2008, Mar 7). Six winning traits of Barack Obama's leadership style! , Retrieved May 8, 2009, http://my. barackobama. com/page/community/post/rolandmadore/gGB3Gs Fu, Bow ( 2008, Mar 22) Barack Obama and Leadership, Retrieved May 8, 2009, http://newsflavor.com/opinions/barack-obama-and-leadership/ Bryjak, J. G. ( 2008, Oct 19), Ob ama's obstacles, Retrieved May 8, 2009, http://www. copleynews. com/uniontrib/20081019/news_lz1e19bryjak. html Sheng, R. ( 2008, Nov 5), Obama overcomes obstacles to become first black president, Retrieved May 8, 2009, http://www. dailytargum. com/news/obama-overcomes-obstacles-to-become-first-black-president-1. 895980 A&E Television Networks, ( 2008) Barack Obama, ( pp 1-3) Retrieved May 8, 2009 http://www. biography. com/featured-biography/barack-obama/bio3. jsp

Biography of Rebecca Nurse, Salem Witch Trials Victim

Rebecca Nurse (February 21, 1621–July 19, 1692) was a victim of the notorious Salem witch trials, hanged as a witch at 71 years of age. Despite being a fervent churchgoer and an upstanding member of the community—a newspaper of the day referred to her as saint-like and a perfect example of good Puritan behavior—she was accused, tried, and convicted of witchcraft and put to death without the legal protections Americans would come to enjoy. Fast Facts: Rebecca Nurse Known For: Hanged during the 1692 Salem witch trialsAlso Known As: Rebecca Towne, Rebecca Town, Rebecca Nourse, Rebecka Nurse. Goody Nurse, Rebeca NurceBorn: February 21, 1621 in Yarmouth, EnglandParents: William Towne, Joanna BlessingDied: July 19, 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay ColonySpouse: Francis NurseChildren: Rebecca, Sarah, John, Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, Francis, Benjamin (and sometimes Michael) Early Life Rebecca Nurse was born on Feb. 21, 1621 (some sources give this as her baptism date), in Yarmouth, England, to William Towne and Joanna Blessing. Her entire family, including several siblings, immigrated to the  Massachusetts Bay Colony  sometime between 1638 and 1640. Rebecca married Francis Nurse, who also came from Yarmouth, around 1644. They raised four sons and four daughters on a farm in Salem Village, now  Danvers, Massachusetts, 10 miles inland from the bustling port community of Salem Town, now Salem. All but one of their children were married by 1692. Nurse, a member of Salem Church, was known for her piety but also for occasionally losing her temper. She and the Putnam family had fought in court several times over land. During the witch trials, many of the accused had been enemies of the  Putnams, and Putnam family members and in-laws were the accusers in many cases. Trials Begin Public accusations of witchcraft in Salem Village began on Feb. 29, 1692. The first accusations were leveled against three women who werent considered respectable: Tituba, an Indian slave; Sarah Good, a homeless mother; and Sarah Osborne, who had a somewhat scandalous history. Then on March 12, Martha Corey was accused; Nurse followed on March 19. Both women were church members and respected, prominent members of the community. Arrested A warrant issued on March 23 for Nurses arrest included complaints of attacks on Ann Putnam Sr., Ann Putnam Jr., Abigail Williams, and others. Nurse was arrested and examined the next day. She was accused by townspeople Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and Elizabeth Hubbard as well as by Ann Putnam Sr., who cried out during the proceedings to accuse Nurse of trying to get her to tempt God and dye. Several spectators adopted head motions indicating that they were in Nurses thrall. Nurse was then indicted for witchcraft. On April 3, Nurses younger sister, Sarah Cloyce (or Cloyse), came to Nurses defense. She was accused and arrested on April 8. On April 21, another sister, Mary Easty (or Eastey), was arrested after defending their innocence. On May 25, judges John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin ordered the Boston jail to take custody of Nurse, Corey, Dorcas Good (Sarahs daughter, age 4), Cloyce, and John and Elizabeth Parker for acts of witchcraft committed against Williams, Hubbard, Ann Putnam Jr., and others. Testimony A deposition written by Thomas Putnam, signed on May 31, detailed accusations of torment of his wife, Ann Putnam Sr., by Nurses and Coreys specters, or spirits, on March 18 and 19. Another deposition detailed accusations of afflictions on March 21 and 23 caused by Nurses specter. On June 1, townsperson Mary Warren testified that George Burroughs, Nurse, Elizabeth Proctor, and several others said they were going to a feast and that when she refused to eat bread and wine with them, they dreadfully afflicted her and that Nurse appeared in the room during the taking of the deposition. On June 2, Nurse, Bridget Bishop, Proctor, Alice Parker, Susannah Martin, and Sarah Good were forced to undergo physical examinations by a doctor with a number of women present. A preternathurall Excresence of flesh was reported on the first three. Nine women signed the document attesting to the exam. A second exam later that day stated that several of the observed physical abnormalities had changed; they attested that on Nurse, the Excresence ... appears only as a dry skin without sense at this later exam. Again, nine women signed the document. Indicted The next day, a grand jury indicted Nurse and John Willard for witchcraft. A petition from 39 neighbors was presented on Nurses behalf, and several neighbors and relatives testified for her. Witnesses testified for and against Nurse on June 29 and 30. The jury found Nurse not guilty but returned guilty verdicts for Good, Elizabeth How, Martin, and Sarah Wildes. The accusers and spectators protested loudly when the verdict was announced. The court asked the jury to reconsider the verdict; they found her guilty after reviewing the evidence and discovering that she had failed to answer one question put to her (perhaps because she was nearly deaf). She was condemned to hang. Massachusetts Gov. William Phips issued a reprieve, which was also met with protests and rescinded. Nurse filed a petition protesting the verdict, pointing out she was hard of hearing and full of grief. On July 3, the Salem Church excommunicated Nurse. Hanged On July 12, Judge William Stoughton signed death warrants for Nurse, Good, Martin, How, and Wildes. All five were hanged on July 19 on Gallows Hill. Good  cursed the presiding clergyman, Nicholas Noyes, from the gallows, saying if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink. (Years later, Noyes died of a brain hemorrhage; legend has it that he choked on his blood.) That night, Nurses family removed her body and buried it secretly on their family farm. Of Nurses two sisters who also were charged with witchcraft, Easty was hanged on Sept. 22 and Cloyces case was dismissed in January 1693. Pardons and Apology In May 1693, Phips pardoned the remaining defendants accused of witchcraft. Francis Nurse died on Nov. 22, 1695, two years after the trials had ended. That was before Nurse and 21 others of the 33 who had been convicted were exonerated in 1711 by the state, which paid compensation to the families of the victims. In 1957, Massachusetts  formally apologized for the trials, but It wasnt until 2001 that the last 11 of those convicted were fully exonerated. On Aug. 25, 1706, Ann Putnam Jr. publicly apologized for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom, now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons... She named Nurse specifically. In 1712, Salem Church reversed Nurses excommunication. Legacy The abuses of the Salem witch trials contributed to changes in U.S. court procedures, including the guarantee of the right to legal representation, the right to cross-examine one’s accuser, and the presumption of innocence instead of guilt. The trials as a metaphor for the persecution of minority groups remained powerful images into the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly in playwright  Arthur Millers The Crucible  (1953), in which he used events and individuals from 1692 allegorically for the anti-communist hearings led by Sen.  Joseph McCarthy  during the  Red Scare  of the 1950s. The Rebecca Nurse homestead still stands in Danvers, the new name of Salem Village, and is open to tourists. Sources Salem Witch Trials: American History. Encyclopedia Britannica.The Witchcraft Trial of Rebecca Nurse. History of Massachusetts blog.An Unexpected Turn in the Trials. The Salem Journal.

Philosophy of Education Essays - 1644 Words

Education is what most of society sees as the stepping stone to a successful life. Personally, I believe education shapes us into the people we become, as well what leads us to the successes and failures all people meet; education is the foundation of life. Personally, I believe in the value of a high school English and literature class. Education is to be seen as a lifelong pursuit, rather than a stopping point, or a stepping stone. Knowledge gives us the power we need to survive in a modern-day society. Without education, we would lack the development and ability necessary to thrive in today’s world. Schools give us the training that is required to survive. The role of school in society is to prepare us for the obstacles and†¦show more content†¦I believe that online education is a good thing, to an extent. It is not to take the place of all classroom learning, and should never be used in classes with an emphasis on social development. Classes such as health, home e conomics, and life skills should never be offered in an online course. Online classes should not be the only kind of classes students are involved in. This kind of learning should not take place until high school, when children are more socially developed, and their educational talents and struggles are already identified and understood. Another thing that offers a spin on the role of school in society is homeschooling. I think it has many good and bad features. One great aspect of homeschooling is it makes parents feel that their child is in a safe environment, and that they are able to shelter them from the things that they are exposed to in public schools. But, ironically, that is also the problem. Social development is a crucial part of any education, and in many cases, homeschooling hinders this. Homeschooling also allows children to have the freedom of working at their own pace, but without having other students around them, it can also make it difficult for a student to gauge where they need to be, and how quickly they need to be working. The student’s responsibility is to do all they can to absorb the knowledge being passed on to them. They must explore and immerse themselves in the education being awardedShow MoreRelatedMy Teaching Philosophy Of Education880 Words   |  4 PagesAccording to the Education Philosophy test that we took in class, my education philosophy matched with social reconstruction. Social Reconstructionist believes that systems must keep changing to improve human conditions. Also, emphasizes social questions and to create a better society. Social reconstructionist believe that you have to start over to make things better. 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