The production, operating, and purchasing for Wal-mart Essay

The production, operating, and purchasing for Wal-mart - Essay Example In the fiscal year 2005, the net worth of Wal-Mart’s sales summed up to $312.43 billion. The strength of Wal-Mart today can be estimated from the fact that more than 1.6 million people all over the world are employed by Wal-Mart, which is 0.2 millions more than the total population of the 39th most populous state i.e. Idaho (Wilbert). Wal-Mart produces everything from processed foods to fabrics, cosmetics, office supplies, paints and furniture. Wal-Mart is undoubtedly a big controller of the world’s economy. Wal-Mart has fundamentally relied upon outsourcing to enhance the profitability of its business. Throughout its history, the company has been purchasing the services of vendors, local or imported, that would provide it with the cheapest services. â€Å"From the beginning, Walton had bought goods wherever he could get them cheapest, with any other considerations secondary. [Walton] increasingly looked to imports, which were usually cheaper because factory workers were paid so much less in China and the other Asian countries† (Ortega cited in Hornblower). In his autobiography written in 1992, Walton wrote, â€Å"Were not interested in charity here; we dont believe in subsidizing substandard work or inefficiency, so our primary goal became to work with American manufacturers, and see if our formidable buying power could help them deliver the goods, and in the process, save some American manufacturing jobs† (Walton cited in Hornblower). Although Wal-Mart has tried to maintain its patriotic image in the media by emphasizing upon the need and its intentions to buy only American services and vendors, yet the fact that it has accommodated external vendors to reduce the expenses and increase the profitability of the business contradicts its own vision and statements. This is the reason why Wal-Mart has been considered good for America by some and bad for America by others. According to the Professor Gary Geffery, Wal-Mart has performed far better as compared to

Starbucks Company Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Starbucks Company Paper - Essay Example As a company, Starbucks has various strengths that have seen it make such great achievements. Starbucks is a large international company, which has expanded its operations in 58 countries globally. This expansion on the global arena has allowed the company become one of the most profitable, generating a revenue in excess of $5000 million in 2004 (Goldman, 2007). The other strength associated with the company is the well and already build brand name, which is well known globally. The company’s brand name is well recognized and is associated with quality products, allowing the company to be very competitive in the market segment that it serves. Another strength associated with the company is that it is one of those companies that respects and greatly values their employees. In the year 2005, the company was ranked among the top 100 companies most coveted by employees (Eicher, 2006). The company is recognized for its culture of rewarding its employees, while providing them with a very conducive working environment, rating as one of the most respected employer. More to the strengths of the company is its ethical values, mostly focused towards environmental preservation and conservation, as it undertakes its business. Lastly, the company has diversified its range of products offer, including within its offers hot and cold drinks, snacks and entertainment such as music, films, and books (Sull, 2007). However, there are some weaknesses associated with the company. Though it is well known for its innovation in product range offers, the innovation of the company is in doubt, regarding its sustainability (Goldman, 2007). The expansion strategy of the company is the other of its weakness. The company is known to be the most expanding companies, more so in the 1990s, having an average of a new branch open every single day. Such expansion strategy poses a threat in the management of the company. Lack of portfolio risk spreading is yet another weakness associated with the company. Over a third of the company’s stores are located in the USA. This dependence on the home market is not in the very best interest of the company’s future, which needs to seek a number of other portfolio countries, to make it possible for the company to spread its business risks (Charles, 2006). The comoany is mostly dependent on a single product range, coffee. It only engages in the sale of other products at minimal levels, specializing in coffee products as its main product offering. This reduces the economies of scale of the company, while at the same time increasing the business risks involved with a single line of product offer for a business (Sull, 2007). The company has been able to capitalize on opportunities that come its way, such as diversifying to the entertainment sector, where the customers can access music, films and books, while at the same time enjoying the coffee and snacks offered by the company (Eicher, 2006). The company has other oppor tunities, which it can take advantage of, such as the diversification to fair trade products, which will integrate well with its entertainment and beverage offering, owing to its wide customer base and the well-built company’s brand name (Goldman, 2007). The company has another great opportunity, of collaborating and co-branding with other manufacturers, to increase its sources of revenues, through taking the advantage of its well-known brand name to

Architecture of the Parthenon

Architecture of the Parthenon The era that one lives in is very advanced technologically and economically, yet nothing can surpass the creations that the Greeks built. When one thinks about ancient times we visualize uncivilized people who could never accomplish such great things as we have done when in reality it is us that could never accomplish what they did. There are many accomplishments that are associated with Classical Greece, one of the major ones is the Parthenon. The Parthenon played a key part in helping society discover that the Greeks were incredibly great with precise calculations, had unknown technology to create such buildings, and that this type of building is hard to recreate. The Parthenon set the stage for many buildings to come making it a very influential architectural building. Why was the Parthenon built to begin with? Well the answer isnt as complex as one may think. The Parthenon building served as a religious center where a large statue of the goddess Athena was located. The Parthenon was where the Greeks went to worship the goddess and provide thanks for what they had. The Parthenon had other purposes such as it being a fortress and a tourist stop. The Parthenon became a symbol of power for the Greeks, along with the sense of power a sense of nationalism increased. The Parthenon was a beautiful building to admire. What this building has showed us is that the Greeks were way ahead of their time period. In order to make such a temple, the architects must have ways to calculate very precise numbers and have machinery to place the columns on the building. Not only did this type of architecture require extreme precision, it also required of a great sum of money. At the time the predicted cost for a building like this was around 1,000 silver talents, which is around $57,600,000. This cost didnt only cover the Parthenon building, it also covered the price for the Athena Parthenos. According to Cartwright, the Parthenon was made beautifully on the outside but the meaningful part of it was the giant statue of Athena inside it. The Athena Parthenos was a huge statue that measured around 11.5 meters tall and was made out of gold and other expensive materials. The statue was worth more that the Parthenon itself. When one looks at the Parthenon one sees straight lines and columns, but the truth is that there is almost no straight lines in the Parthenon. The straight lines that we see are merely an optical illusion made by the architects that designed the Parthenon. The columns that we see on the building seem to be straight, but in reality if one is to look at the column going from the bottom to the top we would be able to see that the column starts off being narrow and as it reaches the center it grows wider, once it is headed to the top it narrows down again. This same rule applies to all of the columns placed. This type of precision would be difficult for this time period to achieve even with all the new technology, imagine how the Greeks must have struggled to build such a thing without having little to none of the technology we had. By having made such an amazing piece of architecture, including many more, it was logical for the Greeks to fell as if they were above every other civilization. They were proud of their culture and of their historical ideas. These types of achievements were what made them believe that their achievements would set the stage for generations to come. As the Greeks presumed, their architectural ideas did set the stage for centuries including our times. The Parthenon is a remarkable piece of architecture that is irreplaceable, not only because of the cost but also due to the fact that even if people now were to remake one, it wouldnt have the same impact as it would have centuries ago. The reason for this is that the Greeks had nothing to base themselves off of I order to create such a masterpiece, meanwhile we have their ideas to create our own and access to modern technology. Ancient civilizations may seem like nothing compared to what we have become over the years, but in reality they were incredibly influential in what we have become now and what will become of us in years to come. Works Cited Cartwright, Mark. Parthenon. Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited, 28 Oct. 2012, http://www.ancient.eu/parthenon/ . Athena Parthenos by Pheidias. Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited, 25 Jan. 2015, http://www.ancient.eu/article/785/ Fehlmann, Marc. As Greek as It Gets: British Attempts to Recreate the Parthenon. Rethinking History, vol. 11, no. 3, Sept. 2007, pp. 353-377. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13642520701353256. Hadingham, Evan. Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon. Smithsonian, Smithsonian Institution, Feb. 2008, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unlocking-mysteries-of-the-parthenon-16621015/ Hurwit, Jeffrey M. Beautiful Evil: Pandora and the Athena Parthenos. American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 99, no. 2, 1995, pp. 171-186., www.jstor.org/stable/506338. Nova. The Glorious Parthenon. Nova, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 29 Feb. 2008, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/glorious-parthenon.html The Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Athens Greece Now, http://athensgreecenow.com/acropolis-athens-greece.php The Parthenon. Ancient-Greece, Ancient-Greece.org, http://ancient-greece.org/architecture/parthenon.html Tomlinson, Richard A. Review Article: The Acropolis and the Parthenon Perils and Progress? American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 100, no. 3, 1996, pp. 601-604., www.jstor.org/stable/507030.

Critique of Gilgamesh as a King in The Epic of Gilgamesh Essays

A Critique of Gilgamesh as a King in The Epic of Gilgamesh   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are some characteristics that most great kings have. All of the great kings did not have all of these characteristics, but they had some of them. Gilgamesh did not have many of these traits. Although he was a powerful king, he was not a great king. He had some good traits, such as being a leader, and fighting evil powers. He tormented his people, oppressed them them, exhausted them in daily life and in combat, and he gave himself the right to sleep with any unmarried woman.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gilgamesh uses his strength to get anything he wants. He especially uses his power to get women. He â€Å"demands to be first with the bride, the king to be first and the husband to follow.†(68) To c...

Assessment for Learning techniques and the teaching of Science

The intent of this literature reappraisal is to research recent literature and research conducted into Assessment for Learning ( AfL ) techniques and associating straight to the instruction of Science as a topic within Primary Education. This literature reappraisal is preponderantly designed to turn to the undermentioned research inquiries: Which are the most normally used techniques of AfL in scientific discipline? How is constructivism linked to AfL in Science? Make other topics use different AfL techniques than are used in scientific discipline? How common is the usage of AfL in scientific discipline? What is the impact of the usage of AfL on students ‘ apprehension of scientific constructs? How does AfL impact on the application of scientific accomplishments at KS2? To research these inquiries, hunts were made utilizing ‘Athens ‘ , seeking the British Education Index ( BEI ) and The Educational Resources Information Center ( ERIC ) and Australian Education Index ( AEI ) research systems for articles and books associating to Assessment for Learning ( AfL ) , formative appraisal and scientific discipline instruction which had been published since 1990. Hand hunts were besides made through Primary Science Review, Science Education and School Science Review. Appraisal for Learning ( AfL ) has been defined as: â€Å" the procedure of seeking and construing grounds for usage by scholars and their instructors to make up one's mind where scholars are in their acquisition, where they need to travel and how best to acquire at that place. † ( Assessment Reform Group, 2002 ) The application of scientific accomplishments at KS2 has been encapsulated by the Welsh Assembly Government in their new Welsh Curriculum paperss introduced in 2008 as: â€Å" Learners should be taught to associate their scientific accomplishments, cognition and apprehension to applications of scientific discipline in mundane life, including current issues. They should be taught to recognize that scientific thoughts can be evaluated by agencies of information gathered from observations and measurings. † ( Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, 2008 ) Research into AfL ( e.g. Black & A ; William, 1998 and Osborne & A ; Freyberg, 1985 ) has indicated that whilst it is apparent that all kids benefit, it is ‘not something added to learning, but is built-in to it ‘ ( Harlen, 2006b, p. 176 ) . In kernel, AfL can non be an add-on to the pedagogical procedure ; conversely it must be inherently encompassed within all instruction and acquisition patterns. Harrison and Black ( 2004 ) develop the political orientation behind Black and William ‘s work ( 1998 ) associating to AfL techniques and research straight to the topic of Science. Whilst preponderantly focussed towards secondary scientific discipline instruction, this work is still relevant to Primary Education. In this work, they develop the logical thinking behind the advantages of the usage of AfL within Science lessons. â€Å" Science provides the agencies by which scholars can interact with the universe around them and develop thoughts about the phenomena they experience. So, when they attempt activities such as shooting seeds, their surveies in scientific discipline equip them with ways to detect and oppugn what is go oning. Through experiments they can get down to work out and predict what might go on if conditions for the turning works alteration. To be able to larn scientific discipline in this manner, pupil demands help in developing procedure accomplishments to look into, and communicating accomplishments to inquiry and discuss findings. Formative appraisal fits good into this acquisition scenario, since its intent is for instructors to sift the rich informations that arise in schoolroom treatment and activity, so that professional opinions can be made about the following stairss in larning. † ( Black & A ; Harrison, 2004, p. 3 ) In her paper presented to the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Moody ( 2009 ) highlights the by and large accepted techniques of AfL used within the schoolroom, which many articles are by and large in understanding with, which are: Peer and self-assessment Sharing larning ends and success standards Effective inquiring and duologue Effective instructor feedback In add-on, the importance to an effectual schoolroom clime where kids are encouraged to portion their ideas and unconstrained by the rectification of incorrect replies and the feeling that being incorrect is a negative instead than the chance to portion initial thoughts, is indispensable. When researching methods into AfL and its debut into the primary schoolroom, history determines that the Plowden Report ( 1967 ) must be mentioned and discussed sing her research and determination that showed, harmonizing to Bell ( 2008 ) ‘in hindsight, astonishing vision ‘ when it indicated that a successful instruction should include: ‘child-centred ‘ approached to learning a subject based course of study find acquisition The nucleus rules and values that straight relate to modern AfL techniques and doctrines require that: kids ‘s positions are extremely valued and actively sought out that their acquisition engages them in a manner that they can actively associate them to other facets of their lives the acquisition of accomplishments across the course of study enables kids to be equipped to cover with a assortment of state of affairss instead than a individual capable subject. Critics of these ideals as Gillard ( 2004 ) describes are the ‘writers of the ‘Black Papers ‘ and their followings ‘ who ‘criticised much of what the primary schools were making and blamed the Plowden Report at least in portion for what they saw as unwanted tendencies ‘ during the 1970s and 1980s. Driver ( 1983 ) , nevertheless agrees with the underlying doctrine behind the Plowden study findings, saying that ‘It is, after all, the coherency as perceived by the student that affairs in larning. ‘ Driver was besides portion of the Children ‘s Learning in Science Project ( CLISP ) which researched the country that â€Å" it is every bit of import in learning and course of study development to see and understand kids ‘s ain thoughts as it is to give a clear presentation of the conventional scientific theories † ( Driver, 1983 ) In their article, Lindsay and Clark ( 2001 ) describe ways in which AfL schemes ( and specifically self- and peer-assessment ) can be used to develop a ‘constructivist schoolroom ‘ where kids take part in ‘creating and reflecting on their acquisition ‘ ( p. 15 ) . They besides identify advantages to these techniques specifically develop scientific accomplishments saying that ‘children go more scientific in their enquiriesaˆÂ ¦encourages kids to be invariably involved in the scientific procedure and their function within it ( p. 18 ) . Black and Harrison ( 2004 ) besides discuss the importance of treatment within the scientific discipline schoolroom where ‘students feel they can uncover current apprehension and be helped to further understanding ‘ and experience that this is ‘an indispensable ingredient to doing formative appraisal map in the schoolroom ‘ ( p. 9 ) . With respects to speak within the schoolroom, many authors have defined three different sorts: Triadic duologue ( three phases – normally teacher induction, pupil response and teacher rating ) , Authorative discourse ( teacher conveying information to the students ) and Synergistic or non-interactive talk. Chin ( 2006 ) suggests that the triadic duologue method is ‘often perceived to hold restrictive effects on student believing ‘ ( p. 1316 ) , that thoughts conveyed by the instructor utilizing authorative discourse tend to be ignored and that synergistic talk is described as duologue. By and large in understanding are Asoko and Scott ( 2006 ) who propose that ‘effective learning involves all these attacks ‘ ( p. 163 ) . Hodgson ( 2010 ) describes the sharing of success standards with the kids in a Primary schoolroom as a ‘key AfL scheme ‘ and is linked straight with feedback. Black and Harrison agree with this point in their sum-up of what they believe are the indispensable factors of effectual feedback: â€Å" should actuate the kid ‘to discourse his or her ideas with the instructor or a equal ‘ ( p. 12 ) in order to originate the self-development of the kid encourages instantaneous action ‘relates back to the success standards ‘ ( p. 13 ) Allows scholars to compare their ain thoughts of accomplishment against that of the instructor or equal Indicates to the kid ‘where to travel for aid and what they can make to better ‘ ( p. 13 ) † ( Black & A ; Harrison, 2004 ) Leakey ( 2001 ) carried out a survey where she reported on her ain experiences with experimenting with sharing larning aims and success standards with kids of a scope of ages and believes it to be a successful AfL scheme because it ‘gives kids ownership of their ain acquisition ‘ ( p. 68 ) . Leakey besides suggests that it is merely with the penetration of what it is that they are seeking to accomplish can kids are able to do connexions with any feedback that they later receive. Koegh and Naylor ( 1996 ) delivered a talk at Manchester Metropolitan University sharing their thoughts that: â€Å" Constructivist positions of larning in scientific discipline suggest that scholars can merely do sense of new state of affairss in footings of their bing apprehension. Prior cognition is used by scholars to construe observations ; significance is constructed by persons in a procedure of adding to or modifying their bing thoughts. † ( Keogh & A ; Naylor, 1996 ) and cited the plants of others who portion the same position ( Driver ( 1983 ) ; Osbourne & A ; Freyberg ( 1985 ) and Scott ( 1987 ) ) . The illations behind the constructivist theory associating to instruction are that the instructor is required to happen out kids ‘s thoughts ( evocation ) in order to take them into consideration when be aftering their instruction to supply instruction and acquisition experiences which will develop the kids ‘s thoughts and dispute their apprehension of a specific country. Within scientific discipline instruction, there has been a great trade of research into the benefits of utilizing constructivism as a method of AfL with many instructors appreciating the construct of constructivism within the scientific discipline schoolroom. Curriculum resources have been developed along with specific research including the ( Science Processes and Concept Exploration ( SPACE ) undertaking ( 1990-92 ) and as a consequence research by Nuffield Primary Science who have used this research to develop many pedagogical AIDSs and learning resources for instructors within the schoolroom. However, Bentley and Watts ( 1991 ) discussed their concerns that there is a differentiation between what they define as the ‘strong ‘ features of theoretical constructivism and the ability of instructors to use it to their instruction ensuing in a ‘weak ‘ version of constructivism that is delivered in the schoolroom. Leeds ( 1992 ) describes that although instructors find it easier to be after activities following an evocation session where scholars ‘ preconceived thoughts have been identified, the practicalities of orienting an inclusive instruction where all kids ‘s larning issues associating to a specific country is near impossible when faced with a category of 30 differing thoughts. In relation to the difference between the sum of research into the benefits of a constructivist attack to instruction and the teaching resources and pedagogical counsel available, Claxton ( 1986 ) described the ‘mountain of illustrations of kids ‘s alte rnate constructs ‘ ( p. 126 ) which were available at that clip and noted that the counsel for instructors on how to reconstitute the scholars ‘ thoughts was less outstanding in the literature. More recent research besides focuses more closely on the evocation of thoughts, but much less is written about methods and techniques which allow instructors to reconstitute these thoughts as a whole category exercising. The purpose of the SPACE undertaking was to: â€Å" ‘start where the kids are ‘ , constructing on the thoughts kids bring with them to lessons and assisting them to develop their apprehension of scientific constructs. † ( Nuffield Foundation ) Nuffield Primary Science developed a series of books covering the Science Curriculum, which included many misconceptions of kids in each country along with illustrations of construct sketchs and illustrations of activities that could be used in order to reconstitute the highlighted misconceptions and develop kids ‘s thought, in order to assistance instructors within the schoolroom to enable kids to prove out their ain thoughts through ‘practical hands-on activities and probes ‘ . These publications are now unluckily out of print ; nevertheless the studies associating to the SPACE undertaking continue to be available from the Nuffield web site ( Nuffield Primary Science ) . The usage of specific schemes such as construct sketchs ( Keogh & A ; Naylor, 2000 ) and mind function ( Stow, 1997 ) present researched methods of evocation within the scientific discipline schoolroom and offer an effectual manner of reasoning any undertaking where kids can revisit the original thought and discourse how and why they have developed throughout the survey period. However, instructors require the flexibleness and infinite within the course of study in order to efficaciously set these theories into pattern in order that the benefits can be maximised. AfL will merely be successful when both instructors and kids are committed to its procedure and where both use it as a method for developing current acquisition and development and spread outing their accomplishments and cognition base. This thought is supported by the followers: â€Å" Appraisal for larning merely works if students and instructors take action on larning demands. † ( Ward, Roden, Hewlett, & A ; Foreman, 2005 ) Black and William best summarise the usage of AfL within the schoolroom as follows: â€Å" There is a organic structure of steadfast grounds that formative appraisal is an indispensable characteristic of schoolroom work and that development of it can raise criterions. We know of no other manner of raising criterions for which such a strong Prima facie instance can be made on the footing of grounds of such big larning additions. † ( Black & A ; William, 1998 )

Family Origin Paper

Trever Sorenson Valerie Wall Individual, Family, and Society October 29, 2012 Family of Origin Paper To start my family origin paper we have to go way back to 1976 when my parents met in Alamo, North Dakota; a town of about 200 people in the northwestern part of the state. They met while going through school playing sports, mainly basketball. Both were pretty good at the sport and won some awards and had chances to play more but decided to get married and start a family instead. Both grew up around the whole farming scene. My mom actually lived on a farm growing up and also as she started her own family.My dad lived in the small town but his grandpa had a farm not far from where he grew up and also helped a lot of the local farms in the area. So they grew up being hard workers through sports and also with the manual work that comes with the farming life. In their early years of marriage they moved to my hometown of Williston, ND, not far from where they grew up. A town with the popul ation at the time around 12 thousand. They got married in 1982 two years after they graduated high school and had their first kid which was a boy and my oldest brother and named him Nevin.Not but two years later they had their second child also a boy and named him Tyler. Then finally they had their third son, me. In the first four years of my life we lived in the town of Williston. But then my parents decided to move to the country because my dad was a farmer and rancher. We moved about 5 miles east of Williston. For me and my brothers we liked it a lot better because we could do a lot of things on the farm like play baseball, hunt, fish, build forts in the trees.Growing up in the childhood I had my brothers and me spent a lot of time together because we didn’t have our friends to come out and play. Which I think is a lot similar to the way my parents were raised with their brothers and sisters. Then when I was getting ready for kindergarten our family moved even more in the country. We were now about 30 miles northeast of town. I remember having to wake up really early for school all the time. My dad would wake us up at six in the morning and we would drive all the way to town for school at eight.My brothers and I did not want to attend country school because when we lived in town those first couple of years we had made some friends and our parents wanted us to have a healthy social life. I think also they wanted us to participate in sports more, which we did. Growing up it seemed that every night we had to stay in town until at least 8 because one of us had a sport practice or game going on. So I think that the competitiveness in sports that my parents faced growing up they wanted my brothers and I to experience that.My brothers and I loved to play sports, a lot of the time when we were not helping my dad we would be playing some sort of competitive sport which usually ended in a fight. Once we moved farther into the country my brothers and me became older and more capable of helping my dad on the farm with chores. So it was in these early years where were learn a work ethic. With having all the cows we did my dad did need help. For me being the youngest I didn’t have to help as much as my brothers. I spent more time helping my mom around the house with things she needed help with.But my dad always made sure I got my hands dirty in the corrals, which I can see helped me with just being able to do manual labor with no problems, and also made me a very observant learner from watching my dad do things on the farm. Also being on the farm you are always in situations where you just have to figure it out for yourself because my dad or brother are busy doing other things. By the time I reached 5th grade my parents decided to move to town because my brothers were getting more involved with sports as so was I.For me I loved the idea of moving to town because I was still this youngster who gets to hang out with his friends more. No w I could ride bike to my friend’s house and be there in 10 minutes, so as a young kid was pretty excited. But even though we moved to town me and my brothers went to the farm and helped my dad a lot whenever we were not playing some sort of sport. I would say for me my middle-aged years were spent more on sports so I develop a lot of relationships with friends. At this time in my life during the summer all I did was play baseball. My friends and I would meet at this field close to ll our houses and play sandlot everyday no matter what the weather was. If we weren’t playing baseball at the field we were at someone’s house playing some sort of baseball related game. Looking back I realize now that from moving to town and not spending as much time at the farm I sort of developed a city life mentality. I started hating going to the farm because I wanted to hangout with my friends and was afraid I was missing out on something. As I got into high school my parents re ally pushed on my sports and always trying to get better which for me didn’t bother me at all.They realized that I was very skilled in my baseball and wanted me to take that very serious, which I did for the most part. But I started wanting that independence from my parents once I got my license at 14. I had my pickup and could go drive around with my buddies I thought I was a stud. I started not spending as much time at home, so from that my parents wanted to know more about what was going on in my life I felt like. So me being a dumb teenage started getting into a lot more arguments and things like that with them.Also my dad wanted me to go out and help him at the farm more because my brothers were busy with college and sports of their own. I didn’t like that at all and would get really mad every time I had to go out there and help. Junior year I started drinking once and a while and I ended up getting caught so my parents got a lot stricter with me. So that made my relationship with my parents even worse. At this point in high school baseball was a good way for me and my parents to communicate but anything else it seemed impossible for them to realize my side.I ended going to Iowa to play baseball for college and our relationship got better. I think because I just had to get out of the house and away to learn things on my own to better understand what they were doing. But one thing that I got from my parents was to always work hard. They always said before every game â€Å"work hard†, so that’s what I did and it seem to get me far in baseball because after Iowa I ended up going Division 1 in baseball but due to a bad arm injury I had to have surgery and things didn’t turn out at North Dakota State University (NDSU).After NDSU I went back home and started working on the oilrigs. It was actually what I consider my first job, because my dad never made me get a job in high school because all I had to do was help him on the far m. Working on the rigs taught me a lot about life and what my parents tried to pound in my head all those years in high school. So now days my parents and I are good and get along a lot better because I am more able to understand where they are coming from. After about 10 months of working in the oil field I decided to go play baseball again and that is what brings me to Friends University.Now days as I look back at the upbringing of my brothers and me and relate it to my parents up bringing I see a lot of similarities. They were brought up in that hard working environment, dawn to dusk kind of lifestyle and they really pushed that on the three of us. I can see that my brothers have more of a better work ethic than me but it is a working progress. I may have been more successful at sports but then are harder workers than me. Also I noticed that growing up my parents didn’t really have someone to come talk to about problems so they had to find a way to deal with their problems .So growing up for the three of us we didn’t address our problems very often with our parents with just found a way to get over it and move on which has helped me a lot but there are some things that I have trouble dealing with but I can cope really well because of that. Another thing my parents really pushed upon my brothers and me was be respectful and responsibility, and I know because they expressed that so much it has helped me in life and also with sports as well. Family also was important, even though they never really verbally expressed it we always had to go to family events no matter how big or small the event was.So as I grew up I just kind of knew that if there was a family event I better go or else my parents would get mad. Now I may have not wanted to go but whenever I left I was glad I did just because I got to see a lot of good people and it usually is a good laugh. I think my parents made us because they had alot of relatives growing up and spent a lot of tim e around them growing up. So I guess I have learned a lot in the last year about life and my family and I am excited to learn more in the future.