Kuwait Education System Essay

This is a study with Kuwait in focus. Its going to analyze Kuwaiti education with regards to the following important factors, efficiency and degree of development of the education system, important changes, effects of these changes, most important weaknesses in the availability of human capital measures to overcome these weaknesses, how good the education service is available and how students from Kuwait perform in internationally comparable test scores. The paper generally to tackle the issue stated. Kuwait is a nation in Middle East. It borders Persian Gulf, which is between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It has an area of 17,280 square kilometers and a relatively small population of about 2,596,779 as per estimates of July 2008. Most of its population is male and almost half of this total population figure constitutes foreigners. Kuwaitis constitute about 80% of the total labor force as per 2004 estimates. Almost 10% of world’s oil reserves are in Kuwait and it’s a relatively rich country. Kuwait spends about 3. 8% of it’s GDP on education. Also literacy levels stand at very high percentages for instance 93. 3%. Male literacy is higher at 94. 4%compared to female’s 91% as per 2005 estimates. (The World Fact Book, 2008) Before tackling various issues concerning education it’s good to have a historical background of the same. Kuwaiti educational system development is largely attributed to the richness of the nation courtesy of oil exportation. In the early 1990s educational facilities were quite few in Kuwait. The schools that were there were Quranic schools called al-katabibs. The Quranic schools taught arithmetic, reading and writing. Public education was non existent in the earlier part pf the 20th century and thus, funds to education came from wealthier nationals. The government took over the educational system in the year 1939and by 1945 it had begun 17 schools. After the WWII when oil production started to pick up, the government also raised the stake of its revenue that went to education. In 1960s Kuwait had 45000 students in its educational system which 18000 were female. Major development in education also happened in the 1960s and in 1965 schooling was made compulsory in Kuwait (Kuwait Cultural Office, 2008) The efficiency of the Kuwaiti educational system is explained as follows: today in Kuwait there are about 500,000 students in school, which is about 30% of its total population. There are three levels of education in Kuwait and each one of them takes duration of four years to complete. These levels include elementary, intermediate and secondary. Attending school is compulsory for children in the age bracket of six to fourteen years. All these stages of Kuwaiti educational system are free. From second grade in school, children in Kuwait start studying English language. Kuwaiti parents send most of their children to foreign private schools established in Kuwait. These private schools are usually very prestigious. For example American school of Kuwait. Also this private education, though not fully funded by the state is highly subsidized besides allotment of land for construction of schools and issuance of textbooks. Public schools in Kuwait are a bit different compared to private schools since from first grade, there’s segregation of children by sex. Kuwait also ensures equity of education offered to women with that of men. For example the 1989 education initiative, where there was introduction of daytime literacy clinics to benefit women. Kuwaiti government also makes sure that every new school has a library with an expansive book collection. The government also established an â€Å"education Net† which was a project to link each and every government school and library to a telecommunications data network (Kuwait cultural office, 2008) To explain the various important changes and their effects, an overview on the education system of Kuwait will cover from 1900s. In the early of the 20th century education was aimed at gaining basic literacy and this was in context of religion. The existing schools then were quran schools. Wealthier people sent their children abroad for higher education in around 1912 merchants who were interested in their children’s (especially sons) education started private schools. For instance, mubara kiyya school, which was the first modern institution of education. Later on in 1921, another notable private school was established by the name ahmadiyya school and which was the first to offer English as a subject. Shortly after 1921 the first girl’s school was established and it taught home economics, Islamic studies and Arabic. Education was later put under state control in 1939. Teachers from Palestine started a mission for education which had students being sent abroad for education and also started new schools. As a result, four elementary schools started. An overall national department of education to govern government schools and teachers from Palestine, Syria, Iraq Lebanon and Egypt started a program to ensure secondary education in Kuwait. In around 1945 there were 17 schools in Kuwait. Later in the 1950s rapid changes occurred. for example, the founding of the first kindergarten schools and a first technical college in the academic year 1954-55. 80 students were enrolled in this college in the first year. In 1956 the institute for the blind was established. Later on in 1958 an adult education program was started for men. On to 1960s in i1963 an adult education program was started for women. By the year 1970 there were 738,662students in Kuwaiti schools where less than half were Kuwaiti nationals. In 1973 there were 1,644 special needs students and 11 institutes of the special education. Since it’s initiation in 1956. Jumping to 1982, the number of teachers was a bit high at 24,367 of whom 6,748 only were Kuwaiti. By the academic year 1997-98 the number of teachers was 27,359 of which 17,357 were Kuwaiti. This changed from 1: 3. 76 in 1982 to 1. 7:1 in 1997-98 academic years. Today the government provides a kitty for each of the education levels in Kuwait namely, elementary, intermediate and secondary school. Another important change is that at university level, a university was established and which was called Kuwait University with the majority of the student body being made up of Kuwaiti. (State University. com, 2008) Kuwait is highly reliable on foreign countries for human capital and thus the problem of human capital in Kuwait. Human capital is a country’s stock of knowledge and skills and it constitutes the skilled labor in the economy. Kuwaiti labor force is dominated by non-nationals. There was especially an influx of foreign laborers in Kuwait in the 1970’s. Kuwaitis relied at high levels on the labor of expatriates who had high morale from their countries. Kuwaitis have thus become minorities in their own home due to high dependence on foreign skilled labor for both private and public sectors. Unemployed nationals of Kuwait as well as nominally employed ones over-rely on the state for easy jobs and welfare. Foreigners are also seen to influence the traditions and cultures of Kuwait. Real employment may also be desired but hardly attainable due to the set social system where nationals lack the skills to fit in the labor market. To remove the dilemma set by this predicament Kuwaitis thus have to think in the lines of the following solutions: practical education to be offered to nation and that befits the national requirements of the labor market, reduction in the number of work visas issued to foreigners and leveling the wage differences between citizens and non-citizens. Some international assessments have been carried out on Kuwait education system. The factors in consideration are schools self-evaluation, and evaluation of teachers. There was a particular study carried out due to low secondary school student participation rates where completion rates were low, repetition was high besides the high drop-out rates. Also students’ achievements even after high school education are considered as those which are disappointing. This was considered true especially because Kuwait students performed dismally in international assessments of student achievement. To conclude on the study, even though, the government of Kuwait has done a giant leap toward development of its education, a lot remains undone. In focus should be the global applicability of Kuwaitis education and also at national levels. Since today’s labor force constitutes about 80% non-nationals, practicability and fitness of the Kuwaiti education should also be among the major issues that require speedy resolution. Generally to ensure this are there from the findings in this study. So the government’s ministry of education needs to invest a lot on issues to do with Research and Development as regards issues of practical educational development. Incentives to nationals should also be created to take courses at the university level that are similar to those of the non-nationals’ expatriate staff by even making it more interesting and exciting. More students should also get involved on exchange programs with other students in economies which are performing highly and through their human capital. References Hladczuk, J and Eller, W. 1992. International Handbook of Reading Education Greenwood Publishing Group Kellaghan, T. 2008. Developing Assessment Ca pacityIn The Kuwait Education System. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://www. moe. edu. kw/pages/misc/wathaeg%20feb%202008/wathaeg%20almoa shr%20alwa6ani%2017-19feb%202008/Kalaghan_Report1. doc. pdf Kuwait Cultural Office. 2008. History. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://www. kuwaitculture. com/About%20Us/History. htm State University. Com, 2008. Education In Kuwait- An Overview. . Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://education. stateuniversity. com/pages/784/Kuwait- EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW. html The world fact book, 2008. Kuwait. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ku. html

Education On Health Promotion Essay

Q. 1 Validity is said to be the power to convince about the conclusions that have been found. It is the strength that the conclusion has to convince others on the facts that have been outlined. There are said to be four types of validity namely external, conclusion, construct and internal validity (http://www. brainyquote. com). The external validity is about the ability to generalize the findings to other settings, the conclusion looks for a relationship between the outcomes and the program, the construct validity determines the presence of a relationship between concepts in a study and an actual casual relationship and finally the internal validity looks for the relationship between the study object and the outcomes of the study. On the other hand, reliability is said to be the ability to get the same results over and over again when performing the same test at different times (http://www. asiamarketresearch. com). It is said to estimate how consistent your measurements are. For a tool of measurement to be reliable, it has to give the same results when used at different times by different people to measure the same thing. It can be tested through using different questions that measure the same thing to see if the answers are consistent while the test/retest method means getting the same findings for the same test done at different times but under the same conditions. Validity and reliability will be used in the dissertation to test the conclusion. First checking on the reliability of the tools of measurements does this. This ensures that the data provided for the study is to be trusted as being correct. It also helps eliminate the data that contains some inconsistencies. Once all the reliable data has been compiled, it can then be used to arrive at some conclusion. This conclusion will be valid if all the measurements that have been done have involved the data that was supposed to be measured. If one has been using the correct data using reliable tools then the conclusion will be a valid one. The correct questions have to be asked in relation to the topic and the measurement tools have to be reliable for the conclusion to be valid. Q. 2 When starting a project one begins with choosing a topic on which to research on (http://www. ri. net/schools/East_Greenwich/research. html). This topic should not be too general as to include subjects that are not relevant to the researcher instead it should be very specific on what is to be research on. When choosing a topic, one uses the tool of research called the â€Å"human mind†. This is because a topic is chosen according to how the researcher perceives the surroundings and thus requires reasoning and analyzing which uses the brain. Next is gathering the relevant background information concerning the topic. This can be done through the use of the computer and its software. It is done to get the most basic information on the chosen topic. This information can be supplemented by the use of the library where one can find encyclopedias among other sources. This information is used to refine the chosen topic (http://www. ri. net/schools/East_Greenwich/research. html). If there is need to change the research topic it is done now. After revisiting your topic, you now need to gather the information needed. This is done by the use of the computer and the library. This information is then supplemented by fieldwork, which uses different methods of gathering information. This is done to confirm or challenge the statistics gotten from the library and computer software. While conducting the field research, one has to estimate the reality of the tools of measurement so as to ensure the information gotten is correct and in the process eliminate those, which contain errors after this is done, the information is coded and analyzed. The information is now ready for use to get the conclusion and then organize it to be able to write it in a way that the reader will understand. When it comes to the writing part, the language to be used has to be chosen carefully. It has to be a language accessible to all the presumed readers. The research is then written and is used to justify the problem statement and why the project should be undertaken. The conducting of a research and writing of a dissertation are the actual start of a project. This is because they justify the reason why the project can now start. All the six tools of research are used to ensure that the information provided in the research is reliable and valid. One can only gain experience in the use of these tools by conducting many researches. By writing dissertations and research papers, one ahs to use these tools and in so doing gets a lot of experience in their use. Over time one gets to learn how to use the various tools. When it comes to computers, one has to solicit the help of computer experts an also using the help icon in the computer. For a researcher, it is very useful to join research projects as an assistant researcher. This ensures that one gains a lot of experience and by working with an expert researcher one is able to pick up quite a number of tricks in the research field. Also as a research assistant, one does a lot of work and so is able to come up with new and more effective ways of using the tools of research. On top of this, one is able to choose which tools they can use best and which ones they need to work on to understand how they are used. To learn to be an expert researcher, one can only go through the above mentioned process of first becoming a research assistant. The expert researcher has to be able to use the six tools of research namely the human mind, the computer and its software, the statistics, the traditional library, tools of measurement and the language facility. It one has gone through the process of becoming a research assistant, there is knowledge gained from constant use of the tools and one can then be able to decide which tools they are most comfortable using. All the tools are important and necessary to any researcher but the order of importance assigned to each tool is what differs from researcher to researcher. It is only through experience of having worked on many research projects does one become competent in the use of all the tools and so that is what any novice researcher concentrates more on. Q. 3 The dissertation topic is education on health promotion.  From the interview with the researcher, I have learned how to use the six tools of research in the dissertation topic. By using the human mind, the topic, which is education on health promotion, was chosen. Using the computer and its software, the topic will be researched on and the basic knowledge gathered. Since the topic has enough materials to be used, it will not be changed. The information is then supplemented with that from the traditional library. After the topic has been re-affirmed, the field information will be collected and this will be done by using tools of measurement that are reliable (http://www. ih. gov/news/researchtools/). Once the information has been collected, it is then analyzed, cleaned and coded. The findings will now be used in writing the paper. When writing the paper the language to be used has to be that which the targeted readers can understand. When writing one has to avoid plagiarism and ensuring that any information from other sources is cited will do this. The paper must be in the proper format and should include all the parts of a project paper. The conclusion will have to support the topic and reason for the research. It will therefore have to support education on health promotion

Psy 250

Biological and humanistic approaches to personality Jonathan G. Castro PSY 250 October 17, 2012 Andrew R. Moskowitz Biological and humanistic approaches to personality In our world there are different types of people with different types of personalities. There are many way to describe where they came from through biological or humanistic theories. In my paper I will describe biological factors that are influences to the formation to personality. I will agree to disagree with the theory of biology having an influence on personality. I will break down the basic aspects of humanistic personality theories.Last but not less I will express my opinion on biological and humanistic approach on personality are compatible. Biology revealed many aspects of how the human body works and what it needs to stay healthy. â€Å"In 1953 James D. Watson and Francis Crick discovered that DNA was structured as a double helix (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). This discovery was a huge accomplishment in the st udy of human biology. Charles Darwin took human biology a step further. Darwin used the fact that not one human being is the same to support his evolutionary personality theory.Darwin believes that humans are â€Å"people evolved directly from more primitive species (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). † For example, Brian G. Richmond and David S. Strait wrote an article called â€Å"Evidence that humans evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor (Richmond and Strait, 2000). † This article explains that evidence has surfaced proving that humans could have once been gorillas. Psychiatrists’ who use the biological approach believe that your personality comes from your parents’ personalities. In other words, they believed your personality is genetic.When someone is born they have a strong foundation for certain personality. This is the belief we are all born with no personality and we learn what our personality is from our parents. Basically, it is saying that our per sonality is a learned behavior. It was theorized that â€Å"a natural selection has determined our personality† (Richmond and Strait 2000). We are not born with full fledge personalities when we come into the world. Instead, we are born with a temperament. This is susceptibility towards a certain personality. It does not mean that we keep the same personality all our lives. You can understand people’s temperament by watching children playing. They can be either inhibited or uninhibited. An inhibited child will seem withdrawn and a more of loaner and will watch the other children play instead of playing with the other children. An uninhibited child can start a conversation with another child and play along with the other children† (Richmond and Strait, 2000). A Darwinian approach to that idea would be that over time conditions in the environment caused some gorillas to no longer need to walk on their knuckles, no longer needed huge nostrils in their noses, and so on.Also in that group of gorillas it could have been a need for longer legs and slimmer body sizes for the sole purpose of survival. This, in turn, changed the way those gorillas behaved, furthermore, changing their personality, in which, the human being evolved. â€Å"It is important to note that unique results emerge when certain biological aspects of personality are combined with certain environments (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). † The same would go for two children raised by a quiet and withdrawn mother. The one child who inherits the mother’s introverted genes may grow to be like the mother.Whereas the outgoing child, may grow to be more family oriented focused on communicating with all family as a means of being more sociable. Raising those two children in a household with a more outgoing mother, could have caused a reverse outcome. Although this idea does seem to make sense Abraham Maslow believes in a humanistic approach to personality. The humanistic approach to personality focuses on the humanistic nature of the human being, in other words, the qualities of mankind that make humans different from animals.Humanistic people like Maslow believe that every human is born healthy, normal, and good. Maslow believed that all humans need to fulfill needs of human nature such as love, esteem, and self-fulfillment. Maslow believed that humans are like animals to a certain extent. In other words, humans need to feed themselves to survive, drink water to stay hydrated, and sleep to stay energized to survive another day. â€Å"Maslow argued that the correct social conditions are needed to encourage the highest level self-actualization†¦..We cannot usually fulfill our complete human potential and search for truth and beauty if we lack food, safety, love, and esteem (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). † The humanistic approach and the biological approach do have similarities, in which they agree that the human being has needs that should be fulfi lled but the two theories also have their differences. For instance, according to Friedman and Schustack the drive to grow and self-actualize is unlike the drives to satisfy hunger, thirst, or libido and thus relieve tension, in that it is not strictly necessary for survival.Maslow divided human needs into categories. These categories are physiological needs (basic biological necessities: food, water, sex, and shelter), safety needs (a sensibly predictable world), belongingness and love needs (psychologically intimate relations with other people), esteem needs (respect for oneself and for others), and self-actualization (peace with oneself) (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). Some psychologists, who believe in the humanistic approach to personality, do not question the realness of free will.Whereas psychologists who believe in the biological theory of personality, believe free will is not a real entity. Many modern biologists believe that humans are more intelligent than most animals but they do not believe that humans are at the top of the evolutionary tree. â€Å"Maslow and other humanistic psychologists were particularly irked by B. F. Skinner’s views of personality†¦ Skinner claimed to be studying human psychology by observing pigeons and laboratory rats (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). People who believe in the humanistic approach believe that no one is born in a way that hinders him or her from being a good person. People who believe in the biological approach to personality, express that a person cannot help what genes he or she are born with, therefore, cannot help being an angry person or mean spirited because he or she is born that way. The biological and humanistic approaches are just two of the six psychology approaches. The other four are psychoanalytic, trait, behavioral, and cognitive. These are the different approaches to the human personality.Each one describes how can we gain our personalities and what affects them. The approach used depe nds on the psychiatrists’ and the persons personalities. The effectiveness is determined by our personalities. I believe it is the psychiatrists’ responsibility to get to know the person to determine what approach will work best. In conclusion the humanistic approach to personality is somewhat similar to the biological approach to personality. I believe that personality is a formulation of humanistic and biological aspects that influence a person’s characteristics of his or her personality.I have gathered my own theory and have come to the conclusion that every person is a product of his or her own environment. References Friedman,H. S. & Schustack, M. W. (2009, July 15). Personality: Classic theories and Modern Research, Fourth Edition: Retrieved from University of Phoenix: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/content/ebooklibrary2 Richmond, B. G & Strait, D. S. (2000, march). Nature: Evidence that humans evoled from a knuckle-walking ancestor, Nature volume 404:Retri eved from http://www. nature. com/biology/personality

Shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Shakespeare - Essay Example The desire of Helena becomes true, irrespective of her low social position. The success of Helena in turning the king of France has caused for a turning point that helped her a great deal in attaining her dreams. Bertram’s attempt to seduce Diana was well abolished by Helena and trickily she makes union with him in the bed scene and conceives his child. Moreover, she had asked Diana to get the family ring of Bertram. Helena in the play achieves both conditions of Bertram to become his wife in a tricky way. At the end, when Bertram sees his wife’s great attempts to win over, makes him attached towards Helena and thus the play ends well as with the title. The play is not much attached to the unities like the unity of place and the unity of time as Aristotle propounded. But it has made some achievements with the unity of action. It can be seen that the Aristotelian logic of the action, as rebuilt by Frye is well established in the play. According to Aristotle it should hav e â€Å"proper beginning, middle, and end† (Kitano). In ‘All Well that Ends Well’ Frye finds the â€Å"material cause â€Å"of the comedy in the young man’s sexual desire and the â€Å"final cause† in â€Å"the audience, which is expected by its applause to take part in the comic resolution† (Haley 19). All Well that Ends Well has gone through these levels as according to the Aristotle’s theory.

Population growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Population growth - Essay Example (high birth rate) (Keyfitz 1-75). THESIS STATEMENT This paper intends to provide a brief idea about the concept of population growth, along with the merits and demerits of this particular aspect in the Canadian context. POPULATION GROWTH IN CANADA This part of the paper will specifically highlight the rate of population growth that has been observed. With the aid of proper analysis it has been noticed that in the year 2011; 33,476,688 people were listed in the census. This particular figure indicated almost twice the figure as compared to the year 1961 and around 10 times higher as compared to the 1861 Census. Between 2006 and 2011, Canada's population has been estimated to take a leap by 5.9%, which was slightly up as compared to the previous period of 2001 to 2006, when it took a leap by 5.4%. Canada's population growth, which was recorded between the years 2006 and 2011 depicted to be highest among all the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom , United States and The European Union) which are considered to have the largest economies in the world, as compared to the population growth rate in the previous period i.e. (2001 to 2006). ... However, the rate of Ontario's population growth has been seen to slightly decline during the past five years period to 5.7%, it was recorded as the lowest ever decrease in the level since the period between 1981to1986. Between the years 2006 to 2011, highest rate of population growth in Alberta were located. The growth in population was not only observed by Canada but most provinces met with a leap in the population rate between the years 2006-2011. In the entire metropolitan part along with non-metropolitan areas of Canada, large amount of population growth has been observed. The overall population growth was registered as an increase of 7.4 % in the year 2006 (Canada.gc.ca, â€Å"The Canadian Population in 2011: Population Counts and Growth†). Thus, from the above results, it has been learned that the population growth in Canada has been quite high and similarly other G8 countries also had variable amount of growth rate in terms of Population but Canada seemed to have the h ighest amount as compared to other nations. TRENDS OF POPULATION GROWTH IN THE WORLD The concept of population growth can be argued to pose certain problems in the world economy. With every increase in the birth rate when compared with the decreased death rate, the economy of a particular nation may have to face numerous issues pertaining to economic growth. Mostly less developed countries are likely to be effected with high rate in population growth (Haub, â€Å"Fact Sheet: World Population Trends 2012†). A diagram representing the trends of population growth which shows the possibilities of increase in population by the year 2050 has been cited below: Source: (Haub, â€Å"Fact Sheet: World Population Trends 2012†). Less developed

Summary of an article , Standing alone in mecca, by asra q.nomani Essay

Summary of an article , Standing alone in mecca, by asra q.nomani - Essay Example The sense of emancipation and the exploring the actual sense of Islam is vigorous. The paper discusses her experiences and highlights the difference between the written facts in the holy book of Islam i.e. Quran and the harsh realityThe name of Asra Q. Nomani bears particular significance within the feminist struggle and emancipation of woman’s right especially in the Muslim world of today. Born in Bombay, India and brought up in West Virginia, America an outright liberal journalist and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Nomani tries to find out the atrocities attached with the Muslims in the Western world and blames that it is due to unscrupulous activities of some extremists of her own religion that have attached the notion of violence and terrorism with the Muslim religion as a whole and still makes a major section of the Muslim women , a piece of subordination to the male society. In her desperate creation of the book, â€Å"Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggl e for the Soul of Islam" reveals her bitter experiences about the pilgrimage to Mecca and exhibits her utmost efforts in reclaiming the right of the Muslim women in the 21st Century (Nomani, 2012). ... According to the sharia law of Pakistan, two women were regarded as witness. At this instance she states that, â€Å"Neither relenting nor opposing the edict, I had my grandmother and my aunt serve as one witness† (Nomani, 2005, p. 195).In her locality in America she also experienced the stereotypes of her religion. One of the converts in the newly opened mosque organized private swimming for the Muslim women on Sunday nights in an indoor pool taping the newspapers to the windows. But the puritanical gossipmongers sliced her efforts. There was also an organization of an entertainment with an innocent four person ride at the Valley’s Worlds of Fun but it was protested by the Protestants as â€Å"Rock and Roll Cage† (Nomani, 2005, p.196) as they thought that it would be promoting improper western dance. Thus it can be said that in America her experience of treatment with the Muslim women were quite harsh. Adversities faced in the trip In the initial phase of the tr ip, she receives permission in making the trip but faces criticisms in going to Saudi Arabia as she was an unwed mother. Nomani became pregnant when was in Pakistan and decided in raising the child with her parents in West Virginia. Ultimately she got the sponsor from her father and family members. Even at the pilgrimage in Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem she did not received proper welcome from the people. As for instance, the board president who was an Egyptian American with PhD degree yelled at her stating that, â€Å"Sister, take the back entrance!† (Nomani, 2005, p.197). The tone was not all good and she experienced this same behavior from the men and women in Mecca as well as in Jerusalem. The man didn’t even greeted her with

Precis & Commentary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Precis & Commentary - Essay Example Then he explains by saying that having less secrecy will make it harder for criminals to plot harmful deeds. Later on, he gives examples of groups of people who have been better off once theyve revealed their secrets to society- naming homosexuals and HIV-AIDS sufferers. His view is contrasted to another which claims that "more information, rather than less, is our best protection against misjudgment" (Rosen, 2000, as cited in Austin, 2006). To conclude his article, the author compares the right for secrecy with Santa Claus and unicorns, claiming that it is unreal. He admits, however, that everyone needs their solitude and space, but claims that ignoring both the benefits of not having secrecy as well as the potential risks involved would be the wrong thing to do; that accepting our being flawed and being united by our common information will save us. He says that the term "privacy" has many different interpretations to other people and groups of people, as the media has a very different notion of it than the common citizen. He quotes people who have said that some masquerade as reformers, while actually taking care of their own interests and that patriotism is used by scoundrels to further their own agendas (2008, p.13). Regardless of his opinion, even presidents have been known to be against secrecy, claiming that "the very word secrecy in a free and open society is repugnant" (Kennedy, as cited in Blumner, 2005). In spite of this, Ackland may have a point. It is well known that the federal government of the United States "has a massive amount of secrets", which is estimated in the millions each year ("Government Secrecy", 2005). And there is no shortage of opponents of this secrecy: "we live in an open society where secrecy should be banished from the workings of the government" (Hamilton, 2006). The reason for that is that "we enjoy a free and open