Haiti
Haiti and the global economy
Haiti’s economy, just like that of any other developing country, is heavily dependent on trade to supplement its financial endowment. The main trading blocs of the country are the Unite states of America and France. The country is therefore very susceptible to changes in the conditions of the global economy. The current state of the global economy coupled with the lack of proper infrastructure after the major earthquake has wretched the economy. Interaction with the global economy has had a number of undesirable effects on the developing country. A number of these issues are examined in detail
The decline in foreign direct investment has led to a crisis in the country. Most global financial giants have had a rough time offering grants and loans. The money that was available for loans is tied up in reconstruction efforts of developed nations. The reconstruction bore relevance after the global economic meltdown of recent times. This has left Haiti cash-strapped for a long time. This ears a heavy burden because the earthquake destroyed major infrastructure around the country and led to a crisis. The crisis cannot be addressed without the funding (Farmer, Gardner, Hoof, & Mukherjee, 2012).
Lower returns from export trade have led to a crippling of some sectors. The global economic crisis led to a slump in global demand for goods and services. This has had severe repercussions on the economy of Haiti because it is heavily dependent on exports. The exports rake in much needed foreign exchange that forms the reserve for international transactions. In the same token, the foreign money also increases the earnings that the country gets (Farmer, Gardner, Hoof, & Mukherjee, 2012). This situation is worsened by the absence of proper infrastructure at the disposal of the extraction industries. The global demand for such products as mangoes, sugar, cocoa, and coffee is at a low. This has negative effects on Haiti because the country exports all of these products. One of the trade partners, the USA, was hardest hit by the global economic downturn and therefore the translation to Haiti was almost instantaneous (Okpewho & Nzegwu, 2009).
A period of low remittances from expatriates has worsened the situation because the country’s poor are heavily dependent on the money to survive. The squalid living conditions of most of the families are heavily supplemented by remittances from relatives working overseas, most notably the USA. The low remittances being forwarded due to difficulties being experienced in the source countries themselves has led to an impasse. The people are cash strapped and they have no recourse. This has been occasioned by the poor performance of the global economy. The performance has been translated to the economies of the developed countries that in turn shift it down to the workforce. This cost is finally borne by the workers and their dependants in the form of lower real disposable incomes. This vicious cycle has led Haiti into a downward spiral.
Rising food prices globally have affected the performance of Haiti as an importer of food. The little money the country can spare is shortly tied up in reconstruction efforts in the earthquake-ravaged regions. Very little money can be spared for food now. Matters are not helped by the fact that the food prices are raising. This only helps to stoke the fire that continues to ravage the economy (Farmer, 2006).
References:
Farmer, P., Gardner, A. M., Hoof, H. C., & Mukherjee, J. (2012). Haiti after the earthquake. New York: PublicAffairs.
Okpewho, I., & Nzegwu, N. (2009). The new African diaspora. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Farmer, P. (2006). AIDS and accusation: Haiti and the geography of blame. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Plagiarism in online courses
Plagiarism is a major problem that continues to plague learning in most institutions. The availability of material on the internet has made it worse. The mode of learning that is offered online, termed e learning, is most vulnerable to this phenomenon. The rampant use of plagiarised material has led to dilution of the quality of education that people receive. The invention of the internet was a welcome relief, so was the invention of the e-book. Students learnt to exploit the availability of educational material on the internet to circumvent research and inference (Trip, 2010). This problem is rampant in online courses because the time allocated for online tests is normally short. The students resort to cheating to ensure they pass. By default, the timing for online exams is stringent because tutors are aware that the students have access to real time libraries (Green, 2002).
The entire system is thus flawed because some students will claim that they plagiarise because the program is tight on timing. The tutors will claim they need to put a leash on time because they are aware that students cheat and plagiarise material. The technical nature of some courses also leads to plagiarism. There are some course units that require an in depth presentation of data and figures. Most students feel comfortable plagiarising data instead. The result is that plagiarism is rampant on the internet. The approach should be reviewed to determine whether it is viable to continue offering online examinations or the traditional method should be revisited (Clarke, 2006). The physical presence of students in an examination room hinders plagiarism. The issue is that assignments are more vulnerable to plagiarism. Many loopholes need to be sealed before plagiarism can be effectively stemmed.
References:
Green, S. (2002) Plagiarism, Norms, and the Limits of Theft Law Heriatge Law Journal
Trip, G. (2010) Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in the Digital Age New York Times
Clarke, R. (2006) Plagiarism by Academics: More Complex than It Seems Journal of the Association for Information Systems
Toussaint Louverture:
Introductory data on Toussaint indicates that his date of birth was circa 1743 and was at the forefront of the Haitian revolution. The man was a military guru and his penchant for politics enabled him garner support everywhere. The mission he embarked on was difficult and dangerous. He wanted to liberate a country of slaves to be autonomous (Bell, 2007).
His early life was spent at a plantation he was born at in St Dominique. The exact day of his birth is still in contention though there is some consensus that at the start of the revolution, he was fifty years old or there about.
His educational background was well illustrated by his fluent French. His education is attributed to Jesuit missionaries and his medical knowledge speculated to have come from the African roots of his grandparents. He could write in French but with a great deal of mistakes (Bell, 2007).
He got married to a woman named Suzanne who is said to have been within his degrees of consanguinity. The children managed to father were sixteen in total but only a meagre four survived him. Only his three sons are well known up to this day (Foix, 2007).
He was born into slavery on a farm and he claimed that nature bequeathed unto him a free soul. He was freed from slavery at the age of thirty-three years according to credible documentation. By the start of the revolution, he claimed to have been free for twenty years.
He was a staunch Catholic for his entire lifetime. It is speculated that he was a frequenter of the local Masonic lodge but he is known to have discouraged voodoo. He was strict with religious matters (Girard, 2011).
During the French revolution, he joined the battalion of Georges Biassou and commanded a regimen that fought in the war. This was a major push for slave liberation. It was during this time that he presented the grievances of slaves to the colonial masters.
His allegiance with the French much later on was brought into sharp focus when it resulted in rebellion of some refugees. The situation was tricky for him because he was playing for the French and therefore an enemy of the blacks. The British targeted him as well as the Spanish.
During the third commission, after the French took over Haiti, he was granted protection. His sons went to study in French schools. He pushed for the election of a point man in France to oversee his interests (Girard, 2011).
Toussaint was later captured and imprisoned in France. He died in a French jail and therefore did not live to see the end of the rebellion. The rebellion uprooted French power from their stronghold and bore rise to freedom.
References
Bell, M. S. (2007). Toussaint Louverture: A biography. New York: Pantheon Books.
Foix, A. (2007) Toussaint Louverture Paris, Ed Gallimard
Girard, P. (2011) The Slaves Who Defeated Napoleon Tuscaloosa University of Alabama Press
Electronic presentation:
Merits:
The most obvious merit is the ability to use an audio-visual tool to aid with the explanation and illustration of the presentation. The reiteration of important information can be done by use of screens, monitors and other display resources (Edwards, 2007). The use of diagrams and images that can be constructed in real time adds t the flexibility of the presentation. The ability to use text and voice enables the presenter to summarise points without the threat of ambiguity. Electronic presentation develops the ability to be brief because it illustrates the main points as the presenter expounds on them. This greatly increases the effectiveness of this medium (Edwards, 2007).
Demerits:
One of the greatest demerits of using electronic presentation is the fact that it is susceptible to power failure. A prepared presentation can flop badly in case of power outages. The volatile nature of electronic memory causes this phenomenon. The memory cannot be accessed or data retrieved by mechanical means. This means that the presentation would be essentially crippled in such an event. The second demerit if the electronic presentation is that the audience can focus on other aspects of the presentation and lose focus of the presentation itself. Accompanying music or ideas pose the greatest challenge in this case (Kasap, 2006).
References:
Kasap, S. O. (2006). Principles of electronic materials and devices. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Edwards, J. (2007). Presentation skill. Delhi: Global Media.
Atkinson, C. (2005). Beyond bullet points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to create presentations that inform, motivate and inspire. Redmond, Wash: Microsoft Press.
