Evolution and Analysis of The Obama administration's policy lifting Research Paper

Evolution and Analysis of The Obama administration's policy lifting the prohibition of women from serving in combat roles in the - Research Paper Example The excellent roles played by these service women have prompted the congress and the entire military administration to redefine the role of female soldiers in direct ground combat operations. It is worth noting that all these decisions come amid several lawsuits against the Pentagon. Body In one of the lawsuits, women representatives argued that the restriction imposed on them was unconstitutional and was a violation of their rights to protection under the U.S law. There has been a number lifts in bans that earlier took effect within the military. For instance in 1990’s the congress brought to an end the ban on women flying in combat and serving in war ships. In a similar occasion in 2010, the Navy lifted a ban on women serving on war submarines. These changes have enabled women soldiers to participate in wider roles in the military and enhance increased combat experience unlike in the past when unfair combat-exclusion policies were in play. Modern warfare as it is in Afghanis tan and Iraq poses a big challenge to women already serving in combat operations since their services are not officially recognized. This hinders their professional development and access to promotions. The decision to lift the bans is timely and opens opportunity for women soldiers to display their expertise and prowess in warfare on the same capacity as their male counterparts. The decision by President Obama administration fits into the broad spectrum as articulated in the ambitious liberal agenda. While it looked like it was President Obama’s initiative to approve the decision and not the congress, the actual drive and pressure originated from the military itself. In fact, some members of the white house charged with responsibility of reviewing such, decisions did not do so before submitting to the president. It was therefore a joint agreement by the General Chiefs of Staff coupled with the court pressure to eliminate the gender-based barriers within the military. Each of the military branches was to have a full implementation of the policy within six months. According to the opinion of the General Chief of the military, such initiatives should be done once a careful assessment of the possible implications on the ongoing warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan had fully been assessed to avoid sacrificing the trust of the American people as well as the military success. According to the General Chiefs of Staff, such changes could negatively affect the success of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is worth noting that these actions had to take place after several years of examination only to be hurried up when the Afghanistan war is at its helm. One could think that it is because of the rising pressure from the high profiled lawsuits, in November 2012, by the American Civil Liberties Union against pentagon on behalf of service women. According to them, leadership positions for service women did not exist within the force and therefore rewarding women heroes had suffered a big blow for a number of years. Citing a case, an Air National Guard helicopter pilot failed to receive combat leadership position after being wounded badly in war simply because the Department of Defense did not officially acknowledge the existence of leadership position for women. Under the U.S law, the General Chief

Consider MOOCs and discuss whether they are a revolutionary Essay

Consider MOOCs and discuss whether they are a revolutionary breakthrough in education or simply a fad - Essay Example Traditional forms of learning like classroom settings and direct lecturing are slowly fading (Sharpe 27). In this context, we can say that advancement in technology remains the main attribute for these dynamics in the social aspect of education. On the other hand, the aspect of globalization also contributes towards witnessed shifts in education patterns. Students from various parts of the world are converging at the best learning institutions in search of knowledge (Sharpe 34). In this case, increase in student population necessitates changes in order to adjust service delivery programs. Presence of cut-edge technology facilitates the development of such desired service delivery systems. This essay appraises a developing program within the education sector in terms of its impacts and expected future trends and resourcefulness. In 2010, leading universities in Europe and America were striving to formulate new learning policies meant to address increasing influence of globalization. S takeholders wanted to restructure education models, especially within institutions of higher learning. This development largely focused on the role played by teachers in modern learning environments characterized by huge student-teacher population ratio (Adrie and Finegan 72). As a result, researchers from the University of Michigan and Stanford University conducted objective evaluation on existing teaching methods. Towards the end of their research articles, they postulated appropriate recommendations meant to deal with new developments in the education sector. As a result, the two research bodies termed massive open online courses, abbreviated as MOOCs as the most suitable educational program (Bowen 45). This program aimed at developing a method meant to address the need to change teachers’ roles in learning activities. In addition, MOOCs will serve as the best technique of dealing with an increase in student population. In actual practice, the University of Miami in 2012 f eatured as one university adopting a massive open online course program. Subsequently, MOOCs rolled into other parts of the world like Australia, where the nation’s university of South Wales adopted a course of computing using the MOOCs program. Currently, extrapolated research on education methods suggest that open online courses can literary feature as knocking down campus boundaries. According to one researcher, who is a professor of research at Stanford College, the scholar says that MOOCs will take over as new methods of delivering knowledge to students. Big breakthroughs happen when what is suddenly possible meets what is desperately necessary (Friedman 01). In order to appreciate the role played by MOOCs, we will evaluate its components in functioning and design. Creation of MOOCs seeks to address the increasing number of interested learners within academic environments. In this context, technical developments of MOOCs programs seek to facilitate timely and professiona l delivery of information to a large student population. MOOCs use internet connectivity in creating interaction platforms through collaboration groups or peer-reviews (Bowen 65). On the other hand, delivery of information integrated appropriate feedback mechanisms meant to assess the success of learning among the student population. In this case, MOOCs has a feedback provision, which involves automated online assessment through exams and quizzes. At the end of the assessment process, students’