Critical Thinking Is More than Common Sense Essay -- Critical Thinking

If one were to ask a group of high school seniors questions like, â€Å"Who was the first U.S. president?† or, â€Å"What equation is associated with the Pythagorean Theorem?† they would likely discover that the majority of the students would answer correctly. However, if one were to pose the questions, â€Å"Why did the Civil War occur?† or, â€Å"Why are international trade relations between other countries important to the U.S.?† they would receive fragmented responses at best; few students would be able to provide clear and concise answers. This simulated example clearly underscores some of the current flaws in the education system across the nation. Instructors teach students, and expect them to learn; they do not teach them how to learn. Many educators have taught students well how to compile trivia and miscellaneous facts, but few have truly embraced the method of critical thought in the classroom. Kansans praise the system for the improving te st scores, yet they fail to see through the blanket of such pseudo-success, and they do not realize the true mediocrity of the Kansas educational curriculum. Secondary schools in Kansas should place a greater emphasis on critical thinking in the classroom. As indicated by studies from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, students fall short when it comes to critical thought and reasoning (Jasparro, 86). Because of the current classroom practices of rote memorization, â€Å"students are generally deeply habituated to passivity and low-level performance,† reports Linda Elder, executive director for the Center for Critical Thinking, who promotes the integration of critical thought into current curriculum. â€Å"Most [students] have no conception of what discursive reasoning is. Most have spen... ...mprovement Research Series. Nov. 1991. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory . â€Å"Critical Thinking Skills Key to Raising SAT Scores.† Business Wire. Lexis-Nexis Online. 30 August 1991. Keywords: Critical Thinking. Elder, Linda. â€Å"The 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform.† 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking. 4 Aug. 1998. The Center for Critical Thinking . Jasparro, Ralph. â€Å"Applying Systems Thinking to Curriculum Evaluation.† NASSP Bulletin 82.598 (1998): 86. Paul, Richard. â€Å"Content is Thinking; Thinking is Content.† Content is Thinking. 28 June 2001. The Center for Critical Thinking . ---.

The Potential Role of Large Tour Operators for the Implementation

Table of contents Table of figures 2 List of abbreviations 2 Introduction and purpose statement 3 The potential role of large tour operators for the implementation of sustainable supply chain management in the tourism industry Conclusion 5 Bibliography 7 1 Table of figures Fig. 1: Exemplary tourism supply chain 5 List of abbreviations NGO Non-governmental organization SC supply chain SSCM sustainable supply chain management TOI Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development 2 Introduction and purpose statementWith an exponentially growing population, the travel industry is expected to grow significantly in the near future. At the same time, different stakeholder groups pose a lot of pressure on this industry. Tourist are gaining awareness of the negative impacts of mass tourism on the environment as well as socio-economically speaking. As a result the demand for „green tourismâ€Å"-solutions is increasing. Furthermore, the financial market, governments as well as NGOs increasingly exert leverage on the industry to practice more sustainable tourism by means of legislation.Moreover, an intact environment is the invaluable asset for the tourism industry, preserving it means serving the self-preservation of the tourism industry. 1 Indisputably, tourism has to transform in to a more environmentally friendly and sustainable business. The implementation of environmental management systems as well as the alignment of the whole supply chain are important tools to support this transformation. In this paper I chose the tour operator stage of the supply chain as the focal point, because it acts as a link between the supply and demand side of tourism.Hereafter, I present how the structural properties of large tour operators provide them with special responsibility to promote the implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) systems in the tourism industry. The potential role of large tour operators for the implementation of sustainable supply chain management in the tourism industry Tourism, no different from other industries, is organized in supply chain (SC) structures since its products/services are composed of multiple elements as e. g. ransportation, entertainment, travel agencies and accommodation. 2 Aiming for sustainability therefore me ans to strive for a long-term improvement of the economic, social and environmental performance, not only of an isolated company or product but its whole SC. This concept is also known to literature as the â€Å"triple bottom line†-approach. 3 Suring and Muller define SSCM as â€Å"the management of material, information and capital flows as well as cooperation among companies along the supply chain while taking goals from all three dimensions of sustainable development, i. e. economic, environmental and social, into account which are derived from customer and stakeholder requirementsâ€Å". 4 Large tour operators resemble a key role in this constellation because they have the means to 1 2 Clarke (1997) Sigala (2008) 3 Kleindorfer, Singhal & Van Wassenhove (2005) 4 Seuring & Muller (2002), p. 1700 3 reverse logistics measurement mechanisms B management, transparency and stakeholder dialogue Worldwide environmental reporting of hotels, airlines, destinations, shareholdings a nd at every step of the value chain with a continuous improvement process ritically reviews thethe practicesidentifying the SCM tools and or importance of and induceis also highlighted in sustainable SCM influence literature for of the individual suppliers distributors information the implementation ? literature; Seuring and Muller [20] reported that insuf? cient or critical success factors for implementing the former. of al. [24] identi? ed three SC tools to regulate the missing SC communication a tourism flows, Cigolini etSSCM-practices as well asnamely information dissemination and volumeisof major barrier to sustainable SCM implementation. ools, coordination and control tools, and organisation tools. which indirectly influences the economic development of the travel control tools areIt is part of Coordination and destinations. utilized to monitor and inInformation tools (e. g. online connections, automated identi? cation ? uence the decision-making process, by measuring performa nces systems such as barcodes and shared databases) are utilized to their transmit to act as â€Å"gatekeepers† while linkingand setting rewards basedcustomers. Knowing the suppliers to the on the achievement of certain results. A gather, analyze, functionand share data, regarding customer data, SC performance metric system, including a set end-to-end inventory status and locations, order status, costs that it becomes obvious that tour operators may also significantly performancethe design bothof parameters that influence metrics of of the whole SC (as fully describe the the related data and performance status.Data sharing ensures that perceived by end are often bound actor of participating members will be products areuse of shared in- because supplierscustomers, and of each to this the chain), is components their able to make composed of a necessity for ensuring trustworthiness and accountability [25]. formation to help design and deliver products that ful? l customer Hence, instead of functional-cost-oriented metrics requirements more quickly and 6effectively.Visibility of position in the SC tour operators act also as nodes for that are often distribution channel. Due to their central perforachieved at the expense of another member, integrated metrics are mance metrics enables members to address production and quality communication between the different entities of required. However, research in SCM performance measurement has issues more quickly permitting more agile demand planning. The the SC, with communication being a critical factor for the successful implementation of SSCM-practices. Tourism Demand Providers of tourism infrastructure Hotels, resorts, golf courts, restaurants, museums and other tourism related suppliers such as water and power supply, road infrastructure airports etc Tour operators Travel Agents Other tourism intermediaries such as internet websites, destination organizations etc Leisure travelers Conference travelers etc Direct ion of money, documents, and information flows Fig. 1. Tourism supply chain. Fig. 1 Exemplary tourism supply chain (Sigala, 2008, p. 1591) Tour operators can draw profits from promoting SSCM-practices along their SC.Since any effort made to make the own product or service more environmental friendly is perceived well among customers (at least as long that does not drive up the price), the tour operators can turn this image-improvement into a unique selling point. For instance TUI uses a self-designed environment ranking to evaluate their products. 8 This resembles a logic response to the growing public awareness of environmental impact of mass tourism and acts as an incentive for the tour operators to evaluate the environmental performance of their suppliers (e. . trough ISO 14001, EMAS or similar certification concepts). 9 Even though the majority of the large tour operators do have some kind of sustainability policies in place, the real impact on their business is so far insuffici ent. Tour operators often try to justify this trough a lack of demand and state that the majority of customers shops for packages of the lowest price. But the nature of tourism-products has it, that the tourists themselves are co-producing the product, while it is being consumed, which makes them part 5 6Tepelus (2005), Budeanu (2009) Van Wijk & Persoon (2006) 7 Sigala (2008) 8 Clarke (1997) 9 Budeanu (2009) 4 of the supply chain. 10 In other words, implementing an SSCM in the tourism-industry also encompasses the education of the consumer. Tour operators are predestinated for this task, since their position in the SC allows them to exercise influence over the consumers choices. Still, this is asking a lot from operators, since the tour operating-business is a very competitive industry accompanied with relatively low profit margins of about 2% and customer-loyalty being not exactly widespread.This might well be part of the reason why a lot of tour operators pursue â€Å"green washi ng† without seriously engaging in long-term SSCM-changes. 11 Another one of the main issues clearly is the variety of certification schemes and the low participation of suppliers. It is doubtful that an individual label will reach a critical mass in national tourism, even though the establishment of an internationally recognized unified label could be a powerful tool: it could help to reduce consumer confusion and act as an indicator for quality for those tourists searching for green tourism services, increasing credibility.If tour operators feel compelled to search for suppliers carrying this specific label in order to meet their customers needs, also suppliers would have to comply with it in avoidance of risking their business relationship to the tour operator. This would provide the operators with a broader range of certified products to choose from. 12 In this case, it would have to be assured, that this accreditation cannot be obtained by devious means or through just an individual examination to avoid the allegation of â€Å"green washingâ€Å". Currently, most tour operators apply their own standards, tailored to their business activities. 3 This is partly due to the fact, that many certification schemes address small-scale tourism when it is really the mass tourism that needs to green the industry. Despite the fact that Europe is a forerunner in the sustainability discussion, there are hardly any regulations regarding the tour operator-business. Tour operators need to be provided with stronger incentives and effective tools to proactively enhance their own and their SC’s sustainability performance. 14 Conclusion Sustainable development in the tourism industry will take time. It requires a change of culture and governance.Tour operators are very well aware of their role and the responsibility they have in order to transform the tourism industry into a more sustainable one, acting as a hub for communication and collaboration. But since the re are no generally accepted frameworks or 10 11 Sigala (2008) Van Wijk & Persoon (2006) 12 Font (2002) 13 Budeanu (2009) 14 Van Wijk & Persoon (2006) 5 tools, many don’t see the necessity to fully comply. The most important step to take next is therefore the establishment of well-recognized standardized metrics for sustainable performance among tour operators and suppliers to set the stage for extensive SSCMimplementation.An initiative that was created to answer this purpose is the United Nations Environment Programme named â€Å"Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development† (TOI), which could not be discussed here, due to he brevity of this paper. Future research should also address to tour operator-networks respectively tourism-SCs outside Europe since SSCM-practices might be used by tour operators as a tool to raise the awareness of suppliers in the destinations. 6 Bibliography Budeanu, A. (2009). Environmental supply chain management in tourism: T he case of large tour operators.Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(16), 1385-1392. Clarke, J. (1997). A Framework of Approaches to Sustainable Tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 5(3), 224-233. Font, X. (2002). Environmental certification in tourism and hospitality: progress, process and prospects, Tourism Management, 23(3), 197-205. Kleindorfer, P. R. , Singhal, K. & Van Wassenhove, L. (2005). Sustainable Operations Management. Production and Operations Management, 14(4), 482–492. Seuring, S. & Muller, M. (2008). From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management.Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(15), 1699– 1710. Sigala, M. (2008). A supply chain management approach for investigating the role of tour operators on sustainable tourism: the case of TUI. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(15), 1589-1599. Tepelus, C. M. (2005). Aiming for sustainability in the tour operating business. Journal of Cleaner Production, 13(2), 99-107. Van Wijk, J. & Persoon, W. (2006) A Long-haul Destination: Sustainability Reporting Among Tour Operators. European Management Journal, 24(6), 381-395. 7

UMES, University of Maryland Eastern Shore Admissions

With a 38% acceptance rate, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore may appear fairly selective, but the reality is that most students with average grades and standardized test scores have a very good chance of being admitted. The university looks for a 930 or higher on the SAT, 18 or higher on the ACT, and a high school GPA of 2.5 or better. UMES will also want to see adequate course work in course subjects: four years of English and math; three years of social science/history, and two years of a foreign language and a lab-based science. Admissions Data (2016): University of Maryland Eastern Shore Acceptance Rate: 38%Test Scores -- 25th / 75th PercentileSAT Critical Reading: 400 / 480SAT Math: 390 / 470SAT Writing: - / -What these SAT numbers meanACT Composite: 17  / 20ACT English: 16  / 21ACT Math: 15  / 120ACT Writing: - / -What these ACT numbers mean University of Maryland Eastern Shore Description: UMES, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is a historically black university and member of the University System of Maryland. The university occupies a nearly 800-acre campus in Princess Anne, Maryland, an easy drive to both the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Founded in 1886, the university has expanded significantly in recent decades. Academic programs in business, hotel management, criminal justice, sociology, and physical therapy are particularly popular among undergraduates. On the athletic front, the UMES Hawks  compete in the NCAA Division I  Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The school fields seven mens and eight womens Division I teams. Enrollment (2016): Total Enrollment: 3,904  (3,277 undergraduates)Gender Breakdown: 45% Male / 55% Female89% Full-time Costs (2016  - 17): Tuition and Fees: $7,804  (in-state); $17,188 (out-of-state)Books: $1,500 (why so much?)Room and Board: $9,388Other Expenses: $3,500Total Cost: $22,192 (in-state); $31,576 (out-of-state) University of Maryland Eastern Shore Financial Aid (2015  - 16): Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 92%Percentage of New Students Receiving Types of AidGrants: 72%Loans: 76%Average Amount of AidGrants: $7,502Loans: $6,525 Academic Programs: Most Popular Majors:  Biology, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, English, Family and Consumer Sciences, Hotel Management, Rehabilitation Services, Sociology Transfer, Graduation and Retention Rates: First Year Student Retention (full-time students): 58%Transfer Out Rate: 25%4-Year Graduation Rate: 15%6-Year Graduation Rate: 36% Intercollegiate Athletic Programs: Mens Sports:  Basketball, Baseball, Golf, Tennis, Track and Field, Cross CountryWomens Sports:  Basketball, Bowling, Softball, Cross Country, Track and Field, Tennis, Volleyball Data Source: National Center for Educational Statistics If You Like UMES, You May Also Like These Schools: Towson University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphHoward University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphVirginia State University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphNorfolk State University: Profile  Virginia Union University: Profile  Temple University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphDrexel University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphClark Atlanta University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphSalisbury University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphBowie State University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphFrostburg State University: Profile  University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UMBC: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT Graph University of Maryland Eastern Shore Mission Statement: complete mission statement can be found at  https://www.umes.edu/About/Pages/Mission/ The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), the state’s historically black 1890 land-grant institution, has its purpose and uniqueness grounded in distinctive learning, discovery and engagement opportunities in the arts and sciences, education, technology, engineering, agriculture, business and health professions.UMES is a student-centered, doctoral research degree-granting university known for its nationally accredited undergraduate and graduate programs, applied research, and highly valued graduates.UMES provides individuals, including first generation college students, access to a holistic learning environment that fosters multicultural diversity, academic success, and intellectual and social growth.