Capital Asset Pricing Essay Example Pdf - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1616 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Living in challenging and high competition world, most investors aimed to maximize their return of investment. Various approaches and methods used to estimate value of financial instruments. Characteristics such as risk involved, price, cash flows and others were included in order to derive potential value of an instrument. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Capital Asset Pricing Essay Example Pdf" essay for you Create order Volatility of instruments and securities values also affects investors estimation. It is important for investors to choose appropriate approach to estimate the actual value of instruments or securities. Capital asset pricing model, referred as CAPM, is a model that explains relationship between risk and expected return, which is used in pricing securities. Relationship exists in this model serves two vital functions. The function including provide a benchmark rate of return for evaluating possible investments. Other than that, the model helps investors to make an appropriate and sufficient guess for the expected return of securities which are not yet been traded in the marketplace. CAPM has been used widely since its accuracy is deemed acceptable to be applied for pricing securities. 2. ASSUMPTION Several assumptions made in order to use basic version of CAPM. This is to ensure that investors are as alike as possible, with the notable exceptions of initial wealth and risk aversion. Assumptions including: 1. There are many investors, which each of them own relatively small wealth compared with total endowment of all investors. Investors considered as price taker, act as though securities prices unaffected by their trades. This assumption based on perfect competition assumption stated in microeconomics. 2. Investors will plan for one identical holding period. This behavior called as myopic, which it ignores everything that could happen after the end of the single period horizon. 3. Investments are limited to a universe of publicly traded financial assets, such as risk free borrowing and lending arrangements. Assumption also believed to rules out investment for non-traded assets like education, private enterprises, international airport and others. Investors also may b orrow or lend any amount at fixed, risk free rate. 4. Investors will not pay for taxes on returns and no transaction costs on trades in securities. 5. Investors are rational mean-variance optimizers, where the Markowitz portfolio selection model applicable. 6. Investors have the same economic view and analyze securities in the same way. Estimation of probability distribution of future cash flow for available securities is similar. For any set of security prices, investors will derive the same input list fit with Markowitz model. This assumption also referred as homogenous expectations or beliefs. With these six assumptions, we can than come out with some powerful insight of the nature of equilibrium in security markets. In equilibrium; a) The investors will hold a portfolio of risky assets in the market portfolio. The market portfolio includes all traded assets whereby it generally refers to the stocks. b) The market portfolio will be on the efficient frontier and tangent to the optimal capital allocation line (CAL). As a results from this, Capital Market Line (CML) is establish, where the investor holds M (market portfolio) as their optimal risky portfolio. c) The risk premium on the market is depends on degree of investors risk aversion. d) Thus, the risk premium on individual assets will directly proportionate to the market risk premium and beta coefficient. Beta is define as szlig; = Cov (ri rM)s2M and the risk premium of individual securities is 3. MARKET RISK PREMIUM The equilibrium risk premium on the market portfolio, E(r M ) r f, will be proportional to the average degree of risk aversion of the investor population and the risk of the market portfolio. The difference between a rate of return and the risk free rate of return is a risk premium. Risk premiums may be calculated for a particular security, a class of securities, or a market. In the simplified CAPM economy, risk-free investments involve borrowing and lending among investors. Risk-free rate is a rate that someone can earn by leaving money in risk-free assets such as T Bills, money market funds or the banks. Any borrowing position must be offset by the lending position of the creditor. This means that net borrowing and lending across all investors must be zero. The difference in any particular period between the actual rate of return on risky asset and the risk-fee asset is called excess return. Therefore, the risk premium is the expected value of the excess return, and the stan dard deviation of the excess return is an appropriate measure of its risk. The market risk premium is one of the most important but elusive parameters in finance. It is also called as equity premium market premium and risk premium. Market risk premium has three concepts consists of required market risk premium, historical market risk premium and expected market risk premium. Required market risk premium is the incremental return of the diversified portfolio (the market) over the risk free rate (return of treasury bonds) required by an investor. Historical market premium is the historical differential return of the stock market to the treasury bonds while expected market risk premium is the expected differential return of the stock market over the treasury bonds. However, the CAPM assumes that the required market risk premium is equal to the expected market risks premium. The three concepts are different because the historical market risk premium is equal for all investors but the required and the expected market risk premium are different for different investors. 4. RETURN AND RISK FOR INDIVIDUAL SECURITIES The risk premium on individual securities is a function of the individual securitys contribution to the risk of the market portfolio which means that it is a function of the covariance of returns with the assets that make up the market portfolio. (From lectures Note) Risk is consists of systematic risk and unsystematic risk. The risk of a portfolio is comprises with systematic risk and unsystematic risk. Commonly, the risk of all securities is systematic risk. And systematic risk cannot be diversified. On the other hand, unsystematic risk is the risk associated with individual assets and it can be diversified. Therefore, as a rational investor should not take any diversifiable risk, as only non-diversifiable risks are rewarded within the scope of this model. Therefore, the required rate of return on an asset, that is, the return that compensates for risk taken, must be linked to its riskiness in a portfolio context. Thus, in the CAPM context, the beta of the portfolio is defi ning the factor in rewarding the systematic exposure taken by an investor. 5. THE SECURITY MARKET LINE (SML) Security Market Line (SML) is a expected return-beta relationships graph. This is because the markets beta is 1, the slope is the risk premium of the market portfolio such as the figure shown in figure1. Equation for calculating SML: Slope of SML = E (rM ) r f SML = r f   + szlig;[E (rM ) r f] Mostly, SML use to compare with Capital Market Line (CML). This is because CML graphs show the valid measure of risk premiums of efficiency of the diversify portfolios that the investors overall portfolio. On the other hand, SML graphs show the individual asset risk premium as a function of asset risk. Thus, SML is valid for efficient portfolios and individual assets. The SML provides the following information: 1) Benchmark for evaluation of investment performance 2) Required rate of return Therefore, their expected returns are commensurate with their risk. If a stock is underpriced, so it will plot above of the SML: Given their betas, their expected returns are greater than dictated by the CAPM, and vice versa. 6. INDEX MODEL AND REALIZE RETURNS From the beginning we know that CAPM analysis is only results in expected return of the securities. However, in the real life practice, everyone can easily observe directly its realize returns compare to expected returns. By simplifying the model, the single-index model of CAPM is form as Ri = ai + szlig;iRM + ei While; Ri = return of the stocks ai = return due to macroeconomic and microeconomic events szlig;iRM = market stock returns modified by Beta ei = non-systematic risks By the definition, the firm non-systematic components is independent of market thus the Cov(RM, ei) = 0. With this the covariance of the excess rate of return on security I with market index is Cov (Ri, RM) = Cov(szlig;iRM + ei, RM) =szlig;iCov(RM, RM) + Cov(ei, RM) =szlig;is2M We can see that, a is drop from the covariance because ai is constant, thus have zero covariance for all variables. Since Cov (Ri, RM) = szlig;is2M , the sensitivity coefficient, szlig;i equals At the e nd, the index model of beta coefficient turns out to be the same as beta of the CAPM expected return-beta relationship. 7. CAPM AND REAL LIFE PRACTICAL When the CAPM is valid, than the single-index model which includes all traded securities also would be valid as well. Thus the all alpha values in risk premium would be identically zero. However in market, if all alpha is zero, there would be no incentive for analyst to analyse the security. So, the market equilibrium will be only near to the proper values, which the alpha is nearly zero values but with some differences. It is to induce and motivate the analyst to continue their effort to analyse the securities. Moreover, CAPM is the best available model to explain the rate of return on the securities portfolio, which means that one should take security alpha as zero. If the securities are misprice the alpha will be non-zero. Alpha is positive when the securities are underpriced and alpha is negative when securities are overpriced. After all analysis, the investors will select the best investment by assumption of all the alpha would be zero values.

Essay about Enron Who was at fault - 1664 Words

Most of the world has heard of Enron, the American, mega-energy company that â€Å"cooked† their books (Gupta, Weirich Turner, 2013) and cost their investors billions of dollars in lost earnings and retirement funds. While much of the controversy surrounding the Enron scandal focused on the losses of investors, unethical practices of executives and questionable accounting tactics, there were many others within close proximity to the turmoil. It begs the question- who was really at fault and what has been done to prevent it from happening again? The story of Enron begins in 1985, with the merger of two pipeline companies, orchestrated by a man named Kenneth L. Lay (Zellner Forest, 2001). In its 15 years of existence, Enron expanded its†¦show more content†¦Based on these inflated numbers, Enron funded management bonuses as a percent of reported net income, subject to decrease if management failed to meet goals for earnings per share (EPS). By establishing this type of bonus plan, the board essentially put out the word that company success was based on growth in earnings and EPS was to be the first priority. Managers and employees were encouraged to concentrate on producing as much accounting profit as possible (Stewart, 2006). This way of thinking became an underlying issue to the failure of Enron. Numbers became the ultimate goal, which led to tunnel vision and lack of ethical standards and reporting among those on the inside. While the unethical decisions made by key Enron executives aided in the downfall of the company, they are not the only parties at fault in one of the largest corporate fraud scandals in history (Hayes Ariail, 2013). In the world of business, there are other internal controls in place to help insure that the rules are being adhered to. One of these controls is in the form of a company’s Board of Directors. One of the legal duties of board members is the duty of care. This requirement in and of itself means that board members have a legal obligation to ensure that company executives carry out their responsibilities in compliance with the law (Hartman, DesJardins MacDonald, 2014). However, Enron’s Executives and Board of Directors wereShow MoreRelatedEnron: Need To Be Stricter Regulations And Accountability1188 Words   |  5 PagesThere are a number of appalling facets about the 2005 documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. This film details the rise and collapse of one of the most successful companies in modern times in the United States, and demonstrates a culture of debauchery that seemingly extended beyond its doors to encompass aspects of politics, legislation, banking, and general accounting principles and practices. In that respect, it is not without difficulty that the prudent viewer can determine just whatRead MoreEnron, The Natural Gas Provider Essay923 Words   |  4 Pages Enron, the natural gas provider turned trader of natural gas commodities and in 1994, electric, was once touted as the seventh largest company in America. Kenneth Lay, founder, began changing Enron from just a provider into a financial energy powerhouse. Lay took advantage of the dot-com boom of the late 1990’s by creating Enron Online, an internet trading platform. Internet stocks were valued at astronomical prices and were all the rage on wall street, who accepted the increasing prices as normalRead MoreThe Rise and Fall of Enron1532 Words   |  6 PagesMost of the world has heard of Enron, the American, mega-energy company that â€Å"cooked their books† ( ) and cost their investors billions of dollars in lost earnings and retirement funds. While much of the controversy surrounding the Enron scandal focused on the losses of investors, unethical practices of executives and questionable accounting tactics, there were many others within close proximity to the turmoil. It begs the question- who was really at fault and what has been done to prevent it fromRead MoreThe Ethics Of The Enron Scandal861 Words   |  4 Pagesmodern American history filed for bankruptcy. Enron, a seemingly invulnerable company would eventually provoke sweeping changes in regulation that controls the management and accounting of public companies even to this day. The Enron scandal has come to be known as one of the prime audit failures of all time and serves as a classic example of corporate greed and corruption. However, for the generat ion that watched in horror as corporations such as Enron fell along with the stock market, this scandalRead MoreThe Enron Scandal Of A Company1193 Words   |  5 Pageswell. What if this company falsifies their records and in a couple of days the company and its stock value go from $90 per share to just a penny per share. You lose your money just because a company cheated and stole your money. This is what the Enron scandal did to thousands of people. It could have been stopped if more forensic accountants in the world are checking on the companies. This way they don’t lie about their stock value. Forensic accountants are in charge of checking business financialRead MoreManagerial Ethics: Enron Case Study1392 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction The book The Smartest Guys in the Room describes the Enron fraud case. Enron, the Houston-based energy trading company committed systematic fraud over the course of several years before finally being subject to investigation. Ultimately, the company was shut down and the principals were prosecuted. There is, in essence, no real ethical dilemma in the Enron case. A true ethical dilemma would have a dilemma component, whereas Enron was outright criminal behavior from the outset. NeverthelessRead MoreEnron : The Collapse Of Enron1644 Words   |  7 PagesEnron was once one of the world s leading energy companies by reshaping the way natural gas and electricity were bought and sold. They filed the largest corporate bankruptcy in American history in 2001. Enron Corporation was an energy company running out of Texas that was started when two companies, Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, merged together in 1985. By 1992, Enron became the largest seller of natural gas in North America an d began to offer other services like wholesaler trading and riskRead MoreCorporate Fraud975 Words   |  4 PagesCorporate FraudÂ…when you hear those words the first, most recent incident, many think of is The Enron Scandal. This same scandal produced the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002. This much needed act created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board under the Security Exchange Commission s supervision. This board sets accounting standards and investigates Certified Public Accountants and companies to ensure they are following the guidelines set forth. ThisRead MoreThe Smartest Guys At The Room : The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron1654 Words   |  7 PagesIn the Room† the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron goes into great detail of what happens when a company has no ethics. It could be said that ethics was the last thing on the minds of the executives that worked at Enron. People employed at Enron cared about two things the stock price of the company, and the money they could put in their own pockets. This was what caused the fall of one of the biggest energy companies in the U.S†¦ Enron failing did not happen overnight it took years for allRead MoreThe Enron Conglomerate : The Fourth Greatest Income Earning Corporation1430 Words   |  6 PagesThe Enron Conglomerate was established in 1985 from its command center located in Houston, Texas which is the seventh greatest income earning corporation in the U.S. The first scandal that Enron suffered from was from a merge they made with Valhalla which is a small oil trading corporation centered in New York. A group of traders maxed out its trading limits costing Enron millions of dollars. Kenneth Lay was the CEO of Enron but partnered with Louis Borget. He began manipulating the accounting books

Digital Fortress Chapter 1 Free Essays

They were in the smoky mountains at their favorite bed-and-breakfast. David was smiling down at her. â€Å"What do you say, gorgeous? Marry me?† Looking up from their canopy bed, she knew he was the one. We will write a custom essay sample on Digital Fortress Chapter 1 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Forever. As she stared into his deep-green eyes, somewhere in the distance a deafening bell began to ring. It was pulling him away. She reached for him, but her arms clutched empty air. It was the sound of the phone that fully awoke Susan Fletcher from her dream. She gasped, sat up in bed, and fumbled for the receiver. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"Susan, it’s David. Did I wake you?† She smiled, rolling over in bed. â€Å"I was just dreaming of you. Come over and play.† He laughed. â€Å"It’s still dark out.† â€Å"Mmm.† She moaned sensuously. â€Å"Then definitely come over and play. We can sleep in before we head north.† David let out a frustrated sigh. â€Å"That’s why I’m calling. It’s about our trip. I’ve got to postpone.† Susan was suddenly wide awake. â€Å"What!† â€Å"I’m sorry. I’ve got to leave town. I’ll be back by tomorrow. We can head up first thing in the morning. We’ll still have two days.† â€Å"But I made reservations,† Susan said, hurt. â€Å"I got our old room at Stone Manor.† â€Å"I know, but-â€Å" â€Å"Tonight was supposed to be special-to celebrate six months. You do remember we’re engaged, don’t you?† â€Å"Susan.† He sighed. â€Å"I really can’t go into it now, they’ve got a car waiting. I’ll call you from the plane and explain everything.† â€Å"Plane?† she repeated. â€Å"What’s going on? Why would the university†¦?† â€Å"It’s not the university. I’ll phone and explain later. I’ve really got to go; they’re calling for me. I’ll be in touch. I promise.† â€Å"David!† she cried. â€Å"What’s-† But it was too late. David had hung up. Susan Fletcher lay awake for hours waiting for him to call back. The phone never rang. Later that afternoon Susan sat dejected in the tub. She submerged herself in the soapy water and tried to forget Stone Manor and the Smoky Mountains. Where could he be? she wondered. Why hasn’t he called? Gradually the water around her went from hot to lukewarm and finally to cold. She was about to get out when her cordless phone buzzed to life. Susan bolted upright, sloshing water on the floor as she grappled for the receiver she’d left on the sink. â€Å"David?† â€Å"It’s Strathmore,† the voice replied. Susan slumped. â€Å"Oh.† She was unable to hide her disappointment. â€Å"Good afternoon, Commander.† â€Å"Hoping for a younger man?† The voice chuckled. â€Å"No, sir,† Susan said, embarrassed. â€Å"It’s not how it-â€Å" â€Å"Sure it is.† He laughed. â€Å"David Becker’s a good man. Don’t ever lose him.† â€Å"Thank you, sir.† The commander’s voice turned suddenly stern. â€Å"Susan, I’m calling because I need you in here. Pronto.† She tried to focus. â€Å"It’s Saturday, sir. We don’t usually-â€Å" â€Å"I know,† he said calmly. â€Å"It’s an emergency.† Susan sat up. Emergency? She had never heard the word cross Commander Strathmore’s lips. An emergency? In Crypto? She couldn’t imagine. â€Å"Y-yes, sir.† She paused. â€Å"I’ll be there as soon as I can.† â€Å"Make it sooner.† Strathmore hung up. Susan Fletcher stood wrapped in a towel and dripped on the neatly folded clothes she’d set out the night before-hiking shorts, a sweater for the cool mountain evenings, and the new lingerie she’d bought for the nights. Depressed, she went to her closet for a clean blouse and skirt. An emergency? In Crypto? As she went downstairs, Susan wondered how the day could get much worse. She was about to find out. How to cite Digital Fortress Chapter 1, Essay examples

Priestly exposes weakness Essay Example

Priestly exposes weakness Paper An Inspector Calls is full of lies and deceit; write fully about how Priestly exposes weakness and wickedness, not only in the characters on stage but also in society.  In order to look at the essay question properly we have to look at literature as part of wider society. The story takes place during the early 20th century.  Its author JB Priestly doesnt just examine an introverted Edwardian family, the Birlings, but uses them to represent the microcosmic world of upper class Edwardian society. Thus using them to reveal the social injustice that occurred in Edwardian society. So any comment made about the Birling family by Priestly refers to the whole of Edwardian upper class society. During the Edwardian period, society was split into two halves. Either you were a rich industrialist like, Mr Birling, or a poor factory worker like Eva Smith, but for the Birlings it was an era in which they had total power and control over the deprived. The story is set in the pleasant house of the Birlings, who are a typical Edwardian family. The unravelling of the plot begins with a police inspector, Goole, and his investigation of the Birlings. He investigates each member of the familys involvement in the suicide of Eva Smith and the dignified and respectable reputations of the Birling family household are consequently revealed as overstatements. This causes the audience to question the morale standing of the rest of Edwardian society.  Lets now begin by looking at the characters, not only in isolation, but as how they represent social types. We will write a custom essay sample on Priestly exposes weakness specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Priestly exposes weakness specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Priestly exposes weakness specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Looking first at Eric Birling we can see that Priestly portrays him as a half shy, half assertive person, leaving him with a contradictive personality. He represents a figure of young Edwardian men, set in the future to take over their fathers businesses, which was the tradition at this time. Unfortunately Eric is different; he has his own views on society and disagrees with his fathers methods in politics. Eric grows up to be a rather immature young man, in his spare time he likes to get squithy which was the term used for getting drunk. Perhaps Erics drunken behaviour can be explained as his way of expressing his carefree and poor liability in life. In reference to the essay question, Erics wickedness is shown when he impregnates Eva Smith/Daisy Renton. He is the last link in the chain of events leading to Evas suicide. The night of Erics casual affaire with Miss Smith is perceived to him as a mistake on the end of a drunken evening. His weakness is shown when, in an attempt to act responsible he steals (not having any money) from his fathers account, offering support to Miss Smith and her baby. Eva Smith rejects Eric after discovering how he got the money. Eric is sorry for his actions and accepts responsibility as the last link in the chain of events which lead to Miss Smiths death. Eric has to deal with this himself as he hasnt got a close bond with the rest of the family. Sheila Birling is another member of the Birling household. She represents a stereotypical Edwardian spoilt child. Priestly portrays her as sort of a daddys girl melodramatic and selfish. She shows these qualities when she influences the dismissal of Eva smith, who at this point was employed in a shop where Miss Birling was considered a valued costumer, a perfect example of the wickedness in Edwardian society. The reason; simply because Eva Smith appeared better any a dress which had intrigued Miss Birling. Situations such as the one between Eva Smith and Sheila went on all over Edwardian society. To the rich appearance was everything. The inspector reveals to the audience another side of Sheila Birling a more sympathetic side. Perhaps Sheila Birling can be distinguished from the rest of the family as being one of the characters, along with Eric who accepted responsibility for their actions. Not many people can redeem themselves after committing such a shallow crime as the one Sheila committed against Eva Smith, certainly not anyone from Edwardian upper class society. But Miss Birling was able to. She becomes of age during the remainder of the play, sharing the inspectors views on society. Gerald Croft, Sheilas husband to be is, represents a man in his late twenties and is about to reach the high point of his manhood. The inspectors questioning of Gerald Croft reveals him to be man far from deserving his respectable reputation. The inspector unveils Geralds involvement by revealing him as the third link in a constant chain of events. It was shown that Gerald had an affaire with one Daisy Renton, who as we know was Eva Smith. The announcement of the name Daisy Renton by the inspector was responded with a sudden shock from Gerald. At this point Sheila points out to Gerald that he has given himself away. Gerald is discomforted of knowing that Sheila is present as the inspector questions him. I an attempt to prevent Miss Birling from hearing the explicit details of his affaire and to protect himself he requests for Miss Birling to be excused.  I think Ms Birling ought to be excused from anymore questioning, this maybe too disturbing and unpleasant.

9 Things I Learned From Rewriting My First Childrens Books Series

9 Things I Learned From Rewriting My First Childrens Books Series 9 Things I Learned From Rewriting My First Children's Book Series As a primary school teacher, Heather B. Moon always knew she eventually wanted to write books for children. She also felt that she had a leg up in terms of knowing her market. In this article, she discusses what she learned from rewriting her first series of children's books with the help of a professional developmental editor.   Lessons learned? You can see how I made changes that addressed the problems that we talked about earlier:Introducing secondary characters: I brought other characters into the story in a more entertaining way. But more importantly, I have introduced them through Lottie’s eyes! She is still the main focus of the story, and the people around her have been woven into the action instead of taking the main stage.Show, don’t tell: I must admit it took me a while to get the hang of this - but once I did, my brain fizzed and frothed with ideas. See what I did there? Don’t say: â€Å"I thought of an idea† - that is boring adult speech. If your character is feeling frightened, write something like: â€Å"I felt a giant chunk of ice plop into my tummy.† This is much more appealing to a child and gets the feeling across that the character is scared.Make current, relatable references: Kids might not know what a DVD is - but I’ll bet they can all identify with hoping for WiFi to continue their interrupted iPad games!The young readers I have shared Lottie’s story with have responded well - and a lot of it is thanks to the changes that Rachel and I made to my dialogue and prose. 9 tips for writing books that children will want to read again and again. That’s the best tip I have for other writers looking to publish children’s books: understand how your little readers see the world and talk to them on their level. It might not be as easy as 1-2-3, but with supportive people in your corner, you’ll be on your way to sparking the imaginations of a new generation of readers.Please share your thoughts, experiences, or any questions for Heather B. Moon  in the comments below!Lottie Saves the Dolphins is available on Amazon and on Amazon Kindle!

Improving School Lunches (for Kids and the Environment)

Improving School Lunches (for Kids and the Environment) Now that many schools have stopped selling sodas and other unhealthy vending machine items to their students, improving the nutritional quality of cafeteria school lunches is on the agenda of many parents and school administrators. And luckily for the environment, healthier food usually means greener food. Connecting School Lunches with Local Farms Some forward-thinking schools are leading the charge by sourcing their cafeteria food from local farms and producers. This saves money and also cuts back on the pollution and global warming impacts associated with transporting food long distances. And since many local producers are turning to organic growing methods, local food usually means fewer pesticides in kids’ school lunches. School Lunches Linked to Obesity and Poor Nutrition Alarmed by childhood obesity statistics and the prevalence of unhealthy foods offered to students in schools, the Center for Food and Justice (CFJ) in 2000 spearheaded the national Farm to School lunch program. The program connects schools with local farms to provide healthy cafeteria food while also supporting local farmers. Participating schools not only obtain food locally, they incorporate nutrition-based curriculum and provide students with learning opportunities through visits to the local farms. Farm to School programs now operate in 19 states and in several hundred school districts. CFJ recently received significant support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to expand the program to more states and districts. The group’s website (link below) is loaded with resources to help schools get started. USDA Offers School Lunch Program in 32 States The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also runs a Small Farms/School Meals program that boasts participation in 400 school districts in 32 states. Interested schools can check out the agency’s â€Å"Step-by-Step Guide on How to Bring Small Farms and Local Schools Together†, which is available free online. Chef Alice Waters Teaches School Lunch Cooking Classes Other schools have taken the plunge in their own unique ways. In Berkeley, California, noted chef Alice Waters holds cooking classes in which students grow and prepare local organic fruits and vegetables for their peers’ school lunch menus. And as documented in the film, â€Å"Super Size Me,† Wisconsin’s Appleton Central Alternative School hired a local organic bakery that helped transform Appleton’s cafeteria fare from offerings heavy on meat and junk food to predominantly whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. How Parents Can Improve School Lunches Of course, parents can ensure that their children eat well at school by forgoing the cafeteria offerings altogether and sending their kids to school with healthy bag lunches. For on-the-go parents unable to keep up with a daily lunch making regimen, innovative companies are beginning to sprout up that will do it for you. Kid Chow in San Francisco, Health e-Lunch Kids in Fairfax, Virginia, New York City’s KidFresh and Manhattan Beach, California’s Brown Bag Naturals will deliver organic and natural food lunches to your kids for about three times the price of a cafeteria lunch. But prices should change for the better as the idea catches on and more volume brings costs down.

Historical Roots of Christian Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Historical Roots of Christian Diversity - Essay Example Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians agree with the teachings of the first seven councils as genuine interpretations of the gospel, but only Roman Catholics acknowledge decrees formulated after the nineteenth century. Tradition is a particular interpretation of scripture as described within the Christian community and affirmed by the church. Given that tradition originally permitted new interpretations to meet questions not particularly addressed in the scripture, it was meant to be fluid rather than fixed. When a group shows a tendency to canonize tradition making it appear unbending, tension might result. This development of tradition was not meant to lead to religious rigidity, but was instead developed specifically to recognize the dynamic interaction between, the concrete fixed authority of scripture, and the fluid developing authority of everyday practice. Since it is dynamic, tradition adds a little new thing to Christianity as it enlarges upon scripture. People usually expa nd a tangible communication beyond tradition’s original scope, as it is a factor of exercising human ingenuity in the development of tradition (Weaver and Brakke 64). The power of Rome At a time when the Roman mystique was at its peak, Jesus was born into the Mediterranean world ruled by Rome. The world had never experienced an empire so vast that when people thought of Rome, they envisioned a set of related ideas. Caesar, who presided over Rome, was a central ruling authority who stood close to divinity and symbolized in his person the glory of Rome. The glory of Rome dimmed and then seemed to be restored to some level by Constantine. It was normal to wonder whether the old Rome might reclaim the world’s attention. If Rome can be seen more as an idea than a place, then perhaps it can be understood why it was extremely powerful and attractive. Rome became a goal, and an idea to nature policy. As a fact, it is not surprising that that attracted Constantine and Christian s in general. As the roman emperor, it was clear that Constantine had the best claim on the project. When he moved his capital from the city of Rome to a new site in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, a political vacuum was left in the West which in turn invited rival claimants. Several groups were inspired to restore Roman glory in the West, and they included; old senatorial families, new barbarian families, and the bishops of Rome, who later are known as popes. The ancient forms of Christianity grew into separate churches generally because of extensively differing political experiences. The Orthodox Church was organized into two ways: at the local level and along the administrative lines of the Roman Empire. The patriarch of Constantinople understood that his position was tied to the emperor. Both the patriarch and the pope did consider themselves as Roman and as heirs of the greatest political empire in the world’s history. This led to a great schism between the two chu rches that lasted until the present day (Weaver and Brakke 78). The two Christian models The first Christian model is; Constantinople as the new Rome in the Greek Orthodox system. When the emperor reunited the fragments of the Roman Empire, he did so under the sign of the cross. Constantine’s bibliographer made a claim that Constantine was directly called by God to embrace Christianity.