The importance of literacy development in terms of life success Essay

The importance of literacy development in terms of life success - Essay Example Moreover, the notion of literacy is greatly expanded (informational, technical, financial literacy, etc.) and acquires some status of culture’s attribute. Already this issue is not about the availability of key areas of literacy, the question now should be put on the expansion of the general population literacy to the level of culture (information culture, scientific, technical, social, etc.). Thus, we are going to discuss different kinds of literacy and the importance of its development in terms of life success. First of all, it is necessary to mention that ‘literacy’ from a traditional point of view is a definite degree that is mastered by a person in accordance with grammatical rules of native language. Concerning the characteristics of the population – it is one of the basic indicators of its socio-cultural development. The need for literacy and learn reading, writing and arithmetic related to the occurrence of a pictographic writing system, and has its roots in early society. The transition of society to symbolic and graphical ways to store and transfer socially relevant information is a huge leap in the cultural and social development of mankind. According to Cope and Kalantzis, â€Å"literacy is at the heart of education’s promise† (Cope and Kalantzis, 2000). As a result, literacy has become an essential tool of possession of written culture. The specific content of the concept of literacy has changed historically, expanding with increasing public demands for the development of the individual - from basic skills to read, write, count, etc. to the possession of minimum socially necessary knowledge and skills (functional literacy). In addition Cope and Kalantiz emphasized that â€Å"literacy represents a kind of symbolic capital in two senses: as the preeminent form of symbol manipulation that gets things done in modern times and as a symbolic marker of being educated† (Cope and Kalantiz, 2000). Thinking abou t the historical background of the literacy development’s problem it is known that issues regarding the term ‘literacy’ definition, its statistical characteristics were considered at international meetings on statistics and census programs since the end of XIX century. UNESCO General Conference (10th session, Paris, 1958) recommended all countries in conducting censuses â€Å"to consider literate such persons who can read with comprehension and write a brief statement about their everyday lives† (Brandt, 2001). The semi-literate person in that context was a person who was able only to read. A term of functional literacy was proposed at the World Congress of Ministers of Education on literacy (Tehran, Sept. 1965), and a text of recommendations of the International Standardization of Educational Statistics, proposed by UNESCO, was revised in 1978. Street said that â€Å"Initially, functional literacy was used to refer to the needs of employment and economic development† (Street, 2001). Moreover, â€Å"the concept was then broadened to include the print demands of occupational, civic, community and personal functioning† (Street, 2001). According to a new edition of this document, it is necessary to consider a literate person who can be engaged in all activities in

Ratio Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ratio Analysis - Case Study Example This paper will shed light upon the financial ratios of Apple, how the company will fare in the future will also be comprehensively analyzed. ROI stands for return on investment, Apple’s ROI matches DELL which is great news for the company, return on investment goes to show that the products have been selling very well in the market. The sales growth of Apple has also seen a significant rise in the last quarter, all these are indicators that the company is performing very well. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple has been coming up with strategies to promote the products, even though he has had severe health issues, he has been very successful in building the brand name of Apple. Apple has also managed to diversify which is again very good for the business, the company is not dependent on only one product but they have a plethora of products which can be relied upon, this has reduced the risk for the company. Apple operates on a much higher gross margin than other companies, Gross ma rgin of 29.02% is the margin that the company operates at, this goes to show that the company has adopted a higher selling price mix. Products like iMac and Ipads have really given Apple an edge and this is why the company can afford to set higher prices for their products. Apple spends 3.8% on research which is very good for the company, perhaps this percentage can be improved so that they can find new and better products. The operating expenses are about 13.38% which goes to show that the company is very stable and investors can invest in this company. The working capital of the company is very healthy; it is again because of the profits. The current ratio of the company stands at 2.96 (Million) which means the company can easily pay off short term debt not once, not twice but thrice. This is a very strong position to be in; Apple has no need to take loans because it can easily pay off debt. Acid-test ratio goes to show how quickly assets can be converted into liquid cash, Apple h as an edge once again and this is hardly surprising. The acid-ratio of the company stands at 2.63 which signify the operating efficiencies of the company give it a huge edge over other companies. Assets turnover ratio stands at 1.42, this means the sales of the company has been picking up, and this ratio is derived by dividing the sales by assets. The ratio is also an indicator of how assets are used to generate profits. Apple has been doing it very successfully thus far. â€Å"This tells us something about Apple’s pricing strategy. The Profit Margin for a product is the net of sales deduct the cost of goods sold. Therefore, Apple has higher pricing charged to its products offering as compared to that of Dell’s, even though Dell’s Inventory Turnover Ratio is much higher in this case. But looking at Dell’s turnover ratio on Net Sales; it is close to that of Cost of Goods Sold, therefore this also explained that Dell has lower pricing charged to its produc ts offerings.† (Inventory Turnover Ratio) Debt ratio of the company stands at 0.35 which means that there are still some debts which should be cleared; this is not a problem especially when the company is performing so well in the market. The company can easily clear this debt off whenever they want to, this is not an issue for them. The debt/equity ratio of the company is extremely healthy, it stands at 0.55, this goes to show that the equity has been well managed to pay off short term