How to Use Sample Personal Statements

A personal statement is a critical requirement when it comes to applying to the college, university, or graduate school of your choice. Your personal essay will allow the selections board to determine whether you are well-suited to the course or field of study or you have enough experience and interest to make you a good candidate for the slot. At this point in the application, you will no longer be able to do anything about your grades, extra-curricular experience, and your overall academic standing. However, there are some things you can do to make your personal essay stand out from the rest.

As much as writing a statement is of crucial importance when applying to an academic institution, some students find themselves at a loss on how to write their admissions essay. One of the best means to get help is to look for sample statements. These sample essays allow you to get an idea how you will want your admissions essay to come out, so you can maximize your chances of getting admitted.

Finding reliable statement help

Before you can take advantage of statement samples, however, finding a reliable source should be your very priority. There are many sources of essay samples on the web, however, not all of them actually offer worthwhile tips. If you come across the wrong site, you may in fact be jeopardizing your personal essay without you knowing it. It is important to note furthermore that different schools may differ in content and formatting requirements. A good source of personal statement help should take into account the specific requirements of your personal essay more than anything else. It is not enough for you to settle on any personal statement guide that you stumble upon online. A reliable guide should be your priority, so that you can get essay samples, which will be of use to you.

Using a sample statement as a guide

You can use a sample personal statement in different ways, although the primarily goal in using a sample would be for you to be able to write a compelling and interesting personal statement. One way is to create your own outline to organize your thoughts and your story better. You can also make use of sample excerpts when writing a strong and interesting introduction to your essay.

One caveat in using personal statement help, however, is to make sure that you don't copy these samples and pass them as your own work in your admissions essay. These guides are meant to be just that--guides. Copying someone else's written work and claiming them as your own is one form of plagiarism. Submitting a plagiarized work as a personal statement will surely put your application and your credibility at risk.

By making use of sample statements wisely and effectively, there is no reason why you should not come up with a lively, informative, and well-written piece as your admissions essay.

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Insight Essays for Therapy CBT

Abstract:

This paper was written to show the technique of self-reflection exercises in therapy. The client should write out their major life events as they see them, but in a reflective style to analyse their self image, as part of how they see their life. The therapist in turn can use this type of self-reflecting essay to understand the clients thought processes and perhaps an insight into faulty thinking and behavioural adaptations to life events. The following essay is a true story and in the clients own words. As a therapist or someone interested in psychological thought process and analysis the reader should stay emotionally removed in the first reading. By this I mean read as if you are trying to understand the life-story of the client. In a second reading you should look for the significance in the writer's comments and thought processes. Therapists, counsellors and psychologists may then try to answer the question of how they would treat this client if he came to them for help in understanding his behaviour over the years and how he could seek a more stable life-style. The names of the real people have been removed and substitutes inserted with some re-writing for clarity by the author.

Self Reflections of Love and Suffering

Two thoughts have crossed my mind in the last few days that I feel I should commit to paper before they scatter from my mind like leaves in an autumn wind. The first is my language - it came to me that when I was younger I had two fears about language the first being I could not spell very well and tended to be forced to write a short word that I was confident with, rather than a long word that expressed my meaning better but was fearful that I misunderstood its true meaning or that I could not pronounce or write it correctly. The second was in my speech, I knew I wanted to express myself in extended words but again used restricted language to talk. I knew the words but were afraid to speak them in case I appeared foolish or beyond my station. I think the timidity of language came about because I always felt I was special in someway over those people that I associated with. I think therefore I talked my language down in order to fit in with those who seemed to be my acquaintances. As time has gone by and my education has expanded by University and life experience, I now use longer words and more expressive ones than in my youth. However as a teacher I have always had the knack of talking to students at their level just as I did when young to my friends and associates of the time. I learned journalism when in my early twenties and it taught me to write short sentences with no adjectives or flourish of language, but to tell the story straight forwardly and clear. Later when I become a teacher this helped me to write better papers that expressed my meaning without opinion of fancy. I start this paper with this insight as an example of quiet suffering in life. What follows then is the suffering at the hands of love and relationships.

The second thoughts were about suffering. I have known two women in my life for a long period of time. Millicent my first wife and Joslin my long term partner, both I loved in my fashion but in these relationships I now think maybe I suffered for a long time without being able to articulate exactly why to myself. I as married to Millicent when we were both 20 years old, (for 10 years) in which time she bore me two daughters. Her family were low working class and she herself was very traditional of that society. Her siblings thought of me as pretentious as I wore a tie and sometimes talked about ambition, to which they connected to an inflated ego and talking beyond my station in life. (That is a peculiar way of saying this today but that is exactly how it felt to me at the time). I too come from a working class family but of a higher status in that my parents read, were home owners, had travelled around the world, my father was a veteran of WW11 and my mother an accomplished writer in her day.

Although by the time I had grown to realise my parent's characters, all this was unknown to me and as a youth I had little interest in my parents as do most boys. So why do I say suffering - maybe because I stayed and put up with the place in life that Millicent and her family deemed was suitable for me. The working in retail or sales, the home owner with the mortgage, the two little girls we brought into the world ( my one great delight as they are now grown women and have turned out so well - despite me abandoning them so young.) Later when I went into business for myself with the help of my eldest brother, Jake, I started to break away from the family (my own family) in that I became dissatisfied with my life. Dissatisfied with my future, I felt trapped by my marriage and obligation. I asked my wife for a divorce not with a long thinking process, but almost on a whim, of a time of thoughtlessness and partly to be free. Free to do what exactly I was not sure. Later while going through the divorce I met Joslin. She was from a small village and an insular family with little education or accomplishments. She was seven years younger than me and apart from one liaison with a cousin had no real life experience. However she was far more intelligent than Millicent and far more challenging to me.

Joslin in many ways was perfect for me. We came to believe in many of the same things, we both enjoyed reading, discussing and the country life of walking and nature. Later we became vegetarian's together and animal activists in the sense of our beliefs about animal welfare. However two areas caused vexation and heartache. The first was sexual. Joslin suffered from deep depression, a lack of self-worth and appreciation of her own talents and skills. This caused in turn, her to feel that she was unlovable and could never understand my devotion to her. I loved her deeply for many years (we were together for 18) and worshipped her almost daily. This is not to say we did not argue or have unhappy moments, but over-all we were happy with each other most of the time. Sexually she was not as needy as me. I wanted sex regularly and with some variety in what we did. However it soon came to pass that sex was only on the menu when she was able to face it. She often associated sex with keeping me happy and not something she did for her own pleasure or satisfaction.

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Sample College Admissions Essays Can Even Be Discussed in College Study Groups

It could not be argued that studying alone would work well in some areas, like in memorizing words for a subject in a foreign language. However, to the typical college student, there would always be instances where understanding complex ideas would come in. Instead of mere memorization, the application of facts to problems is needed. Study groups are beneficial in these cases for various acts would come into action: explanation of concepts, arguments over issues, understanding why one's solution is different from yours. The fact is, other things could be discussed as well such as admission procedures to MBA or law schools. In a study group composed of pre law students, for example, the members can offer insights on writing sample college admission essays.

Benefits of college study groups

- You can share notes. This is important as you can compare the notes you have taken down and build a more reliable information database on the subject you're studying on.
- You can contribute your talents and skills. Every person has strengths different from the rest of the group, be it organizational skills, creative writing, etc. Sharing these skills leads to a more meaningful learning process.
- More ground would be covered in study groups. Think of calculus, that much-dreaded higher mathematics subject. If a problem could not be solved one individual, four or five students would surely be able to accomplish it.
- There's the socialization factor. Let's face it, you would not join a college study group if half of the members are people whose guts you hate. You would surely be joining friends, and that is where the fun is. During breaks in your study sessions, you could chat, gossip, play (chess or whatever), etc.

Things to consider in forming a study group

Number -- How many members is ideal in a group? If your study group is composed of more than a dozen heads, you may find out that it is more chaotic than educational. Come up with a group of 4 to 6. Also, if the group has few members, the group's objectives could easily be sidetracked.

The members -- Without meaning to discriminate, you might want to avoid that classmate whom you know survives in tests by using crib notes or just copying from a seatmate. Consider people who are always alert in classes and who constantly participate in discussions.

The venue -- It would be best to do your group study sessions outside the school premises, like somebody's house. The venue must be free from distractions and has enough room for all the books that would be spread out.

The length of time -- It would not be a good idea to have study sessions so long that it would last up to 3 am. A maximum of 3 hours is what experts recommend. Setting a time limit would focus the efforts of the group members into doing something more productive.

Schedules -- As much as possible, meet on the same time/day for every week.

More tips

Preparation is important, even before the session. Make sure that you have done all assigned readings. Check out the list of themes to be discussed for that particular session. Going unprepared would just waste your and everybody's time. All of you should be able to contribute something to the group. If all of your sessions are spent with just one member teaching all the time, then you might just as well hire him to be a tutor. When you teach, you reinforce what you know and, of course, it helps the rest of the clique.

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Falling Standard Of Education In Nigeria: Who Is To Be Blame?

INTRODUCTION

The concept " falling standard of Education" is a relative term because there is no well defined instruments to measure it with utmost reliability and validity. That is why scholars' views on the concept varies. These scholars view it at different perspectives, depending on the angle each of them is looking at it.

Babalola, A (2006) sees the concept from admission of Nigerian University products in developed countries universities. That the first six Nigerian Universities (University of Ibadan, Ile Ife, Lagos, Benin, Nsukka and Zaria) had their products competing favourably with any other University in the world as their products were sought for by University of Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and London for admission into their post-graduate courses. That these students record breaking performances and when they graduate are employed by the best multi-national companies and corporate bodies globally unlike today where no Nigerian University is among the top 6,000 Universities of the world (Adeniyi, Bello (2008) in Why no worry about rankings). He sees standard from how universities contribute to knowledge and solving problems besetting mankind.

According to Gateway to the Nation (2010), University of Ibadan is ranked 6,340th University in the world. In Africa, University of Ibadan is ranked 57th, OAU 69th and South African Universities are leading the way in Africa.
He also use written and spoken English as a yardstick for measuring standard of education which University of London conducted a research in West Africa and the result showed that teachers trained by colonial masters were better of than those trained by indigenous teachers.

He also used staffing, funding, foundation, origin and students as standard of education.

Standard of education to Dike, V. (2003) is how education contribute to the public health (or sociopolitical and economic development of a Nation).

Standard of education to either passing or failing of external examinations like WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, JAMB,(NOW UTME) among others.

Teachers without Boarders (2006) looks at educational standard from how the products of schools can be measured in terms of outcome. That is how school leavers contribute to the society in terms of cognitive affective and psychomotor. I will be using students to refer to both students and pupils, I will use head teacher to refer to both principal and headmaster.

Which ever way you may view standard of education, for you to conclude whether the standard is falling or not, you must take into consideration all the aforementioned variables including achieving educational goals.

Equally, for justice to be done while measuring these standards one has to look at reliability where all the schools to be measured must have the same infrastructure, teaching materials, quality of teachers, level and degree of learners, condition within which learning takes place, some methods of assessment and some types of contribution to the society among others.

CAUSES OF FALLING STANDARDS

Haven discussed what makes up standard in education, may I crave your indulgence to some of the established facts that constitute falling standard of education in Nigeria.

(1) Discipline: This is one of the outstanding attributes of education when it is rightly observed.

a. Repeating: school no longer observe repeating as every student is promoted to the next class whether they understand or not gives room for falling standard.
b. Attendance: The 75% of attendance universally accepted as the bases for someone to sit for examination is no longer observed.
c. Late coming: Student that come late are no longer punished, which leads to their losing morning classes.
d. Misbehaviour: Students are no longer punished for misbehavior because of their parental influences (lost of jobs or unnecessary transfer).
e. Cultism: This could refer to rituals, usually under oath binding the members to a common course. They operate covertly in fulfillment of their objectives to the detriment of other people. Thus, planning secondary needs above primary needs.

These cults exist because of over population of students in schools, wrong admissions not based on merits, hence fear of examination failures and selfish worldly gains.

(2) Quest for paper qualification: Nigerians respect paper qualification above performance in the fields. Hence, cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains are supposed to be measured on the field.

(3) Politicizing education: Merit is no longer regarded as it is now " who you know" and not "what you can deliver" Technocrats (educationists are not appointed Commissioner of education and education board).

(4) Policy problem: Sometimes the type of policies government make on education adversely affects output. For instance, in College of Education, we have National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), competing with JAMB for admission as the two guidelines vary.

Equally, WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, JAMB ( now UTME) compete with qualifying pre-requisites and regulation of entries into tertiary institutions.

(5) Teachers not being part of the examination bodies. One wonders whether the continuous Assessment submitted by these teachers are used or not.

(6) Accessibility of Schools: The Nigerian population boom has outnumbered the existing schools as the existing schools have to over admit.

This point can be practically seen in the following areas:

(i) Teacher / Student ratio of 1:25 is no longer there as in my class, it is 1:3900.
(ii) Students / books / Journals ratio of 1:10 is no longer feasible.
(iii) Politics of admission: Schools can no longer set targets for admission to conform with their facilities as powerful notes from above will force the school authorities to either over admit or find themselves in the labour market again. Yet it is those that are giving these notes are suppose to build more schools or provide needed infrastructure etc. to accommodate those collecting these notes.

(7) Over-dependent on cognitive domain: Schools do not give regards to affective domain that will mould characters of our young ones. Little attention is given to psychomotor while no attention is given to affective domain.

(8) Shortage of qualified teachers: Some schools in the rural areas only have the headmaster as government employee while the rest that may be secondary school drop outs are PTA staff. What miracle can these staff perform? Dike, V. (2006) observed that only 23% out of the then 400,000 primary schools in Nigeria have grade II even when NCE is now the minimum qualification for teachers at primary and Junior Secondary schools.

(9) Teachers welfare: It is no longer news that

(a) Politicians do not have negotiation council to negotiate their salary increase.
(b) There is no disparity among political office holders from the federal, state and local governments.
(c) Their salaries are increased at astronomical manner.
(d) Their salaries are increased any time without recourse to whether the nation's economy can bear it or not.
(e) But for teachers, they must negotiate the 10 to 20% of an attempt to increase their salary with consideration of the economy of the nation. How can these teachers contribute and perform miracle when their family members are in the hospitals and the O.S. syndrome is written on their cards by pharmacists while they do not have money to treat.

(10) Constant Strikes: This is an impediment to smooth covering of syllabus. Oefule (2009) explained that one Nigerian guest asked a question on strike at Oxford University community but the vice chancellor could not even remember about strike, only the registrar remembered it for 17 years back. This is what governance means to the people.

(11) Long rule of the military; Education was not properly funded by the military regimes as according to Babalola, A(2006) Obasanjos administration inherited many left over problems of the military such as non- payment of pensions and gratuities of retired University staff, poor remuneration of university staff, dilapidating buildings of schools, libraries with outdated books, obsolete laboratory equipments, bad campus roads, inadequate water and power supply among others.

(12) In the secondary and primary schools levels, schools do not even have buildings talk less` of furniture's, equipments and reading materials. This is the level where the foundation of education should be laid. Any faulty foundation will lead to faulty structures. What do you expect from the tertiary level?

(13) Lack of training of teachers: Teachers are not trained to update their knowledge with latest discoveries based on research, then how can they give what they don't have?

(14) Poor state of Educational teaching facilities: Dike V. (2006) reported that research result shows that over 2015 primary schools in Nigeria do not have building but study under trees, talk less of teaching materials.

(15) Corruption: leaders of the schools and some Government officials either connive to buy equipments with loan money that cannot be of any use to the school or take such loans and do not even do anything with it.

(16) Poor budgetary allocation to education: A research work of 2001 shows that Nigeria only, allocate less than 20% to education it further reveals that Nigeria spends 0.76% to education as against Uganda 2.6%, Tanzania3.4%, Mozambique 4.1%, Angola 4.9%, Coted Ivore 5% Kenya 6.5% and South Africa 7.9% among others.

WHO IS TO BE BLAMED?

We have seen the causes of falling standards and from these causes we can deduce that the following are to be blamed:

1. Government suppose to carry the lion share of the blame because all the other variables are dependent variables to it.

2. Teachers also have their shares of the blame with regards to their diligent duties.

3. Parents: feeding has to be provided by parents. This is because parents do not leave schools to operate without interference.

4. Students: students who do not abide by school rules and regulations nor pay attention to their studies also contribute to falling standards. Students also seek for paper qualification and disregards to performance they also participate in cult activities that derail the progress of the academy.

5. The society is not left out as it is the way it sees and respects the products of these schools that recycles back again.

SOLUTION

Based on the problems or causes identified above, the following solutions are proffered: Schools should respect and restore back discipline to bring back the lost glory of our educational standards.

Performance should be regarded and respected more than just paper qualification. Equally, education should not be politicized for whatever reason.

Policy makers should be mindful of policies that affect education .eg JAMB(UTME) regulation in admissions.

Teachers should be involved in examination activities and examination bodies should always publish examination reports and distribute it to various schools for them to hold school workshop for training of subject teachers on their areas of weaknesses observed in the students' scripts with regards to following the marking scheme.

More schools should be built to increase accessibility by all. Cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain should be used for assessment of students.

Teachers' welfare should be given priority by government to avoid unnecessary strikes in our educational sector while more qualified teachers should be employed to curb the present shortage of teachers in our schools.

Our civilian government should prove to the people that they are better than military government.

Teachers should be trained so that they can meet up with any new challenges Educational facilities should be upgraded to modern standards while teaching facilities should be adequately provided.

Corruption should be eliminated to the barest minimum by all stakeholders while government should increase its budgetary allocations to education to improve the standard of education in Nigeria.

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SAT Essay - 4 Tips to a Great SAT Essay Score

Many students experience some anxiety when the time arrives to take the SATs. After all, the SATs are an important exam that many institutes of higher education consider during the admissions process. The essay can be especially difficult for students. However, proper preparation can lead students to success. A well written essay will grab the attention of graders and earn an excellent score.

SAT essays are graded by two different graders. Each grader has six points to distribute, which allows for a combined high score of twelve. Essay graders will be grading your papers content, organization, clarity and be looking to see that you followed directions as indicated in the prompt. Graders will be judging each of these specific areas but will also be focusing on your essay as a whole.

The first step in writing a solid SAT essay is to comprehend what the prompt is asking for. Make sure to fully understand the prompt before you begin writing and focus on the main idea. This will set the groundwork for a solid essay and allow you to begin writing a high scoring essay. Students often misunderstand the prompt because they did not read it carefully enough and then receive lower scores. Avoid this simple mistake by reading the prompt more than once.

Essays must include thesis statements. A solid thesis statement is the beginning of a successful essay. The thesis statement will answer the question that the prompt is asking and give the grader an idea of the direction of the essay. It can be helpful to include the some of the wording of the prompt in the thesis statement. The thesis statement will be included the introductory paragraph of your essay along with a basic summary of the main ideas that will be discussed throughout your essay.

The length of your essay should be at least four hundred words. Research completed by MIT indicated that students who wrote at least a four hundred word essay received higher scores about ninety percent of the time. The body of your essay should be composed of at least three to four strong paragraphs that support your thesis statement. Each paragraph should include an introductory and concluding sentence. In order to prove your ideas include academic examples from history or literature, while avoiding personal stories unless specifically asked. Essays with personal examples do not score as well as those with clear academic examples. The final paragraph of your essay needs to summarize and conclude the essay. Anecdotes or analogies, often found in conclusions of the highest scoring SAT essays, are wonderful way to end an essay.

Writing a well written essay that receives a high score on the SAT is entirely possible. Correctly following the prompt, avoiding vague ideas and writing at least four hundred words will put you on the right path towards achieving a perfect score. Try not to become too consumed with one specific guideline, but focus on the essay as a whole, and you will see positive results!

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Successful Steps to Good Essay Writing

Often students try to avoid essay writing in their normal study course. However, they forget that essay writing is the most important part of the curriculum. Today due to competition there is a high expectation from students. With the burden of academic subjects, students often become careless about essay writing. They do not get enough time to think about developing a good essay writing skill.

However, with the advent of technology, things have become quite easy for students. The online essay writing services educate the students how to write a good essay.

Consider these simple steps and become a professional essay writer:

1. Consider essay as a process and not a task bounded with deadlines. You have to consider reading, thinking, planning and organizing your thoughts. You have to understand the topic and study about the topic. Primary research is very important before drafting your thoughts. Once you are finished with research process, start thinking creatively about the topic and make notes or pointers, which will help you during documentation process.

2. The blank screen or paper in front of you while drafting essay is the most difficult part of the process. You must sketch out a plan before writing. Once you have written down your points, start assembling these points. Give each point a logical heading; this will help you to elaborate your points. These will later develop into paragraphs of your essay.

The most important subheads will include:

An introduction, which will explain the sources of your study

Main body, which is an analysis of your topic. It will include the opinions, comments and findings. You can quote about some scientific research or media studies.

Conclusion is where you force the reader to accept your points. You can conclude with quotes or even end with a question that will boggle reader's mind.

All these points will give you an outline to your essay writing. Do not stick to one point. This makes the reader disinterested in your writing.

3. Your correct English is the most compelling part of essay writing. Use simple but correct English. Your essay may not be flowery in writing but must have substance in the subject. If it is argumentative, you must collect enough data to make it genuine. To improve on these points you must read many editorial sections from magazines or newspapers.

4. Try to make a rough draft of your essay before submission. You must read it aloud and look for any changes if required. If your essay is long or it is a dissertation, you must prepare small drafts of paragraphs and then try to focus on each paragraph. Try to make pointers on these paragraphs, which will help you during the assembly of all paragraphs. Do not lose track of your point or argument. In case if you are lost, refer to points.

5. Essays are small samples of knowledge. You cannot elaborate on an endless discussion. You must give it a strong voice and back up with supportive arguments and discussions. The essay must invoke reader's thought process. Keep everything in moderation. Do not lose your focus.

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Relevance of Gandhi Today - Essay

The memory of Mahatma Gandhi today, in India is reduced to rituals. His ideals are forgotten and much of what he stood for is remembered only in parts and misunderstood. Many young people brought up on modern ideas wonder what wisdom there is in turning the other cheek if someone strikes you on one cheek. Similarly, there is no place for simplicity in one's life, when everybody is turning towards western life styles and way of thinking. In the care free money oriented attitude that pervades our life today, talk about morals and non-violence certainly seems out of place.

Gandhian philosophy is vast and contains many ideals. It is easy to take any part of Gandhian thought and criticize it. Gandhi belonged to everyone, so there is no danger of any minority community reacting and issuing a death sentence on those who do so. Any two bit politician or journalist who wants to get away with it. It is perhaps a reflection on the sorry state of the country that its icons can so easily be defiled without punishment.

But this easily answers the question about Gandhi's relevance today. If he was irrelevant, as many people are bound to say, why is he not forgotten like many other twentieth century thinkers and leaders who remain buried in library books? Why does Gandhi evoke strong emotions in those who criticize him? The answer lies in the universal relevance of Gandhian philosophy not only in the country but all over the world. Many ideas come back to us finding acceptability in the West; and Gandhism may also have to wait till it is discovered.

In an age when our bureaucrats cannot stand up for their beliefs and crawl when asked to bend, it is difficult to think of one man - "a half naked fakir" - who could stand up against the might of the British Empire. The courage of one man who was neither a dictator nor a politician can only be a cause of wonder. If the life in public life commanded only half the courage of the fakir, India would not be debating on the criminal-politician nexus today or the corruption that pervades the society.

There is no doubt that Gandhi was a man ahead of his times. He foresaw many of the problems that we face today. In 1927 he wrote "a time is coming when those who are in the mad rush today of multiplying their wants will retrace their steps and say, what have we done"?

If we see around us, many of the contemporary problems of the world have arisen from senseless development. Industrialization and high tech. have resulted in such high quantities of waste that countries do not know what to do with it. Nor do we know what to do with the huge quantities of arms that the world powers have collected. Today, the nuclear weapon states have collected deadly weapons capable of destroying the world several times over. If only a part of the money blocked in arms could be available to fight poverty and disease, the world would be a better place to live in.

But the western system thrives on market demand. Thus, there is a vested interest in keeping the demand alive even if it is for deadly weapons. Gandhi had foreseen this as early as 1980. He wrote in Hind Swaraj that modern civilization is a nine days wonders, which may sink under its own weight. Gandhiji also advocated total disarmament. He wanted India to adopt "non-violence to the utmost extent possible" which would be India's contribution to the establishment of a disarmed world. That India chose to go in the opposite way shows how strong the Western influences are.

Swaraj was not simple self rule, according to Gandhi. It also meant liberation from the system of governance imposed by the British on this country. He foresaw that independence world means only a change in the rules but the exploitative system would continue. When we see the state pushing for dams and other mega projects in total disregard of the people's feelings we realize the truth of his fears.

What Gandhiji favored instead was decentralization of polity and economy. Centralized economy and planning, according to him, were dehumanizing and alien to the Indian way of life and culture. The recognition of his idea by the government through Panchayati Raj is not only half hearted recognition of Gandhian thought, but has also come too late.

Gandhiji's views on the form of Government are also enlightening. The Westminister model that we have been following was given by England, but Gandhi was opposed to it because it implied the existence of two classes the rulers and the ruled. The British Parliament according to him was a "sterile woman" because it could do anything with finality. Nor could its members act on their own but must obey the whip of their parties, reducing them to rubber stamps. It was unfortunate that after independence India did not heed his advice. He also wanted to disband the Congress party which he knew consisted of selected leaders who were going to rule over the people much like the British.

Gandhiji's firm belief was in India's villages where a majority of the people lived. He saw the un-sustainability of cities and the attendant problem. "If India is to attain true freedom, then sooner or later the fact must be recognized that people will have to live in villages, not in towns, in huts not palaces". The Indian villager may be crude, but there is usually a deep reservoir of spirituality. "Take away the encrustation, remove the chronic poverty and illiteracy and you will find the finest of the specimens of what a cultured, cultivated and free citizen should be" he said. It is ironical that today we shun the villages where the majority of the Indian people live, but go to Western countries to learn sustainable living. The Indian villager has been living sustainably and in harmony with nature for centuries!

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So You Want To Be A Criminal Profiler?

When you teach forensic psychology, the question students ask the most is how do I become a profiler? This question also appears on the frequently asked questions section of the FBI website.

Given the popularity of the CBS drama criminal minds, the how do I become a profiler question is going to be asked more than ever. The aim of this article, therefore, is to address whether becoming a criminal profiler is a realistic career aspiration.

Criminal Profiling in the USA

The FBI doesn't actually have employees with the job title profiler. However, special agents at the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) at Quantico, Virginia do construct profiles of unknown offenders as well as offering case management advice, threat assessments and interviewing strategies to law enforcement agencies both home and abroad.

You cannot simply apply to the FBI and immediately become a NCAVC agent. A basic requirement is three years service as a FBI special agent. However, such is the competition for places, successful candidates tend to have up to 10 years of service behind them along with experience investigating violent and sexual crimes and abductions.

In terms of educational requirements an advanced degree in a Behavioral or Forensic Science is often listed as preferred qualification.

It is possible to work at the NCAVC without being a special agent. these professional support positions include Intelligence Research Specialists, Violent Crime Resource Specialists, and Crime Analysts. These are essentially research positions so an in-depth knowledge of research methodology, data collection and analysis is required.

Whether you are applying to become a NCAVC agent or a research specialist you can expect to have complete a range of written and psychometric tests.

Criminal Profiling in the UK

If you think getting into profiling work in the USA seems a difficult proposition, the chances of doing it in the UK are even more remote.

In 1995 Gary Copson conducted a comprehensive survey of police use of profiling, which among other things addressed the questions, who are the profilers? What are their qualifications? What do they actually do?

Who are the profilers

The Copson study found that profilers define themselves as having relevant expertise for a particular criminal
investigation, although this expertise is not confined to one profession or academic discipline.

In total 29 profilers were identified in the course of the study, the make-up of which was as follows:

4 forensic psychiatrists

5 academic psychologists

4 clinical psychologists

6 forensic psychologists

3 therapists (unspecified)

4 British police officers

1 British police scientist

1 British police data system analyst

1 American law enforcement agency

Qualifications

Psychiatrists are qualified doctors of medicine who undertake postgraduate training in psychiatry. Psychologists have both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in their specialist area and may have secured chartered status through the governing body that oversees their professional development. Police officers who undertake profiling work have usually studied psychology as a postgraduate.

What do they do?

As with any form of profiling, the principal aim is to generate a behavioural composite of an unknown offender so that it tells you something about the personality of the individual.

In the Copson study 184 accounts of profiling are documented. In 111 of these cases the profiler put his/her advice into writing. An analysis of the content of these written reports revealed 10 main areas of advice.

Features of the offence

Character of the offence

Origins of the offender

Present circumstances of the offender

Criminality of the offender

Geography of the offender

Predicted future behaviour of the offender

Interview strategies to be adopted

Threat assessment

Specific police recommendations.

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