LAERADESALLY

Beyond acquainting listeners with a problem, persuasive messages aimed at building awareness must demonstrate that the problem is important and show listeners how it affects them directly. Persuasive speakers must raise awareness before moving on to the next stage in the process.
The second phase of the persuasive process understands. Listeners must understand what you are telling them. They must be moved by your ideas and know how to carry out your proposals. To provide understanding, Anna Aley used an “inside-outside” approach. She took listeners inside the housing problem in Manhattan by vividly describing her basement apartment. Then she took listeners outside the problem by showing them the total picture of substandard student housing: the number of students involved and the causes of the problem. Helping listeners understand is important when listeners admit that there is a problem but don’t know what to do about it. Ethical persuasion expands our knowledge of arguments, demonstrates how some arguments are stronger than others, and provides evidence to support a position.

When wrongdoing is ongoing in any organization, people usually find out about it sooner or later. From sexual harassment to racial stereotyping to revenue manipulation, wrongdoings may encompass misfeasance at the highest level or lower down in the totem pole. Should people - can people - legitimately reveal such wrongdoing? People who place loyalty in an unchallenged position at the top of the scale of ethical values would say “No.”
Yet the idea that the loyalty to one’s employer trumps all other ethical obligations is startling and dangerous. It’s also distasteful. We have duties to our employers not to disclose trade secrets, not to compete with them on the side, and to avoid doing things that will lead to legal or reputation problems.
Although we can expect a developing spin from the White House on McClellan’s revelations, it’s interesting that the initial response has not been to say that McClellan was wrong - either about the selling of the Iraq war or the CIA leak case. The “disloyalty” allegation shifts the focus from the truth to the propriety of McClellan having said anything at all. Indeed, many view the fact that the White House has not taken on McClellan on the merits as a tacit admission that his allegations are true.
Important though it is, we as a society don’t accept that loyalty is pre-eminent. In 2002, Time Magazine named Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Sherron Watkins of Enron as Persons of the year for their whistle-blowing activities, Cooper and Rowley for their role in disclosing two of the major corporate scandals of the first years of this decade, and Rowley for charging that the FBI had failed to follow leads on one of the chief plotters of the 9/11 conspiracy against the United States. For these women, and for those of us who did and do applaud them, integrity is a value more deserving the pre-eminence than loyalty.
Where an employee speaks out against wrongdoing, employers don’t play the loyalty card because what the employee has said is incorrect or untruthful. They invoke loyalty because the allegations are truthful. Loyalty is important and we rightly pay great deference to it. But when it becomes the smokescreen to hide wrongdoing, we shouldn’t pay any deference to it at all. People with robust commitments to integrity won’t be content to work for companies that send the message “loyalty to the company,” must trump that commitment to honesty.
Organizations that want ethics to flourish will resist the temptation of playing the loyalty card to prevent disclosures of wrongdoing. Rather than worrying about what song the whistle-blower sings, they should make sure that there’s no tune to play.

Insurance companies are an aggressive bunch. Pick up any Sunday magazine or daily paper and one finds a variety of insurance plans to select from. A great number of readers are swayed over to buy such insurance plans. But there is another kind of insurance plan that anyone can have, at minimal cost, but with some investment in time from the adult caregiver. However, it needs an adult to provide that initial motivation, or a desire to want it. It is reading — for life!

The person who chooses to read instead of watch television is most likely one who has had pleasant early experiences with reading. A concerned and appreciative adult most probably introduced him to reading. The adult may have been a parent who took time out to read to his child or a teacher or aunt/uncle who believed that reading a book a day to this young child would help him develop a reading habit. In addition, the child must have been encouraged by seeing adults around him who enjoy reading their newspapers, magazines, and novels.
Once a child is hooked on reading, he learns to imagine being in different places, at different times, and even becoming the persons he reads about in books. The child who starts reading early, acquires a kind of insurance that will bring him educational dividends throughout his lifetime. He will never tire of learning, of seeking answers, or of imagining new possibilities in life. When selecting books for toddlers, choose books that carry the story line with visuals. The more colorful the illustrations, the better. Photographs are also attractive and can hold the child’s attention. Some stories may be too lengthy and the storyteller may have to shorten these to keep the child involved. Point out objects in the story that the toddler can recognize.
The young child never tires of hearing a story over and over. The patient parent who gives in to a request for the same book night after night, soon discovers that the child knows the book by heart; almost as if the child could “read” the book. In fact, this is the start of reading by sight. Familiarization with the printed letter, and later the printed word, are sure signs that the child will start reading at an early age.
If there are no books available, or are too costly for your budget, make a book! Draw or cut out pictures from magazines to illustrate a story you can recall or create your own story. Simple stories for toddlers include events or experiences familiar to them, such as — things they do in a day; people they know and love; things they see around them, and stories of favorite animals and pets. These booklets should be small and easy to handle (the size of half a sheet of bond paper).
Current trends in early childhood education show that children should be made aware of cultural diversity and sex role sensitivity Books need to include people of various cultures and backgrounds ind should be sensitive to sex role stereotyping. Stories that revolve around the theme of stepparents being evil (Cinderella, Hansel ‘&‘ Grete) should be avoided. At the very least, the storyteller should explain to the child that this is an unusual story and that not all stepparents are cruel to their children. Typecasting the father as the hard worker and the mother as the docile housewife, is another tendency the adult storyteller must be aware of. Instead, values  and perseverance should be emphasized and discussed with the young child.
The home should be an inviting place to read books. An area where there are things to read (magazines, picture books, and newspapers) should be within reach of the younger members of the family. If they are burdened with schoolwork, make it a point to reserve time during the day
for reading material they are interested in. This would be a relaxing activity the child can look forward to when he comes home.
By age 9, if the child has acquired the habit of picking up a book, even before going to bed — then the parent should feel that the time invested in reading to the child was well worth it.