Ethical Use of Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical Use of Assessment - Research Paper Example As a function of this, this particular analysis will seek to analyze the way in which school counselors are employing a new variety of risk assessment tools in order to draw inference on key levels of violent tendencies or anti-social behavior. Naturally, such models are not in and of themselves a perfect or all encompassing tool due to the fact that many individuals who have exhibited the type of sociopathic tendencies that have become the thing of nationwide news never exhibited any known or verifiable symptoms; however, it is nonetheless a key area of growth into which the high school counselor can seek to polish his/her skill level as a means of seeking to draw down the very real level of risks that currently exists within our current educational system. Naturally, one of the most important functions of this particular tool of violent risk assessment is to help to provide a level of information with regards to the propensity of a given student to display potentially harmful behav ior both to themselves, their loved ones, or those within the educational environment. As a means of reviewing the effectiveness of such an approach, a litany of studies has sought to measure such a determinant within the recent past. Several of these studies, such as the one Bernes and Bardick, indicated that school bullying was oftentimes a key determinant of violent behavior that is one of the few warning signs that the school counselor has the ability to be aware of (Bernes et al 2007). In such a way, seeking to implement the given assessment tools to both of the affected parties within a situation in which bullying takes place is a fundamental starting point in seeking to provide insight into one of the key and causal areas that affects upon the level of violence. Other studies have indicated that despite violence prevention efforts, one of the most powerful mechanisms in which school officials can seek to both deter and understand the existence of violent behavior and its prec ipitating factors is to ensure that the seriousness and extent of violent and pre-violent behavior within the student body is a determinant that is thoroughly and thoughtfully weighed by the shareholders within the process (McAdams 2011). With regards to the ethical concerns of enacting such an assessment tool, there are few if any that have been uncovered as a function of the research that has been employed within this brief analysis. Moreover, the fact of the matter is with regards to the application of the assessment tool, the ethical concerns that are presented with regards to utilizing such a tool are far outweighed by the ethical concerns of not implementing it at all. In other words, the dangers associated with not putting into place such a tool of analysis are far greater than the ethical concerns that might be endangered by putting one into place (Cawood 2010). Lastly, with respect to how such a tool of assessment would integrate with different ethnic and culturally diverse groups, the level of assessment and the individual assessment tools that have thus far been listed work across these groups and provide the same level of inference. This in and of itself is important to note due to the fact that few of the other assessment tools that could be put into place or utilized by a high school counselor would have the same level of

Should mariajuana be legal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Should mariajuana be legal - Research Paper Example Proponents point to the harms caused by criminalizing a medically useful and largely benign substance that grows naturally. The war on drugs has been fought for 40 years costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars while filling up prisons, ruining the lives of people who have committed no harm and has escalated organized crime. There is very little separation between the various types of drugs in the minds of those opposed to legalization of marijuana but for those that choose to understand the nuances of the issue the differences are vast. Knowledge is the chasm that separates the two sides. One side is fearful of what they don’t choose to understand, the other has been pleading for a common sense approach to marijuana, one that will cause the least harm to American citizens. The drug war, the prohibition of marijuana, has caused innumerable harms to millions of Americans. Many advocates for legalization have said that the criminalization of marijuana fails to learn fro m the past. The days of alcohol prohibition did not stop consumption; it just drove it underground and allowed criminal gangs to prosper. That’s true but alcohol is a much more dangerous substance. Alcohol prohibition at least made sense on some level although in practice it was a dismal failure meaning the prohibition of marijuana of beyond the comprehension of any reasonable, rational person. The only explanation for this logical disconnect is that more lawmakers drink than use marijuana, both in the 1930’s and today. Nearly one million Americans are arrested each year for various marijuana violations, about 90 percent for simple possession. Alcohol, a physically addicted substance, as opposed to marijuana, accounts for approximately four percent of fatalities worldwide. Alcohol causes more deaths than violence or AIDS yet is legal, taxed and socially acceptable. Roughly 2.5 million people die from alcohol related reasons worldwide every year. â€Å"If we can ignore this fact year after year, that legal drugs are so much more damaging than marijuana, why is it such a stretch to legalize a drug with so many benefits?† (King, 2012). President Nixon started the â€Å"War on Drugs† in 1970 with a budget of $15 million. Today the money spent on this futile effort has reached $15 billion per year. More than one trillion dollars of taxpayer money has been wasted in total. We learned nothing from the dark days of alcohol prohibition (1919-1933). People then and now had their lives ruined from consuming an unlawful substance that someday will be legal. Their reputations will never recover from a criminal past, however. Alcohol or marijuana prohibition means spending money and allocating law enforcement to increase the criminal element. That’s not the intent but is certainly the result. Gang violence slowed dramatically after alcohol was legalized and the same will happen with marijuana. Legalization will encourage a new market where locally owned businesses will need to hire thousands of employees. Taxing sales will generate millions in tax revenues for local and state governments. Some of that new tax money can be spent of drug education and rehabilitation facilities which will reduce usage and harms to society. This initiate has already been proven to work. Part of cigarette taxes over the past 30 years has gone to educating youths resulting in a dramatic drop in tobacco use among teens. â€Å"If these reforms were adopted, we would be on our way to lessening tragic street violent