Navigating Professional Contexts

Children are Citizens The City of Port Phillip, an inner local government city in Melbourne Australia, has developed strategies that will challenge the traditional view of children as citizens of the state by theorising children as major actors in the society who have a valid and important understanding of the world in general and can be able to contribute to the development of the society (City of Port Phillip, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Navigating Professional Contexts specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These strategies have been developed as a result of the little recognition children receive when it comes to voicing their opinions or getting their voices heard. Children also lack equal opportunities in the adult world in cases where they are faced with poverty, cultural diversity or disabilities (Smith et al, 2008). The development of the strategies will ensure that the City of Port Phillip has a theoretical and practical framework that will be used to create awareness to the adult community in the city that children should be regarded as citizens who deserve equal opportunities and also to be listened to. The strategies will be used to develop a children’s plan that will reflect on issues such as embedding the concept of children as citizens in the constitution, developing policies and frameworks that will be used to support children’s activities in civic duties within the city and structures of citizenship that will represent the needs of children in Port Phillip (City of Port Phillip, 2009). The decision to include children as citizens of the state arose out of a gap in the Municipal Early Years Plan (MEYP) that did not involve children in its formulation stage. The MEYP was an initiative by the State Government of Victoria which required all councils in Australia to develop a plan for children that would be used in developing strategies that would coordi nate the educational, health care and early childhood development activities of children living in Australia. The City of Port Phillip recognised this gap and decided that a broader approach was needed in dealing with aspects that affected children and promoted new ways of thinking about children’s opportunities in the adult world.Advertising Looking for assessment on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The new way of thinking challenged the State of Victoria’s policies on service delivery to children by proposing that their rights and interests should be considered before any strategic frameworks are developed (City of Port Phillip, 2009). MEYP did not involve any consultation or input from children during the formulation stages of the plan which would create certain gaps when the plan would be used for early childhood development programs and healthcare delivery services for young children (Smith Smale, 2007). The various councils involved in the MEYP plan realised that they did not have the relevant skills and knowledge to develop strategies that are meant for children. The City of Port Phillip took the initiative to consult with children when developing the municipal plan especially during the implementation phase by analysing their ideas and opinions (City of Port Phillip, 2009). To develop a plan that had the incorporation of children’s ideas, the council of Port Phillip analysed the ideas that council staff and community members had about children being viewed as citizens. Most of the staff interviewed were those who had a direct or indirect interaction with children in the community. Their opinions about children were based on the images they had on children and how these images affected their day to day duties. The three images that the council staff and community members had of children were that adults viewed children as objects that could be developed and construc ted by developing policies and procedures to be used in their developmental activities. The other image was that children were seen to be apprentices who could be developed and educated to become future citizens instead of current day citizens. Policies and procedures were developed towards gearing children to become future citizens. These policies were formulated by adults based on their observations on children. The third image about children was that they were viewed as social actors as well as citizens who had valid knowledge about their surrounding community and the world in general. This image represented the fact that children were present day active citizens who were allowed to participate in decision making activities (Smith et al, 2008).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Navigating Professional Contexts specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The assessment carried out by the City of Port Phillip showed th at children were able to express their views and opinions on matters that affected them when they were given an opportunity to do so; there were hierarchies for citizenship that included children in the society. There was a need for members of the community to view children as citizens who deserved equal opportunities and rights. People who worked in organizations or communities that mostly dealt with children were required to view them as equal opportunity members while they carried out their work. There was also a need to develop a culture that would ensure the participation of children in community developmental activities (Smith et al, 2008). The strategies that were developed by the City of Port Phillip that would be used in recognising children as citizens included championing the cause with influence by involving people in authoritative positions such as politicians, members of parliament and councillors. The endorsement of children to be viewed as citizens by these people in authoritative positions would ensure that community members would also see the benefits of having children as equal opportunity members of the society. These authoritative figures also had access to state and government funds that could be channelled to awareness activities of viewing children as citizens. The other strategy developed by the council of Port Phillip was to assess the educational opportunities on offer in the city and what the contents of the education system were. This entailed conducting a critical reflection process on the council member’s image of children which required that they should identify and support responsibilities that were targeted towards ensuring children were involved in decision making activities (City of Port Phillips, 2009). The other strategy involved developing protocols that would see children’s views and opinions being used in community development activities. Children’s views and consent would be used in developing prog rams and theoretical frameworks that would not only affect them but the adults in the society as well.Advertising Looking for assessment on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Developing these protocols would involve designing tools that would be used in consulting with children in policy and procedure formulation processes. Some of the tools that have been used by the City of Port Phillip include individual interviews where children are interviewed by adults and also by other children, group discussions, and artistic work such as drawing, photographs, painting and videography (City of Port Phillip, 2009). The City of Port Phillip is focused on developing a children’s plan that will incorporate the views of all the children in the city. According to statistics, the past four years have seen more than 400 children who are aged between 0 to 12 years contributing their ideas and opinions on ways of improving the living and learning conditions of Port Phillip. As a result, the information will be used by the local council authorities to develop a MEYP plan that will incorporate the views and needs of children in relation to policy formulation and proce dures (City of Port Phillip, 2009). Children deserve a challenging and safe learning environment The Government of Australia has developed an early learning framework for children in Australia that will be used by child educators to enrich their lives by providing education that prepares them for adult life. The framework is also meant to provide a smooth transition for the children during the various stages of their educational life. The framework is based on the vision that all children have the right to access the best opportunities that will enable them to start their lives on a good note and create a good future for themselves. The framework was developed after gathering input from various sectors such as the early childhood educators, children in early educational programs and the state, territorial governments of Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). The early childhood framework was developed to ensure that children received quality education and learning experiences that would develop them in the later stages of their lives. The framework outlines learning outcomes that will be used to gauge the skills, knowledge and abilities that children should have once they have complete the educational programs. The learning outcomes that have been outlined include teaching children to have a strong sense of identity and wellbeing, educating children to be connected to the world by equipping them with skills they can use in contributing to the development activities in their communities, and teaching children to be confident and effective communicators (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). The type of learning that will take place in relation to the outcomes will be influenced by the children’s capabilities and learning preferences, the techniques that the educator uses to teach the children, the learning environment and the integration of the learning practices with learning outcomes. The framework recognises the fact that learning is a continuous pr ocess that is not always predictable and certain.Each child progresses towards the learning outcomes in their own specific way and educators are expected to design their learning programs to meet each child’s specific needs (COA, 2009). The learning outcome that requires children to have a strong sense of identity involves teaching them to be themselves and developing their confidence levels. While they learn about themselves, children build their own identities based on the social settings of the community and their families. Their identities are also based on the types of relationships they have with family members and people that live in their surroundings. Developing a strong sense of identity will involve providing a learning environment that is safe and challenging. Children learn and grow more quickly when they are in a safe and secure environment (COA, 2009). A safe learning environment will ensure that children are able to build secure relationships with their peers, family members, educators and their community members. Safe and secure learning environments will also ensure that they have a sense of belonging in the learning environment as well as enable them to communicate their needs and demands to the people concerned. Safe learning environments allow children to express their feelings and ideas freely without any fear of being reprimanded. Children can also be able to initiate conversations with other people as well as respond to the suggestions offered by other people (HM Government, 2005). The early years learning framework also outlines that children deserve to have a learning environment that is challenging and allows them to develop interdependency skills as well as a sense of resiliency in their lives. A learning environment that is challenging allows children to have an increasing awareness to the needs of their peers as well as allow them to be open to any challenges that might arise while they are learning. Learning programs that are challenging allow children to develop persistency and critical thinking to their learning tasks as well as ensure they have confidence when approaching new and difficult situations (COA, 2009). The educational program should be designed in a way that ensures children are inspired and challenged after completing the learning program. Children who are exposed to a culture of reading and studying only without experiencing any extra curriculum activities such as music, sports and social activities are more likely to develop a negative attitude towards learning. Children should therefore be challenged academically to ensure they are inspired to perform learning tasks to the best of their abilities (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2010). Children are capable learners whose perspectives should be listened to, respected and integrated into the learning environment This statement is exemplified under the learning outcome of developing a strong sense of identity in the Early Years Learning Framework developed for the educational sector in Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). Children who are capable learners have a broad variety of ideas, opinions and perspectives on different learning activities. They deserve to have an opportunity to have these perspectives listened to and respected for their value. For children to be viewed as capable learners they should feel recognised and respected for who they are by educators, their peers, their family members and the society. They are also able to share aspects of their upbringing, cultural backgrounds and religion with their friends during the learning process. Integrating children’s perspectives into the learning environment will ensure that they are able to develop a strong foundation in the family setting and also the community setting as well as enable them to reach out for assistance and companionship (State of Victoria, 2009). Enacting the Value Statements into Practice It is im portant to view children as important contributors to the society by ensuring that their voices and opinions are heard when it comes to developing programs that will benefit them in the long term. Children should therefore be accorded citizenship in their respectable communities or societies a fete that can be achieved by incorporating their ideas into educational programs and developing strategies that will ensure they are involved in the formulation of governmental policies and procedures (UNCRC, 2006). Creating a safe and challenging environment for learning will allow children to develop confidence skills and capabilities that will mould them into leadership positions. Having their perspectives and opinions listened to will also ensure that they can become leaders at the later stages of their life. This can be achieved by creating educational programs that have social learning activities which will allow children to demonstrate their leadership abilities and skills like the Mast er in School Leadership (MSL) program developed for all educational schools in Victoria. The program builds a child’s capacity for leadership opportunities within the school and also in the outside world (Matthews et al, 2007). References Association for Supervision and Curriculum, Development (ASCD) (2010). Educating the whole child: the new learning compact. Web. City of Port Phillip (2005). Municipal Early Years Plan- creating a child friendly Port  Phillip: a framework for action and three year implementation plan 2005-2009. Web. City of Port Phillip (2009). Children’s participation in urban settings: respecting children  as active citizens. Melbourne: City of Port Phillip. Commonwealth of Australia (COA) (2009). The early years learning framework for  Australia. Australian Government: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments. HM Government (2005).Working together to safeguard children: a guide to i nter-agency  working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Web. Matthews, P., Moorman, H., Nusche, D., (2007). School leadership development  strategies: building leadership capacity in Victoria, Australia. Victoria: OECD, Directorate for Education. Smith, K., MacNaughton, G., Alexander, K., (2008). Respecting children as active  citizens: participation in policies and services. Melbourne: University of Melbourne. Web. Smith, K., Smale, J., (2007). Listening to children: local government respecting  children’s rights to citizenship. Brussels: Diversity in Early Childhood Education and Training (DECET). State of Victoria (2009). Victorian early years learning and development framework: for  all children from birth to eight years. Victoria, Australia: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. United Nations Committee on the Rights of the child (UNCRC) (2006). A guide to  general comment 7: implementing child rights in early childhood. T he Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation. 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Free Essays on Losing Samantha; Gaining Compassion

were like ice that sent an uninterrupted chill down my spine. â€Å"Samantha has a large tumor on her back.† My knees went weak. I understood from those past two minutes that my life was about to change forever. The news about my 12 year old sister broke out into the small 1500 population town within the hour my dad spoke it. Everyone came together suddenly to organize fundraisers to help out our family with the outrageous bills that were soon to come. The young people from every church made plans for a prayer breakfast in honor of Samantha. Each church had their young people say a prayer, sing a song, or give a small presentation about my sister. Samantha’s dad, Brian, called my dad one day with encouraging news. â€Å"My friends are putting together a festival in honor of Samantha.† I thought this was very generous because he was going through the same situation we were. Ladies from the church my dad pastors came up with the idea of selling barbeque dinners and bake sales. They put their minds to work right away. They labored for hours in taking orders, donations, and preparing the food. I had no idea the people that lived in that miniature town could be so concer ned about my little sister and her family. It seems everyone understood what we were going through and helped us ... Free Essays on Losing Samantha; Gaining Compassion Free Essays on Losing Samantha; Gaining Compassion Losing Samantha; Gaining Compassion October 3, 2000 seemed just like any other Monday. I was working at Brown’s, an independently owned grocery store. My dad came in with Shelby and Colton, my youngest sister and brother, earlier than he usually did on a school day. He approached my register with a somber expression on his face that will never be forgotten. Samantha, my other sister who was also younger than me, had been complaining of backaches and had been visiting hospitals and doctors habitually. An uneasy reaction inside told me the news he was about to share with me pertained to her and was not going to be enjoyable. His words were like ice that sent an uninterrupted chill down my spine. â€Å"Samantha has a large tumor on her back.† My knees went weak. I understood from those past two minutes that my life was about to change forever. The news about my 12 year old sister broke out into the small 1500 population town within the hour my dad spoke it. Everyone came together suddenly to organize fundraisers to help out our family with the outrageous bills that were soon to come. The young people from every church made plans for a prayer breakfast in honor of Samantha. Each church had their young people say a prayer, sing a song, or give a small presentation about my sister. Samantha’s dad, Brian, called my dad one day with encouraging news. â€Å"My friends are putting together a festival in honor of Samantha.† I thought this was very generous because he was going through the same situation we were. Ladies from the church my dad pastors came up with the idea of selling barbeque dinners and bake sales. They put their minds to work right away. They labored for hours in taking orders, donations, and preparing the food. I had no idea the people that lived in that miniature town could be so concer ned about my little sister and her family. It seems everyone understood what we were going through and helped us ...

Workplace Violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Workplace Violence - Essay Example Workplace violence is a growing concern for employers and employees all over the world (OSHA, 2002). Though any worker can be subjected to workplace violence, some occupations place certain individuals at increased risk of violence. Workers who deal with money, who deliver goods, passengers or services, those who work alone or work with small groups, workers who work late in the nights or early hours in the morning are at increased risk of workplace violence. Others at risk are those who work in areas with high crime rates, in community settings and in health care and social services. Psychiatric evaluators, nurses, water utility employees, TV cable installers, letter carriers, taxi drivers, retail workers and probation officers are also at risk for violence (OSHA, 2002). 1. Type 1: Violence by criminals who are not associated with the workplace, but enter the workplace with intentions of robbery or any other such crime. This type of violence accounts for about 80% of workplace homicides. Taxi drivers and late-night retailers are at increased risk of this type of violence. The motive in this type of incidents is usually theft and in many cases the criminal will be carrying dangerous weapons like gun. 2. Type- 2: Violence by the receivers of service against the service providers. Examples of this type of violence are violence against doctors or nurses by the patients, violence against teachers by the students and violence by the customers against the retailers. Even police officers, security guards, correctional officers and mental health workers are at risk of this type of assault. The largest number of victims facing this type of violent behavior are those in healthcare services. 4. Type- 4: Violence stemming from a personal relationship: The violence is committed by an individual who has no direct association with the workplace but is personally related to one of the workers either through marriage or

What will happen to Iraq if the US leaves Essay

What will happen to Iraq if the US leaves - Essay Example One of the most important events in the current world affairs is the invasion of Iraq by the US and there have been several essential voices arguing that it is high time for the US to leave the region to set the Iraqis free to pursue their political and economic destiny. Critics who regard the invasion of Iraq by the US as a serious offence against the freedom of that nation argue that America needs to establish normalcy in the region before they leave the land. "No one can say with confidence what will happen in Iraq if the United States leaves precipitously and without making a continuing effort to compensate for its mistakes and failures. It is easy to talk about intensive civil war, 'blood baths', and an international resurgence of al-Qaida. Such worst cases are possible, but the most likely result is less violent sectarian and ethnic cleansing, and the de facto division of much of the country." (Cordesman and Davies, 2008, p 737). Therefore, the most essential question in the pr esent context is not whether the US invasion of Iraq is justifiable or not, but what happens if the US leaves Iraq all on a sudden. In this paper a careful and reflective analysis of this essential question concerning Iraq's future if the US leaves the region is conducted and the discussion in this regard not only is vital to an understanding of the political system in the US but also to an understanding of some of the most important world affairs as well as affairs in the Iraqi region. In a careful analysis of the current situation in Iraq, it is essential to comprehend that there are several benefits if the US army stay longer in the region. People, who consider that going into Iraq was a big mistake committed by the US, are greatly concerned about what will happen when USA leaves Iraq. To most of them, it will be foolish to consider that the Iraqis are able to defend themselves against all the issues in the country and the region. First of all, there will be great chaos in the nation and the region if the US leaves immediately. Although there are people who argue for the rapid withdrawal of the US troops from the region, on the basis of the unfortunate developments precipitated by the US invasion of Iraq, it is not logical for the army to leave the region before the Iraqi security forces are self-sufficient. Such a rapid withdrawal of the US troops will inflict long term damage on US credibility and ability to deter enemies and would facilitate the objectives of the al-Qaeda. "In Iraq, the United States has demonstrated that it will stand and fight in the face of adversity when it believes that its core interests are at stake. US determination in Iraq has done much to counter previous jihadists' perceptions of the United States as a 'paper tiger' If the United States leaves prematurely, these gains will be lost and Iraq will join Vietnam, Beirut, Aden, and Somalia in the jihadi mantra regarding US weakness." (Forest, 2007, p 47). Apart from these, it is also argued that some of the powerful leaders from within Iraq can emerge in the nation, take over the government and eventually result in another dictatorship. Also there is a possibility that Iran will invade Iraq and take over it if the US leaves the region all on a sudden. There is a serious argument that "Iraq will become a terrorist haven if the United States leaves." (Preble and Logan, 2005). Reports from the Baghdad confirms that the US withdrawal from the region can affect the norma lization process of the country and "Iraq's foreign minister warned that a quick American military withdrawal from the country could lead to a full-scale civil war, the collapse of the government and

Why is education important to enlisted service members Essay

Why is education important to enlisted service members - Essay Example A service member’s removal from society during their term of service can be an incredible challenge to them, and free education can help diminish this problem. Like prison inmates, enlisted service people spend a great deal of their time sequestered from â€Å"normal† society – while on deployment they live by different rules and codes than they would back home. This can make re-transitioning into society extremely difficult, but education, which provides both paths to suitable employment on return and can provide perspective for a life in the military can help smooth these transitions between â€Å"normal† and â€Å"military† society. Another important reason to provide a free education to service members is the different skill qualities and career length they get from working in the armed services. The average military career is not a life-long one – most people choose to retire from this grueling career path relatively early in life (compared to other professions) some get out as soon as their first term of service is done, while some make it into their thirties and forties. When they retire, they often have a long and productive life ahead of them – but not necessarily that many skills that can translate directly to a new job placement. Yes, some gain technical skills in communications or maintenance, and of course they learn things like trust, team work and so on from working in the military but this may be of only limited utility. Education, either in the form of courses, certificates or anything else, can help enlisted people get a happy and productive second career in civilian life. Education may not be the silver bullet to all of humanities woes, but it can help smooth transitions between military and civilian life, leading to important long term benefits for the people who serve our country. Providing one hundred percent tuition assistance can help armed services members with their return to civilian and post

Wireless Networks Security Privacy And Ethical Issues Computer Science Essay

Wireless Networks Security Privacy And Ethical Issues Computer Science Essay Wireless area networks (WLANS) have been increased drastically increased in every area such as educational institutions, homes public areas and businesses wireless based on the standard 802.11 are mostly used in the corporate and environment such as 802.11b operates at 2.4GHZ and gives up to 11mbps and 802.11a provides up to 54MBPS. In this paper I am going to discus about the wireless network security and privacy issues and the solutions The 802.11 standard includes some mechanisms to give the security of the transmitted data. So many papers have already written about that the mechanisms available are insufficient to provide the security The main problem always with wireless security is the no control on the communication medium. Radio waves do not care where the property lines are drawn. When comes to wired network it uses the physical medium like copper and fiber optic cables these can be much more easier to stop the attacks on the cables. Wireless networks are become more popular in the last decade. Big companys and general end users also using every day because of the local wireless networks: user mobility, simple and fast installation, scalability and low price. Wireless local area network enable the users to access the network with in the range of the network coverage without any wired network. Data transferred using the radio waves through the space any user can access these using a radio receiver. Since there is a problem of the protection of the data. So the mechanisms which can be applied for security for a wired network cannot be applied to wireless networks. It is compulsory there should be a mechanism wh ich can be able to protect and give some privacy Day by day the numbers of applications that can be supported by the wireless technology are increasing. People can access the internet from any public area such as cafes, airports, hotels etc. There are some privacy issues are concern when comes to the public hotpots that are ex: if suppose a customer want to create an account on a website he has to give the name and some other personal details as any of the above mentioned attacks may give a chance to get these details to attackers . networks and information about the protocols which are used in the network because different protocols provides the different security services so leaking the protocol information may cause big problem to the network Eavesdropping is technique which is used to tack the UN-encrypted wireless sessions from which the data can be extracted and that is used for the dangerous kinds and another kind of the eavesdropping is known that the attacker injects the packets in the network packets in the network this kind of attacks happens in the encrypted networks. An attacker injects the packets and receives the packet in the reverse to understand the encryption techniques and breach the network The above mentioned attacks are mainly affected the networks but not the specific users. Once an attacker get access the network then attacker starts another type of threats starts to accessing the network devices but sometimes the privileges given to the resources in the network prevents the attackers to access the resources Another type of attack is that the interference the sessions and after that it does not allow the station to reestablish connection with access point. Than the attacker establishes connection with access point. Now there are two connections between the AP and the two workstations now the attacker workstation can access the communication between the end user and the access point Confidentiality is the property of the data in general security is necessary for the most of the organizations. wireless is the broadcast network to maintain Confidentiality it is not an easy thing today so many packet analyzers available in the internet which are commonly used to braking the network for example a access point transmitting the 3000 bytes at 11mbps will take 24 bit space after approximately 10hours 5 Ethical issues with WIFI Networks: When comes to the open network which offers free network connections to browse or download etc and using the GPS devices there is no any legal rules are defined to protect the privacy however node scanning is not illegal according to the US rules but when comes to the robbing the service or attacking the services and robbing the information. When comes to the node scanning is the issue of the location of the person or Access point. it may also gives the issues of the location privacy of the user or the location of an access point In general breaching the accespoints are used to do the following things: To access the Adult websites or to inject virus in the network To grab the bank accounts and the money theft To get the experience of the hacking Recently many studies as shown by setting up duplicate access points to learn about the scanning on an average 3 to 4 attempts per day tried to access the duplicate access points and recently a experiment in London shown that two friends are trying to rob the credit card details of the customers of the store those were caught after stealing many card numbers Unauthorized access is causes the ethical problems ex there is no regulations to act on a person who log onto anothers computer an open network this case has occurred in 2004 in US . accessing the other network or resources without the permission is comes under robbing if suppose using the someone else network bandwidth means the owner of the network no longer can use the full bandwidth which is allocated to him its also comes under the stealing. Gamming thefts like that it uses the more bandwidth than any other applications people pay money for their network connections. Some people can do anything to access the network. Day by day people are getting aware of the problems with the open networks. Now a days owners of the network setting passwords and applying the security. Hackers still access the internet so there are number of tools to crack the passwords some websites has been developed to support hacker to provide the general or default passwords. There are some responsibilities on manufacturers a recent study shows that more than 75 % people dont configure the WPA security if providers are not warnings. Where this provides the high level security and the dynamic encryption provides the different encryption keys In this paper I have taken the qualitative approach to write this paper. In 802.11 some authentication mechanisms available : Shared key Authentication: In this approach authentication process is completed by the response to a challenge by the access point which is known as challenge and response Open system Authentication: In this approach SSID is used for the Authentication if the SSID is known access can be granted Centralized authentication: In this method a server is used for the authentication if the node is authenticated then only it can access the network Conclusion: providing the security to wireless networks and giving the privacy to the user is an big task because proving the security in the wireless means threats in WIFI and wired together and the threats provided by the newly emerging technologies so with the proper risk assessment and the planning the network security is the good way to provide the security to the because when comes to the university the level of security is different and the offices and bank security needs are different so what come to say that the protocols which are developed by the organizations such as 802.11 will cover the every end user requirements so according to the requirement of the organization need to change the security policies an the open networks are always threat to end users because it is not possible to provide the security to the every end user only way to create the security is giving the unique encryption methods to every user which is a difficult task . but open networks provides the grater opportun ities to the user to connect all time

Comparing the Trial in The Plague and Hamlet :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Archetype of the Trial in The Plague and Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚   Rare is the tale without a conflict, without a challenge to overcome. However, to even reach the challenge the hero must first pass through the Trial. The archetype of the Trial can be found in almost any folktale. King Arthur must draw the sword from the stone to prove himself fit to be king. Hercules must face labors to atone for the murders committed in his madness. It is prominent in other areas of literature as well; it is especially well represented in The Plague by Albert Camus and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.    The Trial serves two purposes: to prove worth and to atone for wrongs and purify. When the Trial is used to prove the worth of the hero, the hero must prove that he is capable and worthy enough to be the hero and that he will be able to face the ultimate conflict. This aspect of the Trial is what is also known as the Initiation (Campbell 97). In Arthurian mythology Arthur must pull the Excalibur from the stone. This trial proves him worthy to be king because only the true heir to the crown is able to draw the sword. The basis of authority for his rule is thus established. In Hamlet, Prince Hamlet must endure heart wrenching grief, betrayal by those closest to him, and murder in order to prove that he is fit to take action. However, while Arthur had to prove to the nobles of the land that he was fit to be king, Hamlet's trial is an inward proof to himself that he is in the right and his father's death must be avenged.    The Trial is also used to purify the hero and help him atone for evils. This is seen clearly in the Hercules legend of Greek mythology. The jealous goddess Hera uses her power to make Hercules insane and in his madness he slaughters his own children. He then journeys to Delphi and consults the oracle which tells him that he must serve for ten years as his cousin Eurytheus' servant and must perform ten labors. Through his labors he is able to atone for his past evil deeds and regain the favor of the gods (D'Aulaire 132-146).    Hamlet is a tale which puts many of its characters through trials but none suffer as much as Prince Hamlet himself.