The Feudal System Essay Example For Students

The Feudal System Essay The Feudal SystemThe feudal system was a political, military, and economic system based on the holding of land. The system was developed since the whole entire basis of rule from all the civilizations before the Middle Ages was lost. Early Europe was in desperate need of such a system since they were constantly being raided by the Vikings and other outsiders. Man was lonely during the Middle Ages. Life was very harsh and everyone worked except the king. The usual life expectancy was 35. People lived in small farming communities. Everyone lived in constant fear of being raided by foreign invaders such as the Vikings. When they were not worrying about being invaded they were scared of plague and other living conditions. Mans position in the world was unknown. Knowledge, wealth, and governing body had to be recreated. Cities were far and few between and much less populated and developed like todays cities. The Middle Ages was a religious age. Man clung to God as creator. People painstakingly built churches. Religion was what was the most important to people for a long time, and to be excommunicated was horrible. We will write a custom essay on The Feudal System specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now As time progressed the feudal system was created. It was designed to divide the lands and protect from attack. The king first gave a fief or a piece of land to a royal vassal. As proof for this exchange in land a vassal would swear to the lord to be his man all the days of his life and protect him against all men who may live or die. Next came investiture. Investiture was a symbolic gesture when a King or a lord presented a royal vassal or a vassal a stick, a small rod, or a clod of earth to show that he has given him a fief. Now this royal vassal was in charge of a huge piece of land. In order to defend it he would then divide his land into smaller pieces. He would take these smaller pieces and give them to warriors or who agreed to be his own vassals. Thus, the royal vassal became a lord to other vassals. The vassals now under this lord would now divide their lands and grant fiefs to warriors of their own. Last in the dividing of land was the knight whose parcel of land was too sma ll to be divided. Everyone in the feudal system worked except the king. A lord could demand 40 days of battle from his knights in a time of war. During peacetime a vassal had to hold courts of justice, charge tolls on bridges, collect taxes, and much more. A peasant lived on a manor or a small estate from which the lords family gained everything it needed. A peasant farmed the land and did lots of jobs for the lord. Serfs were kind of the same as a peasant except at birth they were bound to the land and could not leave. A free peasant might have become a serf if a bad harvest took place in exchange for bread and protection. Words/ Pages : 533 / 24

What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect From Rece Essays

What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect From Rece Essays What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect From Recent College Graduates? What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect From Recent College Graduates? Philip Davis, Instructional Technology Librarian Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y. Table of Contents Cornell University 2 Cornell Library Conducts Study 2 Research Methodology 3 A Review of the Results 3 Rankings, Groupings, and Correlations 4 Ranking Computer Skills: 4 Grouping Computer Skills: 4 Other Computer Skills 4 Comments From Employers 5 Variability of Employment 5 Communication Skills 5 Adaptability 6 What Do These Results Mean? 6 Why is this research important for librarians? 7 What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect From Recent College Graduates? Philip Davis, Instructional Technology Librarian Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y. The university is responsible for graduating students with the skills necessary to thrive and lead in a rapidly changing technological environment. Meanwhile corporate leaders are putting more emphasis on recruiting individuals with an understanding of computers and information systems. A nationwide survey by the Olsten Corp of 1,481 management systems executives found that computer literacy requirements for all job levels increased dramatically over a three-year period in the early nineties. However, another survey by HR Focus of 20 human resource executives found a lack of computer-literacy skills in recent college graduates. Cornell Library Conducts Study Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library has a formal instruction program that reaches nearly 1,000 participants in over 60 hands-on computer workshops per semester. Workshop topics cover bibliographic research techniques, Internet searching principles, database searching skills, word Processing, Spreadsheets, and information management. Classes are supplemented by several online tutorials. Descriptions of these classes and tutorials are located at mannlib.cornell.edu/workshops/. The purpose of our research was to identify the computer skills employers felt were necessary when recruiting recent Cornell graduates. The results of this study were part of a larger evaluation of computing across the curriculum in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This study was also used as a tool to evaluate our library's instruction program, and provided us with a comparison to a 1990 survey of employers, faculty advisors and graduates in the school of Agricultural Economics. Research Methodology Corporations who regularly visit the Cornell campus to recruit graduating students were our focus population. Our questionnaire was designed to gather information on five categories of computer literacy skill: 1)Creating Documents and Multimedia, 2) Working with Computer Programs, 3) Managing Databases, 4) Manipulating Numeric Data, 5) Computer Networks, a five-point scale was used to indicate competency levels. Of the 300 questionnaires mailed, 150 returned with usable responses. A Review of the Results Generally employers have a high expectation of computer literacy in recent college graduates (Figure 1). A total of 125 (83.3%) indicated that computer competency skills are either important or very important in the hiring decision. Within the Documents and Multimedia section, Word Processing (Figure 2) ranked the highest, with 144 (96%0 of employers expecting at least basic word processing skills. The majority of recruiters (97 or 67%) responded not relevant or none to Desktop Publishing Skills (Figure 3), whereas the re was a clustering of 41 respondents (112 or 75%) wanted at least basic Graphics or Presentation Software Skills (Figure 4). Lastly, the majority of employers did not consider Creating Internet Documents (Figure 5) very important, as 105 (70%) considered this skill not relevant, or would be willing to train. From the Working With Computer Programs section, employers showed a discrepancy in expecting the ability to install or upgrade software (Figure 6). Whereas, 61 (41%) respondents were seeking basic skills, 46 (31%) respondents indicated that this particular skill was not relevant. Ninety-four (64%) employers were looking for at least basic skills to create or modify programs or macros for individual use (Figure 7). The majority of respondents (67%) indicated that the ability to create commercial software (Figure 8) was not relevant to the job; however, for those who responded favorably, 21 (14%) were expecting either intermediate or advanced skills. Skills from the Managing Databases section scored slightly lower, with basic database entry and editing skills (Figure 9) coming out highest in this group-122 (83%) respondents expected at least basic skills. Generally Numeric Data skills (and specifically spreadsheet skills ) scored very highly as a group. Even the ability to perform detailed analysis (Figure 10) was expected by 86% of respondents. Lastly, employers responded very favorably to Computer Network skills (Figure 11). An overwhelming majority (93%) expected e-mail experience, and 63.3% expected competency with