Thursday, November 28, 2019

Perceived Physical Competence and the Physical Activity free essay sample

The Perceived Physical Competence Subscale for Children (PPCSC) (Harter, 1982) was modified to measure children’s perceptions of physical competence (26 self-efficacy questions). Children’s patterns of physical activity were measured by a modification to Sallis McKenzie’s Self Administered Physical Activity Checklist (SAPAC). Each item on the PPCSC was matched with an activity on the SAPAC scale. Modifications to both scales were made as a result of pilot testing performed with the sample population. A significant positive linear relationship was found between children’s perceptions of competence and their amount of physical activity. Significant positive correlations were also found for a number of self-efficacy measures and the amount of time children chose to engage in these specific activities. Significant gender differences were found between boys and girls in overall perceptions of competence, as well as in a number of self-efficacy measures. Boys were typically higher is self-efficacy on most physical activities with the exception of gymnastics, dance, and jump rope. We will write a custom essay sample on Perceived Physical Competence and the Physical Activity or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The 7th grade boys had the highest perceptions of competence, while 7th grade girls were the lowest of all four groups. These perceptions of competence were reflected in whether children chose to participate in an activity or not. Children generally chose to engage in activities that they perceived themselves competent . There also appear to be very powerful socio-cultural influences on the types of activities that boys and girls choose (Lirgg, 1992). Girls were significantly more active in health enhancing lifetime physical activities such as walking, jogging, and bicycling, and chose activities of a lower intensity level than boys. Contrary to the literature, this study found no significant differences in the total amount of physical activity between boys and girls. It was hypothesized that the rural setting in which this study was conducted may have influenced this outcome. No significant differences were found between grades in perceptions of competence or physical activity time. DEDICATION To my wife, Kim, and our three children, Sam, Corey, and Sierra. Without your unconditional love, enduring devotion, and tireless support I would not have been able to attain this accomplish. Kim, you have persevered through the long nights, and hard days with very little support from me, yet you were always there to keep me going. God has surely blessed me far more than I deserve. I love you. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. George Graham, for all that he has done for me. Who opened up a whole new world to me, and I will never be the same. He challenged, pushed, and nurtured me through one of the most challenging yet rewarding times in my life. I could not have been blessed with a better mentor. Thank you for giving part of yourself to me and my family, your guidance and friendship are cherished gifts. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Richard Stratton, Dr. Jerry Niles, Dr. Kusum Singh, and Dr. Andy Stremmel for all of the time that you gave out of very busy schedules. Your wisdom and guidance are greatly appreciated. Every one of you contributed significantly to this great accomplishment in my life, and I am indebted to you. A special thank you to Dr. Singh for never saying ‘no’ to my requests for statistical help. To Don and Carolyn Forsythe, who have supported me and my family throughout this entire endeavor. I cannot express my gratitude and appreciation for all that you have done. You were that piece of security that we all needed when times got tough. We knew that gramma and grampa would always be there with their love and encouragement no matter what the occasion. Sam, Corey, and Sierra my beautiful gifts from God. We made it! I always knew that I would find love and acceptance in you three. The times that we played together, fished, told stories, prayed, and just talked will always be cherished memories for me. Children are relatively inactive for a majority of time in physical education classes (McKenzie et al. , 1996; Simons-Morton et al. , 1990; Sleap Warburton, 1992). Reported in Healthy People 2000 , in 1983, students spent an average of 27% of physical education class time involved in physical activity (USDHHS, 1991). These conclusions are supported by researchers on childrens physical activity in physical education (Corbin, 1987; McKenzie et al. 1996; Simons-Morton et al. 1987). Sadly, physical education often has a negative effect on the physical activity levels of many children. Physical activity levels are gradually eroded because of unpleasant experiences caused by embarrassment, pain, and failure associated with physical education (Sleap Warburton, 1992). In one study, adult disinclination to exercise was linked to a lack of favorable physical activity during adolescence (Simons-Morton, 1987). There can be positive effects of physical education on physical activity patterns in children. Programs that make attending physical education a pleasant experience and that can explain specific benefits of exercise can influence exercise intent and can enhance students’ future exercise behavior (Ferguson et al. 1989). Sallis (1987) and others continue this line of thinking by reporting that school physical education programs must affect physical activity outside of class and over time if they are to be considered successful. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that even innovative physical education programs have been successful in improving long-term incre ases in physical activity. 55 The strongest reason for health related physical education, however, appears to be the prevention of CVD (McKenzie Sallis, 1996, p. 226). This

Monday, November 25, 2019

Babbitt essays

Babbitt essays The 1920s saw the rise of the true American consumer. For the first time in U.S. history more Americans lived in urban rather than rural areas. The nation prospered as a whole, but the wealth widened the gap between the rich and the poor. It was during this time that a great outpour of creative talent produced artists of all types who indicated the United States for being artistically barren. Authors such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis began to emerge and thus Babbitt was born. Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, created the true symbol of American life and values in the 1920s with his satirical character George F. Babbitt. Babbitt tells the tale of an average family living in the 1920s while accurately portraying American life and culture. With such a lively character as George Babbitt, it is hard for anyone not to enjoy this novel. Although a satire, Babbitt does deal with many real life situations which build up to Lewis thesis that no matter how hard people try they cannot change who they are. Through his use of detail, dialogue, and description Lewis is able to appeal to his readers emotionally, intellectually, and ethically. The Roaring Twenties marked a time of great prosperity. Everyone in America was trying to get a piece of the pie. Although he was well off, Babbitt did anything he could to get ahead in life, just as most people do today. Sinclair Lewis tries to create the average American by making him a middle-class, materialistic, hypocritical conformist. Lewis uses detail to make his character as real as possible; in fact detail is used throughout the novel so that the story would be believable and easy to relate to. With many mentions of jazz music, prohibition, and opinions of womens latest fashions being too short, the many details in Babbitt affect readers intellectually because they give the readers a feel for t...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Challenges ahead in running department store business in China A case Dissertation

Challenges ahead in running department store business in China A case study on GrandBuy how to achieve sustainable growth - Dissertation Example Technology, in the form of ERP, SCM and even CRM are tools that will enable the organization to store data. The data generated by these software then becomes an information that can be related to other information in order for it to become tangible knowledge. Knowledge is then use to become the basis or intelligence for a working action plan to achieve a particular goal. Each employee in a learning organization is tasked if not has the responsibility to share their tacit knowledge to contribute to the organization’s explicit knowledge to sustain growth. Creating a learning organization is not a walk in the park, the challenges faced by an organization in its transformation to a learning organization shall be explored in this paper. ... ing and Leading Fundamental Change in Organisations†, Richard Beckhard & Wendy Pritchard commented: "It is no longer true that organisations can (1) Control their own destiny (2) Operate in a stable and predictable society." Therefore to have competitive supremacy, increasing profits and maximum control over company's destiny it is essential to innovate, learn quickly and respond quickly. This must be done by managing change within the organisation (Beckhard & Pritchard, 1992). This paper shall discuss the possible challenges of Guanzhou GrandBuy Co. Ltd. or GrandBuy for brevity as it transform itself from an organization that did not worry about profit or its bottom line to a learning organization that will enable them to sustain their growth without government intervention. They understood that good strategic management only exists with a good knowledge base within the organization. Therefore, GrandBuy emphasized on the need to upgrade the knowledge quality of the whole organ ization from management to staff of all levels. They strive to transform GrandBuy into a Learning Organization. In short, by being aware of the environment and trends outside the organisation and working with those within the organisation who are keen to make â€Å"change† a strategic approach will eventually pay dividends. "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change". Everybody appears to understand the needs for change without too much explanation. So the next series of question are what need to be answered in order for change to set in; who needs change; where does â€Å"needs† change and then how to change. By answering all these questions, the management needs to have a robust strategic plan. The next step is about implementation in the forms of policies, guidelines,

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Death penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Death penalty - Essay Example Even though I was too young to understand the meaning completely, the issue had a great impact on me. . After long term consideration I believe that the death penalty should be legal because it helps prevent violent crime and saves lives of innocent people. Different countries view the death penalty differently. Here what I would like to talk about is the death penalty in China, Japan and the U.S. These countries are the three largest economies in the world, and they are where I have grown up and live. . Japan and China are based on Eastern culture, and the U.S is based on Western Culture. They have similarities and differences; however, they all have the death penalty. In the U.S. there are two reasons why people support death penalty, and they are retribution and deterrence. The idea of retribution is that a murderer must sacrifice his life because he took someone’s life, and the basic idea is â€Å"an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.† The idea of deterrence i s that death penalty can prevent people from committing murder. Both Japan and China subscribe to these two reasons for the death penalty, but seem to be more supportive of the death penalty than people in the U.S. ... students were the lowest and Japanese students were in the middle (Shanhe et al.). I grew up in Japan and China, and this might contribute to the reason why I strongly agree with death penalty. The death penalty may be a factor in saving lives. People make their decisions based on their costs or benefits; therefore, a person may stop himself from killing someone if he knows he may be executed as a result (Muhlhausen). It is similar to not stealing because there will be a punishment. If the punishment is execution there will be less likelihood of stealing. The stricter the law, the less and less people commit a crime because everybody fears death, even animals. Most criminals would think twice if they knew their own lives were at stake. Second, many studies have shown that executions can lead to a decrease in murder rates; and on the other hand that abolishing the death penalty increases the incidence of murder. Professor Shepherd analyzed data from 1977 to 1999 and found that the com bination of death row sentences and executions deterred many types of murders. She estimated that each death row sentence deters approximately 4.5 murders, and each execution approximately 3 murders. A second issue Shepherd examined was the impact of delaying the execution on deterrence. The numerous appeals and stays of execution that criminals request imply that they prefer lengthy death row waits. Shepherd therefore theorized that shortening the death row wait may increase the deterrence, and estimates that for every 2.75 year reduction in the death row wait for execution one extra murder could be deterred. It means that shorter term of waiting execution can save human’s life (Muhlhausen). According to the U.S. Murder Rate and Executions, the murder rate decreases when the

Monday, November 18, 2019

Anthropocene Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anthropocene - Essay Example uction as one of the many activities that human beings involve themselves in on earth has also contributed to the many changes that has been experienced on earth over the last 200 years. For example, in most construction, cement is always used. Studies have proved that the use of cement leads to omission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. A single tone of cement is believed to have the ability of producing a huge amount of carbon dioxide. Carbon emission is the highest contributor to global warming (Zalasiewicz, Williams, Smith, Barry, Coe, Bown & Stone, 2008). Over the last 200 years, it can be noticed that human construction activities have highly increased. There are more people undertaking construction using cement in the modern world as compared to 200 years ago. The mining of substances such as limestone for the manufacture of cement is also believed to have interfered with the earth’s topography in the last 200 years. A look at the places where mining of limestone tak es place will surely prove the effect of the mining to the land’s topography. There has been a great transformation of the earth’s surface over the last 200 years. Most of the cities that are well known in the modern world were not there some 200 years ago. In short, it can be said that cities and human settlements are the dominants of the landscape. All these are attributed to the construction activities that human beings have involved themselves in the last 200 years. In the process of building new cities and human settlements, it is evident that human beings were doing away with the natural vegetation that was covering the earth at that moment. Apart from the natural vegetation there were also the inhabitants of the natural vegetation who had to be displaced as a result of such developments (Smith & Zeder, 2013). The displaced animals had either to adapt to a new kind of life or end up being distinct. The clearing of natural vegetation has also led to an increase in global

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Self Directed Work Team (SDWT) Advantages and Disadvantages

Self Directed Work Team (SDWT) Advantages and Disadvantages A Briefing on Self Directed Work Team (SDWT) by Group 5 Self Directed Work Team is a powerful concept since the ancient Roman legion and today approximately 68% of fortune 1000 companies implement SDWT concept including Ford, GM, PG, FedEx, etc. (Lawler, Mohrman, Ledford ,1995). Definition Vecchio (2003, p.107) defined Self Directed Work Teams (SDWT) as â€Å"a highly trained group of six to eighteen employees that is fully responsible for creating a specific product†. And according to an article in Entrepreneur Connect   (Anon, 1995) â€Å"self -directed teams are small groups of employees who have responsibility for managing themselves and their work†. Success in todays challenging competitive environment is based on employee empowerment and team work (Boyett Boyett, 1998). This could be closely related to Herzbergs motivating factor which was later simply defined by Barbara (n.d.) as â€Å"what makes you work well†. Many companies are attracted to this innovation because of the prospect of flattening the organizational structure in these times when downsizing, flattening and work process reengineering are so crucial (Coates and Miller, 1995). SDWT leads to increased organizational effectiveness and employee satisfaction (Forsyth, 1999) which in todays business is being the competitive advantage (Ron Williams, n.d). Advantages of SDWT General Motors, Proctor Gamble Xerox by implementing SDWT resulted in approximately 30-40% improvement in productivity (Bruce,n.d.). In Kodak customer assistance centre SDWT resulted in 100% increase in profits (Anon, n.d.).FedEx improved their service by reducing the loss of packages and incorrect billing by 13%. Rubbermaid increased sales by 50% above projections Quality improvement. Increased productivity and reduced cost. Highly flexible. Simpler job classification and each member know every process through job rotation which will reduce dependency one person. Better innovation and creativity. Team members are motivated by job satisfaction, empowerment, trust, feel of ownership personal growth which in turn benefit the company as a whole. SDWT is being a vehicle for bringing in the Total Quality Management concept in an organization (Vecchio,2006,p.112) Following statistics based on a review of organization that transferred to SDWT (John Cotter, n.d.) well prove the positive impact. 93% reported improve productivity 86% reported decreased operating cost 86% reported improved quality 70% reported better employee attitudes Given the above advantages and success stories there are consequences and problems in challenging the success of SDWT and even driving to the opposite direction to failure. Consequences of SDWT Elimination of supervisory position. The need for shift from holding the decision making power to delegation and allowing autonomy. In other words supervisor should act as a facilitator and provide guidance to teams especially outside the teams areas of expertise. Supervisors should manage communication and monitor the effectiveness. Leaders promote team work and corporation (Brillhart, 1983). The key in supervisory role is to motivate â€Å"Self-Direction†. In an interview with Sterling Health USA, employees often quoted that â€Å"Before, the group leader made all the decisions. You didnt know why the decisions were madenow we do† (Peter, 1999). But is the team leader ready to accept the transition from holding the power to delegation? Is S/He ready to improve the skills to qualify as a facilitator? Requirement for heavy investment in training. Training needed for both supervisors and team members in building various skills. Cloke and Goldsmith ( 2002, pp 205-214 ) identified ten skills those are essential for members of the work teams to develop self management, communication, leadership, responsibility, supporting diversity, feedback and evaluation, strategic planning, shaping successful meeting, resolving conflicts and enjoyment. Williams (n.d.) mentioned â€Å"It is not uncommon for self-directed work teams to spend 20% of their time in ongoing training†. Organization willing to implement SDWT should have a clear training strategy including cross training opportunity and resources. Top management should design the training policy and budget for it. Need for more flatter and flexible organizational structure. The decision making authority is transformed to the team members to eliminate waste of time relying on approvals from managers. Self-direction, autonomy, empowerment are the key players in success of SDWT which is facilitated only on flat structures. Responsibilities assigned to workers in GM clearly indicate the need for flat structure.(William,1999,p.11) Responsibility for quality control. Responsibility for maintenance and small repairs. Responsibility for safety. Responsibility for capital budgeting and operational budgeting. Responsibility for staffing. SDWT to begin performing takes long period. As per William (1999) SDWTs cannot be created instantly; it can take 2 to 5 years to fully implement. Some companies might not have the time or resources to go through this process Stages of forming SDWT: Stage one: (Start-Up) Goal preparation, explanation of purpose, member selection and building trust (6-9months). Stage two: (State of confusion) Technical assistance, feedback, implementing procedures to support self direction, and training. (6-9months). Stage three: (Leader centered team) Encouraging leadership activity among team members. (6-12months). Stage four: (Tightly formed teams) Resolving conflicts, start managing on own, communicating resource requirement and goals.(6-12months). Stage five: (Self direction) Maintain self confidence and self esteem of others. Strong partnership with internal and external customers. Consequently, if you look at the time and training involved in SDWTs it might not be suitable for an environment with a high employee turnover. Need for greater leadership development. As the organization would no longer function in a traditional manner the leaders or managers need to build their ability to allow and encourage such a high level of empowerment, which can be tackled with specially created programs (Coates and Miller, 1995). Problems of SDWT Team members approached the saturation point of learning through job rotation and would have achieved the maximum level of earning i.e. plant rate where no more room for psychological or financial boosts (Vecchio, 2006, p.113). Again while talking about pay as a motivator does it really matter? Can rewarding and recognition be the motivator to ensure continuing performance of the employees (Vecchio, 2006, p.84).   Also the performance measurement system should not create any competition within team members which will reduce co-operation and affect the success of SDWT. Another major challenge is getting people to remain committed to the improvement of the processes when they realize that they may be working themselves out of a job. The employees involved in self-directed work teams must have a great deal of trust so that employees are not concerned about their job security (Anon, 1995). Conflict management would be another critical and sensitive issue. Again each team member has different personalities and perceptions. Here comes the importance of required skills from facilitator. A culture of knowledge sharing has to be built in. Another question is that, are employees ready to be self directed? Whether they have capacity and skills? Of course proper training would be in place but still some employees prefer managers direction on what to do rather than deciding on their own. Here comes the need for selecting appropriate team members which is again depending on the talent of facilitator. Is the organization policies and culture is supportive in transferring power and authority to team members? Other problems would be signs of overconfidence which lead to members willing to take extra ordinary risk, members ignoring the ethical consequences, collective rationalization and underestimating capabilities of other groups which may lead to failure and financial losses.(Craig, 2005, p.219) Given the fact empowerment is a key to succeed in SDWT; will all the managers support this? Foegen (1999) stated on the loss of control: If one individual makes all the decisions in a given department, for example, his or her control is all-encompassing. Focus is obvious and unequivocal. But when authority is delegated, that focus becomes blurred, decision making is diffused, and responsibilitys locus is often less certain. He also stated delegation and empowerment can decrease the self image of the managers. The other pitfalls of empowerment would be lack of clarity, managements view as shared control / loss of control etc. Finally it would require numerous changes in processes and procedures and require a lot more time to make SDWTs successful in a unionized department. Conclusion Before a company can decide to implement self directed work teams, Coates and Miller (1995) point out certain situations or job fields in which this method may not work. These include: When there is a requirement for direction or supervision. This is often needed for jobs which may be unpleasant, arduous, fast paced or risky. When minimal team interaction is required. In jobs such as these employees may find it difficult to lead each other. When a lack of professional maturity exists among team members. An unwillingness to make the effort exists. The inability to meet regularly as a team. Work groups with any of these five characteristics would find it difficult to function effectively and may have to resort to the traditional method of management. Statistics shows that empowerment has about a 50% success rate and it is found that major reason for this is lack of management commitment to the change process. One of the companies failed by using SDWT is The Airline peoples Express. (Fisher, 2000, p.26). References: Anon. (1995) Taking the Mystery Out of Self -Directed Work Teams, Entrepreneur Connect [Online]. Available from:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/17227174.html   (Accessed: 21 August 2009). Anon (n.d.) Teams, the good, the bad and the ugly [Online] Available from: http://faculty.css.edu/dswenson/web/TDlearnCo/gains-lossesofteams.html (Accessed: 22 August 2009) Boyett, J. Boyett, J. (1998) The guru guide: The best of the top management thinkers. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Brillhart, J.(1983) Effective group discussion. 5th ed. Dubuque, Iowa: William Brown Co. Bruce K.Bernard (n.d) Preparing for Self-Directed Work Teams [Online] Available from: http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:rEhTVduzfRMJ:www.ux1.eiu.edu/~bkbarnard/preparing2.ppt+self+directed+work+teams+pptcd=7hl=enct=clnkgl=ae (Accessed: 21 August 2009). Cloke, K and Goldsmith, J (2002) The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy. Questia Online Library [Online] Available from: http://www.questia.com/read/111621737?title=The%20End%20of%20Management%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20Organizational%20Democracy (Accessed: 21 August 2009). Coates, D. Miller, M. (1995) ‘Self Directed Teams: Lessons Learned for Local Government, Public Management, 77 (12), p. 16, Questia Online Library [Online]. Available from: http://www.questia.com/read/5001654373?title=Self-Directed%20Teams%3a%20Lessons%20Learned%20for%20Local%20Government (Accessed: 21August 2009). Craig E. Johnson. (2005) Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership. 2nd ed. USA: Sage Publications Inc. Ed Rose Steve Buckley. (1999) Self Directed work Teams, A Trainers Role in the Transition. USA: Intersil Coporation. Foegen, J.H. (1999) Why not empowerment, Business and Economic Review, Apr-Jun 1999  Ã‚  [Online]. Available from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5313/is_199904/ai_n21437565/  (Accessed: 22 August 2009) Forsyth, D. (1999) Group dynamics. 3rd ed. New York: Brooks/Cole-Wadsworth. Jeffrey Christopher Bauer (2002) A Longitudinal Evaluation of The Impact of Organizational Structure on Role Ambiguity and Work Group Performance [Online] Available from: http://www.ucclermont.edu/~BAUERJ/JCBauerDissertationFinal.htm (Accessed: 21 August 2009). Kimball Fisher. (2000). Leading Self Directed Work Teams, A Guide to Developing New Team Leadership Skils. USA: McGraw-Hill. Peter B.Grazier (1999) Living with a self directed work team why self-direction works: A review of Herzbergs Concepts [Online] Available from: http://www.teambuildinginc.com/article_selfdirected.htm (Accessed: 21 August 2009). Robert P. Vecchio (2006) Organizational Behavior, 6th ed. Mason, OH, USA: Thomson Corporation South-Western. Robert T.Howell (2001) Fostering Self-Directed Team Members [Online] Available from: http://www.teambuildinginc.com/article_selfdirected.htm (Accessed: 21August 2009). Williams, R. (n.d.) Self-Directed Work Teams: A Competitive Advantage [online] Available from: http://www.qualitydigest.com/nov95/html/self-dir.html (Accessed: 20 August 2009).

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Oedipus and Tiresias :: Essays Papers

Oedipus and Tiresias Oedipus and Tiresias, characters of Sophocles' play "Oedipus Tyrannus," are propelled to their individual destinies by their peculiar relationships with truth. Paranoid and quick to anger Oedipus, is markedly different from the confident and self-assured Tiresias. In the dialogue between the two men, Oedipus rapidly progresses from praise of Tiresias as a champion and protector of Thebes in line 304, to blatantly accusing the blind prophet of betraying the city in line 331, to angrily insulting him in line 334. Rather than be intimidated by the protagonist's title and temperament, Tiresias draws strength from what he knows is true and is able to stand his ground. In this play, power and strength come from the knowledge of truth. Ironically, blind Tiresias, who has the ability to see the truth, becomes enslaved to his own knowledge. Knowing the truth about Oedipus enlists him in the designs of fate as the catalyst of Oedipus' destructive revelation. The prophet takes strength in knowing what he knows is true but, as he says in line 316, he is not able to profit from the knowledge. Forced into dispute with the king of Thebes, by playing off of the anxieties of the main character, the simple power of knowing what another does not know protects Tiresias. Gradually Tiresias' and Oedipus' relationships with the truth are revealed as that of knowledge and ignorance, respectively. The anxieties that plague Oedipus, making him weak and prone to paranoia, are rooted in the obscurity of his origins. In response to accusations made by Oedipus, Tiresias declares that he is neither a conspirator in a scheme concocted by Oedipus' paranoid mind, nor his supplicant. Rather, Tiresias states that he is a slave of Loxias: the ambiguous one. In whatever manner the mechanics of Tiresias' prophetic sight function, to understand the nature of truth, they must include deciphering the ambiguous. As a true slave of Loxias, he is incapable of directly telling Oedipus the truth but always speaks enigmatically. An extreme annoyance to Oedipus, such seemingly vague speech may be the only way that the truth may be expressed. Tiresias is thus fluent in the language of truth and is speaking to Oedipus, who claims to excel in deciphering riddles, in the clearest manner. Tiresias knows who Oedipus' parents are, and he knows that the revelation of Oedipus' genealogy will cause the foundations of Oedipus' identity to crumble, simultaneously destroying one man and causing another man to come into being.