School Uniforms Essay Example for Free

School Uniforms Essay The issue of school uniforms in today’s public schools is a silent but very controversial issue, Gaining momentum with school administrators and parents debating on whether or not to convert their public schools. With academics on a decline compared to the world average, (Wu, Elaine) along with school violence at its highest that it has ever been. The United States is a seeing a change towards school using school uniforms to help solve many problems associated with public schools. School uniforms in today’s society â€Å"promote school safety and enhance the learning environment, and diminish the clothing completion† As said by Marsha Boutelle. School uniforms unify a school and help the blending of the school cultures, instead of massive polarization among students. Of course student who could not wear uniforms due to religious reasons or other appropriate reasons could sign out doing so along with parent permission. Along with School uniforms we see a boost in academic performance. With the United States dropping behind other developed nation ranking in at number 18 of 24. (Wu, Elaine) this is low for a nation that is spending a lot on education every year. Kids are losing focus on school and are competing for what the newest fashion or gadget rather than focusing on school these days. With the addition of school uniforms in American society kids can focus more on their classes rather than social factors that students focus on when there is no school uniform and the dress code is not strict. With the addition of school uniforms in public schools you can see students bonding together helping students feel like they are accepted and part of a much bigger picture than just them. Also the boost in academics helps out everywhere with helping students get into universities of their choice rather than just a university that excepts them and helps them get scholarships, which a lot have a GPA requirement, that must be met in order to qualify or to continue receiving. This helps out students and parents get funding for the college or trade school they attend. And with the millions of dollars in scholarships that go unused each year. Students could defiantly use this money to pay or help pay for their college. And this helps out businesses get tax cuts find what could be future employs and save them money in the end when taxes are due. But many people argue against school uniforms in America and say that it affects their creativity and violates the first amendment. (Cornell) Arguing against school uniforms parents feel that not being able to dress in the latest clothing fashions. They feel that their children are being restricted on their creativity and ability to freely express themselves. Coming back to the United States constitution’s first amendment which is the freedom of speech, saying that what the students are wearing is a symbol of speech and is expressing them. But this argument is flaw when it comes to students who still cannot abide by even the schools standard dress code policies. For example â€Å"sixth grader tiffany gets sent to the principal’s office because the teacher thinks she is dressed inappropriately. She is wearing a micro mini skirt and a halter top that shows her midriff. Principle Judy Montgomery, of Sacramento’s Bear Flag Elementary School, takes Tiffany home to change her clothes and to check in with her parents. There reaction isn’t what she expects â€Å"Her mother was upset with me† Montgomery says. Her mother says she looks cute. † (Boutelle) This is showing that some parents can’t even enforce a school appropriate dress code on their children in this day and age. This example is showing how kids are being influenced by today’s hip hop culture. Effecting what young people are wearing even if it is degrading to them. And its creating distractions to other people in the academic environment therefore hindering others ability to do their best and distracting them from being creative in their own ways. So this argument is invalid when kids are so dressed down that it’s distracting to others. And the inability for parents to be able to tell their children that what they are wearing is inappropriate and shows that a standardized dress code should be put in place. There is a time and place to dress however you like and that is outside of school. Kids can dress however they please outside of a standardized institution. Also it would be very unprofessional if parents had to meet a teacher or principle for a conference or something school related. And the teacher or principle was wearing unprofessional clothing looking unclean and not clean cut, In other words not looking professional for their job. Students and parents alike don’t like to see this it’s very hard to take them serious and consider them professional. So the argument is flawed when it comes to it in the end, because in schools are supposed to be unifying and be an academic environment. Another problem in American schools is school violence School violence can be greatly reduced by the use of school uniforms. With kids unable to noticeably tell or distinguish which kids belong to what gangs in school if any at all. Also with uniforms it’s much harder to tell which kids come from money and which kids come from needy families. Relieving kids of the stress of which social economic status you come from. With a blending, it helps kids see who the actual person is rather then who or where they came from or what their culture is or background. For example all you have to do is step in to any public school with a normal dress code during lunch and you can just see all the different groups that are happening in a school from rich kids and jocks to the nerds and the poor kids. You see the school gangs separating representing for their gang or group. At any moment there could be a confrontation between any of these groups and instantly a conflict has started or worse school violence could happen between people. Since something has happened everything is stopped until the situation gets resolved whether it’s broken up by the school cop, teachers, or resolved by the people it happens between. Some of this can be stopped, as bill Clinton said in his 1996 state of the union address â€Å"I challenge all our schools to teach character education, to teach good values and good citizenship. And if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms. † (Clinton) This quote is showing how kids are committing violence in school over something as simple as a â€Å"designer jacket†. (Clinton) everyone wearing uniforms also makes it very easy to recognize people who are not supposed to be there or can make an intruder stand out in a crowd. So what is to stop kids in school from killing or committing violence over any other reason in public schools? But David L Brunsma begs to say that school uniforms can actually solve school violence or even boost school academic performance. After he did a study on how school uniforms. His graph (summary of uniform policy effect) shows that there is either not enough of a change or there was a drop in performance according to his graph. But the graph does not show any numbers on it so it’s hard to say anything about also. On this subject there is a lot of supporting data for both sides which make it hard to say what is legit and what is not because not every study is reproduced in this field. Brunsma says that school uniforms actual cause a false sense of security and are actual detrimental to what is going on in the climate of the school. (School Uniform Policies in Public Schools†) With so much contradicting evidence to his claim it only raises questions to why uniforms help in some parts of the U. S and across the world but not all over the united states. In conclusion school uniforms should be instated in public school, with a boost in academic performance. Which would in turn boost the United States in the ranking system of developed nations, and along with that would make it a much more respected educational institutional as a whole in the world of education. Also school uniforms unify schools bringing them closer to a whole and unifying the school. School uniforms help students feel a part of something bigger than just them. Also it keeps schools much less polarized making students safer and keeping the school violence significantly low. But it won’t solve all conflicts because there is always someone out looking to start something or is suffering from a severe problem. This can be prevented by students taking initiative to help protect their school. Students should help everyone out in their school by helping keeping it unified. Works Cited 1. Boutelle, Marsha. Uniforms: Are They a Good Fit? The Education Digest. 73. 6 (February 2008): 34-7 2. Brunsma, David L. School Uniform Policies in Public Schools. Principal (Reston, Va. ). 85. 3 (January/February 2006): 50-3 3. Brennan, Timothy. Do uniforms make our schools better? Ive seen them boost school climate. American Teacher. 89. 5 (February 2005): 4 4. Firmin, Michael, Suzanne Smith, and Lynsey Perry. School Uniforms: A Qualitative Analysis of Aims and Accomplishments at Two Christian Schools. Journal of Research on Christian Education. 15. 1/2 (Spring/Fall 2006): 143-68 5. Brunsma, David L. , and Kerry Ann Rockquemore. Statistics, Sound Bites, and School Uniforms: A Reply to Bodine. The Journal of Educational Research (Washington, D. C. ). 97. 2 (November/December 2003): 72-7. 6. Daugherty, Richard F. Leadership In Action: Piloting a School Uniform Program. Education. 123. 2 (2002): 390 7. PRESIDENT CLINTON, WILLIAM JEFFERSON, STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS,U. S. CAPITOL JANUARY 23, 1996, http://clinton2. nara. gov/WH/New/other/sotu. html 8. Wu, Elaine, â€Å"U. S. falls in education rank compared to other countries†, The Kapio Newspress, 2004, http://kapio. kcc. hawaii. edu/upload/fullnews. php? id=52 9. Cornell University Law school, http://www. law. cornell. edu/constitution/constitution. billofrights. html.

The Time is Night by Liudmila Petrushevskaya Essay -- essays research

The Time is Night is a short novel by Liudmila Petrushevskaya. It is one of the few stories that I enjoy reading over and over again. The reason is that each time I re-read it, I perceive it in a slightly different way. The complicity of characters and the style of the novel is what I would like to emphasize most about the novel, as well as the fact that The Time is Night represents an outstanding social awareness of the author. As an introduction, Liudmila Petrushevskaya writes that what readers are about to see is a diary that was sent to her by the daughter of the author of the diary after her mother's death. The notes that make up the diary are those of a woman, a poet, describing her living during the late 1980's, her children and her 4-year-old grandson Tima whom she calls Baby. The woman's name is Anna. It is very symbolic to her; when people ask her what her name is, she replies, "I am nearly a namesake of a famous poet. Guess, my name is Anna Andianovna." The poet she is a "namesake" of is Anna Andreevna Akhmatova, one of the most symbolic poets of the silver century of the Russian poetry. Anna carries this cross through her entire life. There are only two roles she has: a poet and a woman defending a child from misery and starvation. I assume she is not a really good poet, she never gets published and gets very little money but that is not the point. She says that she writes for herself, if she stops, she will die. This is very true. The two ma...

A Study Of The Predictive Effect Of Pre-Service Teacher Essay

ABSTRACT: This paper aims to examine the relationship between the personal knowledge management (PKM) competency of pre-service teachers and their instructional design skills. Supporting the sustainable development of teachers as professionals in the knowledge society is a critical issue in teacher education. This study attempts to identify an empirical model and a curriculum framework for nurturing pre-service teachers’ PKM competency. Dorsey (2000) PKM skills were adopted for constructing the theoretical framework and the survey instrument. A quasi-experimental research design was used to collect data from pre-service teachers from Hong Kong’s largest teacher education institution. A structural equation model was applied to explore the predictive power of PKM competency on their instructional design. Results show that a four-factor PKM competency model, which consists of retrieving, analyzing, organizing and collaborative skills, was identified as a predictor of instructional d esign. Use of PKM tools, e-learning activities and collaborative action research for developing pre-service teacher PKM competency are recommended to teaching education institute. Keywords: Personal knowledge management, Pre-service teacher, Teacher education Introduction Rapid advances in technology and communications have greatly accelerated the emergence of information. The increases in the amounts and formats of information available do not automatically make learners more informed or knowledgeable, if a learner cannot manage and meld the accumulation of  information through their daily experience and study to construct knowledge in a systematic fashion. This competency is referred by most literatures (Frand & Hixon, 1999; Dorsey, 2000; Wright, 2005) as personal knowledge management (PKM) competency. Developing learners with PKM competency is not simply a lifelong education issue, it is also an important teacher education issue in terms of sustaining a competitive human capital in the knowledge economy. Teacher development is viewed as an ongoing lifelong learning process as teachers strive to learn how to teach learner to learn how to learn (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999). The recent education reforms in Hong Kong (Education Commission, 2000) addressed this lifelong education issue by proposing a learning to learn slogan in the policy document. The policy suggests that teachers should develop student learning competence for acquiring knowledge through various methods. To develop students with knowledge acquisition skills, teachers should also be equipped with the competency for knowledge acquisition. However, since publication of the policy paper entitled Information Technology for Learning in a New Era Five-year Strategy that launched IT in education in Hong Kong (EMB, 1998), the Education Bureau has not addressed this issue in any teacher professional development policy documents. Recent calls for consultation on e-learning from the Education Bureau likewise generated additional demand for developing teacher information literacy capable of supporting student learning (EMB, 2004). If the government and teacher education institutions really want to develop competent teachers for the knowledge society, they may consider injecting the elements of personal knowledge management (PKM) into the teacher education curriculum for developing pre-service teachers’ teaching competency. However, little studies on teacher education were attempted to examine the effect of PKM on teacher learning and discussed the possibilities of injecting the element of PKM model into teacher education curriculum. This study aims to construct an empirical model for examining the predictive effect of pre-service teachers’ PKM competency on their instructional design skills and to discuss a personal knowledge management curriculum framework for teacher education institutions. Literature Review A review of the literature related to knowledge management suggests that the development of personal knowledge management (PKM) could be a means of enhancing pre-service teacher professional competency in managing personal knowledge for coping with the acceleration of emerging information. Frand & Hixon (1999) define PKM as a conceptual framework to organize and integrate important information such that it becomes part of an individual’s personal knowledge base. Dorsey (2000) emphasizes the importance of injecting PKM into an educational framework for undergraduate education in order to bridge the gap between general education and other subject disciplines. PKM could serve as a framework for integrating general education and majors and as an approach to technology integration initiatives throughout the curriculum. PKM provides learners with both a common language and a common understanding of the intellectual and practical processes necessary for the acquisition of information and its subsequent transformation into knowledge. The significance of exploring PKM may contribute to human cognitive capabilities (Sheridan, 2008). Scholars tend to conceptualize PKM as a set of information skills (Frand & Hixon, 1999; Avery et al, 2001), though there is no standard definition or model for PKM. After Frand & Hixon (1999) outlined five PKM techniques as searching, classifying, storing distributing, evaluating and integrating skills, Dorsey and colleagues (Avery et al, 2001) broadened the Frand & Hixon PKM framework well beyond its formulation. Central to PKM, as clarified by Dorsey, are seven information skills which when exercised together are integral to effective knowledge work. These seven PKM skills are retrieving, evaluating, organizing, analyzing, presenting and securing information and collaboration for creating knowledge. Recently, Pettenati and Cigognini (2009) grouped PKM skills under three intertwined macro-competence categories: creation, organization and sharing. PKM can also be conceptualized as an intertwined macro-competency. Wright (2005) proposes a PKM model that links distinctive types of problem-solving  activities with specific cognitive andmetacognitive, information, social and learning competencies. As a learning competency, PKM enables learners to apply a set of learning skills that are essential to lifelong learning for information processing, knowledge application and decision-making. As a cognitive and metacognitve competency, it enables learners to apply complex thinking skills to solve problems. It is knowledge concerning the learner’s own cognitive processes or anything related to them (Flavell, 1976, p232). As an information competency, it enables learners to link technology tools with a set of information skills, thus providing an intentionality that moves the focus from the technology more directly to the information. As a social competency, its underlying principles include enabling learners to understand others’ ideas, develop and follow through on shared practices, build win-win relationships, and resolve conflicts. PKM integrates human cognitive and metacognitive competency (Sheridan, 2008), social competency (Wright, 2005; Pettenati & Cigognini, 2009) and informational competency (Tsui, 2002). Wright (2007) has developed a PKM Planning Guide for developing knowledge worker PKM competency. The guide is based on his research findings that the four interrelated competencies are activated in order to plan PKM training. The training process encourages participants to reflect on their knowledge activities and focus on areas for improvement. If learners know how to control this process, they can internalize information into personal knowledge, creating a foundation for effective learning. Utilizing PKM for acquiring knowledge refers to a collection of information management processes that an individual learner needs to carry out in order to gather, classify, store, search, and retrieve information in his daily activities (Tsui, 2002; Grundspenkis, 2007). In teacher education, knowledge acquisition focuses on the process how teacher apply PKM to support their day-to-day teaching and learning activities: instructional design. Instructional design is closely related to PKM which is also one of the major learning tasks for pre-service teachers. Instructional design is a process that involves determining the current status and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating instructional  and learning strategies to facilitate teaching and learning. There are a wide range of instructional design models, many of them based on the ADDIE model (Seels & Glasgow, 1998; Molenda, M., 2003; Strickland, A.W. 2006) which includes the following phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. This acronym stands for the 5 phases contained in the model. Knowledge acquisition for instructional design is conceptualized as identifying learner entry skills, formulating instructional objectives, test and design specifications, creating instructional or training materials, making recommendations and preparing a project report for lesson implementation. As instructional design is one of the key components of teacher professional competence, and helps to implement a new curriculum in the information age of the 21st century, exploring the predictive relationships of PKM competency on knowledge acquisition for instructional design becomes key to the development of teacher education. Research Methodology It appears that PKM competency can expand individuals’ knowledge and enhance their learning competency (Davenport, 1997, p146 ; Frand & Hixon, 1999). It provides learners with a targeted, reflective and adaptable cognitive framework for inquiry and problem solving. In this study, knowledge acquisition will be conceptualized as the knowledge required for carrying out instructional design. This study attempts to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the empirical factor structure of PKM competency for pre-service teachers? 2. Is there any relationship between the PKM competency of pre-service teachers and their knowledge acquisition for instructional design? This study adopted Dorsey (2000) PKM skills to conceptualize PKM as a competency for acquiring knowledge (see figure 1). A quasi-experimental research design was used in this study to determine the relationship between PKM skills and knowledge acquisition for instructional design. The exogenous variables were pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their PKM skills. The endogenous variable is knowledge acquisition for instructional design. A  self-response quantitative questionnaire was devised to collect data from the pre-service teachers of Hong Kong’s largest teacher education institution. Figure 1: Theoretical Framework Of The Study The operationalized definitions of Dorsey (2000) PKM skills are as follows: 1. Retrieving skill is the ability of learners to retrieve information from relational databases, electronic library databases, websites, threaded discussion groups, recorded chats, and moderated andunmoderated lists. 2. Evaluating skill is the ability to make judgments on both the quality and relevance of information to be retrieved, organized, and analyzed. 3. Organizing skill is the ability to make the information one’s own by applying ordering and connecting principles that relate new information to old information. 4. Collaborating skill is the ability  to understand others’ ideas, develop and follow through on shared practices, build win-win relationships, and resolve conflicts between these underlying principles. 5. Analyzing skill is the ability to extract meaning from data and convert information into knowledge. 6. Presenting skill is the ability to familiarize with the work of communications specialists, graphic designers, and editors. 7. Securing skill is the ability to develop and implement practices that help to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and actual existence of information. This study adopted ADDIE instructional design model to conceptualize instructional design as a multiple competencies that involves analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a lesson (Molenda, 2003; Strickland, 2006). The acronym ADDIE stands for the 5 phases contained in the model. Pre-service teachers’ learning on instructional design is conceptualized by the knowledge and experiences they come across in the 5 phases of ADDIE model including analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. The learning outcomes include know how to analyse learner characteristics and task to be learned and identify learner entry skills; to design learning objectives and choose an instructional approach; to develop instructional or training materials; implement the lesson and deliver the instructional materials; and to evaluate the lesson plan and recommend the materials achieved the desired goals. The teaching experience that they had gained include determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some instructional and learning strategies to facilitate teaching and learning. Instructional design is operationalized to the knowledge for: identifying learner entry skills; formulating instructional obJectives, test and designs specifications; creating instructional or training materials; and making recommendations and preparing a project report for lesson implementation (Seels & Glasgow, 1998; Molenda, M., 2003; Strickland, A.W. 2006). The questionnaire was based on a number of scales constructed to measure the variables of PKM skills and instructional design. In order to develop valid items for these scales, the researcher conducted a content analysis on the PKM literature of Dorsey (2000), Skyrme (1999). Hyams (2000), and on the instruction design literature of Seels & Glasgow (1998), Molenda, M. (2003); and Strickland, A.W. (2006). The questionnaire consists of two sections. Section 1 was used to measure the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition for instructional design based on 4 items. Section 2 contains 21 items designed to measure the teachers’ perceptions of their seven PKM skills. Likert 6 point scales were used in both sections to measure the variables. Likert scales are commonly used in attitudinal research. The Likert scale assumes that the difference between answering ‘agree strongly, and ‘agree’ is the same as between answering ‘agree’ and ‘neither agree n or disagree’ (Likert 1932, quoted in Gay, 1992). The data was collected directly from target subjects using the questionnaire. 225 pre-service teachers responded to the survey. Data was collected directly from them by means of the questionnaire. The subjects in the study were pre-service teachers from Hong Kong’s largest teacher education institution. Random sampling was used to collect data from the population. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out on variables using principal factor axis analysis to confirm the constructed validity of the tools (see table 1). The study is interested in a theoretical solution uncontaminated by unique and error variability and is designed with a framework on the basis of underlying constructs that are expected to produce sources on the observed variables. Principal axis factor (PAF) analysis, which aims to reveal the underlying factors that produce the correlation or correlations among a set of indicators with the assumption of an implicit underlying factor model, was applied separately to the items from the learning processes and learning outcomes. Promax rotation, a method of oblique rotation which assumes that the resulting factors are correlated with one other, was applied to extract the factors. An eigenvalue greater than one was used to determine the appropriate number of factors for the factor solutions. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was then applied to  examine the factor structures and the paths among the variables, using Lisrel 8.3 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1999). SEM is a collection of statistical techniques that allows the examination of a set of relationships between exogenous variables and endogenous variables. Findings The results of exploratory factor analysis, presented in Table 1, clearly suggest a four- factor structure for exogenous variables that are both empirically feasible and theoretically acceptable. An eigenvaluegreater than one was used to determine the appropriate number of factors for the factor analysis solution. Items were extracted with factor loadings greater than 0.6 across and within factors. The numbers of factor solutions extracted from a Promax rotation theoretically afforded the most meaningful interpretation. The process used to identify and label the factors that emerged was based on examining the derivation of the highest loading items on each of the factors. The reliability coefficients of the scales ranged from 0.792-0.821, which was judged adequate for this study. The results of descriptive statistics show that the scale means of all the variables are higher than 4.27 within the 6 point-scale, reflecting the participants’ tendency to slightly agree with all the items. The reliability coefficient (Alphas) of the scale for instructional design is 0.854, its scale mean is 4.33 (sd = 0.691).

World War II Fighter Heinkel He 162

With World War II in Europe raging, Allied air forces commenced strategic bombing missions against targets in Germany.  Through 1942 and 1943, daylight raids were flown by the US Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators.  Though both types possessed heavy defensive armaments, they incurred unsustainable losses to heavy German fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and specially-equipped Focke-Wulf Fw 190s.  This led to a pause in the offensive in late 1943.  Returning to action in February 1944, Allied air forces commenced their Big Week offensive against the German aircraft industry.  Unlike in the past when bomber formations flew unescorted, these raids saw the widespread use of the new P-51 Mustang which possessed the range to remain with the bombers for the duration of a mission. The introduction of the P-51 changed the equation in the air and by April, Mustangs were conducting fighter sweeps in front of bomber formations with the goal of destroying the Luftwaffes fighter forces.  These tactics proved largely effective and by that summer German resistance was crumbling.  This led to increased damage to German infrastructure and retarded the Luftwaffes ability to recover.  In these dire circumstances, some Luftwaffe leaders lobbied for increased production of the new Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter believing that its advanced technology could overcome the superior number of Allied fighters.  Others argued that the new type was too complicated and unreliable to be operated in large numbers and advocated for a new, cheaper design that could be easily maintained or simply replaced. Specifications Length:  29  ft., 8  in.Wingspan:  23  ft., 7  in.Height:  8  ft., 6  in.Wing Area:  156  sq. ft.Empty Weight:  3,660  lbs.Max Takeoff Weight:  6,180  lbs.Crew:  1 Performance Maximum Speed:  562  mphRange:  606  milesService Ceiling:  39,400  ft.Power Plant:  Ã‚  1 Ãâ€"  BMW 003E-1 or E-2 axial-flow  turbojet Armament Guns:  2 Ãâ€" 20 mm  MG 151/20  autocannons or  Ã‚  2 Ãâ€" 30 mm  MK 108 cannons Design Development Responding to the latter camp, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry - RLM) issued a specification for a Volksjà ¤ger (Peoples Fighter) powered by a single BMW 003 jet engine.  Constructed of non-strategic materials such as wood, RLM also required that the Volksjà ¤ger be capable of being constructed by semi- or unskilled labor.  In addition, it should be sufficiently easy to fly as to allow glider-trained Hitler Youth to operate it effectively.  RLMs design parameters for the aircraft called for a top speed of 470 mph, an armament of either two 20 mm or two 30 mm cannon, and a takeoff run of no more than 1,640 feet.  Anticipating a large order, several aircraft firms, such as Heinkel, Blohm Voss, and Focke-Wulf commenced work on designs. Entering the competition, Heinkel possessed an advantage as it had spent the previous several months developing concepts for a light jet fighter.  Designated the Heinkel P.1073, the original design called for using two BMW 003 or Heinkel HeS 011 jet engines. Reworking this concept to meet the specifications requirements, the company easily won the design competition in October 1944.  Though the designation for Heinkels entry was initially intended to be He 500, in an effort to confuse Allied intelligence RLM elected to re-use -162 which had previously been assigned to an earlier Messerschmitt bomber prototype.   The Heinkel He 162 design featured a streamlined fuselage with the engine mounted in a nacelle above and behind the cockpit.  This arrangement necessitated the use of two tailfins placed at the end of  highly dihedralled horizontal tailplanes in order to prevent the jet exhaust from hitting the aft section of the aircraft.  Heinkel enhanced pilot safety with the inclusion of an ejection seat which the company had debuted in the earlier He 219 Uhu. Fuel was carried in a single 183-gallon tank which restricted flight time to around thirty minutes.  For takeoff and landing, the He 219 utilized a tricycle landing gear arrangement.  Rapidly developed and quickly built, the prototype first flew on December 6, 1944, with  Gotthard Peter at the controls.  Ã‚   Operational History Early flights showed that the aircraft suffered from sideslip and pitch instability as well as issues with the glue used its plywood construction.  This latter problem led to a structural failure on December 10 which resulted in a crash and Peters death.  A second prototype flew later that month with a strengthened wing.  Test flights continued to show stability issues and, due to the tight development schedule, only minor modifications were implemented.  Among the most visible changes made to the He 162 was the addition of drooped wingtips to increase stability.  Other alterations included settling on two 20 mm cannon as the types armament.  This decision was made as the recoil of the 30 mm damaged the fuselage. Though intended for use by inexperienced pilots, the He-162 proved a difficult aircraft to fly and only one Hitler Youth-based training unit was formed.  Construction of the type was assigned to Salzburg as well as the underground facilities at Hinterbrà ¼hl a nd  Mittelwerk. The first deliveries of the He 162 arrived in January 1945 and were received by Erprobungskommando (Test Unit) 162 at Rechlin.  A month later, the first operational unit, the 1st Group of Jagdgeschwader 1 Oesau (I./JG 1), obtained their aircraft and commenced training at Parchim.  Harried by Allied raids, this formation moved through several airfields during the spring.  While additional units were slated to receive the aircraft, none were operational before the end of the war.  In mid-April, I./JG 1s He 162s entered combat.  Though they scored several kills, the unit lost thirteen aircraft with two downed in combat and ten destroyed in operational incidents.   On May 5, JG 1s He 162s were grounded when General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg surrendered German forces in the Netherlands, Northwest Germany, and Denmark.  During its brief service, 320 He 162s were built while another 600 were in various stages of completion.  Captured examples of the aircraft were distributed among the Allied powers who commenced testing the He 162s performance.  These showed that it was an effective aircraft and that its flaws were largely due to it being rushed into production.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sources Military Factory: Heinkel He 162Heinkel He 162 VolksjaegerCanadian Aviation Space Museum: Heinkel He 162