Examine the nature of the distinctive managerial,organisational and Essay

Examine the nature of the distinctive managerial,organisational and developmental characteristics of small business visavis large companies.What are the impli - Essay Example Small businesses have distinct features in terms of management organization and development structures. According to Wood (1981), Business objectives are negotiated outcome of the inter play of power and influence between owners of property (capital) and those who do not own properties in the industrial field. (Monsted, 2005) In management, small scale businesses are usually owner-managed while in large scale businesses management has a formal structures with well articulated portfolios that are occupied by professionalism their field of business. Management has been charged with the responsibility of formalizing a coherent long-term industrial relations strategy. Successful small-scale firms engage in strategic management either knowingly and with a set vision or even unknowingly without any set vision. Success is related to sound management while failure shows management is somehow wanting. In the management of small firms owner-managers pursue personal goals which are geared by personal visions; this to some extent hinders achievement of success in the business relative to their large counterparts. This is different from the management in large firms because managers are directly answerable to the stakeholders. (Burns, 2007) In small firms' owner-managers, being the principal stakeholder, in most cases play a multiplicity of roles in management, thus the probability of poor decision-making is higher compared to large firms resulting to inappropriate actions due to lack of efficient management attention to issues that are strategic. (Nooteboom, 1994) Analysis of labor management in small firms commanded little attention during the 80's. Human resource management is a new type of management that is widely used in large companies to quite a great success and has since been introduced in the small firms as well. Previously, it was argued that industrial relations and personnel management in small firms was inexistent thus leading to exploitation of employees. Whereas as large companies dictate supplier relationship, the owners of small businesses are denied options regarding the way they manage labor as considering cost constraints and meeting targets for quality takes away the liberty of independent decision making. Research conducted in the personal field tends to focus on the large firms employing more that 100 employees on a full time basis at the expense of small firms. Small firms put more emphasis on the fields of accounting over personnel management (Nooteboom, 1994). The characteristics of personal ownership, independence and lack of marketing power are unique to the small businesses. These characteristics produce the constraints on management produce the constraints on management and financial resources that are an inevitable consequence of small scale, independence plays to the advantage of the small businesses is that decision making is fast and does not have to undergo all kind of bureaucratic stages as witnessed in large businesses. (Nooteboom, 1994) This saves time and if they make the right decision, they reap the whole of the returns. In small business, there is always room for innovation. This makes the small business to be able to come up with new products and services for the various markets. However, ideas developed in small-scale businesses are not likely to prosper because

Federal health care policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Federal health care policy - Essay Example tient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is an example of federal health policy that was passed and enacted in March 2010 (Cronin & Aponte, 2012). Over the past decades, federal health care policies have been criticized based on their implementation, effectiveness and consistencies with the constitutional framework of federalism. This paper, therefore, primarily aims at describing how the Obamacare raises the question of federalism, including the pros and cons in debates about the policy. It also provides the effectiveness of this policy and its consistency with the constitutional framework of federalism. President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, in March 2010 (Cronin & Aponte, 2012). He outlined that Obamacare program will introduce tax credits that will help small businesses offer insurance to their employees, restrict insurance firms to drop or limit a patient’s coverage due to illness, enable individuals with pre-existing conditions to quality for insurance, and allow people of up to 26 year remain on their parent or guardian’s policies (Cronin & Aponte, 2012). A number of reforms, under this bill, have been implemented while others are scheduled for implementation, in the next few years. Both the Democrats and Republicans have since criticized the bill, even after it was passed by congress. They argue that this bill will only reduce the access and quality to healthcare, and reduce a person’s ability to purchase health insurance (Cronin & Aponte, 2012). The debate about Obamacare concerns its effectiveness in enabling all Americans access and pay for their health insurance plans. People supporting Obamacare argues that this legislation builds on the existing health care system, and uses the available medical providers, doctors and plans. It also provides affordable and accessible healthcare for Americans (Jacobs & Skocpol, 2012). Patients will be able to negotiate about health care decisions with their

Impressionist Artists and Artworks

Impressionist Artists and Artworks The Impressionism movement in art was followed by the Realism and Romantic periods. In complete contrast to Realism and Romanticism, with its detailed, accurate and photo-like paintings of contemporary life, Impressionism brought about more of a blurred reality to the canvas. Specific techniques Impressionist artists used were unblended colors and quick, short brush strokes with a unique play on light. An Impressionist artists goal was to objectively paint reality in terms of transient effects of light and color.(1) The Impressionist artist would place vibrantly contrasting colors directly on the canvas; which was a great contrast to the traditional art of blending somber colors. Not understanding, or accepting these new techniques, the Salon of the French Academy consistently rejected most artwork by Impressionist artist. These rejections from the Salon eventually forced a group of Impressionist painters to organize their own exhibitions; Exhibitions of the Independent Artists. Claude Monet was the chief pioneer of the Impressionism period. Monet was born in Paris (1840-1926) and moved near Le Havre at a young age. At only the age of 15, Monet created his first successful drawings of caricatures. Monet continued to study drawing until he met Eugene Boudin, who is responsible for intruding Monet to a new style of painting; stepping outside the studio and painting in the open air. This style would give way to more than 60 years of art that used effective methods to transform perception into pigment. (1) During Monets later years of life he began to paint series of paintings, each one based on a certain subject. Each series offered different views of the same subject, by painting at different times of day or seasons. One series in particular, which is exhibited at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, is the Water Lilies series. This series by Monet are also personally my favorite paintings from all the ones that were covered this semester. The death of his wife and stepdaughter took a great toll on his spirit, fortunately, Monet he was able to find peace in the water of his pond and garden. Monet was captivated daily by the opening and closing of the lilys blossoms. He meditated while watching the reflections the clouds drift across the ponds surface. Although he began to lose his eye sight due to cataracts around this time, he did not let that hinder his paintings. Monet painted approximately 250 oil paintings that completed his series of Water Lilies. The Water Lilies series was the last series of paintings by Monet. There is a noticeable difference in his portrayal of light and air in most of his Water Lilies series. Despite the loss of light, color seems to be more expressive, along with curling movement of his brushstrokes. Monets Impressionist style starts to become more subjective with this series- which may be due to the loss of his eyesight. The lilies have large pads and blossoms which look as though they are floating in space. Monet was able to spatially embrace his canvas which allowed us to feel and know the painting went beyond the frame. He encompassed the canvas with flowing clouds, which are only seen as reflections on the lily pond with an open composition. Imagine a circular room, the dado below the wall molding entirely filled with a plane of water scattered with these plants, transparent screens sometimes green, sometimes mauve. The calm, silent, still waters reflecting the scattered flowers, the colors evanesce nt, with delicious nuances of a dream-like delicacy. (3) Edgar Degas is another Impressionist painter who also was born in Paris (1834-1917.) Degas came from a proud, wealthy, Parisian family who were related to minor aristocrats. He was fortunate enough to attend a prestigious all boys school, the Lycee Louis-le-Grand. Music played a huge role during his upbringing. His mother was an opera singer and his father arranged recitals. Degass mother passed when he was only 15 years old, leaving behind 5 children. With encouragement from his father he enrolled at the prominent Ecole des Beaux-Arts school in 1855. Only one year later, Degas left Paris and went on a three year study and travel in Italy. During this time, he saturated himself with antiquity paintings and sculptures and the Renaissance. He filled his sketchbook with hundreds of copies of art by Michelangelo, da Vinci and other artist. After his return home, Degas began to paint portraits of family members with the intentions of submitting them to the Salon. However, Degas was never satisfied with his own work. humbled by his exposure to the Italian masters, Degas scraped down and reworked parts of his own canvases, initiating a habit of technical self-criticism that was to last a lifetime. (4) Degas painted many history paintings; however, he began to find himself drawn to paintings of the everyday life. His transition to paint modern subject matter was a very gradual one. He was able to apply his knowledge of past artist but steer it towards people of the modern day and subject matter like no other artist. Degass variety with his use of mediums and subjects matters seems to be endless. His drawings include examples in pen, ink, pencil, chalk, pastel, charcoal, and oil on paper, often in combination with each other, while his paintings were carried out in watercolor, gouache, distemper, metallic pigments, and oils, on surfaces including card, silk, ceramic, tile, and wood panel, as well as widely varied textures of canvas. (4) Combine his talent with his knowledge of traditional art makes him the most accomplished draftsman of the Impressionist. While he is most well known for his works with humans (particularly females) he also painted a great deal on the modern life of P aris and successfully sketched many landscape pieces. In Degass later years can began to combine his love for the female body with his love for landscapes. The pastel Russian Dancer (exhibited in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts) is a great example of how Degas united both of his loves to reveal his true abilities as an artist. This pastel also is reflective in his shift toward his series work. Degas executed these pastels by studying the poses of the Russian women and sketched them first in charcoal on tracing paper, then transferred particular poses and gestures from work to work. Degas invented the technique of superimposing layers of pastel, which created a sort of transparency in the art piece. Layering the pastels intensified the hues and contrasts within the landscape. Through his use of vibrant colors, mediums, innovative techniques and explosively drawn movements, make Russian Dancers and Degass other late pastels among the most extraordinary in the history of that medium.(5) Romantic Period with works from Francisco de Goyas Still Life with Golden Bream and Joseph Mallord William Turners Sheerness as Seen from the Nore The term Romanticism in art is given to a time period from about the mid 18th century through mid 19th century. Romanticism, like most other art movements, was an art that was trying to push away from the previous (neoclassical) styles of arts. This movement renounced the neoclassical styles of balance, precise lines, clarity, order, unity and symmetry. Romantic artist emphasized on emotion, including terror, awe, joy, and loneliness. These artists wanted nothing to do with the harmony, rationality, and order of the neoclassical painters. They rejected the tiny brushstrokes of previous artist and celebrated their works with active, stimulating brushwork. Nature landscapes were also a major part of the romantic period. Romantics felt a strong connection with nature and had a deep interest in capturing the serenity or exoticism of it. Also, they used nature to convey emotions. During this time period, the works of art derived from the individual, opposed to collective reactions of othe rs. Romanticism can basically be described as irrational, imaginative, personal and mostly emotional. The Romantic movement first developed in northern Europe with a rejection of technical standards based on the classical ideal that perfection should be attained in art.(6) Francisco Jose de Goya was a famous romantic artist born in Spain (1746-1828.) Goya was trained in Naples, Madrid and Italy. It was in Rome that Goya received his first significant commission for frescoes in the cathedral. It took Goya 10 years to finish all the frescoes; however, these first works of art from Goya are considered Rococo style. In 1771, Goya began a career as a court painter. These painting consisted mostly of contemporary life aristocratic and popular pastimes. In 1785, he was appointed deputy director of painting at the Academy and the following year painter to King Charles III.(7) During this time, Goyas painted portraits of figures in full-length, mostly of society women. The death of Charles III in 1788, a few months before the outbreak of the French Revolution, brought to an end the period of comparative prosperity and enlightenment in which Goya reached maturity.(7) An illness in 1792 left Goya permanently deaf. At this point, is when Goya begins to take on a n ew personality with freedom of expression and imagination is his art. His experiences allowed him to have a more critical point of view, which in turn, allowed more maturity in his art work. Goyas Still Life with Golden Bream (exhibited at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts) is one still life painting, out of only one dozen still lifes, that Goya painted, all being painted in the last decade of his life. This painting depicts a pile of bream fish. The incredible use of light makes it seems as though the fish are very much alive and staring directly at you. The detail captured in the blank expressions have the audience feeling that at any moment, the fish will stop playing dead and start whaling about on the table. The eyes of the fish are yellow, huge and wide opened and give this painting an unbelievable eeriness. Although the subject of this work is simple-a pile of dead fish-it expresses a moving pathos reminiscent of Goyas etching series Disasters of War, one of the artists great achievements. Both the print series and Still Life with Golden Bream were completed during the terrible war between Spain and France, and both serve as meditations on death and violence.(8) Joseph Turner was an English Romantic landscape painter born in 1775. There are several professional drawings on record from Turner starting at the age of only 12. At the age of 14, Turner enrolled in the Royal Academy and soon began to exhibit his watercolor paintings there. His early works of art were traditional in techniques and in character, painting mostly topographical places. Welsh landscape painter Richard Wilson helped broaden Turners outlook and revealed to him a more poetic and imaginative approach to landscape, which he would pursue to the end of his career with ever-increasing brilliance.(7) Turner began publishing a series of 100 plates known as the Liber Studiorum in 1807. The goal was for Turner to document a vast variety and range of landscapes. In 1808, Turner completed a seascape named Sheerness as Seen from the Nore. This painting depicts the smaller boats being thrown about in angry part of the ocean. The white peaks on wave give way to unsettling events that seem to take place more in the future than the present. The fearful emotions from the swirling clouds only add to the anticipation The composition is dominated by the light of the sun rising at the left, and by the vigor of the foreground swell; as so often in Turner, the distant ships are silhouetted against a strip of light at the horizon, the guard ship at the left forming an area of repose in otherwise turbulent design. (9) Turner ruled the art world with his range and sublimity of his expressive study of light, color, and atmosphere and is commonly referred to as the painter of light.

I Have Cancer and My Brother has Cerebral Palsy :: Personal Narrative, Autobiographical Essay

There are things in life which none of us can control, in my life there have been many such things. In trying to write this essay I have a difficult time trying to decide what I am going to write about. I have many ideas running through my head,and I am trying to decide what makes me who I am, what makes me special. Soren Kierkegaard said, "Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards." I have a difficult time understanding my life even as I look back, I am unsure of why things happened and what effect certain events had on my life. I say this because I know nothing else, I have nothing to compare my life to. I am who I am and I have always been this way. There are three major topics that I am considering to include in my essay. The first topic is my medical history, which is quite thick, as shown by my four fat medical files. The problems all started at an early age when E-coli was found in my hip, and it had to be removed. I went in to surgery for the first time, before my first birthday, and had part of my hip scraped out to remove the bacteria. This was the first of about 5 major surgeries and a vast number of visits to the doctors. I could talk about the trauma I went through wondering if I would ever be able to walk, but I was too young to remember any of this. The E-coli was of little importance in my mind except that it was my first surgery, and also that Doctor's told my parents I would always walk with a limp, and be unable to compete in athletics. The condition that everyone believes had the largest effect on who I am is CANCER, I made that big and bold because I want the sympathy vote. I was diagnosed wi th cancer on Feb. 11, 1987 and went into surgery 2 days later. I didn't remember that date, and I had to go ask my parents all of this. They remember it all. I had a stage four Wilms Tumor attached to my left kidney, I know what side because I get to look at the huge scar every day, and that the doctor's gave me about a 50/50 chance of survival.

Human Organ Shouldn’t Ligalize

The sale of organs means that organs are removed from inside the body for the purpose of commercial transactions. Although the sales of human organs have been done since long ago, and there are many claims and proposal to make it legal, a lot of oppositions are against this idea. * Money the purpose Considering the poor status of most donors, one of the primary stated reasons for organ selling is to pay off debt. Those who are poorest are frequently seen as more reliable targets for transplant tourists because they are the most in need of money.It is said by the other side that legalizing the organ sale can help people who are in need to continue to survive. But at the same time, it also increases money desire for many poor people. For example, in 2007 a man in UK tried to sell his kidney online for 24,000 pounds in order to pay off his gambling. * Increase crimes and black market Legality of the organ sale would even encourage organ theft through murder and neglect sick individuals for a financial gain. There are many case like beautiful girls or handsome men trying to attract someone and flirting around with them until they agree to go with n end up waking without kidneys.Another example, Few families would turn down the opportunity to receive compensation (ensure financial stability or the dead is the main earner), so they may charge the hospital the same price, or they will turn to black market for higher price. Besides, there might be some criminal who break the promise to pay the donor higher amount for the organ than it was actually paid out or even escape without payment. * Imbalance between the rich and the poor Payment for organ is likely to take unfair advantage of the poor.Even if organ trade is legalized, it is still the third – world wealthy people who can afford the organ for transplantation. And the poor people are still vulnerable and unfortunate because they are the one who always make donation. Moreover, it is injustice to give pure or gan to those rich people who usually spending lot of money on drinking, eating, party, and cause the disease by themselves. * Health: The  WHO  first declared organ trade illegal in 1987 *Affect to living donor Although some medical research proved that there are not many effects on the donors with their left organs.However, a question is asked that if it is not so important, why people are born with both organ, for example kidneys or livers. Kidneys or livers do not regenerate as the other human products like blood or sperm. WHO reports has shown that there is decrease in human well being, especially, those who make living on physical labor. 96% of donors regret selling their organs. *Affect to recipient It is risky to introduce trafficking diseased organ to recipients because those donors often comes from the poor population where they don’t live well and receive good health care.There is a possibility of 1:18 to acquire HIV from such transplant. The diseases donâ€℠¢t show up on the screen of the analysis probably because they just start within three weeks before the donor’s death. One more thing is the change of recipients’ body rejecting of organ result from different blood type or genetic make-up. * Ethical concern *Violate human right The state often denies individuals the right to do certain things with their bodies because they may not make good decision for themselves.Furthermore, any procedure which tends to commercialize human organs or to consider them as items of exchange or trade must be considered morally unacceptable, because to use the body as an object is to violate the dignity of the human person. World Health Organization said that the transplantation promotes health but transplantation tourism violates human right. Organs can be bought and sold arbitrarily. *Corruption There is corruption in healthcare system and government and it sometimes turn to organ trafficking. For instance, In India, a patient unaware th at his kidney transplant procedure took place and was asked to pay after that.For example, in 2006 China made selling of executed prisoners’ organs and claimed that those prisoners had filed agreement and permission, but still the Chinese officials are suspected of these corrupted activities that the profit might go to them not the donors or their families. * Religion For the religious view, body and soul are one entity and very valuable that cannot be treated as property and make business. Traditionally, Muslim believes that oppose donation from human living and deceased donors because the human body is sacred thing from God so any part of the body must not be separated in life or death.Chinese customs call for people to be buried or cremated with the body complete orginally. One die-hard superstition has it that if an organ is taken from a body after death, the person in question will be reborn with a handicap in that organ in his or her next life. Nowadays, trade in human organs is illegal in all countries except Iran. Before, India and Philippine used to legalize this activity too but it turns out that they ban it later on, and it is clear enough why it couldn’t be practiced.There must be many complicated issues occurred. Solution The solutions have been put forward to both increase the amount of legally available organs and stop the flow of illegal organ trafficking around the world. One policy is â€Å"presumed consent†. (Successful in Brazil, US, several nations of Europe and increase the amount of organs available), patient can choose not to donate by submitting document. Worldwide, the trend has been move toward increased regulation of organ trading internationally.

Chinese Schools Essay

Chinese schools have come a long way since the colonial days. Over the years and with the evolution of the national education system, Chinese schools have had to face countless threats to their survival. Despite this, Chinese schools have gained popularity and have enjoyed high enrolments, even among non-Chinese students. It has been reported that at least 10 percent of students studying in Chinese schools come from non-Chinese backgrounds. A number of factors contribute to this growing phenomenon. First, Chinese schoolteachers are well known for their high level of commitment. For this and other reasons, students from Chinese schools often excel in public examinations especially in Science and Mathematics. The other attraction of Chinese schools is that students are required to learn an additional language, Mandarin, which is a highly marketable skill in the job market. Chinese Education: A Historical Perspective The beginnings of Chinese education in Malaysia can be traced to the early nineteenth century. It was recorded that by 1815, there were already three Chinese schools in Malacca. One was founded by the London Missionary Society. With regard to the other two, sociologist Yang Qinghuang suggests that â€Å"at least one would be a school founded by the Hokkien people. † Scholar Zheng Liangshu suggests that some old-type Chinese schools might have existed in the Straits Settlements since the end of the eighteenth century. For a long time, Chinese schools in the Straits Settlements received neither help from the British government nor assistance from the government in China. Despite this, they thrived —funded mainly by clan and dialect associations. When faced with political and financial difficulties at the turn of the twentieth century, the Ching government of China changed its attitude towards overseas Chinese and began to promote Chinese education outside of China. It implemented educational reforms based on a proposal by Zhang Zidong. Following the reforms, the curriculum was revised to include Chinese Classical Literature, History, Geography, Mathematics, Moral Education, Physical Education and other optional subjects like Commerce and Drawing. In Malaya, Chung Hwa Confucian School in Penang not only adopted this new curriculum (it was the first to do so), it went further to include English as a subject. Support from the Ching government, however, was short lived. It ended with the fall of the dynasty. Chinese schools that attempted to run modern educational programmes (with a modern curriculum and incorporating English as a subject) faced enormous challenges. On the one hand, they were constantly in need of more funds. On the other hand, they lacked competent teachers. Furthermore, they had to compete with the more established English schools. Even so, there were five hundred Chinese schools with modern educational programmes established in Malaya and Singapore in 1920. By this time, textbooks for these schools had departed from the classical into the vernacular Chinese language (baihuawen). Because of their impressive growth, the British government decided that it could no longer afford to ignore Chinese schools. On 29 October 1920, it introduced the Regist ration of School Ordinance to restrict the activities of Chinese schools in the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States by way of registration and inspection. In 1935, control was further tightened: textbooks and teachers from China were prohibited. Only local materials and Malaysian-born teachers were allowed, and activities in Chinese schools came under strict scrutiny. Despite these challenges, Chinese education continued to thrive until it was suspended at the time of the Japanese Occupation of Malaya. After the war, Chinese schools resumed operation. By 1946, their number had ballooned to more than one thousand in Malaya. However, following the Barnes and Fenn-Wu Reports (June 1951) and the Education Ordinance 1952, Chinese education was exclude d from the national education system. The Chinese community rallied to form Jiao Zong (United Chinese School Teachers Association of Malaya, UCSTAM) and Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaya, UCSCAN) to safeguard Chinese education. The Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) joined in. Its president then, Tun Tan Cheng Lock spoke these memorable lines, â€Å"†¦Chinese in Malaya †¦ should be given Chinese education †¦ The dialect or mother tongue can be likened to a person’s shadow, and is inseparable from the person himself/herself†¦ † (translated from Chinese). Efforts to safeguard Chinese education became even more difficult following the Razak Report in 1956 and the Education Ordinance in 1957. Thereafter, Chinese primary education was officially included in the national education system, classified as standard-type primary schools with Chinese language as the medium of instruction. However, Chinese secondary schools were excluded from the system when the Lower Certificate of Education examination (L. C. E) was introduced in English. This was not in accordance with the promise of fairness to other ethnic languages in the country as specified in the Razak Report. Furthermore, the Chinese community were horrified by the terms of reference in Paragraph 12 of the Razak Report: â€Å"†¦the ultimate objective of educational policy in this country must be to bring together the children of all races under a national education system in which the national language is the main medium of instruction. † Paragraph 12 was subsequently omitted following strong opposition from the Chinese community headed by Jiao Zong. Both the Rahman Talib Report (1961) and the Education Act (1961) reaffirmed the education policy as stated in the Education Ordinance 1957. Since government financial aid was vital to the survival of Chinese secondary schools, more than half of the 41 Chinese secondary schools then had little choice but to ‘convert’ itself into English medium national type secondary schools. On hindsight, many Chinese view this decision as a big mistake. The remaining 14 schools refused to give in, and have remained ‘independent’ to this day. The MCA facilitated this ‘conversion’ as it was satisfied with the verbal promises made by the Education Minister that â€Å"the government has no intention to exercise its authority granted under the Act to change Chinese primary schools to national schools† and that â€Å"Chinese schools are allowed to allocate one third of their curriculum for learning Mandarin and Chinese literature. † As a consequence of this concession made at the secondary school level, development of Chinese education in Malaysia was restricted thereafter to the primary school level. The New Education Act 1996 posed an even bigger threat. It threw into question the status of national-type schools that were not established under Section 28 of the new Act. In fact, prior to this during the initial stage of implementing the ‘3R system’ (Reading, Writing & Arithmetic) in 1980, Chinese schools had already been challenged to forgo their medium of instruction. Materials for learning all subjects except Mandarin were available only in Bahasa Melayu. In response, Dong Jiao Zong and various Chinese guilds and associations submitted a memorandum to voice their opposition to the Ministry of Education in 1981. The schools were given the assurance that the government had no intention of changing the character of Chinese schools. However in the ensuing years, Chinese schools were asked to consider the concept of ‘integrated schools’ (1985) and Vision Schools (proposed in 1995, implemented in 2000), in addition to the latest â€Å"2-4-3† resolution that sought to introduce the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (proposed in 2002, implemented in 2003). Despite these challenges, Chinese schools seek to maintain emphasis on the â€Å"Five Aspects of Formal Education in Confucianism (Wuyu Jiaoyu)† namely, moral (de), intellectual (zhi), physical (ti), social (qun ) and aesthetic ( ei) education. Until today, Chinese schools m continue to value discipline, respect for the elderly, courtesy, personal character and morality, rather than marketable skills such as computer literacy, Mathematics and Science. Some Reflections How does the development of Chinese education affect the church community i Malaysia?n Should we stake our claims to citizenry and defend our right to be educated in our own (mother tongue) language? What about racial integration? Is it possible to promote Chinese education without further polarising the different communities? First, we have a moral basis for defending Chinese education. Being given the choice and having the opportunity to be educated in one’s own language is a universal human right according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. Chinese education ha s existed in this country since the nineteenth century. As such, I believe we ought to defend the right of its existence in the same way as we would for the education of other ethnic communities in their own languages. Second, there is value in the Chinese school culture that is worth speaking up for. Even though outsiders might consider the Chinese community uncompromising in its stand with regard to educational issues, it must be pointed out that it is not just about safeguarding the Chinese language but it is also about retaining the ideals of holistic education. Furthermore, Chinese schools have a tradition of nurturing dedicated schoolteachers, and the Christian community should be at the forefront to encourage this culture of service and excellence. In the past, many of them have had to pay a high price for their conviction and dedication by becoming ‘martyrs’: Zhuang Xiquan, Chen Taomin and others were deported for opposing the Registration of School Ordinance 1920; Lim Lian Geok and Yen Yuan Chang were deprived of citizenship in 1961; Lim Huang Sheng and Sim Mow Yu were jailed under the Internal Security Act in 1987. Chinese education aids evangelistic work among the Chinese community. It provides students with a better understanding of the Chinese culture. Whereas in the past, the content of Chinese education was often influenced by traditional beliefs and practices, the Chinese education system today is more open to intellectual discourse on rethinking and repositioning the Chinese identity. The main grouse against Chinese schools is the lack of racial integration since students come from predominantly one ethnic background. The question we must ask is, is this acceptable or healthy in a multi-ethnic society like Malaysia? Most advocates for Chinese education would argue that it is less than ideal but what choice do they have? If national schools were to adopt a more holistic philosophy, and their teachers showed a more credible record in terms of commitment and disciplining of students, and if they provided students with the opportunity to study their own languages, racial integration would be less of an issue and Chinese students would be more evenly distributed between national and Chinese schools. Despite this obvious shortcoming related to racial integration, I still advocate Chinese education for what it offers. Clearly, through its holistic philosophy and track record, it has produced many responsible citizens through the years. Chinese education continues to play a significant role in nation-building and church life in Malaysia. Florence Kuek lectures Mandarin at Universiti Teknologi Mara.