Overrepresentation Of Minority Students In Special Education Programs

Overrepresentation Of Minority Students In Special Education Programs Overrepresentation or disproportionality of minority students in special education programs is an ongoing problem that has plagued our nation for several decades. Overrepresentation can occur in many areas but is most prevalent when considering a students ethnicity. Disproportionality refers to the extent to which membership in a given à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ group affects the probability of being placed in a specific disability category (Oswald, Coutinho, Best, Singh, 1999, p. 198). For example, government reports have revealed that African American students constitute over 14% of the school-age population yet they represent 20% of the students placed in special education (Losen Orfield, 2002). Klinger et al., (2005) reported that African American students are twice as likely than White students to be labeled as mentally retarded, one time more likely to be labeled as learning disabled, and over one and half times as likely to have an emotional or behavioral disorder. Disproportionate representation of ethnic and racial minorities has historical connections to educational segregation and discrimination. Dunn (1968) first raised concerns about this issue in the sixties. He described the disproportionate number of minority students being labeled as mentally retarded and placed in self-contained classrooms which raised significant educational and civil right concerns. Ferri and Connor (2005) have also maintained that disproportionality has historical roots. After schools were integrated in 1954, following the Supreme Courts decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the number of African American students placed in special education programs increased. Students were being grouped or placed according to their academic ability. This practice resulted in many African American students being grouped together in low ability tracks and many were subsequently referred for special education services. Hence, over referring African American students for special education became another way to resegregate students of color. Some people would argue that placing a student in special education would greatly benefit the student because he or she would receive more individualized attention to address their disability and other needs. However, disproportionality often presents negative implications for minority students. Once African American students are identified as having a disability, deemed eligible for special education services, and placed in a special education setting; they are more like to remain in special education classes throughout their years in school. They are more likely to receive a watered down curriculum that is not as rigorous as the curriculum that the students in general education receives. These students are segregated from their general education peers when placed in more restrictive settings. Disabled students are often stigmatized and treated differently by other students in their schools. Lastly, to further exacerbate the problem, overrepresentation may also cause some students t o be misclassified or inappropriately identified as having a disability. Disproportionality is a complex problem that has been linked to multiple factors depending on the school and/or school district. Probable causes of disproportionality include psychometric test bias, socio-demographic factors, unequal opportunity in general education, and cultural mismatch between teacher and student (Skiba, et. al, 2008). Research has also suggested that bias at the prereferral stage of the special education eligibility process is a cause for disparity of African American students being placed in special education (Darley Gross, 1983). As a former special education teacher, I have participated in several meetings with a purpose of deciding which placement is appropriate for a student previously identified as having a disability. On several occasions, I have asked the referring general education teacher his or her reasons for referring the student for special education services and was surprised to receive such vague and potentially bias explanations. For example, on e teacher told me that she referred a student for behavioral issues because at times, he was stubborn and refused to do his work. Another teacher told me that she referred a student because he presented challenging behaviors such as talking out without permission and he often contradicted the teachers answers or explanations to the class which infuriated the teacher. When questioned further about the interventions used before referral, the teachers response were more ambiguous and peppered with a lack of knowledge of appropriate intervention strategies. The purpose of this study is to determine the personal characteristics of the general education teachers that have the greatest influence on their decision to refer minority students for special education. The study will address the following research questions through a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative research: To what extent if any, does a general education teachers years of experience, teaching level, training in classroom management and intervention strategies, education level, ethnicity, age, and gender impact disparity at the prereferral stage of the special education eligibility process? What impact does a general education teachers efficacy and perceptions of minority student characteristics bias their referral of minority students for special education services? What is the placement rate of the students being referred for special education services by the general education teachers? This study will focus on the students being referred for academic and/or behavioral issues because these are the main reasons why minority students are referred for special education services. As a result of this study, I hope to be able to extend the available literature on potential teacher bias during the prereferral stage of the special education process. My ultimate goal is to decrease the numbers of African American students being referred for special education services when the referral is not warranted or questionable. Conceptual Framework Disproportionality is a widespread problem that continues to affect minority students. Patterns of consistent disproportionality are evident and have been studied extensively for years. Oswald et al. (1999) examined the magnitude of overrepresentation by analyzing extant data from the 1992 Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Compliance Report to describe the extent of disproportionate representation of African American students labeled as seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) and mildly mentally retarded (MMR). They also wanted to determine the extent to which economic, demographic, and educational variables at the district level were associated with disproportional identification for this ethnic group. Zhang and Katsiyannis (2002) used data extracted from three federal government publications to find out whether or not there have been any recent improvements or changes in overrepresentation of minorities in special education. Although, there has been some debate concerning how disproportionality should be measured and the extent of the problem, overrepresentation continues to occur with no definitive causes. Researchers have also been unsuccessful in ident ifying real solutions to eradicate this phenomenon. Previous studies have examined many aspects of disproportionality including bias in problem solving and the social process of student study teams and teacher efficacy and student problem as factors in special education referral. Yet, research is somewhat limited and has mainly focused on the magnitude and possible causes of disproportionality. There appears to be a gap in the literature when examining personal factors that affect the general education teachers decision to refer a student for special educations services. This study will fill this gap by examining factors that influence referral and subsequently results in disparity. An in-depth analysis of teachers efficacy and perceptions of minority students will also be examined to determine if these factors impact disproportionality. The cognitive theory of social learning coined by Alfred Bandura will inform my approach to understanding the phenomena of disproportionality with regards to teacher efficacy. Teacher efficacy will be analyzing to determine its role in the prereferral stage of the special education process. I will examine the general education teachers belief that he or she may or may not be capable of bringing about desired changes in their students. Teacher efficacy will take account of two dimensions, judgments and personal beliefs. Disproportionality will also be approached from an ecological perspective framework to understand how special education referrals are influenced by personal characteristics of the referring teacher. The teacher factors that will be explored will also note the influence of ascriptive characteristics, characteristics that cannot be changed such as age, gender, ethnicity, etc., on disparity.

Matteo Ricci

The year 1982 was a ‘Ricci-year’: scholarly meetings in different places around the world, from Chicago (US), over Macerata (Italy) to Taibei (Taiwan), commemorated Matteo Ricci’s entry in China. It was exactly four hundred years since his arrival in the Portuguese settlement of Macao in 1582 and his entry into the mainland one year later. In 2001, there were new celebrations of Ricci, in Hong Kong and in Beijing, commemorating his definitive settling in Beijing in 1601. The year 2010 is again a ‘Ricci-year’, this time commemorating his death in Beijing in 1610.Is there anything new to be said about Matteo Ricci after this time-lapse of twenty-seven years, which corresponds to the period of Ricci’s own ascent to and settling in Beijing? Well, his writings have become more accessible to the academic and wider community: for instance, in Chinese there are now readily available editions of his Chinese writings and several translations of his Della entrata della Compagnia di Giesu e Christianita nella Cina (‘About the Christian expedition to China undertaken by the Society of Jesus’) – a strong contrast to the prudent two-page article in Renmin huabao(‘China Pictorial’) of July 1982.But publications not only flourished in Chinese. The Ruggieri-Ricci manuscript of the Portuguese-Chinese dictionary was published for the first time; Ricci’s letters and the Italian version of Della entratawere reprinted (2000-2001)[1]; others works have been translated: the catechism Tianzhu shiyi (‘The True Meaning of God’) into English, Japanese, Korean and Italian; the treatise on friendship Jiaoyoulun into Italian, German, and French; the treatise on mnemotechnics (the art of memory), Xiguo jifa into German.There were numerous secondary sources: at least 200 articles, many of them in Chinese, illuminate various aspects of his life and works. The most well-known work is possibly Jonathan Spe nce’s Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (1984), also translated into Chinese (two translations), French, Spanish and Dutch. [2] All this is very impressive and underscores the fact that Ricci remains an attractive figure both on the academic and the more popular level.Yet a close look at these writings reveals in particular the excellence of research accomplished earlier: the quality of Pasquale d’Elia’s annotated edition of the primary sources (Fonti Ricciane, 3 vols. , 1942-1949)[3] and the analysis of the method of evangelisation by d’Elia’s student Johannes Bettray (Die Akkommodationsmethode des P. Matteo Ricci S. I. in China, 1955)[4] is rarely matched today. Since these writings are in Italian and German respectively, they have unfortunately often been neglected.Compared to these writings, recent publications rarely bring to light new elements about Ricci himself, they rather nuance Ricci’s ‘success story’ by putting his accom plishments and writings in a broader context. For instance, it appears that Ricci was less accommodative than often assumed,[5] and that fellow Jesuits such as Niccolo Longobardo (1565-1655) had a better knowledge of the Chinese Classics and the Neo-Confucian commentaries than Ricci himself. How then to tell Ricci's story in the year 2010?One major development in recent years is the historiography of the contacts between cultures, with a primary question of the perspective from which one needs to look at the missionary: from his own perspective or from the perspective of the receiving culture? Taking benefit from these developments, this article will reread Ricci's story and ask how Ricci was shaped by the other, especially by the Chinese. [6] Four characteristics of Jesuit missionary strategy in China As a starting point one can make a first – rather traditional – reading of Ricci’s life by focusing on the missionary himself.The ‘Jesuit missionary strateg y’ in China was conceived by Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606), who was the former novice master of Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) and who was Jesuit visitor for East Asia during the period 1574-1606. His strategy was creatively put into practice by Matteo Ricci. Later generations, well into the eighteenth century, associated this strategy with Ricci and called it the ‘Ricci-method’. It can be described by four major characteristics[7]: 1. A policy of accommodation or adaptation to Chinese culture. 8] Valignano, who had been disappointed by the limited degree of the Jesuits’ adaptation to Japanese culture, insisted in the first place on knowledge of the Chinese language. Therefore he called a few Jesuits to Macao in 1579 ordering them to focus their attention entirely on the study of language (fellow Jesuits criticised them for spending all their time studying Chinese). Two years later Michele Ruggieri (1543-1607) entered China through the south, and Matteo Ricci followed one year later. Probably inspired by the Japanese situation, they dressed like Buddhist monks. In 1595, after nearly fifteen ears of experience, they changed this policy and adapted themselves to the life-style and etiquette of the Confucian elite of literati and officials. Ricci was responsible for this change. This new policy remained unchanged throughout the whole seventeenth century and for most Jesuit missionaries Matteo Ricci became the reference point with regard to the accommodation policy. 2. Propagation and evangelisation ‘from the top down’. Jesuits addressed themselves to the literate elite. The underlying idea was that if this elite, preferably the Emperor and his court, were converted, the whole country would be won for Christianity.The elite consisted mainly of literati, who had spent many years of their life preparing for the examinations they needed to pass to become officials. For these examinations they had to learn the Confucian classics an d the commentaries. After having passed the Metropolitan examinations, which took place in Beijing every three years and at which about three hundred candidates were selected, they entered the official bureaucracy and received appointments as district magistrates or positions in the ministries.As in modern diplomatic service, the offices usually changed every three years. In order to enter into contact with this elite, Ricci studied the Confucian classics and, with his remarkable gift of memory, became a welcome guest at the philosophical discussion groups that were organised by this elite. 3. Indirect propagation of the faith by using European science and technology in order to attract the attention of the educated Chinese and convince them of the high level of European civilisation.Ricci offered a European clock to the Emperor, he introduced paintings which impressed the Chinese with their use of perspective, translated mathematical writings of Euclid with the commentaries of the famous Jesuit mathematician Christophorus Clavius (1538-1612), and printed an enormous global map which integrated the results of the latest world explorations. By these activities Ricci established friendly relationships which sometimes resulted in the conversion of members of the elite: Xu Guangqi (1562-1633; baptised as Paul in 1603) and Li Zhizao (1565-1630; baptised as Leo in 1610) are the most famous of Ricci's time. . Openness to and tolerance of Chinese values. In China, Matteo Ricci encountered a society with high moral values, for which he expressed his admiration. Educated in the best Jesuit humanistic tradition, he favourably compared Confucius (552-479 BC) with ‘an other Seneca’ and the Confucians with ‘a sect of Epicurians, not in name, but in their laws and opinions’. [9] Ricci was of the opinion that the excellent ethical and social doctrine of Confucianism should be complemented with the metaphysical ideas of Christianity.However, he reject ed Buddhism, Taoism, and Neo-Confucianism, which in his eyes was corrupted by Buddhism. Ricci pleaded for a return to original Confucianism, which he considered to be a philosophy based on natural law. In his opinion it contained the idea of God. Finally, he adopted a tolerant attitude towards certain Confucian rites, such as the ancestral worship and the veneration of Confucius, which soon were labelled ‘civil rites’. Methodological questions There are several reasons why these four characteristics can rightly be identified as typical for Ricci and his fellow-Jesuits in a broader sense.First of all, one can easily find a justification for them in the Jesuit official documents of Ignatian inspiration, especially the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, which often insist on accommodation. Secondly, one can contrast these policies with those adopted by the contemporary Franciscans and Dominicans. These orders appeared less acco mmodative, less elite-oriented, less involved with sciences, and, lastly, less tolerant towards local ritual traditions.Finally, in publications about Jesuits in China in modern times, both by Jesuits and non-Jesuits, these elements are in one way or another presented as ‘typically Ricci’ or as ‘typically Jesuit’. There are also several reasons why these characteristics of strategy can be questioned. First, it can be questioned whether it is a ‘Jesuit’ strategy. Here, the comparison with the mission in Japan is quite determining. The first thirty years of Jesuit mission in Japan show quite a different picture, since before Valignano's arrival the accommodation policy was very restricted.Thus the actual strategy was determined to a large extent by the inspiration of an individual such as Valignano rather than by a common ‘Jesuit’ formation or training. A second problem with ‘strategy’ is that it seems to refer to a pre- set and well-thought policy that was consistently executed over time. Yet, some scholars have convincingly argued that Ricci himself ‘had not formed a precise opinion on the problem of evangelisation in China and that his judgment concerning the means and methods to adopt in order to convert the Chinese varied in the course of the years he spent on this task. [10] Thus the systematic labelling of any action as issuing from a ‘Ricci-method’ is probably an overestimation. Thus, while these four characteristics of the Jesuit strategy in China are certainly not invalid, they possibly present only one side of the story. The major methodological objection that can be raised is that an identity is not only formed through the isolated effort of the Self, but is shaped through constant interaction with the Other. This is true for individuals, but also for groups.Therefore, what we call the Jesuit missionary strategy in China is not only the result of a conscious and well-d efined policy conceived by Valignano and the proactive and creative elaboration of it by missionaries like Matteo Ricci. To a large extent, it is also the result of their reaction to what China was and who the Chinese were. In other words, their identity was shaped by the Chinese Otheras well. If Ricci became who he became, it was also because the Other encouraged him actively or passively to become like that.Thus the story should not only be told from the perspective of the missionary (Ricci), but also from the perspective of the receiving community (the Chinese). I will therefore review the four different characteristics and try to demonstrate how the Chinese ‘Other’ helped shape the Jesuit mission. I will bring into the picture the results of recent research on Christianity in late Ming China. These results have often been obtained by focusing on the point of view of the Chinese, ‘the Other’, and by taking the Chinese texts as primary source for research . Shaped by the Other 1.Accommodation to Chinese culture. The most obvious example of the interference of the Other in the field of accommodation is the change from a policy of adaptation to Buddhism to a policy of adaptation to Confucianism (and subsequently the rejection of Buddhism). The Other was already present in the original decision to adopt the Buddhist dress, since it was the Governor of Guangdong who either insisted that this was the way the missionaries should dress, or who approved the proposal of Michele Ruggieri to do so. [11] The accommodation to the Buddhist life-style was not without advantages.It enabled the Jesuits to make contact with the majority of the Chinese population more easily and allowed them to focus conversation directly on religious matters. But there were also disadvantages. From a Confucian perspective, Buddhism and Christianity shared many religious elements and were very similar to each other. Both can be classified as an institutional religion w ith a system of theology, rituals and organisation of its own, independent of so-called secular institutions. Confucianism, on the other hand, resembles a diffused religion.Its theology, rituals, and organisation were intrinsically tied up with the concepts and structures of secular institutions and the secular social order. [12] Moreover, Christianity shared elements with Buddhism such as belief in afterlife, the idea of heaven and hell, the practice of celibacy, etc. which were very un-Confucian. From Ricci's Della entrata and later apologetic works one can observe that precisely this similarity to the Other (the Buddhists) forced the Jesuits to dissociate themselves from the Other and emphasise their differences.The first (unconscious) reason for this change was that within the Chinese religious context there was too much competition between Buddhism and Christianity. Jesuits were in fact subjected to the phenomenon of ‘inflated difference’: i. e. the phenomenon in w hich a minority group, pressed to consolidate its own identity, is prone to dis-identify with others and to play up otherwise negligible differences between those inside and those outside its boundaries. [13] The only way to dissociate themselves from the Buddhist monks (who were considered to be very low on the social ladder) was to turn to Confucianism.In fact, it was the Other represented by Confucian literati such as Qu Taisu (Qu Rukui) (b. 1549) who encouraged Ricci to institute this change. [14] Here a second important element in which the Other determines the Self needs to be mentioned. It was labelled ‘cultural imperative’ by Erik Zurcher, and belongs to the deep structure in Chinese religious life in late imperial China. [15] No marginal religion penetrating from the outside could expect to take root in China (at least at a high social level) unless it conformed to a pattern that in late imperial times was more clearly defined than ever.Confucianism represented what is zheng (‘orthodox’) in a religious, ritual, social and political sense. In order not to be branded as xie (‘heterodox’) and be treated as a subversive sect, a marginal religion had to prove that it was on the side of zheng. The authority of Confucianism, and its sheer mass and attractive power, were such that any religious system from outside was caught in its field, and was bound to gravitate towards that centre. These two elements, inflated difference and cultural imperative, show the heavy influence of the Other in Ricci's strategy of accommodation.The Chinese made Ricci adapt to the particular Chinese situation. One may also point out that the refinement and sophistication of the Other imposed some limits on the accommodation by the Jesuits. It is indeed remarkable that the Jesuits apparently were not able to accommodate themselves to certain aspects of Chinese culture because they were too difficult to master or were too different from the Euro pean background. Here one touches on aspects of Jesuit corporate culture in Europe and many parts of the world that were not put into practice in China.The clearest example is that of schools and education. Despite their hope to replace the subject-matter of the Chinese exams by Aristotelian philosophy, the Jesuits were never able to influence the well-established Chinese education system. There were also aspects that did not belong to their corporate culture, but that were also too sophisticated to learn or to adopt. In the field of arts, one usually cites the successful adaptation of Jesuit painters like Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), but there is hardly any adoption of, or interest in, Chinese calligraphy.Yet, every member of the educated Chinese elite spent long hours when they were young learning calligraphy, and quite a few continued to practise it every day of their lives. Although the Jesuits’ effort was directed at this elite, in their copious writings there is ha rdly any indication that the Jesuits appreciated the aesthetic dimension of calligraphy and the pivotal role that it played in Chinese culture. [16] In the field of Chinese customs, Ricci and his fellow-Jesuits found it impossible to let their finger nails grow very long, as was the custom among the Chinese literati. 17] These are negative examples of influence that clearly show how Chinese culture imposed limits on accommodation. 2. The propagation ‘from the top’ is a second field in which the role of the Other can be amply shown. First it should be pointed out that the motive of Ricci’s ‘ascent to Beijing’[18] was not necessarily the conversion of the Emperor. The initial objective of Ricci, as expressed in his Della entrata, was not to reach Beijing, but just to have a residence on the mainland.It was because of the many difficulties Jesuits encountered in obtaining permission to enter China and in establishing a permanent residence there that the y gradually made a plan to go to Beijing in order to obtain the support of the ‘King of China’. [19] In this move to Beijing they largely depended on the elite. [20] There certainly were proactive or planned decisions by Ricci and his companions: they preferred the centre to the periphery and they chose to live in a city rather than in the countryside. ‘Centre’ meant the administrative centre, the place with a higher concentration of magistrates and literati.Thus they preferred Zhaoqing to Canton, because the Governor was residing in Zhaoqing, and Canton was only second choice. [21] The choice of the city was quite obviously connected with the choice of the centre. But these proactive or planned decisions by Ricci should be supplemented by two reactive or guided decisions, which were as important if not more important: many movements were arranged through personal relationships (guanxi) and a number of residences were established because the Jesuits were ex pelled from or not allowed to live in certain places.In both of these decisions the Other played a key role. The concept of guanxi or relationships is central to any understanding of Chinese social structures. It denotes an essential part of network-building within Chinese social life. The many difficulties encountered by Ricci and his companions in trying to establish a residence in various cities are often attributed to the fact that they were foreigners. While this is certainly true, the Jesuits also lacked the necessary guanxi to secure the social resources needed for their goals.They lacked common attributes: they could not refer to a common kinship, locality, religion or examination experience. Chinese society very quickly made the Jesuits aware of the importance of this network building and the originality of Ricci is to have understood it. It took the Jesuits a long time, but after more than ten years they succeeded in acquiring some ‘attributes’. The two most i mportant were their behaving like Chinese literati, and subsequently, the establishment of a network based on common Christian rituals.The role of the Other mediated by guanxi became very important in the move from the south to the north of the country and the establishment of new mission posts, and the Jesuits’ decisions were taken in response to the initiative or circumstances of these guanxi. The case of Michele Ruggieri travelling to Shaoxing (Zhejiang) is a fine example of this reactive or guided decision-making. [22] He was not travelling to Shaoxing because of a planned decision on his part, but rather because he had a guanxi who happened to be travelling to Shaoxing and who wanted to take Ruggieri with him.Another pattern was closely linked to this one. Chinese converts would settle in a new place (or return to their place of origin), expand the network of believers, and then invite a missionary. This pattern became more common as the community of believers increased and came to include some converts of higher social standing (especially after 1600). Here some structures of Chinese administrative life played an important role. Like other literati, Christian literati changed offices regularly (in principle every three years), or returned to their native towns. Their moves determined those of the missionaries.Another way of establishing a community in a given city was also a reaction to decisions made by others: Jesuits decided to settle in one place because they were not allowed to settle in the place of their original choice. In some cases this was even linked to direct expulsion. 3. The use of science in the service of the propagation of faith too was largely determined by the Other, as can be shown in the writings of the Jesuits and their converts. The first presentation of European science was made in the form of curiosities like a clock and prisms, with the result that at the beginning Jesuits were considered as alchemists.The first writings of the Jesuits, however, (i. e. what they wrote with only limited influence of the Other), were not scientific but entirely religious and catechetical in nature. It was due to the quest of Chinese scholars, who could not believe that educated scholars could come from far away, that Ricci engaged himself in composing a Chinese version of the world map he had in his room, in order to show where he came from. [23] A further step was the translation of works on mathematics and astronomy. Many scholars have pointed out that this translation took place in the particular context of Late Ming learning.If Chinese scholars were interested in the science brought by the Jesuits, it was because prior to their arrival Chinese literati had developed an interest in practical learning. The search for ‘solid learning’ or ‘concrete studies (shixue) was a reaction against some intuitionist movements originating from the Wang Yangming school in the late sixteenth century. According t o Wang Yangming (1472-1528), the principles for moral action were to be found entirely within the mind-and-heart (xin) and not outside.In the early seventeenth century, the influential intellectual and political movement of the Donglin thinkers re-established the importance of ‘things in the world’. Officials and scholars searched for concrete ways to save the country from decay. [24] It is this preceding quest that led to the unique interaction between the Chinese literati and the Jesuits. The Jesuits themselves were initially not much interested in translating mathematical works, but in response to the insistence of converts such as Xu Guangqi they again and again undertook this kind of time-consuming and long-lasting activity.Later, this insistence by the Chinese (converts) on practical learning was one of the reasons that prevented Jesuits from engaging in projects such as translating the Bible. Early missionaries such as Ricci had no particular advanced training in sciences (even if they were versed in them) and were not sent to spread scientific knowledge. Only later missionaries with a specific scientific training were sent to respond to the quest of the Other and to guarantee the protection of the Church by the Chinese Court.The acceptance of Western sciences by the Chinese thus confirms a generally agreed-upon interpretation of cultural exchange: when a foreign element is accepted relatively easily by a culture into which it has been introduced, that acceptance is owing to the presence of some internal disposition or movement to accept the new element. What is true in the field of the sciences is true also with respect to the moral teachings of the Jesuits, which were accepted because they fitted the quest of the Donglin thinkers for a heteronomous morality.Moreover, the large-scale translation and publication of Western writings was possible only because the Late Ming had a very developed system of (private) publishing and printing. Thus Jesuits did not have to introduce the printing press. Moreover, by contrast with Europe, there was no pre-printing censorship in China. As a result, the Chinese context enabled the Jesuits fully to put into practice their ‘Apostolate through Books’[25] and freely to express their ideas. 4. Tolerance towards Confucian rites. Here too the cultural imperative of the Other played a determining role (as it did not in Japan).Because of the power of Confucianism as a diffused religion, Christianity, just like Buddhism, Judaism and other marginal religions, had to accept the state orthodoxy and the ritual traditions of Confucianism. The repeated and public rejection of the rites approved by the State (and listed in the Official ‘Canon of Sacrifices’) would have caused the missionaries to be labelled ‘heterodox’ and to be rejected (as happened later to missionaries and papal delegations on several occasions during the Rites Controversy).Yet, during the initial years of the Ricci period there was a whole evolution in their attitude, which became more tolerant due to the presence of the Other. This can clearly be observed from the attitude of the missionaries towards funerals, which were and still are the most important ritual of passage in China. [26] In the beginning, the Jesuits were hardly aware that the importance of funeral rites in China would have consequences for themselves.For instance, when Antonio de Almeida (1557-1591), died in Shaozhou (Guangdong), the Chinese could not understand why Ricci and his companions did not wear a mourning garb. The Jesuits, Ricci says, explained that ‘we religious, when we enter into religion, are as though dead to the world, and therefore we do not make such a thing of this fate. ’ Thus the Jesuits did not accommodate to local customs, except for purchasing a first-class coffin, ‘in order to show to the Chinese the quality of the Fathers, because herein they demonstrate their way of honouring the dead. The major reason for buying a coffin, however, according to Ricci’s explanation, was that they could not bury de Almeida in a church, as would have been done in Europe and the Jesuits did not want to follow the Chinese practice of burying him ‘on a hill far away from the house. ’ Subsequently the coffin was kept in their residence for two years until he was buried in Macao. [27] As far as the specific funerary rituals are concerned, in these early years the Jesuits adopted an approach that can be qualified as purist concerning the Christian tradition and exclusivist with regard to the Chinese traditions.In general, Ricci and his fellow Jesuits were less tolerant in the early stages of their missionary activities than later, though in doing so they did not adhere to a specific regulation. If death occurred, the Jesuits’ priority was to bury the deceased – Chinese Christian or foreign missionary – according to C hristian rites. There was little intention towards accommodation to local – usually Confucian – customs. The abstention from local rites by Christians was seen by the Jesuits as a sign helping to strengthen and spread the Christian faith.Only gradually were some Chinese funerary customs accepted. This happened first through the initiative of the Chinese themselves and was largely due to the network in which the deceased Jesuit or Christian had been involved. As long as this network was very small, the funeral could be limited to an exclusively Christian ceremony. When this network was larger, however, the chances of interaction with Chinese funeral practices increased. It is typical for funerals to be such an ‘open’ ritual.For instance, when the Jesuit Joao Soerio died in Nanchang in 1607, his fellow Jesuits did ‘not give expression to their sentiments, as was usual in China,’ because ‘it did not correspond to our profession. ’ Ye t their friends, dressed in mourning, came to their house to condole with them. These Chinese friends installed a bier and covered it as if his body was there. ‘They made four genuflections, and touched each time with their head the ground. ’ Many are said to have mourned the death of this Jesuit in this traditional way. 28] As the Christian communities continued to grow, the interaction with local rituals increased as well. The death of Matteo Ricci in Beijing in 1610 was a turning point in some ways, because his funeral and burial were the cause of the Jesuits themselves becoming involved in more Chinese funerary customs. The first critical step was the decision about his burial place. At the initiative of a Christian convert, the Jesuits asked the Chinese emperor to offer an appropriate burial ground. This burial in the mainland was contrary to the practice of the burials of Jesuits in Macao until then.Meanwhile, Ricci’s corpse was kept in a traditional Chines e coffin. While some Chinese practices, such as the habit of condolence, were accepted, others, such as the funeral procession, were only applied in a limited way, because the Chinese procession was considered to resemble an act of ‘triumph’ and did not conform to Jesuit ideals of poverty and modesty. On the day of the burial itself, 1 November 1611, all the regular Christian ceremonies were celebrated: the recitation of the Office of the Dead, the funeral Mass, an ecclesiastical procession, and the prayers at the tomb in front of a painting of Christ.But in the end, there were also some Chinese rites: ‘Many days afterwards gentile friends came flocking in to perform their usual rites for the deceased. ’[29] Thus it was the presence of the Chinese that brought gradual change in the hesitant approach by the missionaries. As Johannes Bettray has shown, the Jesuits missionaries were, after thirty years of presence in China, apparently allowing the performance of these particular local customs. [30] Conclusion Looking at Ricci, one can discern several characteristics that can be labelled the ‘Ricci method’.However, this method has too often been presented as the result of the proactive Self, at the neglect of the influence of the Chinese Other. I have tried to show that the role of the Other in the formation of Ricci’s identity is certainly as important as the activity of Ricci’s Self. Though Ricci might have reacted in ways other than he did, in all cases the Other played a decisive role in the reactions he showed. One could even argue that the Other made it possible for Ricci to become who he became. Without the Other, this would not have been possible.

Report: Human Resource Management and Case Studies

Written Assessment 1 – Short Report on Case Studies Objective This assessment item relates to course learning outcomes 1 and 4. Structure Follow Report format. See the Course LibGuide for further details. Your assignment must be written in Times New Roman, size 12, with 1. 5 line spacing. You must follow all other formatting rules described in the guide mentioned above. Topic Background â€Å"Only human capital can produce a sustainable competitive advantage. And, performance management systems are the key tools that can be used to transform people's talent and motivation into a strategic business advantage. Aguinis (2013) Performance Management Task You are required to carefully review and evaluate 4 Case Studies from your textbook. These are: Case Study 4-1 â€Å"Diagnosing the Causes of Poor Performance† Case Study 4-2 â€Å"Differentiating Task from Contextual Performance† Case Study 4-3 â€Å"Choosing a Performance Measurement Approach at Paychex, Inc. â⠂¬  Case Study 4-4 â€Å"Deliberate Practice Makes Perfect† For each case you are to prepare a 500-700 word response to all of the critical thinking questions presented at the end of each case.Provide relevant research evidence to justify and support your response in addition to the set text. Instructions: You are expected to read widely for the assignment. You should access scholarly material, including peer reviewed journal articles, chapters from edited books of readings, and books on specific human resource management (HRM) topics (at least 12 additional references required for the entire assignment). A good guide would be to use at least 3 additional references (ideally these would be journal articles from 2008-2013) for each of the case studies.The reference lists found in your prescribed textbook, as well as other texts, are good places to start when searching for additional references. Reliance on websites or textbooks only is NOT an appropriate academic literature s earch and will not help you to achieve higher marks and/or grading. The purpose of this piece of assessment is for you to demonstrate your ability to construct an in-depth and critical analysis discussion on Performance Management topics. In doing so, you are expected to use, and correctly cite, a range of relevant scholarly literature as evidence to justify and support your work.

Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad And Things Fall Apart...

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe both focus on the subject of colonialism and imperialism during the Scramble for Africa, however, Achebe’s novel is a direct response to the racism and the incomplete picture of Africa that Conrad creates. Heart of darkness is a story of Marlow, a steamboat captain, who witnesses the harsh treatment of the natives by the Belgian as he travels down the Congo River. Things Fall Apart tells of Okonkwo and his life in Nigeria and the troubles the Ibo tribe faced as they were colonized by Europeans. While Conrad lumps together African culture as a single â€Å"dark† mass Achebe transforms this notion in Things Fall Apart by differentiating the Ibo tribe in Nigeria. Conrad’s description of the native Africans comes from the point of a colonizer who spends a majority of the book on a steamboat with the Congo River and a vast jungle separating him from the subjects of which he speaks of. His primitive, and what some believe to be racists description of Congolese is one of Achebe’s main concerns with the novel. â€Å"I had to look after the savage who was fireman. He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler. He was there below me, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hindlegs†(Conrad 13). Using words such as â€Å"savages† and comparing them to dogs gives a negative and animalistic view of the people. Conrad neverShow MoreRelatedMisogyny in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe1129 Words   |  5 Pagesprime between 1840 and 1920. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Things F all Apart by Chinua Achebe, two stories based in Africa, show different points of misogyny, the first being from the time of women’s suffrage, and the latter being after the women’s suffrage movement. The value, view, and role of women was undermined greatly in these two novels. Heart of Darkness was published in 1902, deep in with time of the women’s suffrage movement. The author, Joseph Conrad, wrote this novella with aRead MoreHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad vs. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe1476 Words   |  6 PagesHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe are two novellas written to make a statement about the struggles of early societies. Both stories stir up moments of hope, anger, disappointment, despair, and enlightenment in an attempt to inform the reader of the injustices and societal differences during the 1800’s. Heart of Darkness tells the story from a European Colonist perspective while Things Fall Apart illustrates the outlook of the African tribe member being colonizedRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart And Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness932 Words   |  4 PagesThis is apparent in the work of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Achebe gives a personal account of African life, culture, and customs in his book. He grew up in Nigeria, solidifying the reality that his take on their culture is the most natural, the one that will hit home. Also, since Achebe grew up surrounded by the culture so it is something intimately familiar to him. On the other hand, Joseph Conrad’s book Heart of Darkness makes Africa into a wild and savageRead MoreOpposing Viewpoints of Africa in Two Short Stories: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart623 Words   |  3 Pagesopinions will be present, as proven in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. These literary works reveal opposing viewpoints of Africa through the use of literary and stylistic devices. The natural, primitive society is portrayed using sensory detail, imagery, and diction, which in turn reveal the authors’ different attitudes. Through his use of arrogant diction and vivid imagery, Conrad establishes a superior tone, while Achebe incorporates words with peaceful connotationsRead MoreThings Fall Apart And Heart Of Darkness Analysis910 Words   |  4 PagesApproach to Compare Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness In everyday life, we are always comparing, even subconsciously with even knowing it. When we compare things, we look at what the similarities are in said items such as a popular brand or a generic one. Comparing things such as two literary works, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, and, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, both have a lot of similarities that we will look at. In Things Fall Apart, it is aboutRead More Things Fall Apart Contradicts Stereotypes and Stereotyping in Heart of Darkness1750 Words   |  7 PagesChinua Achebes Things Fall Apart Contradicts Stereotypes in Conrads Heart of Darkness In An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness, Chinua Achebe criticizes Joseph Conrad for his racist stereotypes towards the continent and people of Africa. He claims that Conrad propagated the dominant image of Africa in the Western imagination rather than portraying the continent in its true form (1793). Africans were portrayed in Conrads novel as savages with no language other than gruntsRead MoreComparing and Contrasting Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart1346 Words   |  6 Pagespre-colonial period. Things Fall Apart is a novel worth reading because it’s eye opener for those with not-very-positive stereotypes of the continent. In fact, it has been said that Things Fall Apart was written as a response to another novel, The Heart of Darkness. This is because in the latter novel, Africa was viewed in a darker light compared to the former novel. Thus, it’s natural that there will be differences and similarities between the two novels. However, assumi ng that Things Fall Apart being writtenRead More Colonization and Wealth in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart1627 Words   |  7 PagesWealth in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart The novels Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe share a common theme; both deal with the colonization of Africa by settlers from Europe. When one examines the motives for this imperialist attitude in each book, one notices that in both books the motivation for colonization revolves around the gaining of wealth. However Conrad and Achebe define wealth differently. In Heart of DarknessRead MoreTheme Of Racism In Joseph Conrads Heart Of Darkness1008 Words   |  5 Pagesthoughts and changing their words so that they seem like normal comments. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the main character, Marlow, journeys the Congo and describes what he sees. In a response to Heart of Darkness, Chinua Achebe wrote â€Å"‘An Image of Africa’: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness†. Here, he explains his views on what Conrad wrote and what he thinks it means. One of Achebe’s famous novels was Things Fall Apart, based in a village in Africa. The story is about a man, Okonkwo, who isRead MoreEssay on Images of Africa in Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart2228 Words   |  9 PagesImages of Africa in Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Joseph Conrads novel Heart of Darkness portrays an image of Africa that is dark and inhuman.   Not only does he describe the actual, physical continent of Africa as so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness (Conrad 94), as though the continent could neither breed nor support any true human life, but he also manages to depict Africans as though they are not worthy of the respect