How Piagets theories support universal preK in the US Essay Example for Free

How Piagets theories support universal preK in the US Essay Jean Piaget is famous for developing one of the most influential theory, the theory of cognitive development. The theory is mainly concerned with the construction and emergence of schemata which comprises the schemes of how a person does perceive the world especially during the developmental stages when the children are gaining new means of mentally expressing information. The theory is considered constructivist in opposition to other theories which could be either nativist or empiricists, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The theory proposes that we do get to construct our cognitive abilities through the self-motivated action in ones world. The nativist theory on the other hand asserts that cognitive development is the unfolding of innate abilities and knowledge while empiricist theories defines cognitive development as a gradual process in which knowledge is acquired through experience, (Brainerd, C.J. Reyna, V.F 2002). For this theory, Piaget won the Erasmus prize. There are four main periods that Piaget used to describe the schemes that children make use of to understand the world, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981). Four stages as described by Piaget’s. Sensorimotor period. This occurs at the age of 0 to 2 years, (Piaget, J. 1929). According to Piaget, children are born with a congenital reflexes which permits them to float in the dense world beyond their drive to explore the world around them. The initial schemes that the children have at this stage is all based on the differentiation of their congenital reflexes. Since this is the first of the four stages according to Piaget it marks an important stage in which the child develops spatial abilities to understand the world in six different stages, (Piaget, J. 1929). These stages include; †¢ The reflex scheme stage that takes place from birth to one month. It is primarily associated with the development of reflexes. †¢ Primary circular reaction stage is the second stage that occurs from one month to four month. It is primarily associated with the development of habits. †¢ The secondary circular reactions phase forms the third stage. It occurs from the fourth month to the eighth month and is primarily associated with the development of vision and prehension coordination, (hand-eye coordination). †¢ The fourth sub stage is concerned with the development of the object permanence development. It is generally called the coordination of secondary course round modest circular reactions stage and occurs from the eighth month to the twelfth month. †¢ The tertiary circular reactions phase is what Piaget suggested to the fifth sub stage from twelve to eighteen months. This is the stage that Piaget suggested that the ‘little scientist’ is born through active creativity and experimentation. †¢ The sixth final sub stage here is characterized by the beginning of symbolic representation and it occurs from the eighteen months to twenty four months. At this stage the new found means of considering before taking an action gives the child new ways of eventually achieving a goal without having to go for the trial and error experiment, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981). preoperational stage This is the second of four main stages of cognitive development. Piaget demonstrated that a qualitative psychological functioning does occur as the child approaches the end of second year. According to Piaget, a preparatory thought is any particular procedure that promotes mental action on objects. The main hallmark in this stage is logically inadequate and sparse mental operations, (Flavell 1963). It is at this stage that the child learns to repress and use objects by words and images, that is symbolic thinking is evident. Since the child still has difficult of adopting other people’s viewpoint, thinking is still egocentric. It as it this stage that the child has the potential to classify similar objects together trough a single feature such as color or shape, (Brainerd, C. 1978). Piaget suggested that this stage which immediately follows Sensorimotor stage occurs between 2-7 years of stage. It at this stage that children develop their language skills and thus they begin expressing things using images and words. Worth noting here is the child relies more on intuition that the logical reasoning at this stage. At the beginning, there are more egocentric since they are not yet aware that other people are not thinking or perceiving things in the same way like they do. It at this time that their imaginative mind is very active and they thus associate emotions to certain inanimate objects, (Piaget, J. 1929). This stage is further broken down into Preconceptual stage and the Intuitive stage. The Preconceptual stage occurs at the stage of 2-4 years and is mainly characterized by egocentric thinking as well as animistic thought. A child with animistic thought is one who has the tendency to assign attributes of living things to inanimate objects such as the perception that a glass does feel pain when it is broken. The intuitive stage that occurs between the forth year to the seventh year is characterized by the potential child who is actively solving problems through the mental process. Though at this stage they do manage to achieve some goals, they are however unaware on how they achieved their conclusion. A simple example is when a child is able to correctly identify the majority from the minority just by the virtual of sight. An example is when a child is presented with seven dogs and maybe 2 cats and he/she is asked if there are more dogs that cats. As expected the child would respond positively but will also commit a logical error if supposedly asked the same question in the same way but differently such as if there are more dogs that animal, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The child will most likely respond by saying yes thus showing the use intuition at this stage. An important observation by Piaget is that children mainly learn through play and imitation through these first two stages, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981).. Concrete operational stage This is the third of the four stages in Piaget’s cognitive development theory. It follows preoperational stage and is suggested to occur between the age of 7 to 11 years, (Piaget, J. 1929). It is characterized by the appropriate use of logic and at this stage some of the important processes that have been identified include; †¢ Seriation, which is the ability to sort different objects based on shape, size or other characteristic. A good example is the potential to differentiate color gradient. †¢ Classification-the ability of the child to identify and name sets of objects based on size, appearance as well as other characteristics that may suggest that one object may include another. †¢ Decentering-this is a process where the child is able to take into account multiple aspects of a problem towards solving it. An example is the change in perception where a child will no longer will no longer hold the perception that an exceptionally wide yet short cup will hold less amount that one that is normally tall and wide. †¢ Reversibility-where the young one is able to comprehend that objects and numbers can be altered and eventually returned back their original state. Thus the child will be able to comprehend that since 3+3= 6, then 6-3=3. †¢ Conservation- the ability to understand that length, quantity or number of items is basically mot related to their appearance or arrangement. †¢ Elimination of egocentricim- this is the ability of the child to understand and view things from another perspective even though they may think incorrectly. Formal operational stage This is the fourth and the final stage in cognitive development according to Piaget’ theory. It starts at around 12 years of age soon after the Concrete Operational stage and continues all the way to adulthood, (Ashurst 1985). It is the stage that is characterized with the ability to reason logically, think abstractly, and be able to draw conclusions from the available information. It is at this young adult stage that one is able to understand such aspects as logical proofs, love and values. Some biological factors can be traced during this stage as it occurs during puberty thus marking the entry into adulthood in cognition, physiology, moral judgment (Kohlberg), psychosocial development (Erikson) and psychosexual development (Freud). It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of all the people fail to develop this type of reasoning fully for it to become their normal cognition mode and thus they remain as operational thinkers even as adults, (Flavell 1963). The above four stages have some general observation. One is that though they may vary in time, sequence does not change, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The stages also apply to thought and not to children and they universal thus they cannot be associated with any culture. Shortcoming to Piagetian stage theory. There are several challenges that have been put froth against Piagetian theory some of which even Piaget himself has noted such as the fact that development does not have to progress in such as the smooth manner that his theory has proposed. His theory is a general one since it suggests that cognitive maturation occurs across different aspects of knowledge such as logic, mathematics, language among others, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981). Application of Piagetian theory Most of the educators as well as psychologists do manage to receive piagetian theory training during their professional training. A piagetian assessment is more likely to be a familiar concept among the psychologists who work in those districts that carry out alternative assessment of cognitive ability on regular basis. A good example are the psychologists at the Southern California Diagnostic Center who do make use of the Ordinal Scale more in depth during a Piagetian assessment. For most of these psychologists, a Piagetian assessment is like a departure from the standardized intelligence testing. The standardized intelligence tests that are available usually diagnose the student’s academic achievement expectancy and it may usually take considerable amount of time and thus may not be done for more than one year. This thus limits the tests for use during short term interventions such as pre-test or post-test. More to this is that standardized cognitive tests quantify a students power or strength of abilities or processing but unfortunately the quantification does not precisely predict the intervention method that are most likely applicable or useful, (Flavell 1963). A curriculum-based measurement (CBM) can be done several times within a year by the school psychologists as a pretest or post-test on how effective the intervention is. Unfortunately, CBM does not provide details of why the intervention may or may not be successful nor does it serve as a diagnostic tool for the instructional modifications. On the other hand, Piagetian screening can be useful in giving instructional interventions especially incases to do with comprehension or math concepts, (Piaget, J. 1929). Piagetian theory gives the stage wise development of qualitative means of developing thinking from one stage to the next. Through this understanding it is possible to understand more easily why students experience learning difficulties. Thus Piagetian screening does provide an avenue of quickly estimating a student’s cognitive development level, (Ashurst 1985). In a summary thus, one can point to Piagetian tasks as signposts that indicate the level or stage that a child of a particular age is functioning. Thus it is important to understand that teaching   a child certain specific tasks does not in any way change the development stage of the child. Thus these signpost are useful when developing accommodations and modifications that do support a match between a Childs a curriculum with his/her cognitive processing ability. Necessary interventions for a child curriculum especially at the age of 4. Most of the children usually do encounter difficult math problems. Piagetian theory can be used to explain the appropriate interventions that can be adopted and especially at the age of four. For a student to effectively understand the mathematical concepts of simple subtraction and addition, there is need for him/her to acquire the concept of conservation of numbers. A child who is yet to attain conservation of number concept can still be able to perform, state or memorize various procedures such as subtraction or addition but may most likely be confused with the same concepts weeks, days or even hours later. The main reason for this is that information is stored as verbatim representations and the gist representations, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The modern theories of memory suggest that memory is stored as verbatim (exact input), or gist (concepts) and these representations of   memory   are accessed independently. Thus a child who has not yet attained the conservation of number rarely has the conceptual framework that is needed for a one-to-one correspondence since they lack the conceptual framework, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981).. At a later time when the child is not able to accurately carry out math operations, an impression of memory deficit may most likely be the first impression. But the main problem maybe that the child has not yet attained the developmental stage that is required to understand the mathematical concepts. It is in such circumstances that the child may only store verbatim memories and fail to do the same for the conceptual knowledge, gist memory. Necessary interventions in this case suggest that one ought to be very sure that the concrete operations level is emerging. If this is not the case, the child may most likely be in the pre-operational thinking stage which is also the intuitive level. The necessary interventions can be aimed at helping the child accelerate moving from intuitive stage towards the concrete stage. A good example is at the age of four, which is generally regarded as the stage of ‘why’ where the course-effect thinking is learnt in details. Worth noting is that some of the primary school-age children whom have not yet attained the level of being intuitive thinkers usually get on to ‘why stage’ one or two years later and may thus have not had the opportunity of having the questioning behavior reinforced, (Flavell 1963). Students are also known to experience problems with comprehension. The frequent complaint are usually at the 4th grade all the way to the eighth grade. The difficult maybe complex but with the application of Piagetian theory it is possible to determine whether the student did manage to attain the necessary developmental stages to be able to comprehend different concepts that do involve   some partially overlapping sets of information. Though the international model age for attaining classification task as age 9, an upward variance is usually observed. Most of the upper elementary science, literary concepts and social sciences involve also mental manipulation. Usually students gain the attention of the school psychologists due t issues that are associated social behavior.

Northeastern Co-ops :: University Work Experience Students Essays

Northeastern Co-ops The key to a well-rounded college career is having a combination of experiential education and academic studies. Having the opportunity to dapple into your field of study one year into college is an experience not offered to most students. It allows the student a chance to grow up and join the real world, for six-months at a time. Northeastern University, in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, offers just that to all of its undergraduate students. Northeastern University is ranked number one in co-ops by the Princeton Review, and offers a six-month long internship program every year. The Mission of the Division of Cooperative Education may be expressed in three parts: 1. To cultivate and maintain the position of Northeastern University as a national and international leader in Career Services and Cooperative Education 2. To provide comprehensive career planning services that support all members of the Northeastern University community in identifying, planning, and implementing sound career decisions 3. To provide Northeastern University students with cooperative educational experiences that have a significant impact on their professional lives. Most Northeastern students take advantage of the unique five-year program and use their six-months to experience more than just a new job. Every year, more students are finding co-ops outside of the metropolitan Boston area. Mike Hourihan is a 23-year-old finance major from Boston and can't say enough about the co-op program. "I worked for Merrill Lynch in San Francisco. The job itself taught me a lot about the finance industry. Merrill Lynch will look great on my resume' and the experience I gained is more than you can learn in the classroom," said Hourihan. "The people in the company were great and I got to sit with sales people and brokers on several occasions. The job taught me how trades settle and how to deal with different types of wealthy customers." The Silicon Valley and Bay Area of California is home to a plethora of businesses and companies that attract people from all over the globe. To leave school for six-months and work in your field of choice is only part of what Northeastern students gain when they take the opportunity to work across the country. Doreen Hodgkin, Senior Associate Dean for Administration at Northeastern manages a bulk of the co-op paperwork. "The students who leave the area to work have so much more to offer their employers in the workplace because of personal experiences," said Hodgkin.

“Princess Paradox” by James Poniewozik Essay

In the â€Å"Princess Paradox† James Poniewozik starts out his article by taking a stance against the princess movement, but then throughout the rest of his article he talks about how the movement is good for young girls by showing that they can control their own destiny. Unlike the â€Å"Princess Paradox†, Peggy Orenstein’s article â€Å"Cinderella and Princess Culture† takes a stance against the princess movement by stating that the movement is ruining the minds of young girls. Although both authors have feminist points of view, they have opposite opinions on how the princess movement affect young girls, which they try to prove by using different approaches to prove what their opinion is. In their opening paragraphs both authors take a stance against the princess movement. Poniewozik starts out his article by saying that it is a recurring nightmare of high-minded modern parents of daughters, where the parents give many masculine toys, and then when Halloween rolls around they want to be a princesses; (666) while Orenstein writes her article from the perspective of a parent whose daughter was called a princess and treated as a princess everywhere she went, and Orenstein’s tolerance of this treatment grew shorter until she lost her patience. Though Poniewozik seems to take a stance against the movement in his opening paragraph he ends up leaning towards why it is a good thing for young girls, whereas Orenstein keeps her opinion the same, but she goes on to contradict the point that she was trying to make. Both authors compare todays princess movement with the feminist movement that took place a few years ago. We’ve come a long way, it seems, from the girls-kick-ass culture of just a few years ago in which a 360 [degrees] flying roundhouse kick was a girl’s best friend. (Poniewozik 666) Poniewozik says that today’s Prince Charming has learned the lessons of feminism, or at least learned to pay lip service to them. (666-667) Orenstein on the other hand sees the princess movement as an anti-feminist movement, which she tries to support at first, but then she begins to contradict herself by saying that the princess movement may be a sign of progress, and that at  long last girls can have it all. (671) The approach to the princess movement that both authors take is completely different from the other. Poniewozik uses the princess related movies for his approach, showing how they fit in the theme that the girl can have it all, while at the same time they can keep the feministic way, while Orenstein pulls all her information from the Disney’s Princesses. She takes her approach by claiming that the princess movement was started when Disney put nine of its female characters together and started to sell the princess movement to the public. Poniewozik keeps his claim that the princess movement is good for young girls throughout his article which he tries to prove by using more opinion than fact. Orenstein started her article with the point of view that the princess movement is ruining young girls, but about half way through the article she states that she might be wrong. Where Poniewozik fails to give good facts to support his claim Orenstein seems to make up for when she goes on to give facts and evidence which disproves her own theory, but supports Poniewozik’s. Poniewozik’s proof of his theory is rather hollow, but is more filled if you add in the facts and information from Orenstein’s article. On the other hand Orenstein lacks proof to prove her stand against the princess movement and to prove how she could be right. Most of the information that she tries to use to back up her theory is formed from her opinion, which makes the proof for her theory rather hollow. Poniewozik talks about how the princess movies show what a princess should be like and that there is a strict set of rules and conventions; she should be pretty, but in a class president way, not a head cheerleader way, she should be able to stand up for herself, she must be socially conscious, and above all she should not want to be a princess until she changes her mind that is. (668 Poniewozik) Orenstein says similar things such as girls feel like they have to follow a certain set of rules to be accepted; school-age girls overwhelmingly reported a paralyzing pressure to be â€Å"perfect†: not only to get straight A’s and be the student-body president, editor of the newspaper and captain of the swim team, but also to be â€Å"kind and caring,† â€Å"please  everyone, be very thin and dress right.† (673) Orenstein found that Disney’s secret to selling their princess products was that all they had to do is think like a little girl would about princess items. Such as, what type of bed would they want, what type of alarm clock would they want to wake up to, and what type of TV would they like to watch, and etc. Few girls will completely bedeck their room, but if she ends up with three or four of these items, well you have a healthy business. (673 Orenstein) Poniewozik found a similar occurrence with princess movies. He says that Hollywood is discovering that it still does not pay to fight the royal urge. (Poniewozik 666) Following 2001’s $108 million-grossing _The Princess Diaries,_ Hollywood waved its wand and conjured a set of Cinderella stories for girls, including The Prince and Me and Ella Enchanted, as well as A Cinderella Story and its sequel. (Poniewozik 666) Both authors stated their claims and presented their evidence, they both have opposite views, but yet the evidence is similar in many ways. Although both authors have feminist points of view, they have opposite opinions on how the princess movement affect young girls, which they try to prove by using different approaches to prove what their opinion is. Poniewozik’s argument was proven with some facts he had, while Orenstein did not support her argument very well and only helped make Poniewozik’s argument better, and to disprove her own. Citations: Orenstein, Peggy. â€Å"Cinderella and Princess Culture.† Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Suzanne Phelps Chambers. Upper Saddle River: Longman, 2011. 670-673. Poniewozik, James. â€Å"The Princess Paradox.† Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Suzanne Phelps Chambers. Upper Saddle River: Longman, 2011. 666-669.

Trade Unions in Singapore - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2046 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/16 Category Politics Essay Type Narrative essay Tags: Government Essay Did you like this example? Trade union is a labor union of craftspeople or workers in related crafts, as distinguished from general workers or a union including all workers in an industry (Dictionary. com 2010). It is a de facto of the government, and they as often act as government representatives to workers’ trade union. It compromises those who are not part of the elite society. (Michael D. Barr, 2000, page 480). In this essay, I will first discuss the characteristics of trade union in Singapore which will include a brief history. I will also give my opinion of Michael D. Barr’s article if Singapore is a trade union. Secondly, I will continue my writing with the characteristic of trade union in China including a brief history, and my opinion of Taylor and Qi Li’s articles if china is a trade union. Lastly, I will conclude the essay by comparing and contrasting these two trade unions. Trade Union in Singapore In 1961, the non-communist party National Trades Union Congress (NTU C), being the sole union movement in Singapore, was formed. As NTUC and People’s Action Party (PAP) (government) shares common goals, it worked closely with the PAP, forming a system, the tripartite system which was well established. This is a system whereby PAP government, employers and employees work together for the benefit of all parties (Michael D. Barr, 2000, page 480). NTUC as the National Federation of trade unions made up of working people in the industrial, service and public sectors consisting of 60 affiliated unions and 6 taxi associations. Today, the NTUC has 540,000 members. 9 cooperatives and 6 related organizations that are founded to serve the needs of its members. After reading the article (Trade Unions in an Elitist Society: The Singapore Society), I agree with the journalist, Michael D. Barr’s opinion that Singapore is not a trade union. Firstly, in accordance to the definition stated, trade union comprise of those who are not in the elite gro up. However, some of the NTUC union leaders are members of the government. For instance, the current Secretary General of the NTUC is a also a PAP member of Parliament, a Minister without portfolio working in the Prime Minister office, and the chairman or deputy chairman of several government bodies (Singapore Government Directory, 2000)’. Secondly, Secretary General of NTUC’s senior official, Lim Chee Onn, proclaimed that both the PAP and NTUC â€Å"came from the same mother the struggles with the communist and the colonists† (The Sunday Times, 1982). Although he claimed that the NTUC and the government had common goals, the NTUC is just like a â€Å"vehicle of government policy†. Barr’s article also pointed out that in the 1960s the NTUC was formed ‘so that’ the government was able to fight against with the communist parties to maintain a democratic society (non- communist) in Singapore. Thirdly, Trade Union leaders are appoin ted by union members, but NTUC was being controlled by the government. In 1982, with 91 percent of union votes, Lim Chee Onn was re-elected as Secretary General. But after 11 month of re-election, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew wrote a letter to him. This was an inform letter, that Lim would have to leave the NTUC and take charge of a Government Ministry and other member, Ong Teng Cheong, a member of parliament (MP) would take over his position as Secretary General (NTUC). This shows that the NTUC was being control by the government to appoint the members to be in its organizational structure. The government has an authority to reject or accept members to lead the Trade Union. In addition, at the time of appointment as Secretary General in NTUC, Ong Teng Cheong was already a chairman of the PAP, and a former minister of Ministry of labor in the government sector. Fourthly, many important decisions are being made by the government. One of the most significant events is t he industrial relations event in the 1970s. Lee Kuan Yew took up the decision to modernize the trade union movement to enable it to meet the demands of Singapore’s attempt to move out of low-cost, low skill labor market and into the medium cost medium skill market (Jonathan Rigg, 1988). The NTUC did not stand up to object or give ideas to the decision. According to Caraway, East Asias labor laws offer similar levels of protection for individual labor rights to the rest of the world when firing costs are taken into account, and low regional averages are primarily an effect of Singapores extremely weak individual labor rights’(Caraway, 2009). For example, recession hit Singapore in 1985, the union movement ‘agreed’ to have a pay cut of 15%. The government may be the one who suggested it, and employee had no right to disagree with the act. Lastly, trade unions are supposed to be able to insist on having strikes or to fight to achieve goals but it is unl ikely to happen in Singapore as the government has a law against that. However, to pre-empt labor disquiet and disinvestment, the governments offer credible apologies that include punishment and monitoring of government when economic performance is less than optimal in the country. When they fail to offer credible apologies, labor and producers respond with strikes and disinvestment. (O Fiona Yap, 2003). In addition, According to Law Society of Singapore official website, under Penal Code (Singapore, 2005) Chapter VIII: Offences against the public tranquility, rioting (S146 and S147) if you are part of an unlawful assembly and force or violence is used, every member is guilty of the offence of rioting even if the degree of participation of each of you is different. You can be jailed up to 5 years and can also be ordered to be caned. With all the evidence shown, I agree with Michael D. Barr that Singapore trade union is not a trade union. It does not fulfill many of the characteri stics of a trade union. In my opinion, the NTUC is more like a government sector that fulfill employee needs of learning and development so as to increase their employability. Trade Union in China Unlike NTUC, trade union in China the All China Federation of Trade Union (ACFTU) is a communist party. The ACFTU was established in 1925, being the only recognized union in People’s Republic of China (PRC). According to the ACFTU’s official website figures released at the end of September 2006, there are 31 provincial trade union federations, 10 national industrial unions and 1. 324 million grassroots trade union organizations (in 2. 53 million enterprises and institutions) associated with the ACFTU. While protecting the overall interests of the people, the ACFTU aim to stand up for workers, protect workers interests, fulfill their social functions of protection, construction, participation and education in an all-rounded manner, give prominence to the protective function of trade unions, and unite with and mobilize the masses of workers to strive for the realization of the countrys socialist modernization (All-China Federation of Trade Unions Official English website, 2007). Today, as China has increasingly economic power, ACFTU is working very hard to keep up with its trade unions power. After reading the article (Is the ACFTU a Union and Does It Matter? ), I agree with Taylor Li’s opinion that China is not officially a Trade Union. Firstly, I will start with the relationship between ACFTU and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). CCP is a party that has authority to control the government. ACFTU as a part of the government is also controlled by the party. Therefore, it means that ACFTU not only serves the government in government interest, but in its role in serving the interest of the CCP so as to aid in managing government matters (Taylor and Li, 2007, page 707). In other words, ACFTU is working closely together with government instead o f by itself. Secondly, Union leaders in ACFTU can be from the elite group of the society with many positions. For example at the Ninth Trade Congress, held in October 1978, a member of the CCP’s Politburo, Ni Zhi fu, became chairman of the ACFTU (Feng Cheng, 2009, page 668). The CCP and the government have the right to reject or accept a union leader. This shows that union leaders are being appointed instead of elected. Thirdly, as the ACFTU is the sole movement of trade union in China (with no other opposition party), employees are lacking the power to fight for their rights. As many finances in the union are sponsored by the government, if any party of the union were to go against the government, the CCP and the government have the right to remove its sponsorship from any department. For example, if any one of the union member is to go against the government decision, CCP or the government can remove their sponsorship. This will affect ACFTU directly, as they will not have enough money to pay its workers and to continue its operations. Therefore, the reason the workers do not turn to the union is not ideological distaste, but is simply because the unions are generally incompetent or incapable of acting on the workers’ behalf (Taylor and Li, 2007, pg 709). Lastly, being the one and only large organization, the ACFTU is characterized as a bureaucratic union, with highly focus group of authority, and incumbent problems of inflexibility, accountability and performance (Taylor and Li, 2007, page 703). Although China’s union has a vertical organizational structure paralleling that of the party and government, the ACFTU is far less able than the party and government to exercise authority over its grassroots organizational cells—in fact, they are subject to the complete control of management. The union, thus, has administrative power but no effective enforcement units. (Feng Cheng, 2009, Pg 664). For example, if there is any conf lict among the subordinate and the superior, union bureaucracies acted as a middle man between protesting partied. They will have to accept the ‘mediate’ of the union bureaucracy as it sort of a government ‘command’. With all the supporting evidences, I agree with the point that China is not really a trade union. Different from Singapore, China trade union work closely together to promote both workers and the government interest. Overview In comparison, both Singapore and China trade unions are ‘not really a trade union’ as the unions operates with the aid of the government. They have many factors in common. Firstly, the two unions are trying to promote employees interest in their countries and both are the only union in their countries respectively. Secondly, the union leaders of the 2 countries are mostly from the elite group. In addition, union leaders are being elected by the government instead of being appointed by the union members. However, there are differences between the 2 unions. First, Singapore’s trade union the NTUC is a non-communist party but in China, the ACFTU is a pro-communist party. The working structure of the 2 unions is different too. NTUC is a parallel organizational structure but the ACFTU works in a vertical organizational structure. In conclusion, although these 2 trade unions do not fulfill the requirement(s) of a trade union, it works to a common of giving the employees in all industry a helping hand. Today, both trade unions are improving themselves to maintain a peace working environment in their countries. (Word count 1989) References †¢ All China Federation of Trade Union official English webpage on https://english. acftu. org sighted on 15 October 2003 Hits: 2465 and on  20 September 2007 Hits: 4841 Barr, M 2000, ‘Trade unions in an elitist society: The Singapore story’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 480-96. †¢ Ca raway, Journal of East Asian Studies [1598-2408], Labor rights in East Asia: Progress or regress? , Vol: 9 Issue:2 pg: 153 -186, 2009 United States †¢ Feng Chen, ‘Union Power in China Source, Operation, and Constraints’, Modern China, 2009 pg 664 †¢ Dictionary. com Unabridged on https://dictionary. reference. com/browse/trade+union based on the Random House Dictionary,  © Random House, Inc. 2010. †¢ Jonathan Rigg, ‘Singapore and Recession in 1895’, Asian Survey, 28, 3, 1988, page 342 and 343 O Fiona Yap Non-electoral responsiveness mechanisms: Evidence from the Asian less democratic newly industrializing countries  (British Journal of Political Science; Jul 2003; 33, ABI/INFORM Global page 491) †¢ Singapore Government Directory interactive on https://ferari. nmi. net. sg/ sighted on 10 May 2000 †¢ The Singapore Law Society Directory interactive on https://www. lawsociety. org. sg/public/you_and_the_law/youthcrime/cp_public0. htm sighted on 2005 †¢ Taylor, B Qi Li, 2007, ‘Is the ACFTU a union and does it matter? ’, Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 701-15. †¢ The Sunday Times [Singapore], 2 May 1982 Don’t waste time! 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