Impact of Race and Poverty on Educational Opportunities

Impact of Race and Poverty on Educational Opportunities Carrie Hatcher Literature Review Introduction There have been abundant studies conducted on how race and poverty can affect the educational opportunities of students (Cashin, 2014; Brisport, 2013; Hallinan, 2010; Milner, 2013; Moses, 2011). By researching and studying the variables of race and poverty within an educational setting I hope to be able to further contribute to the knowledge base of how race and poverty can affect educational opportunities of students in our society today. This literature review will help contribute knowledge to the field of educational geography to further enhance the research and studies currently being done on race and poverty and the effect that both of these variables have on educational opportunities. Butler and Hamnett, (2007) stated that there is a strong connection between race and educational opportunity with a major inequality being noted between blacks and whites and Jackson et al., (2013) would agree that the connection between race and educational opportunity exists especially between b lacks and whites. Jackson et al., (2013) noted in their article that at the college level black students have larger student loan amounts and have a higher risk of loan default than white students. Both articles note socioeconomic status as the main reason for the existence of the inequality between black students and white students. I would tend to agree that the socioeconomic standing of a student will affect their educational opportunities. I know from experience and observation that most black students do come from families that have a lower social standing than most white students. It is sad that our society puts so much emphasis on race and income to determine the worth of a person when in reality neither should have a bearing on what a students is able to do with their life. Holloway et al., (2010) states that there are two techniques that can be used to examine educational geography. The two techniques are â€Å"inward-looking† and â€Å"outward-looking† geographies. The inward-looking technique is used to examine the spatial variation in education or where the educational space is located. The other technique is the outward-looking which uses spatial variations to study more than just the location of the educational space but it also looks at social, economic and political variables as well. It was also stated by Holloway et al., (2010) that our spatial lens needs to be broadened when we decide what an educational space is. It is important that when geographers look at and study educational spaces that the focus needs to be broadened to include any place where learning can take place and also to include social variables such as economic and political into their studies. An educational space can be located in other places outside of a form al educational institution or school. Students can learn outside of a class room as well and this learning needs to be incorporated into the study of educational geography just as much as the learning that takes place inside of a school classroom. What a child learns within society can affect them just as much as what they learn within a classroom. Holloway et al., (2010) states in their journal article that educational attainment fundamentally shapes students’ future life chances. I would have to disagree with this statement. I believe that it takes more than just an education in order for a student to be able to be successful in life. It also takes a positive environment for the child to grow up in. I am a firm believer that where a child lives and what environment a child grows up in can make all the difference in the world to the child’s future and how successful the child is. If the environment the child grows up in provides a positive and rich learning environmen t that the child can thrive in then I think that the child can be successful regardless of social standing within the community of their family. However, Butler and Hamnett, (2007) would disagree with me. Within their article they state that education alone is the key to long term economic growth and reducing social inequality. Whereas Cashin, (2014) would agree with me as she noted in her article where research suggests that where a person lives can directly affect not only the person’s social status but economic status as well. Holloway et al., (2010) also noted that the focus needs to be put on the connections between home and school and how sociospatial practices can shape students. Geographers within the field of educational geography need to also take a closer look more at the sociospatial practices and not just the physical building where the educational learning takes place. They need to also look at the connections between the student’s home life, school and s ociety to be able to see the complete picture and how race and poverty can affect a student just as much as where their education is obtained. Race In our society today we say that we are not a racist society and that everyone is seen as equal, that we welcome diversity. But is that really true today? Segregation may not be as prominent or as enforced as it once was historically but it still quietly exists in our society today. This quiet segregation is what is causing race to affect the educational opportunities of students today. It was argued by Brisport, (2013) that opportunity leads to success and success to power but to gain power you have to be a part of a select group of the current power holders who are the majority race. In an effort to keep the minority races from getting power the majority race denies opportunity through the educational system. (Brisport, 2013) Whereas Moses, (2011) argues against Brisport in one part of her article and states that a student’s race does not necessarily influence the student’s educational opportunities and that other factors such as internal or cultural factors may actua lly keep students from achieving their full potential. Moses then turns around later in the same article and contradicts what she had previously stated aligning her statements more with Brisport’s by stating that race and ethnicity continue to play a significant role in American society. Both authors bring to light arguments that could both be seen as valid even though they contradict one another. I can see Brisport’s point of how students are denied the opportunity for success and power through the denial of a proper education because of their race. However, I can also see Moses point where educational opportunities are influenced by factors other than race and that race alone does not hinder educational opportunities. Student’s that are living in bad home situations, in poverty level homes or in a culture that does not value education could have their educational opportunities affected by these outside factors and it have nothing to do with their race at all. Change is inevitable for our society in the future as more and more immigrants come to the United States to try to make a better life for themselves and their children. Our society will almost be forced to become more accepting of the minority race within the educational system and embrace diversity. Brisport, (2013) would agree as she notes in her journal article that the number of minority students in the public school system is growing and is predicted to become larger than the number of white students by the year 2023. It was noted by Cashin, (2014) that the use of place rather than race within diversity programming in education would help move past racial resentment. Diversity within educational opportunities for the students of our society is on the horizon and we need to prepare the upcoming future generations of students for this inevitable change. Poverty When we think of poverty and how it affects educational opportunities we tend to think only of the students income and poverty level. As noted by Hallinan et al., (2010) the fairness of educational opportunity is threatened not only by gaps in student achievement by race and student poverty but, by school poverty as well. We then need to also turn our attention to the poverty level of the schools that the students are attending as well to fully understand how educational opportunities are affected by poverty in general on both the student level as well as the school level. Milner, (2013) argues that schools have very little influence on the achievement of students and their educational opportunities. Whereas Hallinan et al., (2010) argues against Milner in their article by stating that the poverty level of a school can affect the achievement level of the students. Schools that have a low level of poverty show better improvement in educational opportunities than schools that have high poverty levels. The case for this is further strengthened by Hallinan et al., (2010) with the statistics that poor sixth graders in middle class schools were 20 months ahead of poor sixth graders in a high poverty school. Milner, (2013) does admit in his article after arguing that schools have little influence on educational opportunities that resources can be limited in a high poverty schools and this in turn could affect the educational opportunity of the students. Diversity is becoming more and more common place within our society. As noted previously, immigration was included within the variable of race that was looked at within this review. We can also note within this review that the variable of poverty does include an immigration factor as well. The labor market segmentation theories introduced by Everett et al., (2011) can help to understand how immigrants attain education by looking at their various involvements in the primary and secondary labor markets. Within the secondary labor market is the lower paying labor intensive jobs. With immigrants having limited chances to improve their lives from the secondary labor market to the primary labor market the secondary market attracts immigrants with a lower educational level. The limited chance of improvement also discourages immigrants from obtaining educational opportunities to further their education (Everett et al., 2011). While talking about immigration and how it affects educational opp ortunities Cashin (2014) argued that there is an immigrant tie to the level of poverty a student experiences. Within her article she notes that Latino students attend schools where two-thirds of the peers are poor as compared to white students who attend schools where sixty percent of the peers are not poor. She also notes that exposure to extensive poverty is normal for most Latinos while the opposite is true for most whites (Cashin, 2014). Since poverty levels have been shown to affect your educational opportunities by Anderson, (2014) then no wonder immigrants do not try to obtain educational opportunities and end up settling for the lower paying jobs that they can obtain with a lower level education and make no effort to obtain any educational opportunities. Poverty is real and experienced by children every day even though we as a society tend to think only of adults living in poverty. As stated by Anderson, (2014) every child deserves the opportunity to learn. The statistics that are presented by Anderson, (2014) within his article are shocking and surprising to me. These statistics include â€Å"22 percent of all children are living in poverty; 28 percent of Black children live in poverty; 25 percent of Hispanic children live in poverty; 4 percent of children live in extreme poverty; 21 percent of households with children are food insecure and 32 percent of children live with a parent with unstable employment† (Anderson, 2014). With these kinds of statistics it is amazing that children can learn and do have educational opportunities. Especially since it has been found that many studies show a correlation between poverty, housing and educational opportunities and that disadvantaged students or students living in poverty do show t o have poor academic performance (Anderson, 2014). While revisiting the research on how living in a poverty level income home affects a student’s educational opportunities it was also shown by Anderson, (2014) that income levels can affect a student’s education and also their cognitive development. Conclusion Within this review I have shown examples of research that state where race and poverty can affect the educational opportunities of students as well as examples of research that state that race and poverty have no bearing on the educational opportunities of students. I found it surprising in the various research articles that I reviewed that statements were made that race and poverty have no bearing on educational opportunities of the students within our society today. I feel like race, poverty and other factors such as cultural, economic and political all play a part in affecting the educational opportunities of students within our society today. Within this review I have also shown how educational geography can play a role in the educational opportunities of students in our society. In looking at the various research in the field of educational geography and how educational opportunities can be affected I found that the two themes of race and poverty reoccurred time and time again a s factors that can have an effect on a student’s educational opportunities. When looking at race and how it affects educational opportunities of students I found a variety of opinions within the research. On one side of the research the race of a student is seen as a power tool and that opportunity can lead to success and success then to power, but only if you are of the right race. The majority race then uses the educational opportunities of the students to deny this attainment of success and power to the minority because of their race (Brisport, 2013). It also showed in the research that ethnicity and race continue to be a significant factor in American society today. On the other hand there is research that shows that a student’s race does not necessarily affect the student’s educational opportunities, but rather other factors such as internal and cultural factors may actually keep students from obtaining their full educational opportunities (Moses, 2011). It was also seen in the research that diversity within educational opportunities of st udents is growing. The number of minority students was shown to be predicted to increase and become larger than the number of white students by the year 2023 (Brisport, 2013). It was also interesting to note that within the research the use of place rather than race within diversity programs in education could help societies move past racial resentment (Cashin, 2014). Based on the reviews of the literature that I conducted on how race affects educational opportunities, to the best of my knowledge, the studies did not take into account the student’s home environment when looking at factors that affect educational opportunities. In order to fully understand the factors that affect educational opportunities of students today more needs to be considered than just the factors of race and poverty. Other socioeconomic factors such as cultural values, living environments and sociospatial practices all need to be considered. While researching poverty and how it can affect educational opportunities I noticed that the opinions within the research vary. It was interesting to note within the research that not only student poverty levels but school poverty levels as well can affect the educational opportunities of the students (Hallinan et al., 2010). One argument made within the research states that schools have little influence on the achievement of students (Milner, 2013). An opposing argument was made that states the poverty level of a school can affect the achievement level of the students and that schools that have a low level of poverty show more improvement than schools that have high poverty that was backed up with statistical information (Hallinan et al., 2010). Milner, (2013) does go on to state later in his article that a limit in resources in high poverty schools can affect the educational opportunity of the students. While looking at poverty and how it affects the educational opportunities the l abor market segmentation theories were introduced by Everett et al., (2011) to help understand how immigrants are discouraged from educational opportunities. Latino students were noted by Cashin, (2014) to attend schools where their peers are poor as compared to the white students who attend schools where most of their peers are not poor and that most Latinos are exposed to extensive poverty. Since it was shown that the poverty level of a school can affect the students educational opportunities then this information presented by Cashin, (2014) within her article would show that Latino students are at a disadvantage when it comes to educational opportunities. The staggering statistics provided by Anderson, (2014) on the poverty level of children shows how poverty levels can affect a student’s academic performance and their educational opportunities. After reviewing the literature on how poverty affects educational opportunities, to the best of my knowledge, the literature did not take into account the poverty levels of past generations within the family to see if there is a trend of poverty from one generation to the next. A way to further the research on this topic would be to see if there is a trend of poverty from one generation to the next and if a trend is present to see if there is a way to break that trend to ensure that the future generation would have a better opportunity to obtain a higher income level and better educational opportunities. Resources Anderson, W. S. (2014). Poverty, Housing and Education: A Personal Perspective. Journal Of Housing Community Development, 71 (1), 14-15. Brisport, N. N. (2013). Racism Power: The Inaccessibility of Opportunity in the Educational System in the United States. National Lawyers Guild Review, 70(1), 17-29. Butler, T., Hamnett, C. (2007). The Geography of Education: Introduction. Urban Studies, 44(7), 1161-1174. Cashin, S. (2014). Place, Not Race: Affirmative Action and the Geography of Educational Opportunity. University Of Michigan Journal Of Law Reform, 47935. Everett, B. G., Rogers, R. G., Hummer, R. A., Krueger, P. M. (2011). Trends in Educational Attainment by Race/Ethnicity, Nativity, and Sex in the United States, 1989-2005. Ethnic Racial Studies, 34(9), 1543-1566. Hallinan, M. T., Kubitschek, W. N. (2010). School Sector, School Poverty, and the Catholic School Advantage, Catholic Education: A Journal Of Inquiry And Practice, 14(2), 143-172. Holloway, S. L., Hubbard, P., Jons, H., Pimlott-Wilson, H. (2010). Geographies of education and the significance of children, youth and families. Progress In Human Geography, 34(5), 583-600. Jackson, B. A., Reynolds, J. R. (2013). The Price of Opportunity: Race, Student Loan Debt, and College Achievement. Sociological Inquiry, 83(3), 335-368. Milner, H. R. (2013). Analyzing Poverty, Learning, and Teaching Through a Critical Race Theory Lens. Review of Research in Education, 37(1), 1-53. Moses, M. S. (2011). Race, Affirmative Action, and Equality of Educational Opportunity in a So-Called â€Å"Post-Racial† America. Kansas Journal Of Law Public Policy, 20(3), 413-427.

Wolseys Responsibility For His Own Downfall Essay -- Papers Thomas Wo

Wolsey's Responsibility For His Own Downfall Thomas Wolsey can be easily viewed as being responsible for his own downfall. John Guy believes that Wolsey was â€Å"brilliant but flawed.† His rise was based on luck, charm, intelligence and opportunism. Wolsey had such high ambitions and gave Henry the idea he was capable of getting him anything, so when Wolsey failed to get Henry a divorce, it was seen as the final nail on the coffin to his downfall. His policies are also a cause to his downfall; Wolsey’s foreign policy was a success but also caused problems. On Wolsey’s rise he created enemies, which lead to the lack of support and opposition in his years as Chancellor. But it can also be viewed, on the other hand, that Wolsey wasn’t entirely responsible for his downfall. His downfall can be laid upon Henry VIII; his court known as the ‘lions court’. David Starkey believes the ‘Boleyn Faction’ was a cause to Henry’s downfall; Anne disliked Wolsey and wanted him removed. Wolsey having bad press from the start, nobility were jealous of his power and wealth. One can see that Wolsey was a successful and just administrator who succeed in his aims making England a leading power. His rise was due to luck, charm and his intelligence, but his fall was due to some of his fatal characteristics and bad luck. But we can clearly see Wolsey alone wasn’t entirely responsible for his downfall; there were many other factors, which Wolsey couldn’t have helped that increased his downfall. Wolsey had some responsibility to his own downfall. His rise to power was due to luck, charm, intelligence and opportunism. The reasons for Wolsey’s fall can be spl... ...land which England was too narrow a field for his vast ambition. He aspired to be the arbiter of Europe. He threw England’s influence on the side of the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, in the latter’s rivalry with Francis I of France. He expected thereby to enlist the emperor’s aid for his own aspirations to become pope. Wolsey maintained the kings favour until he failed to secure an annulment of Henry’s first marriage. From1527-1529, as Anne Boleyn’s influence rose, Wolsey waned. She disliked the cardinal because of his interference in her earlier engagement to Henry Percy. And both she and King were increasingly impatient with the pope’s endless prevarication. Torn between his secular and spiritual masters, Wolsey chose Henry’s side-but it was too late. He was indicated for praemunire; and later confessed guilt.

Fat Tax is the Best Possible Solution to Fight Growing Obesity and Depression Essay

The increase in the consumption of junk food across the globe has been causing serious concern to all who are aware of its negative effects, such as obesity and depression, which are considered as the initiator of many serious diseases like heart disease. While the research findings have clearly linked junk food with the rising rate of heart disease among teenagers (Cohen, 2000) nearly a decade ago, the business of junk food is only increasing and now it has become a craze among teenagers and is getting into their eating habits, which would be hard to break in later years. Another recent study in US has linked childhood obesity to junk food advertising (Sharma, 2008), which too seems to be a matter of serious concern, as a large number of TV viewers are either children or teenagers. There are many other studies too that clinically explain about how obesity and depression caused by eating junk food, and there are organizations too, which are working towards attracting the attention of all regarding the negative effects of junk food. However, in spite of all that, the business of junk food is only increasing in volumes, and consequently, countless children and teenagers, who are the future governors of the society are becoming victims of obesity and depression due to excessive consumption of junk-food. Therefore the gravity of the situation is definitely no less than the danger associated with smoking or drinking, which are officially considered as â€Å"injurious to health† and whose producers have to pay taxes. There is another philosophy works behind it – that high price of cigarette or other tobacco products or liquors would keep them beyond the buying power of the children who generally use their pocket money for fancy spending. However, there is no such price regulation in the business of junk-food, and children can easily afford them with their pocket money. This situation invariably invokes the arguments like why fat tax should not be imposed on junk food to regulate its consumption among all, especially among children, or if cigarette and liquor are considered dangerous to health and are kept under taxation, then why junk-food too should not be treated with same alacrity, as it is proving no less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol? Therefore, the gravity of the situation has influenced this study to examine the impact of junk food on the humans, and especially on the children and teenagers by reviewing the study and observations of the researchers on obesity and depression, before persuading its readers to raise their voices in favor of introducing fat tax on junk food for the sake of saving the future of human civilization. Impact of Obesity Obesity can cause several diseases, which can be fatal, besides being barrier to normal, healthy life. The risk factors associated with it don’t even spare children or teenagers, and that makes obesity as a dangerous carrier of diseases. According to the researchers Visscher and Seidell (2001), the increase in obesity across the globe will have significant contribution in the following diseases:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cardiovascular disease  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Type 2 diabetes mellitus  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cancer  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Osteoarthritis  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Disability  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sleep apnea Alongside they issue caution that â€Å"disability due to obesity-related cardiovascular diseases will increase along with an increase in disabling nephropathy, arteriosclerosis, neuropathy, and retinopathy particularly in industrialized countries.† They also observe that prevention programs on obesity would be effective than weight loss program, while adding that there is very few prevention programs have been developed so far and implementation of more such programs should be one of the major scientific and political agendas among both industrialized and industrializing countries. Connection between Junk Food and Obesity It would be even more frustrating if someone reviews the role of junk food in developing obesity amid such observations and recommendations of the researchers. The researchers at the Pacific Health Education Center in Bakersfield, California, and Prevention Concepts, Inc., in Los Angeles, who evaluated the dietary habits and cardiac risk profiles of above 200 high school students in as early as 2000, provided a gloomy picture about the state of health of the then children, where one-third of them showed abnormally high cholesterol levels and one in 10 students were found suffering from systolic hypertension, which is a form of high blood pressure (Cohen, 2000). Not only that, the report issued alarm on the possible rise of heart disease among the teenagers with thickening artery walls. The researchers also identified two causes behind the increase in the trend of forming eating habits with junk food, like teen attitudes and lack of government funding to counter attack the powerful advertising campaign of junk food, which heavily influences the attitudes of children and the teens. The current research on the effect of junk-food advertising on children and teenagers (Sharma, 2008) not only supports the earlier works on this field, but also directly links advertising to childhood obesity. In a study conducted by National Bureau of Economic Research clearly show a link between childhood obesity and fast food advertisements aired on American TV world. This inference is backed by the data found on the television habits of around 13,000 children through two national surveys conducted in 1979 and in 1997. The study also found that the ban on such advertisement would lower the number of obese children (belonging to 3-11 year age group) and teenagers (belonging to 12-18 years group) by 18 percent and 14 percent respectively. They study also reveals the bad news like 22 million children under age of five are estimated to be overweight and more than 9 million children in US are overweight, 25 percent American children below 10 years have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, along with other precursors of heart disease. However, it also presents good news that the countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland and UK have already banned junk-food advertisements in their televisions. This shows, that a general awareness regarding the deadly effects of junk food has been spreading.

Success Story of Lim Goh Tong - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1524 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/09/26 Category Business Essay Type Narrative essay Topics: Success Essay Did you like this example? Tan Sri Dato Seri (Dr. ) Lim Goh Tong was a prominent wealthy Malaysian Chinese businessman. He was renowned for his vision and courage in transforming Genting Highlands from an unexplored hilltop into one of the worlds most successful casino resorts. He was once the richest man in Malaysia, Asia with net worth US$4. 2billion. He was born in 1918 in Anxi, a mountainous county in South Eastern Fujian province China, Lim Goh Tong was the fifth child in his family. His father was Lim Shi Quan and his mother Goh Ban. He has an elder brother, three elder sisters, a younger sister and a younger brother. Lim was born into a rustic environment in a village, during that time, China was in a period of turmoil and unrest after the Xinhai Revolution, but life was relatively sheltered for Lim in the village. He grew up peacefully and had the opportunity of studying in school. However, disaster struck and his father died when he was 16. Lim was forced to leave school and him and his eld er brother had to take over the heavy burden of feeding his family. As Chinas situation was becoming worse, Lim Goh Tong decided to take the plunge in venturing out to Malaysia or known as Malaya at that time following his cousin, Lim Kheng Chongs footstep. He left China through Xiamen in early February 1937 at the age of 19. He worked for his uncle as a carpenter in the first two years, learning the Malay language in the meantime. After gaining experience he went on to become a building sub-contractor and complete his first job of building a two-storey school. He returned to Anxi in 1940, but went back to Malaya the next year amidst a deteriorating war environment. The Japanese invaded Malaya in 1942 and caused Lim to have a few near-death experiences. During the early Japanese Occupation, he earned a living as a vegetable farmer, but decided to switch to petty trading for a better living. Later on Lim ventured into scrap-metal and hardware trading. When the Japanese Occupati on ended, there was an urgent demand for heavy machinery for resumed operations in mines and rubber plantations, Lim seized the opportunity and engaged in second-hand machinery trading, making his first fortune. While dealing in heavy machinery, Lim accumulated a wide range of reconditioned machines as well as a substantial amount of cash to move into construction and related industries. In the name of his family construction company, Kien Huat Private Limited, Lim began taking on several contracting jobs with help and guidance from his uncles. Kien Huat won accolades and became recognized as one of the leading construction companies after successfully completing many major projects. Among the biggest projects completed was the Ayer Itam Dam, the first time a local contractor had been given a construction job of such magnitude. Lim faced the brink of bankruptcy when construction work was facing problems in the Kemubu Irrigation Scheme, but managed to overcome the obstacles and completed the project. Genting Groups involvement in the property sector can be traced from the initial primary objective of holding land-based assets for long term appreciation and development potential to the current strategic move to develop and market the Groups landed properties mainly held in the plantation subsidiary, by Asiatic Land Development Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Asiatic Development Berhad which is 54. % owned by Genting Berhad. The idea of building a hilltop resort was first conceived when Lim Goh Tong was having a dinner in the Cameron Highlands. As he was enjoying the soothing cool breeze of the Cameron Highlands, an idea struck him that as the standard of living rose steadily in Malaysia, more and more people would visit mountain resorts for relaxation and recreation, but Cameron Highlands was too far away from the capital city Kuala Lumpur, therefore building a mountain resort nearer to Kuala Lumpur would have great business potential. After doing some research, Lim found Gunung Ulu Kali at a place called Genting Sempah to be an ideal location for his plan. He formed an expedition and explored the place, collecting a wealth of data on the topography, drainage, soil conditions and other relevant aspects of the region, this proved to be very useful in drawing up plans for developing the resort. Upon conceiving this idea, many naysayers were skeptical of Lim turning a wilderness into a tourist resort. Most thought it was really risky and reckoned Lim who was financially comfortable to be foolish to invest heavily in money and time to develop Genting, but Lim brushed off all these negativities and went ahead firmly with his plan. After getting approvals from the Federal and State governments, Lim began the project in the face of a colossal task. Among the problems were building the access road towards the hilltop, water and electricity supplies, sewerage system and fire safety. Lim managed to build the access road towards the summit in three years when it was estimated to take fifteen years. Several sources of water in the mountain were identified water supply was secured by building water-collection stations and water filtration plants with treated water stored in reservoirs. Electricity is supplied through a central electricity generation system with 12 big generators. During the construction, Lim survived six close brushes with death. Meanwhile, Lim had to administer another major project in Kelantan, the Kemubu Irrigation Scheme at the same time. This stretched his physical endurance to the limits as he had to shuttle between Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan and he worked seven days a week. During the Genting project, Lim spent all he had without earning any income. He sold an 810-hectare rubber estate to raise RM2. 5 million. In addition, he invested all the money he had made from iron mining, sub-contracting and hardware businesses. The project was a heavy drain on Lims finances. When asked to inve st in this project, Lims friends turned him down and counselled him to drop the entire scheme instead. Genting was granted the only casino licence after Tunku Abdul Rahman, the prime minister of Malaysia then, visited Genting Highlands and commended Lims effort to develop a resort contributing to Malaysias tourism industry without government help. Lim managed to obtain a pioneer status for Genting Highlands and tax incentives despite its resort development not qualifying for it. He did so by convincing the government that tax incentives in the early stage of development of Genting Highlands were not only vital for them but also profitable to the government later on. The whole Genting project was completed in January 1971, but prior to officially commencing business, Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas were hit by the worst rainstorms in a century, the road to Genting was closed by landslides at 180 locations, and the damaged sections took four months to repair. Genting open ed its door for business on 8 May 1971. In the next 30 years, Lim continued to develop and expand Genting Highlands beyond its original idea of a hotel with basic tourist facilities. Among the projects were the construction of more hotels, indoor and outdoor theme parks, and a convention centre. A new road was built to shorten the journey to Genting from the northern states, and RM920 million was invested to widen a 10 km stretch of the access road to reduce congestion. Another RM928 million was spent on constructing a cable car system to provide visitors with an alternative mode of transportation. In 1993, at the suggestion of Tun Mahathir, the prime minister of Malaysia then, a township was developed on an 81-hectare piece of land around the site of the Genting Skyway cable car tation. It was named Gohtong Jaya after Lim as a token of remembrance for his efforts in the development of Genting Highlands. As of now, Genting Highlands is one of the most successful Casino resorts in the world and is one of the primary tourist attractions in Malaysia. Lim Goh Tong company which is Genting Group operates Genting Highlands and has diversified into many other industries such as plantations, property, paper, power generation, oil gas exploration and cruise boat industries. In the process new company brands were created that have become distinctive names in their respective fields, namely Asiatic, Genting Sanyen and Star Cruises. On 31 December 2003, Lim handed his chairmanship of Genting Group over to his son, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay. Lim Goh Tong was married to Lee Kim Hua, together they had six children and nineteen grandchildren. The six children are Lim Siew Lay, Siew Lian, Siew Kim, Tee Keong, Kok Thay and Chee Wah. Throughout his life Lim has had a few medical crises among them were a malignant tumor and cardiovascular problems, which he pulled through after several surgeries. Lim wrote his autobiography My Story Lim Goh Tong and it was published in 2004. In the book he wrote about his early life, how he started off with nothing to building a world-class casino resort through hard work and perseverance confounding skeptics, and the people he acknowledges. Once the goals have been clearly defined, with the greatest amount of determination and hard work, one can conclusively realize ones goals. Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, Founder Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Success Story of Lim Goh Tong" essay for you Create order