Recently, a picture has been taken of some Hwa Chong Institution students eating ice-cream on a bus, and posted on STOMP. The article was titled "Even students from Elite School can't follow no-eating rule on bus". It has attracted over 150 comments, mostly by students from Hwa Chong Institution.
I cannot help but remember this similar incident that took place just a while ago, about the SAF man letting his maid carry his backpack for him. That incident truly disgraced the SAF, and similarly this incident has disgraced Hwa Chong Institution. I agree with the STOMPer that these Hwa Chong students' actions were wrong, However, there are a few matters in which I feel that I need to point out.
Firstly, note that the actions of these Hwa Chong Institution students do not apply to all the students in the school. Personally, I have not seen before any Hwa Chong Institution students eating on the bus. These three students' actions do not reflect the true character, spirit and values of an average Hwa Chong student. I feel that people should not just generalize and say that elite-school students thus have a high IQ but a low EQ.
Secondly, I disagree with the STOMPer taking the picture of the Hwa Chong Institution students. Why is it that he took the picture of the students without even going up to tell them that what they were doing was wrong? Such shows that he never really bothered about wanting the students to change for the better; he just wanted to publicly disgrace the Hwa Chong students, or Hwa Chong itself.
Lastly, the fact that I dislike the most is that the STOMPer directing such actions against "students from Elite School". So what if they were students from elite schools? Personally, I have always felt that, whether elite school, average school or neighbourhood school, the students in the respective schools may have different levels of IQ, but not EQ. By stating "even students from elite schools", he is stating that, if he sees a neighbourhood school student eating on the bus, he will not care, but if it is an elite school student, he will take notice of it. That is wrong. The rule on the bus treats everyone equally, regardless of education standards. They will not ignore a student eating on the bus just because he is from a neighbourhood school.
Generally, I feel that the STOMPer should re-evaluate on his true aims of posting this picture on STOMP. He should also drop all his stereotypes and try to treat everyone equally. As to the Hwa Chong students, I hope they learn from this incident and never eat on the bus again.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Japan Earthquake
As we know, on Friday, 11 March 2011, the Japan earthquake took place. It was an extremely large scale earthquake, measuring 9.0 magnitude. It was additionally compounded with the tsunami, taking away many lives and leaving people missing.
In the large number of high magnitude earthquakes that is happening to the world as we progress into this century, many places have gone through such earthquakes already, such as one in New Zealand, or further back, Sichuan and Haiti.
All these turmoil, troubles and widespread devastation that these earthquake-victims have faced, as we have all seen on the news, have truly appeared to show the true personalities of people. For example, in previous earthquakes similar to this, there has been a large number of looting cases, crime rates increasing or disorder around. People may not want to work with rescue teams. However, we hear that in Japan, things are very orderly. People queue up for their daily food, and coordinate with the rescue workers. There is a simple explanation for this; education from young. The citizens of Japan have long been taught what to do in case of an earthquake; they act appropriately, behave well. There has also been little reports of cases of looting, showing the Japanese Spirit.
In addition, we have definitely heard about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant incident, in which the power plant ceased to function properly, and there was high levels of radiation within the power plant. Now the majority of workers at the power plant have left, leaving 50 workers in the power plant only, of which 20 of them are voluntary. Why do these workers choose to stay in the power plant? They know full well the consequences; they could potentially die within 2 weeks, and even if they live much longer than that, they would be permanently alienated from society, and will probably live their live forever in seclusion. Some have sent messages to their families saying "Take good care of the kids. I'm not coming back." Such messages, despite being short, conveys their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their nation, Japan.
However, this disaster does not just show the character of the earthquake-victims; it shows the character of people that have responded to it. Many people have donated large sums of money to help relief efforts, and it shows their generosity and humanitarianism. However, there are this group of people who have responded in an entirely different way. They refuse to donate to the relief efforts, saying "Japan is now receiving retribution due to their heinous crimes in World War II." Worse still, they encourage others not to help. I do not agree, however. Doing as such, to me, is just trying to take revenge on the Japanese. How does taking revenge on them make one any different from what they did in World War II? Also, Confucius one said "Before you embark on a journey for revenge, dig two graves." Truly, revenge gives one no benefit, except pleasure to see the other party suffer. Revenge might even be detrimental to themselves. And, even more plainly, haven't the Japanese received enough retribution from the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I hope people who take such a stand will reconsider.
I earnestly wish for Japan to be able to get over such a tragic incident as soon as possible.
In the large number of high magnitude earthquakes that is happening to the world as we progress into this century, many places have gone through such earthquakes already, such as one in New Zealand, or further back, Sichuan and Haiti.
All these turmoil, troubles and widespread devastation that these earthquake-victims have faced, as we have all seen on the news, have truly appeared to show the true personalities of people. For example, in previous earthquakes similar to this, there has been a large number of looting cases, crime rates increasing or disorder around. People may not want to work with rescue teams. However, we hear that in Japan, things are very orderly. People queue up for their daily food, and coordinate with the rescue workers. There is a simple explanation for this; education from young. The citizens of Japan have long been taught what to do in case of an earthquake; they act appropriately, behave well. There has also been little reports of cases of looting, showing the Japanese Spirit.
In addition, we have definitely heard about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant incident, in which the power plant ceased to function properly, and there was high levels of radiation within the power plant. Now the majority of workers at the power plant have left, leaving 50 workers in the power plant only, of which 20 of them are voluntary. Why do these workers choose to stay in the power plant? They know full well the consequences; they could potentially die within 2 weeks, and even if they live much longer than that, they would be permanently alienated from society, and will probably live their live forever in seclusion. Some have sent messages to their families saying "Take good care of the kids. I'm not coming back." Such messages, despite being short, conveys their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their nation, Japan.
However, this disaster does not just show the character of the earthquake-victims; it shows the character of people that have responded to it. Many people have donated large sums of money to help relief efforts, and it shows their generosity and humanitarianism. However, there are this group of people who have responded in an entirely different way. They refuse to donate to the relief efforts, saying "Japan is now receiving retribution due to their heinous crimes in World War II." Worse still, they encourage others not to help. I do not agree, however. Doing as such, to me, is just trying to take revenge on the Japanese. How does taking revenge on them make one any different from what they did in World War II? Also, Confucius one said "Before you embark on a journey for revenge, dig two graves." Truly, revenge gives one no benefit, except pleasure to see the other party suffer. Revenge might even be detrimental to themselves. And, even more plainly, haven't the Japanese received enough retribution from the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I hope people who take such a stand will reconsider.
I earnestly wish for Japan to be able to get over such a tragic incident as soon as possible.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Argumentative Essay
Some people say that school uniform should be abolished. What are your views?
In all schools in Singapore, for primary and secondary schools, as well as college, students are required to wear the school uniform. However, over the years Singapore has been getting a lot of criticism from the students due to this. Students feel that the school uniform should be abolished as it takes away their rights to wear what they want, and should not be forced to wear school uniforms. However, I feel that the school uniform is extremely important in the education system of Singapore, it is here to stay.
The school uniform is important because it adds trustworthiness and comfort to others. For example, let us compare; imagine in your mind a teenager, with long hair and long beard, what would your thoughts be? You would probably not be as comfortable around this teenager as you are, even with the same teenager around, just with a school uniform, clean shaven beard and crew cut hair. This shows us that the school uniform is useful in presenting a studious and formal image to the world.
The school uniform also instills a sense of belonging to the school. Take for instance a student from a certain school wears the school uniform. He is bound to feel a sense that he belongs to the school. In this aspect, the school uniform has once again shown the advantages of making school uniform. When students wear the school uniform, regardless of poor or rich, Malay or Chinese, all will come together to study and play. This shows how important it is to have the school uniform system implemented.
The school uniform also helps to control the behavior of a student in public. As we know, many times when a student goes to another location directly from school, most of the time they are wearing school uniform. This school uniform upholds the pride of the school. When wearing it, students try their best to be role models outside, and show the world that they are proud to be in the school they are in. They show that the school they are in is capable of producing students with values, thus adding to the reputation of the school.
In general, I feel that the school uniform should be kept and retained as the speciality of Singapore’s education system. Even though there may be many problems and arguments about the school uniform, the merits outweigh the demerits. The school uniform is here to stay.
In all schools in Singapore, for primary and secondary schools, as well as college, students are required to wear the school uniform. However, over the years Singapore has been getting a lot of criticism from the students due to this. Students feel that the school uniform should be abolished as it takes away their rights to wear what they want, and should not be forced to wear school uniforms. However, I feel that the school uniform is extremely important in the education system of Singapore, it is here to stay.
The school uniform is important because it adds trustworthiness and comfort to others. For example, let us compare; imagine in your mind a teenager, with long hair and long beard, what would your thoughts be? You would probably not be as comfortable around this teenager as you are, even with the same teenager around, just with a school uniform, clean shaven beard and crew cut hair. This shows us that the school uniform is useful in presenting a studious and formal image to the world.
The school uniform also instills a sense of belonging to the school. Take for instance a student from a certain school wears the school uniform. He is bound to feel a sense that he belongs to the school. In this aspect, the school uniform has once again shown the advantages of making school uniform. When students wear the school uniform, regardless of poor or rich, Malay or Chinese, all will come together to study and play. This shows how important it is to have the school uniform system implemented.
The school uniform also helps to control the behavior of a student in public. As we know, many times when a student goes to another location directly from school, most of the time they are wearing school uniform. This school uniform upholds the pride of the school. When wearing it, students try their best to be role models outside, and show the world that they are proud to be in the school they are in. They show that the school they are in is capable of producing students with values, thus adding to the reputation of the school.
In general, I feel that the school uniform should be kept and retained as the speciality of Singapore’s education system. Even though there may be many problems and arguments about the school uniform, the merits outweigh the demerits. The school uniform is here to stay.
Monday, April 18, 2011
A personal Response to war
Task 1: Descriptive Setting
Task 2: Diary Entry
Dear Diary,
We fought again today. The Germans fought brutally, spraying bullets everywhere they saw a shadow move. We fought back too, with our commander taking the lead. However, our commander got wounded in the arm from a bullet shot, but continued fighting bravely, calling on us to move forth and not give up. I truly admire his patriotic and loyal stand for his country, that he would fight to the death.
I was 17 when I joined this war, and now I'm 19. At such a young age, I have seen horrible things that would frighten a more mature man to death. One such horror took place earlier in today's war. Due to the rain, water had pilled up along the location we were fighting. It was so slippery, when fighting I fell into a puddle of blood. Real, fresh blood. I was so shocked I nearly screamed out loud. Such horrors I have endured for almost 3 years.
War is a crime against humanity. I have heard great success stories about certain soldiers risking their lives for the country, but generally, war is a crime. War is murder. War kills the exact citizens we are trying to protect. I am praying for this living hell to be over soon. I hope that, in the generation of my children, we will no longer need to endure such a horrible fate just for this statement "Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori". Nobody would enjoy this kind of fearful, dog life.
SAF man lets maid carry backpack
Recently, there has been a big commotion over a picture taken, shown above. A SAF man let his maid carry his backpack while he uses his phone. Many people, when they saw the picture, expressed amusement and made remarks such as "may as well bring her to war too". Others expressed concerned as to whether our generation of NS men were getting too "wimpy", and questioned if discipline was slackening.
The actions of this SAF man was wrong, and has tarnished the reputation of the Singapore military. It gives foreigners a chance to poke fun at us, calling us "wimpy" and "soft". I am not surprised at these reactions. We know that reputations that have been built up over a long period of time is often tarnished by the acts of a small, tiny part of the organization. People do have the right to question the SAF over such an issue.
However, we should also note that this picture of the SAF man is not reflective of SAF as a whole. Just because part of it may be "wimpy" and "soft", it does not mean that all SAF is as such.
We have heard about the views of the SAF man going for counselling. Even though I have heard comments saying things like "SAF should not force the soldier to accept its ideals", I feel that SAF has done right. Personally, I think that when you are in an organization, you should adhere to its rules, ideals, and rituals. The SAF man should just take the counselling and never commit this mistake again. To cite an example would be Hwa Chong. When we are outside, in the public, we are in open view of all the world to see. We have to behave in an examplary way to show others how well-behaved Hwa Chong students are.
Personally, this matter is for the purpose of entertainment, and amusement. It should not be taken lightly. If Singaporeans would cease to view this SAF man as a representation of all SAF, it would be the SAF man that feels ashamed in the end, and not SAF. This would save SAF any embarrassment, with the SAF man knowing to change for the better himself.
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