From this blogging assessment, we are told to comment and blog on different topics each week. This truly enables me to write frequently. Without Mr Pang assigning us this task, i would probably write an 'essay' only when it comes to exam. Even though knowing that the nest way to excel in this module is to practice writing and read more world news, it is always hard for me to accomplish these missions.
After completing eight blog posts on eight different articles, it not only improved my writing skills, but i have also gained a lot of knowledge from that. It encouraged me to find out more about the issue every time I finished reading the articles. I have changed my point of view on many aspects of life and indeed change to a better self.
We have been told that this post that I am writing now will be the last for this semester. I had planned to maintain this habit of reading worldwide news and comment on it later on.
In conclusion, i benefited a lot from this blogging experience and I believe that the people around me will realise the positive change in me.
Therefore, in conclusion, using internet can led to positive or negative impact depending on how we manage cyber awareness and protect ourselves from all the negatives. Let us enjoy accessing internet and at the same time guard ourselves against danger. -Tricia :)
Posters at San Francisco (2005) This year, the UN will be celebrating WED for 3 consecutive days, activites However, after all the promotings and celebration, people are still not doing enough to save the Earth, to show appreciation for the Earth's natural environments. We only think about satisfying our needs, but we never spared a thought of the Earth's limited scarce resources. Even for living things such as fishes, or trees. We are enjoying every single day of our lifes but we are, day by day, destroying bits and pieces of the Earth. One very common act would be deforestation. As demand for land and papers increases, forests are being cleared and thousands of trees are being chopped down. Forests are cleared for the land, to allow us to build houses, or infrastructure buildings (e.g factories), whereas trees are being chopped down for it's wood (e.g to make furnitures). Disregard or ignorance of the Earth's value, bad forest management and deficient environmental law are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on alarge scale. These are especially true in some of the less developed country like Brazil, which is also the country that cleared the biggest hectares of forest (E.g The amazon forest). Human activites are causing the fall in numbers of marine creatures and forests. They are important sources in our lifes and we can never afford to let any of it lessen any further. To prevent extinctions of marine creatures, people should start going green, by eating more vegetables instead of meats. To prevent trees from being chopped down, and forests from being cleared, we should start learning how to reuse unwanted lands and recycle materials that are recycable. If we don't start doing our part, who can we blame but ourselves, if the Earth were to run out of these recources some day in many decades to come? - MELISSA :D
At 45, We have come a long way from being a rural kampong to developing to a vibrant city. We have achieved world class transportation in air, land and sea as well as in the financing, health, tourism sectors amongst other industries. In order to boost tourism, we have many world class hotels, shopping centres, tourist attractions, cuisine and shopping. The construction of the 2 Integrated Resort in Sentosa and Marina Bay respectively gives testament to the growing vibrancy, offering luxury accommodation, shopping, dining, world class entertainment, convention & exhibition. There are also sufficient educational institutions where we, regardless of age, can continue to learn and upgrade ourselves so that we can be at the forefront of knowledge and innovation. Retirees are also strongly encouraged to upgrade themselves to re-enter the workforce, thereby contributing to the growing economies of the nation. Although, we strive to better ourselves economically, we also seek to improve our social lifestyle. In order to maintain our “Forever Young”, we have to be diligent in maintaining our stability and competitiveness. We will need to bring foreign talents with useful skills and expertise to add to our population and talent pool. And also encourage our lost talent to return to their homeland. Also, with the current government leadership I am confident that we will continue to be “Forever Young”.
Emotional intelligence, known as EQ, I believe is a very important aspect in our life.
Indeed, EQ could be important when we want to test someone's personality, leadership and maturity level. In working industry, I believe that all of us would find a person's personality as important as his/her qualification level. For example, if someone has a high education level, it does not necessarily mean that he/she have good manners and personality. Furthermore, we wouldn't want to make friends with someone who has really bad personality, will we?
Leadership is equally, or rather, more important, as compared to personality. In my opinion, leadership equals to discipline and with discipline, the personality will not be any worser. We could too, see someone's maturity level through leadership. Let us all face reality, do we see lecturers behaving like monkeys? Wellwell, we don't do we? Of course, not implying that people who behaves like monkey are immature, they may be letting off some steam or some stress.
I agree to a certain extent that EQ is important in inteerviewing an interviewee, as I believe employers would not want to hire anyone that has no discipline and bad personality. However, to fulfill a job requirement, Skills is still the major factor we all have to rely on. Afterall, what can you do without a skill?
Blogging experience
I have NEVER thought so hard on what to blog about. All the time, I blog whatever that comes to my mind. I love expressing my thoughts on blog. I believe its a way of letting off steams and to inspire anyone who happens to read my blog. Well, I do not expect my words to be an inspiration to others.
These blogging of topics that you, Mr Pang have selected have been really tough. It is challenging, very. Yet at the same time, getting tougher and tougher. However, I do believe that through this tough challenge, we are improving post by post and by the time we graduate, we could type fluently without pausing on what to write! :D
- MELISSA
Fortunately I fall in those who have nothing better to do. I used to have an abundance of time - not doing homework and tutorials. With blogging and recent projects, I have learnt to manage it better, even doing some homework and tutorials! It has taught me the importance of finishing assignments on time.
Through co-operative blogging about on-going matters, I have learnt that it is not only important to first understand the matter before giving your views about it, it is also critical to maintain relevance while think-typing!
In Singapore, the number of jobs available to the public is more than the Singaporean population (minus foreign workers). Even with foreign competition, the pool of available workers is based almost entirely on capability to handle the job and do it well. EQ is only judged upon during the course of the employee's work. In school, we're urged to study hard, because of impending competition with fiercer "foreign talent". However, it is a well-known fact that Singapore employers need more employees to work.
At the end of the day, it is good to know the difference between an employee with positive EQ and another with a negative one. However, ability still reigns above EQ, and jobs will stay available for those who meet the minimum requirements to do the job well - for now.
Critics argue that emotional intelligence cannot be regard as a form of intelligence. However, a poor emotional intelligence can indeed hold a brilliant individual back from achieving his or her goals. In general, people with high emotional intelligance tend to be more successful in life as compared to those with lower emotional intelligence even if their IQ is high.
Quoted from the article (emotional intelligence trumps technical know-how), "When i am interviewing somebody, I am definitely looking for clues that this person is a relationship-builder... it's just really important that you are going to get along with people." This shows that employers are increasingly seeking for employees base on the criterion of being able to manage their emotional well. Having outstanding performance in work may not necessarily enable you with a greater chance of getting promoted to a higher position. People with high IQ will not eventually equip with the ability to lead the rest. For example, one can perform brilliantly when dealing with their work individually, but could not build a positive relationships with the rest, and not able to solve major problems calmly. They would somehow struggle while achieving success in life. Hence, IQ only simply predict to a significant degree academic performance.
Emotional intelligence has been proven to be crucial as they are in high demand by the employers. Good emotional intelligence not only benefits us in our work, but also to our personal life and relationships. With good EIQ, it will be easier for us to motivate ourselves to overcome obstacles and reach our goals. Moreover, we will find social interactions to be quite easy and fulfilling as we are comfortable allowing ourselves to get close with others.
We can improve our EIQ through taking emotional intelligence tests available online, in books or any other sources. These tests can help to analyze our EQ and perhaps by working on our problem areas, we can become more confident in dealing with our own emotions and those of others.
I find that this online assessment is quite an effective one as we are given ample time to post about a topic where we are required to elaborate on like articles and news about the world that we had read, which consequently. increases our knowledge. It has also arouse me to know more about what's happening around us in the world today. As we don't often watch news on television, newspaper and websites is our next best way to get information and latest news to 'update' ourselves.
Throughout my whole blogging experience, I've also came across some difficulties like how to start a topic and also the phrasing of my sentences. But overall, I still appreciate and quite like this kind of learning style.
-TRICIA
From the article that I've read, it can be deduce that the ability to handle different kind of relationship, controlling own emotions, good management of time and stress management is very important. To compete with over thousands of people out there for a job, you must be equipped with these criteria to be able to stand a high chance of getting the job. Nowadays, employers not only look out for good academic results but also your personality and EQ. Therefore, they are very particular about how you response to different kind of situation and how you carried out yourself.
For example, if you are caught between an argument between two of your colleagues over some issues regarding a project, are you settle the argument by providing a win-win situation? Another case could be, faced with unreasonable customers whom may be difficult to handle.Are you able to provide them with the best service and at the same time bear with their demanding attitude and all? This is where emotional intelligence, EQ , plays big role.
I strongly agree that good leadership is also another leading factor in the business world. Without good leadership, there is no way you can influence your partner or colleagues to work as a team and produce good results. To uphold the position as a leader, it must be someone who can set directions for people and motivate them to work towards their goals. Hence, with good leaders, there will be progress and improvement. This states how important leadership is.
I remember during my secondary education, we have pastoral care modules like stress management, time management, handling with relationship and more. This comes in handy and effective where we can apply what we learn. Thus, I feel that these 'extra lessons' had really helped me a lot.
-TRICIA
Due to a lack of interest towards current affairs, it has always been a chore for me to read the newspapers or online news. However, throughout these fifteen weeks, it was made compulsory for us to read the online articles that were assigned to us each week as this was a graded assignment. It was expected of us to take our own initiative to source for more online articles to expand on the given topic. This has developed me to develop an interest towards current affairs and I will continue reading up news daily, even after this blogging assignment has ended.
Reading the blog entries posted by my fellow classmates has definitely widened my vocabulary to a certain extent. In addition, it is amazing to know that some of my classmates have very interesting views and perceptions that are totally different from mine. This enabled me to ponder more deeply over the topic.
Although I had owned a personal blog for two years now, blogging here gives me a totally different experience from blogging on my own blog. When blogging here, I have to be constantly mindful of the 6Cs whereas when blogging on my personal blog, there is no need to place so much emphasis on the 6Cs. However, this does not mean that I do not consider the 6Cs at all. There is still effort placed on ensuring that the 6Cs are put into as much practice as possible.
In conclusion, this blogging experience has not only made me more knowledgeable about current affairs, but it has also helped to improve my basic English through broadening my vocabulary and comprehending more profound phrases.
-SASHA
For one to be successful in life requires more than just intelligence quotient(IQ), which has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence, ignoring all the essential behavioural and character elements. There are numerous people in the world who are academically brilliant, but are socially and inter-personally inept. What they are missing is emotional intelligence. Despite possessing a high intelligence quotient rating, success does not automatically follow. It has been proven by researchers that people with high emotional intelligence are usually more successful in life as they are highly sought after by large companies. Thus, enabling them to earn big bucks.
In the working world, it is pivotal that one is able to control his or her emotions well, and not let them be revealed so obviously to others. For instance, when your boss reprimands you for something that you had not done. Even though you feel that injustice had been done to you, you still cannot talk back to him or her or you can get ready to be fired. Sadly, this is how things work in the working world.
Emotional intelligence can be raised through the ability to quickly reduce stress, recognise and manage emotions, connect with others using nonverbal communication, to use humour and play to deal with challenges and to resolve conflicts positively and with confidence.
In conclusion, having emotional intelligence definitely leads to better outcomes in business, the work place, relationships and one’s own personal life. There are also many correlations between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. Having high emotional intelligence is the greatest key to financial success.
-SASHA
Many governments worldwide have been offering more and more english courses to encourage its citizens to master English so as to remain competitive in this world. This shows that English is essential in communication and has become important from years to years.
For example, we were asked to list out the languages we know in the applicant form when we are applying for certain jobs. Some jobs even require us to equip with a third and fourth languages. Without knowing the English language, it will still be redundant if we can speak and write other languages well.
In addition, I had highlighted in the past post that having the abililty to speak good Chinese benefited us when we work in China. As china becomes a developed conutry where entrepreneurs would desire to set up their company there, hence knowing how to communicate in chinese is important. It applies the same to knowing the english language. With the western countries dominating the world, being able to speak good English will definitely benefit us in many ways.
After mentioning about the importance of English in the working society, I should talk about its importance in our daily life too. English can be considered as a common language where most of the people use to communicate with each other across the globe. For example, when we were off for a holiday, most of us would speak English language with the people there. This is a common language that we can use to express ourselves among people from different countries, races and ethnic groups.
In conclusion, English language has prove its importance as time passes. Therefore, there is a need to constantly improve our English language so as to keep ourselves competitive.
In Singapore, primary school children who do not attain a decent "C" grade for their English Language in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), is considered to have failed the entire exam. Therefore,iIt would be pointless even if they had gotten A's for all the other three subjects. Thus, they would not be allowed to graduate from primary school and move on to secondary school. If they are not even capable of passing their basic English in the PSLE, they would definitely not be able to cope with a higher standard of English in secondary school. Likewise, if the secondary school students do not pass their English Language during O levels, they would also not be allowed to graduate from secondary school and move on to the tertiary education. This shows the importance of English.
In China (Beijing), schools like kindergartens are beginning to teach the young children the English Language. By doing so, the children of this generation and future generations would not only be fluent in the Chinese Language, but the English Language as well, making them bilingual. This would give them better job prospects in the future, as jobs in the tourism or airline industry would require one to be bilingual. By being bilingual, they could also easily find jobs in other countries as well, which gives a higher pay. There are English courses that adults could attend as well. Learning is a life-long process so there is no age limit when education is concerned. As the saying goes, "it is better to be late than never". Adults, even though at an older age, should not be deprived of learning the English Language.
Knowing a common language like English could also bring people from different countries closer and foster relationships between them as there would not be any communication barrier. Therefore, communication would be made a lot easier.
- SASHA
The power of English language?The status of English as the global language seems likely to prop up U.S. power
English has become a compulsory thing in finding a job, in communicating, in writing. "Every civil servant under the age of 40 with a bachelor's degree will also be required to master a minimum of 1,000 English sentences". Time to face reality, we are all unknowinly and unwillingly embarking on a journey to graciously accepting English language as the most important language ever. Don't believe? You've got no choice, it has already became a written fact, and in fact - proven.
for some time to come. "Half the world's people are projected to be speaking
English by 2015."
"English is a first language for 400 million people, and a fluent second for between
300 and 500 million more,"
Even China's government is making an effort to ensure that its citizens are always learning, and in this case - English language.
BEIJING -- Authorities in Beijing plan to make most residents -- from hairdressers to policemen -- learn English under a drive to convert the Chinese capital into a "world city"
"Ahead of the 2008 Olympics, about 5.5 million residents of the Chinese capital were
taught a number of sentences for basic conversations in English"
We should all use China as an example. They may be the biggest chinese speaking population in the world, however, the government were determined not to let English take them down - Since most of the time when they speak, we most probably cannot catch what they're saying.
"The government program -- first launched in 2002 in preparation for the Beijing Olympics
and recently renewed -- calls for all kindergartens in the city to introduce English courses
within five years". Chinese has this saying "It is never too late to start learning something new". China has just displayed this virtue and people all over the world should start doing so, because you do not want to fall out of pace in this society.
-MELISSA
In supermarkets or any other shops, we can often see labels of prices and tags on items being displayed for sale. Even catelogs and letters are also written in English. Let take education as an example, 0 levels proved the importance of English. If you failed English, it directly equals to failing the whole education system and you will have to retake the paper or the chances of you getting into the courses you want is minimal. Hence, many people want to keep in pace in the society, that is why we can see that some even took up English as their second language.
Even the the largest population country, China, is starting to learn to pick up English quickly so that they can 'upgrade' their culture. As we know, their strength is mandarin and they can speak and write fluently in mandarin. To get used to writing and speaking english may need to take some time for them. However, this does not refers to all of them. I have a ex-colleague from China, who can speak in English as good as an American and even better than me.
In conclusion, English is a really top choice of language to use in worldwide because this is where no one else is superior or in benefit than another and also a common language among us, regardless of country, religion and race.
-TRICIA
From the way I learnt it, English served by being my first language, and I never got a chance to appreciate my Mother Tongue, Chinese. Resulting from my background and home support of a strong English-speaking mother, I learnt to phrase my sentences just by reading it once or twice in my mind. This has caused some problems for me in terms of vocabulary, but I am proud to be well-versed with the language. It has indeed allowed me to communicate with my western friends, even if my command of English is imperfect. After all, if they understand what I'm trying to say, the way I phrase it doesn't matter.
Communication can be made in many forms, but it only serves to provide a mode of "transport" for information to be "sent" to receiving party. Perception, however lies in the minds of both the speaker and the audience. Are you mentally reading this blog entry aloud in English, or perhaps aloud literally? Or have you ever had the experience of listening to someone speaking in a different language, and processing the information if your mind in English? That is perception from the audience's position. The ability to influence this alternative thinking in the audience is also known as perception, in the speaker's point of view. Intricate as it seems, it is perhaps the simplest forgotten systems ever created to make our lives easier!
English therefore plays a major role as the "transport" of information, but we should never forget that in every transportation system, it relies greatly on the sender and the receiver to makes the transfer successful.
It is a fact that "Close to nine in ten teens are internet users.", why is this so? Broadband service has improved since few years back then, and its rates are in fact, getting more and more affordable, this is why people are able to afford paying for the service. Internet has become a part of our daily life, businessmen checks their mails on their blackberry every few hours and students do researches online. This is because internet allows easier communication between far distances, and it contains information that students might need. We might not like the truth, but it is an obvious fact that, internet has indeed became essential in our daily life.
As technololgy advances, its no wonder that internet users have risen. From the report, "87% of U.S. teens aged 12-17 use the internet, up from 73% in 2000. 66% of adults use the internet, up from 56% in 2000.", not only have the percentage of teenagers increases, the percentage of adults using the internet has significantly increased too. We have to admit that as much as parents do not know what are their children doing online, they either have absolute trust in their kids, or they do not bother about them. Well, let us all believe that parents have absolute trust in their kids.
I believe that technology is one main reason why internet users have increased over the years. Look at the phones around, its all wifi-enabled. Apple Iphones and blackberry are the best examples of wifi-enabled phones, in fact, these phones even allows internet surfing with data plan. With wifi anywhere, teenagers can use their phones to surf the web, go online. Another reason would be the control over illegal downloading of songs, information and photos online, which I personally feel that is too leniant and therefore, it doesn't instill a fear in teenagers that they may get caught for downloading things online.
- MELISSA
Cyber wellness essentially refers to the “positive well-being of Internet users and a healthy cyber culture for the Internet community.” However, to what extent does a healthy cyber culture stretch to? The four core values of the Cyber Wellness vision are “balanced lifestyle”, “Embracing the Net and Inspiring Others”, “Astuteness” as well as “Respect and Responsibility”. However, it extends only up to an individual and how he views each.
A healthy cyber culture can range from one that adds a censor to any content unsuitable for ages 13-under, to one that is free from any censorship and leaves it to the person to determine what content he should view and what he shouldn’t. Therefore in my opinion, cyber wellness should be defined by the users, and only those with multiplayer-interaction features should maintain or reinforce Cyber Wellness rules.
As evident from the PEW internet and American life project, 87% from those aged 12 to 17, now use the internet, which also means that there is an increasing number of teenagers who may face the risk and threats. Teenagers, who engaged in social networking websites, develop a network of friends and contacts. They communicate through various ways like messaging, chat rooms and forums. This can be dangerous as they did not know who exactly they are communicating with. Worse of all, some of them even meet with people they got to know online. The internet has become a platform for self expression and chatting rather than as channels for searching information relevant to their school work. Teenagers also seems to have poor ability to conduct and manage their time spend online. In addition, teenagers can now use their cell phones to go online. This allows them to go online more frequent and conveniently, at anywhere even without the presence of their parents.
In order to prevent teenagers from encountering possible risks, parents themselves should be equipped with advice and guidance about cyber wellness. Parents should also take note of whom their children are communicating with online. They have a critical role to play in making sure that their children are safe from those pitfalls posted by people on the Internet. However parents may not be able to stay by their side all the time, hence the most effective way is to educate teenagers with possible risks in cyberspace. Schools can conduct workshops to educate them on how to use the Web in the way that can keep them safe, equipped them with awareness about the copyright issue and tell them who they can report if they come across harassment online or content they find offensive.
Not only children need to be aware of cyber wellness, all Internet users definitely have to know too. Just that young people have the difficulty in differentiating what is right and wrong as compared to adults. It will be good to encourage teenagers in having more real time leisure activities instead of going online. Lastly, involvement of parents in building cyber awareness among young people will still be the best way to educate them with cyber wellness.
But, while we are enjoying these benefits of communication and leisure activities through online chatting and gaming, do we know how to protect ourself from the cyber world? Maybe some may argue so, but when faced with a certain circumstances, it may be an otherwise case.
Firstly, when we are browsing though some websites, sometimes there will be some obsence website that may 'pop out' and it can contain virus or some pornography. Secondly, cases of cyber bullying is increasing. I remembered I read about a newspaper article on cyber bullying which led to the death of a teenager. This could be the cause of lack of self-esteem or letting himself being an 'easy target' and not knowing how to protect himself. However, commiting suicide is not the way to solve problems and thus we should learn how to protect ourseleves and not become a victim. Thirdly, spending hours sitting in front of a computer is health-damaging and it can greatly affect our eyesight and lifestyles due to lack of sleep. Illegal downloading of songs is nothing new. Nowadays, we can easily download songs that we like from the websites.
On the other hand, Yes, I agree that Internet may be a great help to us because it asisst us in doing research for projects and any data can be found easily through websites like google or yahoo. Poeple can also communicate with one another easily through accessibility through msn, myspace etc. Business meetings can be held through msn-conferencing and thus, save time and effort.
Now, what is cyber wellness? Cyber wellness is the positive well-being of internet users and a healthy cyber culture with the internet community. It is pivotal for internet users to be knowledgeable about cyber threats so as to protect themselves while surfing the internet. Many people are unable to distinguish which online activity is legal and which are illegal. Therefore, they will not be able to report any illegal activity that they happen to chance upon on the internet.
Both schools and parents play a vital role in educating their students or children about cyber threats. All schools, be it primary schools, secondary schools, polytechnics, junior colledges and private instituitions should teach their students about cyber threats. Some schools have already begun to implement a lesson on cyber wellness each week into the students' timetable. For example, Nanyang Polytechnic has put cyber wellness as one of the choices for the General Studies Module for the year ones. The aim of this is to educate the students on how they can safely surf the internet so as to ensure they have an enjoyable time online while not being put at risk. Primary and secondary schools can get people from outside or staff from their own school's IT department to give talks to the students. This can be part of their post exam activities. Education on cyber threats should begin from young. However, learning is a life-long process so even adults and senior citizens deserve to be educated about cyber threats.
Parents should constantly check the websites visited by their children to ensure that they do not visit any illegal websites, be it by accident or intentionally. They can still be excused if they chance upon the illegal websites by accident. However, if they visit those websites intentionally, something needs to be done about it soon before things become dire. In addition, they should also use internet filters more frequently to "filter" away any illegal websites so that their children do not have any access to it at all.
In conclusion, all internet users should be educated on cyber threats. It is essential for them to know how they can protect themselves online. People can protect themselves against cyber threats by being vigilant for spam e-mails, websites and attachments and by constantly updating software programmes like firewalls and Norton antivirus.
- SASHA
Nothing shocking if football fans watch every single World Cup matches. However, some matches occur during office hours, and this is the main reason why it affects the office productivity in many countries. Some of the employees will even take fake medical leave just to catch the matches on time. In addition, the results for the match affects them emotionally too. Good result for their supported country means positive influence to them emotionally and this may lead to a better performance in work, and vice versa. The employer will thus get pathetic office productivity if things do not turn up well. No doubt that those employers themselves were being affected by the World Cup.
It will be better if employers plan in advance on how to counteract on this issue. For example, push their employees to hit beyond their sales target quota before the month of World Cup, so as to prepare their company for the worse. This would be considered a more pessimistic way to solve the problem. Alternatively, granting employees with a few unpaid leave that they would like to take to watch the World Cup, and allowing leave for 2 to 3 employees on the same day. This would help to avoid having low manpower on certain days.
World Cup maybe an exciting event where many of us look forward to. In turns of office productivity, employers will sure be the one who have to face unavoidable adverse effect that World Cup brings to them. Some football fans were even willing to quit their job just to watch the matches, and this shows the passion they have in World Cup, that every employers have to overcome with.
I remember during one of the days during the break, I couldn't get to sleep and I keep hearing 'GOAL' from my neighbours and my father. So, in the end, I ended up accompanying my dad to watch the World Cup and I realised people always get agitated when they watch World Cup. It if often that we hear someone swearing when they are watching World Cup.
This shows how much Singaporeans are enthusiastic and anxious about soccer. They are willingly to sacrifice their long hours of sleep just to watch the soccer match. It is even ridiculous that some can even lied to their employees that they are on 'sick leaves' and even worst, one of the employer even lied to his/her boss that his mother-in-law is receiving medical treatment for lung cancer and wanted a few days off. Another even quit his job to support World Cup. In my opinion, I think this guy must be mad or stupid. He chose to watch World Cup at the expense of quiting his job and this definitely wouldn't benefit him in the long run .
From the scenerios above, it can be also observed that it will lead to lower productivity in work and people are having short attention span in the day due to the late stayed up at night. I feel that they should manage their time and piority well in order not to affect their studies or work because of the World Cup. So the question came, is World Cup benefiting us all or is it affecting our daily lifes? The choice is ours, we make our own choice.
-TRICIA .
This brings us to ask, “Why does this phenomenon occur?”
It is so simple that we could be amazed with just this answer. This event comes once every four years and brings together all the participating countries just to have them stand apart for 2 legs of 45 minutes each, chasing after a ball with millions of fans worldwide screaming their heads off on their couches, in their beds and even on the streets waving banners and supporting a team that they would probably never meet in person for the rest of their lives.
If only I could wrap the above paragraph with sarcasm tags, everything would be much simpler. The only cure for such a “disease”, is if people started to realise the insanity that the FIFA World Cup has unleashed. This insanity being millions of people worldwide willing to spend nights to watch the teams play, some even willing to quit their jobs over such a trivial event, is just silly.
In Singapore, we have to pay just to catch this action on our television channel. In my opinion, this requirement acts as a double-edged sword, as it not only earns money for the television station, it also deters those who simply cannot afford spending time away from their jobs, from the very mindless craze.
Personally, it is pleasing that we are beginning to notice the silly things that make humans who they are today. After all, what pleases us more than watching people idolise another person or persons, just because they can kick a ball better than you do?
I could share an experience of a hardcare football fan I saw when I was at work.
It was at a wedding dinner, and many guests were present. This particular male guest, was especially hardworking in seeing his Iphone, even when eating his 8 course dinner. Turned out? He was watching live match (Germany VS Argentina)! I don't know if this is considered extreme but I felt that it is quite disrespectful.
It is pretty obvious that fans of World Cup are willing to do anything, miss any imporant dates, just to watch a match, of 20 guys, kicking one ball. Yes, that's soccer for you.
An editor of a Wuhan-based sports website (Zhou Sheng / For China Daily) even risk jeopardizing his job just so that he could watch this huge event. What's even more ironic, is the fact that this guy, Zhang Huiquan, is the editor for a sports website. His actions not only allow other fans to believe that "quitting my job for the World Cup is worth it", it will also affect the production of the articles for the website.
One fan even go the extent of lying to his employer about his mother-in-law's health just to be able to watch a World Cup match. He should be thankful that his employer is kind enough to forgive him, because if I'm in her place, I would not be able to do so.
World Cup is making its fans go crazy. Yes, the airing of World Cup matches in coffeeshops, restaurants, cafes and bars are making these places earn more revenue. While people spend less time concentrating on work, they are spending more money to place bets and drinking at these places. Is this a good or a bad thing? I guess for now, it is a good thing.When people's spending power increases, it sort of means that the economy is doing good we can presume?
For soccer fans out there, risking the loss of their job for World Cup, is totally worth it - for now. However, they will definitely regret after the entire event ends.
- MELISSA
In China, a Chinese football fan is willing to resign from his job so that he can catch every single football match. As stated in the article, "I will quit my job to watch the World Cup." This indicates that the World Cup means more to him than his job so he does not mind losing his source of income. Another football fan lied to his employer that his "mother-in-law is receiving treatment for lung cancer and wanted a few days off", but actually, "he just wanted to watch the World Cup". Lying to his employer was not the right thing to do. This would cause his employer to lose trust in him, resulting in his employer finding difficulty in trusting his words again. Next time if he needs to take time off from work for such a reason, his employer may not grant him the leave as he does not know if his words are true and believable. Based on a survey that was conducted, "66 percent of employees polled said they will stay up nights to watch the matches, and 20 percent said they will watch every game no matter how late at night". Staying up till the wee hours of the morning to watch the matches would cause them to have inadequate sleep. As a result, their work performance would suffer greatly. Having insufficient sleep the night before would cause them to feel sleepy when they are at work. Thus, this would cause their concentration level to drop. With the ongoing World Cup, some employees may be distracted at work. Although they are physically at work, they may not be there mentally. They could be thinking of the match of the previous night.
Is it really worth losing your job because of the World Cup? To football fans, the World Cup is definitely more important than their jobs. However, to non-football fans, their jobs are far more important than the World Cup. Therefore, the answer to this question depends largely on whether you are a football fan or a non-football fan.
-SASHA
Excuse me for the late submission as I was in China from friday (11th June) till Sunday (20th June)!! FYI, I have no access to Blogger.com / outlook.com over there.
I used to have the habit of reading the newspaper each time I wake up in the morning. Well, that was before poly starts! After school starts, I started to ignore the papers at my doorstep every morning. I wouldn't blame it on school, I'd say that I was too lazy to make an effort to read the papers. That is how, as time passes, I don't know what is happening around the world, in Singapore. With this blogging exercise, I got "introduced" back to the world, to the happenings around Singapore. I especially like it when I get the sense of satisfaction after I finished a post and I re-read it.
I guess, the most interesting topic that I did was the one on World Environment Day. I have no idea why, but I am always so interested in matters regarding saving the Earth! I like to express my views each time I see or read an article on saving the Earth. The article Mr Pang gave us, was indeed the best I have ever read. "Fishes are going to be wiped out as soon as 2050 reaches us", you can bet that all in my mind was, 'this is ridiculous, how can fishes be wiped out!'. There you go, one sentence in my mind and I started blabbering all the thoughts I have in my mind and my post is quite a long one I would say.
Of course, not forgetting our mother tongue weightage. I cannot even believe what I heard was true when I was watching the news one day, that the government are considering lowering the weightage of mother tongue. There's this chinese saying "饮水思源", which simply means that one should never forget their source of belonging. The higher percentage of people living in Singapore are Chinese, and if Chinese don't know how to speak Chinese langauge, tell me about it, it is simply ironic. Of course, we still know how to speak and understand Chinese language now, but how can we be sure of this, in let's say ... 50 years? Nobody can be sure of what will Chinese language be in 50 years time!
Blogging about things happening around the world is indeed an interesting and challenging task. I have a personal blog. However, how challenging can blogging my own life be, compared to blogging my views on important matters around the world! I have learned the importance of reading and I will, definitely, catch up on my habit on reading the papers again!
MELISSA.
The topic that causes the most profound impact on me is the first topic on reducing the mother tongue language weighting in PSLE. I was not notified or aware of this issue before it was given to us. Eventually I was not interested to find out more when my family was discussing about it as I think that it does not concerns or affects me at all. After reading the article, I knew I was wrong. In the beginning, I was one of those who dislike Chinese language. There was a time when my Chinese teacher happens to teach us about the historical figures related to Chinese language. It was then when I started gaining interest towards Chinese. After treating Chinese as my favourite language, my results improved tremendously. Frankly speaking, I would not score as well for my O level if the weightage is reduced. Hence after knowing more about the issue of reducing the mother tongue language weighting in PSLE, I feels that it is unfair for those who perform well in their Chinese language. This is the topic which I am most passionate about and it was really a good start for me. I began to look forward to the upcoming topic.
The topic on plagiarism affects me personally too. At that point of time, I was preparing for one of my module project. The article was truly a great reminder to me. It somewhat saves me from committing the act of plagiarizing. The facts and consequences raised from the article taught me knowledge which I was unsure of.
After all, I benefit and gain a lot of knowledge through this blogging assessment. It creates a chance for me to force myself in reading the article at first, to having the interest of knowing more knowledge and news from worldwide at the end. I believe as time passes, there will sure be an improvement in me.
The article on plagarism had taught me the consequences of lifting chunks of paragraphs from a passage without crediting them and using them as own resources. It will eventually be marked as copying and will be given a penalty or fail grade. I remember I used to think that copying information from the website is no big deal untill I chance upon this article, I realised the seriousness of it.
The article on reducing weightage of Mother Tongue have shown that Mother Tongue is becoming a less redundant language. As a Chinese, I have always love speaking in Chinese and watching Chinese drama or comedy show. This article had proven that quite a number of students are not coping well with their mother tongue language. It is such a pity. I don't understand why they can't do well if they have given in their hundred percent effort and try to speak more and read more relating to mother tongue. It had spur me to continue my interest in Chinese and read as widely as possible, even reading chinese newspaper do helps.
Last but not least, the article on environmental issues had left a great impact on me. I've come to realise the importance of marine life and how it will lead to extinction of food cycle. And also the pollution of seawater will led to poisioning which may affect the fishes in the sea. These fishes may eventually die or if these fishes were brought into the markets for sale , if consume by human, it may led to food poisoning. Thus, we should treat this seriously and help to reduce water pollution.
In conclusion, these past few weeks of blogging had allowed me to read more and know more about our world and I have developed a habit of blogging my own thoughts.
- Tricia :)
The article that had the greatest impact on me was the one on plagiarism. Prior to blogging about this topic, the topic on plagiarism was not entirely "alien" to me. I had already known the meaning of it. However, what I was unaware was, the consequences that it could bring about. It has taught me that copying other people's work can result in dire consequences and one should not do it even if he or she is desperate. It is totally not worth the price that one has to pay from plagiarising the work of others.
Of course, the other topics also had an impact on me.
The article on the environment showed me how the selfishness of some people could harm the environment. For example, over fishing in waters. Fishermen fish excessively in waters just so that they could make money from selling those fishes. Due to their own personal gains, they cause the number of fishes in the waters to be depleted at a rapid rate. This shows how much they actually "care" for their environment. Another example would be deforestation. People cut down trees excessively also for the sake of making money as timber is very valuable. This is how practical and money-oriented people can be.
The article on the Mother Tongue Language weighting has taught me the importance of the language. Although I would most probably never have to study Mother Tongue again, but I feel very fortunate to have once studied it as my second language in both primary and secondary school. Learning about the Chinese culture had been very meaningful to me.
In conclusion, I have learnt a lot though these four weeks of blogging. The impact that each article made on me is truly amazing.
-SASHA :D
In my opinion, the depression in writers, artists, and other creative workers is not caused by creativity, but is instead the cause of creative sparks in people in general. As stated by co-author Jutta Joormann, PhD, “depressed people are more likely to ruminate, making depression act as an intermediary variable,” and following it a statement “given that rumination can also lead individuals to generate a large number of ideas and, in turn, artistic endeavours.”
With depression comes creativity, in a sense. That statement alone stands when individuals turn to art to express their emotions, when other means are not available, like in a less outspoken individual.
As such, depression may be cured by turning to people, instead of artworks. A friend in need is definitely a friend indeed.
-Percy
Due to humankind’s inconsiderate doings, the world’s animal and plant species are disappearing at a rapid rate. It is estimated by the scientists that about 150 to 200 species of life become extinct within a day. Pollution, deforestation, global warming, production and consumption are factors that contribute to the mass extinction. According to the article, Arctic fox, emperor penguin, clownfish and leatherback turtle are included in the extinction list. Global warming and other factors not only cause extinction, but it affect us too. The more obvious effects may be in physical and social. For example, we are suffering from extreme weather change due to the global warming. Loss of mangroves and coral reefs also has increase the probability of floods and storms.
The most crucial matter is ocean fish may be disappearing in 4o years. This means that there is a possibility that our ocean would be fishless in 40 years time. Fisherman fish in a large amount causing fish stocks to decrease. Throwing rubbish into oceans and oil spilling, pollute the ocean and thus kills a large numbers of fishes. If ocean fish disappear due to our inconsiderate doing, we will be the one that get the adverse effect. We will be experiencing life without fish which normally serve as our main protein source. Fisherman will then lost their main source of income.
Hence we have to avoid worsening, be it in terms of the government implementing policies or changing our own lifestyle. Firstly, we can have some chicken or mushroom soup instead of eating sharks’ fin as lesser consumption of sharks’ fin reduces the number of sharks captured. Secondly, we should burn less so as to reduce air pollution. Lastly, we must practice the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. I believe that by working together as one, we will be able to improve the situation and most importantly, prevent fishless ocean!
The
theme for Yr 2009 - 'Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change'
ranging from beach clean-ups, concerts, exhibits, film festivals
and community events will be conducted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Environment_Day
For instance, fishes. Most of us eat fish, whether it's tuna, silver promfret, or grouper. Fishes may be able to reproduce, but it is not reproducing at a speed fast enough to satisfy the unlimited wants of us. Fishing fleets are more advanced in technology nowadays, unlike the past, and in rainy days, fishermen can still go out to fish. Which such fleets, the quantity of fishes are slowly decresing, as quoted from the article "NEW YORK (AFP) - – The world faces the nightmare possibility of fishless oceans by 2050 unless fishing fleets are slashed and stocks allowed to recover, UN experts warned.".
The oceanic ecosystem consists of reefs, marine mammals, some reptiles, fish as well as a multitude of living microorganisms like algae and anti-coral species. The beautiful reefs are created from clusters of coral microorganisms huddled together to protect each other. This formation may seem strong, but it is actually very hard and brittle. At microscopic levels, anti-coral species and algae feed off these coral microorganisms to survive. Fish and some marine mammals consume these anti-coral organisms and in a way, keeps them in check.
Mass fishing removes these 'coral bodyguards', and allow anti-coral organisms to grow. The microscopic cell ability to reproduce very quickly becomes a chain problem. Some species of fish are safe from other fish due to their small sizes and ability to hide in these reefs. When the anti-coral organisms form a vast coral-consuming army, these fish lose their shelter and be eaten as well.
Our seafood would remain in our seas much longer, if the demand for it would decrease even slightly.
As we can see, fisherman fish to earn for a living and sell these fishes to wet markets. We can also see fishes are included in most of our daily meals. Examples such as cuisine like sushi which are very popular in Japanese restaurants. Also, shark fins which is known as a delicacy. Sharks are near to extinction. Thus,it is very important for us to help overcome this problem. If people continues their selfish act of over0fishing to earn more profits for themselves, in 40 years time, we will not have any fishes to eat, no more beautiful fishes swimming around in the sea and the next generation will not get to see these fishes.
However, we can put in our actions to do something to help to solve this problem. Firstly, we can restrain ourselves from eating shark fin as a form of saying no to harming the shark fins. Secondly, the media can also do some advertisements to remind people to save the fishes from extinction. If we all put in every little effort, this problem can soon be overcome.
-Tricia
Human activities have caused a loss in plant and animal species. One such activity is deforestation. It is caused by an increase in demand for agricultural land use, growth of settlements, improved transport networks, growth of industries and forest fires. This reduces the biodiversity of a forest as plants would be killed and animals would lose their habitats. As a result, smaller animals would fall prey to larger animals. Thus, causing them to become extinct. Another activity is excessive fishing in waters. Uneducated fishermen do not know the harm of overfishing. Thus, they continue to fish in large amounts. This causes the number of fishes to decrease rapidly.
Physical activities have also caused a loss in plant and animal species. One activity is global warming. Global warming is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases which results from fossil fuel burning and deforestation. It causes ice bergs to melt, sea levels to rise and changes the amount and pattern of precipitation.
In conclusion, both human and physical activities cause a loss in plant and animal species. To reduce extinction of biodiversity, human and physical activities that cause the loss in plant and animal species should be reduced.
- SASHA
Internet network is the key source where student search for information regarding their projects or homework. Students often commit the mistake of copying the exact information available in the internet and paste it as their own work. They will not be able to learn by doing this. Furthermore, it violates the copyright laws of duplicating others work and not crediting it. Hence it is important to teach them about plagiarism and the importance of respecting intellectual property.
It will be good to teach them since young. As they will come across using the Internet to do their homework, as early as in their primary level. Children will not know the knowledge of plagiarism if no one were to teach them. They will not be able to know that duplicating or close imitation of another author as their own work would be an offense.
Still, some people may commit the act of plagiarizing, when they knew that such acts are not legal. Not only students make this mistake. Adults commit it too. The release of German-manufactured WePad is a good example of close imitation of other’s original work. The WePad duplicated almost all the Apple iPad’s functions and features. However, WePad were sold at a lower price.
In my opinion, I strongly agree that cases involving plagiarism should be deal with seriously. For students who plagiarized, they would be receiving the penalties of a fail grade in the course, suspension, or even expulsion. In short, we must appreciate the hard work of the original author by not duplicating their work and calls the work his or her own.
As schools stresses to pupils about no copying, we have to admit, some still do so. What schools are looking for when students take a particular information down from a website or from a book, is crediting the authors. Does this help in stressing pupils on “no copying”? By crediting the authors, it will only allow the school / teacher to know where the student get the source from, and to ensure that the student did not copy 100% of the information, it does not help in stressing pupils on plagiarism.
A good example of allowing the students to know the consequences of plagiarism would be the Straits Times article, dated Wed, Apr 28, 2010 – Tokyo University to crack down on Plagiarism in theses. By revoking a doctorate degree it had conferred would greatly affect it’s reputation. However, it has set a very good example of letting students like us, know the serious consequences of plagiarism.
MELISSA :D
With advancements in technology, primary school students are now required to use the internet to download useful information for their school projects. If they are not taught about plagiarism, they would simply "copy and paste" everything from the internet onto their projects. This would not only result in them violating the rights of the author, but also resulting in them not being able to comprehend the information they had downloaded. Therefore, this would defeat the whole purpose of the project as projects are meant to help students understand a certain topic in more depth through reading additional information about it.
Other than plain counselling, primary schools should set more impactful consequences on plagiarism. For example, if a student is caught downloading chunks of information and using it in their projects without rephrasing, the teacher would immediately deduct ten marks from the project without any room for negotiation. This would enable the student to apprehend the seriousness of plagiarism from a tender age so that he or she will not repeat it again at university level. At university level, penalties for plagiarism would usually be a fail grade in the course, suspension or expulsion in the most serious cases. This shows the seriousness of plagiarism at university level.
In conclusion, plagiarism is a serious offence and it will result in dire consequences. It is merely a misconception if anyone thinks that plagiarising other people's work is the easy way out. In contrast, this is the more difficult way out.
SASHA :D
Therefore, it is important that students are educated on how to prevent copying information from the website and take it as their own. It is a serious offence and may led to some serious consequences, hence it should not be treated slightly. Primary level students, at such a young age, often don't fully understanding the meaning of plagarism, thus, school should conduct a talk on the serious offence of plagarism to raise awareness to the students. This is also a chance for them to learn to do their reports based on their own creative writing skills instead of 'copying' the whole chunk of paragraph from the website. Alternatively, they can credit the authors of the source. When students don't have the basic foundation of writing a proper report, they resort to plagarism.
Thus, in conclusion, we should always credit the sources where you cite your information from. Students should be taught or reminded that plagarism is a serious offence.
:) tricia
Plagiarism is an offense. It is the reproduction of a work done by another, and representing it as one's own. However, how much of it is relevant? Some ideas may have been coincidentally thought about without prior information that the idea has already been produced. As an old saying goes, "Great minds think alike." Would that mean the later "Great minds" are plagiarisers? That would be a hilarious but worthwhile statement to comprehend. While researching current views on Plagiarism, I was interested in a particular type of plagiarism - not done by students, but by the educators themselves.
There have been incidents whereby students' works have been reproduced by their very own teachers. Back then, we were students who had no knowledge of intellectual property. All we cared about was finishing our assessments and run off to the canteen for our food and games. A friend of mine had his work submitted just like the rest of us. A year later, he had found his work, an exact replica, in the school magazine under the tutor's name - and there was no way he could prove that the work was his. As friends, we were very frustrated at our inability to do justice to that wayward tutor. However, he was not at all angry. In fact, he was happy that his work was published, even under the tutor's name.
This shows that authors may not necessarily care about having the proper accreditation. Emphasis on such "copying of ideas" is in my opinion, excessive and may not even address any issue at hand.
Originally stated in an Abstract by Mr Brian Martin,
Sourced from http://www.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/pubs/94jie.html
"Plagiarism is conventionally seen as a serious breach of scholarly ethics, being a theft of credit for ideas in a competitive intellectual marketplace. This emphasis overlooks the vast amount of institutionalized plagiarism, including ghostwriting and attribution of authorship to bureaucratic elites. There is a case for reducing the stigma for competitive plagiarism while exposing and challenging the institutionalized varieties."
-Percy
During Deputy PM Teo Chee Hean's speech at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum, he mentioned five building blocks that provide us with a strong foundation. Personally, I am very interested to go in-depth to one of the five building blocks, which is to attract foreign talent into our country. Attracting foreign talent into Singapore has since caused much discussion among Singapore citizens. By all means, it will definitely benefit Singapore and also brings about some disadvantages too.
Singapore is constantly having problem with its low birth rate. Statistics have shown that, there is only an average of 28,000 births per year. This is insufficient to satisfy the need of manpower in Singapore. Therefore, attracting foreign talents increase the capability of our workforce. Foreign talents add value to the Singapore’s workforce and even exchange valuable knowledge and experiences they have obtained in their hometown or other places with our local expertise. Also, most of the foreign talents migrate to Singapore from places where it is poorer, and have experienced bad living conditions and unemployment. Hence, they would accept lower wages in Singapore as compared to Singaporean who usually look for high pay jobs. This can helps to slow down the demand for higher wages and through this, it keep the economic competitive. Attracting foreign talent can help to improve the efficiency of the workforce and hence improve Singapore’s economic and make Singapore more competitive compared to other countries.
However, Singaporeans feel threatened by foreign talents. Some Singaporeans feel that they have difficulties when seeking for a job as they tend to be at disadvantage when compared to those foreign talents. Employers would usually prefer to choose workers that are willing to work long hours and get lower pay. Foreign talent will normally fit into this criterion and thus employers would hire them instead of Singaporeans.
Despite all these benefits, many are still not convinced that foreign talent will benefit the locals and aid in Singapore’s economy. In my own opinion, I feel that as long as there is fair competition, there is no reason to feel threatened by foreigners.
First, a strong culture of education and learning. The government has built many tertiary schools like Junoir colleges, Polytechnics and University. Almost every child in Singapore is offered an education so that we have at least a cert for us to apply for jobs in future. Everyone is given an opportunity to learn and study. Also, we have tests and exams conducted on regular basis, or some quizes to enhance our knowledge. Compare ourselves with the older generations, we are more fortunate. In the olden days, most of them can't even read or write. The literacy rate is low, that is because most of them does not have the ability to afford an education and does not have a certificate to apply for better jobs. This stressed the importance of education so that we can at least match the standard of education compared at an international level. It has also proves to show me that learning is a life long journey as the education system has been changing throughout the years.
Fourth point, a magnet for talent pool. Singapore has open its door to allow the flow of migrates to attract more tourists to stay in Singapore permanently. Their talents and skills will also be very useful here, especially if we lack of such a skill or talent. Next is the population growth rate. Government has been encouraging people to give birth to two or more children. This is to increase birth rate and so that we have a bigger population and also to increase the talent pool.
In conclusion , Singapore has made it's effort to 'stay young forever' and I'm very opstimistic that Singapore can do it, only with our 'self-upgrading' and ' never say die' attitude to solve every problems that we might be facing.
Singapore has become an ‘idea hub’, where many multination corporations are drawn to. When these corporations are built and fully operational, high-value jobs will be created and people will have be able to get jobs as they will ‘upgrade their skills’, just like the above mentioned – strong culture of education. It’s a good thing that Singapore is always thinking of better ways and ideas to improve on certain areas, however, I do not agree that ‘If we are trapped in the industries of the past, we will become the new ’rust belt’ – with old factories, making old products, using old skills.’. Old skills have their own advantage. For example, if we have a machine and a human doing the same work, no doubt the machine will be faster, however, machine has a “shorter” life span than humans. Being at the forefront of knowledge and innovation may not be a good key to keeping Singapore ‘Forever young’.
I do not agree that keeping Singapore ‘Forever young’ means having more casinos and integrated resorts. However, maybe hosting more world-class events like the Youth Olympics and F1 will boost Singapore's reputation. At the age of 45, Singapore is already an accomplished city-state. With more world-class events, strong culture of education and strong and honest leadership, I'm sure that Singapore will stay Forever Young'. Afterall, age is just a number.
- MELISSA
With reference to the second point brought up in the speech, another way Singapore can stay "forever young" is by encouraging more young people to join politics. This way, there will be fresh young blood to contribute new ideas to make Singapore a better place for people to live, work and play in.
Regarding the third point brought up in the speech, another way Singapore can stay "forever young" is through building more parks so that more people can exercise and remain healthy. For example, the newly built Woodlands Waterfront. This new park not only fosters multi-generational bonding, but also gives adults an opportunity to test the robes using their dexterity and nimbleness.
With regards to the fourth point raised in the speech, another way Singapore can stay "forever young" is through attracting foreign talents to Singapore by offering them more well-paying jobs, as well as more international schools for them to enrol their children in.
In my opinion, these are a few other ways in which Singapore can stay "forever young".
- SASHA
Most of the student speaks English among themselves and at home. Some even regard Mother Tongue Languages as a boring subject. Eventually, they got lesser interest in excelling in this subject as compared to other subjects like English and Mathematics.
Instead of approaching to solve this problem, reducing the weighting of Mother Tongue languages will only worsen the matter. It will then bring about a wrong perception to children that Mother Tongue languages is no longer that important as before. Follow through it affects the attitude of students. Furthermore, it will be a disadvantage to students if they do not speak fluent Chinese. As china's recent economic growth has been remarkable, it becomes a developed country where entrepreneurs from all over the world would desire to set up their companies there. It will hence, strongly benefit people who can communicate fluently with the people there. Even foreigners are really keen in learning Mother Tongue languages, i see no reason why some students cannot. Reducing weighting of Mother Tongue languages will then be a sign that the government is becoming less committed to promoting Chinese culture.
However, it will benefit those who are good in other subjects, but are only weaker in MTL. Many student who do not perform well in their Mother Tongue language, often pulled their PSLE results down. if PSLE weighting of Mother Tongue language is reduce, it make sure that Chinese language is being made easier for them. They can therefore spend more time to revise on the other subjects which carry a higher weightage in the Primary School Leaving Examination.
All subjects should be treated equally, with equal weightings so that children will regard them with similar importance. Reducing the weighting of Mother Tongue Languages is not an appropriate and ideal method to help students who are struggling with their Chinese subject. It will only lower the status of Mother Tongue in Singapore. Last but not least, we should maintain a strong emphasis on Mother Tongue languages!
For students who frequently converse with their families using their Mother Tongue Language, they will be at a disadvantage if the weighting of Mother Tongue in the PSLE is reduced. To be more exposed to the Mother Tongue Language at home, it is not surprising for them to have a better command of the language, thus being able to do well in the examination, and that would assist their entire PSLE aggregate.
However, for students who come from English-speaking families, a reduction in the weightage of the Mother Tongue Language would be beneficial to them. These students have fewer opportunities to interact with people, practise or read using their Mother Tongue Language as compared to their peers. They will in turn lose out in their language proficiency and in turn, affecting their PSLE aggregate in the negative way.
Such an action would also mislead the students into thinking that the Mother Tongue Language is unimportant as it does not share the same weighting as the other subjects thus resulting in them paying less or no attention to the subject. Students may suffer the consequences in the future when they enter the working world where they may be in contact with people who only uses their Mother Tongue Language. To avoid this from happening, they should pay equal attention to this subject as the others.
In conclusion, the Mother Tongue Language is as crucial as the English Language so its weighting in the PSLE should not be reduced, enabling the students to graduate from primary school being bilingual.
- SASHA
However, there are also disadvantages. Some people come from English speaking family, thus they tend to speak English more often and rarely have the chance to speak their native language. Thus it will not benefit them from knowing more about their own ‘roots’. Mother tongue is a language which people speaks and passed down culture and customs of different religion. Different religion has their beliefs. Therefore, without having the basic foundation, how could one tell others about their own culture and customs when asked by a foreigner? Isn’t that embarrassing? Also, it will somehow makes the student think that since the weighting of Mother Tongue has decreased, they might not be bothered much with that subject and might not put in their 100% effort. Students might also lose interest in studying Mother Tongue and slowly, Mother Tongue will cease to exist since most of the people are using English as a language for communication as it is an international language. So what will the next generation become?
Thus in conclusion, in my opinion, I disagree with the splitting weighting of Mother Tongue.
-Tricia
People are arguing over the suggestion made by the MOE. However, there is an advantage and disadvantage to everything. Right now, people are blinded by their own decision. For every decision made, there will be consequences. Is Singapore ready to handle the consequences?
Why will making the change bring about benefit to us, be it in the present, or in the future? You have to agree, by changing the weighting of Mother Tongue in the PSLE, students who don’t excel in it will have an easier time as they can spend lesser time studying it and this allows them to have more time for other subjects. However, only minority of students are bad at Mother Tongue language, some can be really good at it and this allows them to have a slight edge over those who are not.
With this, you have to agree that, as quoted from the passage, ‘PSLE should reward those who work hard to excel in Mother Tongue, not 'punish' them by reducing its weighting’. If MOE goes ahead with their decision, these students would be at a disadvantage as their good results will not be recognised anymore.
What will the consequences be if PSLE reduces the weighting of Mother Tongue language? Students will not strive hard to do well in that subject because they know that it is not as important as other subjects like Mathematics, Science and English. As they grow up, their Mother Tongue will only be sub-standard, because they will believe that even though they may not be able to speak well in their Mother Tongue language, they can always speak in English.
How about in years to come, will Mother Tongue be a foreign language to our descendents? We have to admit it, if we start neglecting the importance of Mother Tongue, it will be a foreign language to our descendents. What if we think of Mother Tongue as a heritage? This heritage of ours, will soon be history if our people don’t try and brush up on their own Mother Tongue language now!
Going overseas to do business transactions are normal in Singapore. China, especially, is a place that is frequented by businessmen all over the world due to the cheap rent for factories and land and the huge population that can be used as labourers. The common language used for communication is Chinese. By reducing the weightings of Mother Tongue, Chinese students will have a communication barrier if they were to do business at China. Reason is simple, because as Chinese no longer hold a high weighting in PSLE, people will take it for granted. Either it will be forgotten, or people will only understand the basics of it.
Start standing by your own Mother Tongue, don’t let it be a forgotten language!
- MELISSA.
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