Blog Prompt 31/1

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew mentioned in the book 'Hard Truths' we are not ready to have a non-Chinese Prime Minister. I do not think that is the case.

Before we start, we need to understand why Lee Kuan Yew said that in the first place. I would think that the reason behind his statement is that majority of the population is Singapore is Chinese, therefore if we would have a non-Chinese minister, there would surely be some unhappiness in the Chinese community. I do not think that that is the case.

Firstly, I think that the people in Singapore had already gone through a lot since independence, and I believe that the different races have all come to accept and understand each other, and even though there may be some racial conflict, all of us are Singaporean down in our hearts. Thus, even if there is a non-Chinese Prime Minister, I would think that the majority of Singaporeans would come to accept and embrace it.

Secondly, if we were to have a non-Chinese Prime Minister, it would be good to the image of the government. Having a non-Chinese Prime Minister would show that the Singapore Government embraces racial harmony, and this would further promote racial harmony in Singapore.

Lastly, I think that a non-Chinese Prime Minister might even be beneficial to the PAP's votes and cause the votes to increase. This is shown by the fact that President Obama won the hearts of people all around the world by being the first black president. If there would be a non-Chinese PM in Singapore for the first time, people in Singapore might even side to the PAP.

Adios for now :)

Slavery In USA

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Before I start, I will point out a study that I had once read.

I remember reading one study about animal behavior. The study pointed out that animals that were given treats and encouragement when they did a trick right would learn it faster and remember it longer, while animals who were scolded when they did it wrongly generally learned it much slower than those who were given encouragement, and would forget it faster. I think this is also the case with working with people, and also of working with kids.

I generally disagree with the content, although there are some points that are true. Firstly, the Chinese mothers actually just want the best for their children, even though I disapprove of the method used to get the results. The Chinese mother’s viewpoint is generally “I am giving my child the best chance to succeed in life by forcing my child to give 100% in all his studies". The Chinese mother's viewpoint is actually quite beneficial to the child's grades. I think that the child would become a straight A student, and would also excel in some of the other stuff that his parents impose on him, like piano etcetera. However, in my opinion, I think the child would become generally unhappy with his life. The child would probably dread coming home each day, because he knows that at home, he is restricted by his parents in almost every way, like what the excerpt has stated, the child would not be allowed to even watch TV, and much much more. The child might experience short bursts of happiness when he starts to get straight As, or master a piece of music, like what the excerpt stated, but other than that, he would be unhappy, a result of such a discipline method.

I think that there is a much better parenting method as opposed to this. I would think a better parenting method would be one in which there is an open communication between the parent and the child. In this parenting method, the child can tell his parents anything, and the parent can share with his child anything he wants. Through this parenting method, trust is built, and the parents can trust their child to have the integrity to do his work punctually and properly. Results are achieved through this method, and the child would turn out to be a much happier person too.

Crime Doesn't Pay

The simple message that I am conveying to the audience is that crime doesn't pay. I played with the setting to convey a message; at the start, the robber is trying to rob someone on the streets, however, in the last scene, the setting is in a jail, which shows that the robber had been arrested and sent to jail. I used a big and brawny guy as the robber character because that is the character that most people would associate with a robber. I chose a shadow at first for the cop in disguise character to show that the person is secretive and mysterious, as the face is not shown.

Blog Prompt 20/01

I think it would be better to have known, even if it means you will ultimately lose it.

I remember that another teacher once asked us a thought provoking questions : Would you rather be born blind, or to see the world for the first few years of you life and then slowly become blind? Well if all of us had a choice we would probably choose not to be blind. However, if we only have the choice of the above two options, I would probably choose to see the world first, and then become blind.

My rationale to this is pretty simple. For example; pet owners know that they are going to lose their pet someday anyway, yet many people still keep pets. But why? Well, because they know that it will bring them joy. The only time anyone is going to live in is this moment, so even if it is only going to bring joy momentarily, so be it. Almost everything on this Earth is not permanent, so if we were to choose to not have known, because we would ultimately lose it, then we would not have known many of the things that exist in this world. Thus, I think it would be better to have known, even if it means you will ultimately lose it.

Blog Prompt 19/01

I remember one incident that happened when I was Primary Three. This is the gist of what had happened

When I was in Primary Three, I met this weird guy. Everyone said that he was 'gay' and nobody wanted to have anything to do with him. The class made fun of him almost on a daily basis. I was only Primary Three that time and I didn't really ask myself 'Hey is it right to do this? What's the boy feeling?' I must admit that I had also taken part in the bullying. I didn't think about the negative side of the bullying - I thought it was funny to make fun of him. I am sort of like a go with the flow person at that time so I didn't think much about it.

Thinking back, I thought that what I had did was really wrong. If going with the so called 'in crowd' meant severely hurting someone's feelings, then I would rather have nothing to do with the popular guys.

I have realised over the years that prejudice in the classroom exists almost every year. There would always be this poor dude that bears the brunt of the bullying in class. Few people ever stand up against the the bullies. The rest of the people usually just keep their mum and treats the bullied like any other friend. I think I am part of that group.

So long for now :)

Cloony The Clown by Shel Silverstein

Hi people :)
A few days ago, Ms Soh, our Language Arts teacher, went through a few poems by Shel Silverstein with us. There were 2 poems that I felt were especially meaningful. I'll write about the other one in the next post. The poem I am going to be talking about today is Cloony The Clown by Shel Silverstein. Here's a link to the poem if you hadn't read it. http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/shel_silverstein/poems/14822

I found this poem very interesting because it talked about some of the harsh realities of life. The irony of this poem is that, when the clown tried very hard to make people laugh by cracking jokes and doing tricks, nobody laughed because they thought he wasn't funny enough. However, when he tried to convince people how sad it is to be an unfunny clown, everyone laughed at the clowns sadness.

This kind of reflects some of the harsh realities in life. In life, sometimes we try our best, and put our 100% effort into doing something, but somehow, we fail miserably, just like how Cloony the Clown tried his best to make people laugh, but everyone frowned despite of his hardwork.

However, at other times, we do nothing to achieve our goals and targets, but by some obscure stroke of luck, we succeed, just like how Cloony made everyone laugh without any intention to do that.

Thats all for now :)

First Post - Targets for 2011

Hi people ! So this is going to be my Language Arts Blog for now. If you don't know who I am, just look at the profile section on the right side of the blog.

A few days ago, our Language Arts teacher told us to set our targets and goals for LA in 2011. She asked a series of questions on what happened last yeaer, and we were told to answer them. These are the questions and how I answered them.

1. What went well last year?
2. What went wrong?
3. What is my target MSG for 2011?
4. How do I intend to achieve this?

1. Last year, I got an A1 for the EOY English Paper 1. However, I got a C5 for the paper 2.

2. Sometimes, I did not pay attention in class and sometimes did not finish the homework given by the teacher. Soon, my results dropped as I could not keep track of what was happening in class.

3. My target MSG is 1.5 and below. I am not aiming for CSE though.

4. I will force myself to pay attention during classes, and will always strive to hand in work on time. I will also put in more effort in my studies and will make time for revision and self study. I will also cut down on the elements that distract me from homework like Facebook by using the computer only after I do finish my homework. Lastly, through this, I will strive to improve my MSG to 1.5, because I know that Sec 2 is a really important year, and I must do well this year.

Yup, I think thats about it. Adios for now :)