Recount blog prompt

Decisions are hard to make. Why are they? I didn't understand. I didn't know. Should I? But why should I? Why was it a sacrifice that was worthy? Why? I pondered. I took a few seconds to filter it through my mind. "Here, quick." I whispered as softly as the purr of a cat. I knew I would regret this decision...

It all started out in the morning. My close friend Ian had come up with a outrageous request. I was his close friend, and the class knew the "power" he had. We all wanted to get into good books with him. He had a particular charisma of which could get people to follow him. I have had enough examples of class discrimination by him. Nonetheless, I treated him as a good friend, because I believed that he was a nice guy. Silly I was. He came to me discreetly that morning. He asked me for help. Thinking that it was just asking me a Chinese question regarding the class test later, I accepted immediately. But it wasn't what I thought it was. He asked me to allow him to copy my answer during the test. I was stunned. He may be my good friend, but should I? I told him that I needed the toilet. Then ran out.

 I was split between the 2 decisions. To help or not? If I didn't, he would have spread rumors of how "nice" I was to turn him down. But if I did, I would have been acting against rules, and even my own guiding principles of black and white. I splashed some water on my face, looked myself into the mirror. I had a decision to make. A hard one in fact. I told myself that I should not do so, but then the thought of getting discriminated and ostracized scared me. I went back, still thinking, but when I talked to him, for some reason, I said, “Ok”.

As the paper was given and we started attempting the questions, I found the paper a piece of cake, quickly finishing half of it by the first 30 minutes. I took a quick glance at Ian, struggling he was. Just moments later, he started knocking his pen on the table, out of irritation, I turned to him and stared, only to see him pointing to page that was totally blank, asking me for the answers. I thought, and stunned, for a few seconds, and passed him the paper, “Here. Quick,” I whispered. I used my question paper as a cover, to think that the invigilator would not realize. Yes he didn’t, but it was the head of department that was making her rounds that did. “Hey! The two of you!” Her alarming voice broke the fragile silence of the class, heads turned to the back door to look at her, with the exception of 2.

I was filled with guilt, this sacrifice for him was not worthy in any sense. I stood with my heads facing the ground, thinking and regretting my actions. And here went my test results, and my reputation. I didn’t know how am I going to face my parents when they get informed. Why did I only think of pleasing him, and making him happy, resulting in myself making such a grave mistake and sacrifice? It was not worthy. At all. 


P.S. This incident is NOT true.

Schools should focus and put more emphasis on character developmentthan on academic excellence. Do you agree or disagree?

I agree that schools should focus and put more emphasis on character development than on academic excellence. Students spent most of the time they are awake in school than at home when receiving secondary education or higher, which make the school an vital factor when it comes to the character development on students, especially during secondary school when students are under-going puberty. Teachers also have more experience handling students then parents who are generally amateur when it comes to talking to their children. Lastly, academic excellence can be independently achieved, but characther development requires guidance from experienced guardians, which is achievable from experienced teachers in schools.


An average secondary student would spend half his day in schools for lessons, and staying back for afternoon lessons or co-curriculum activities are not of any rarity when receiving secondary education or higher. People name schools as a 'second home', and in some cases, students spent more time in school then at home, awake. Being in school more often, students would mix around with their friends more, of which may include negative influences. Thus character development when the child is at school is important and focusing on it is no lesser of an importance.


Having interacted with different students, teachers would have the upper hand when it comes to coaching, compared to an ordinary parent. Especially if the child is their first one. Teachers would naturally come across various cases of which students face emotional problems, or when their students get rebellious and do things that are against the school rules. Teachers would then have to interfere with such matters and have the equal responsibility to help their students get back onto the right track, and not be suspended on the rusty and broken track that they have been riding on. As such, teachers would have more experience in guiding their students. Parents on the other hand, have lesser experience, as being a parent has never been experienced by them in the first place. thus parenting and even talking to their children may be a chore to them.


Academic excellence can be achieved independently at home after lessons in schools, but when a student is alone, character development cannot be achieved without guidance. A student can study by himself, but certainly, when an action is made, he/her would not have thought as much, as they have relatively immature minds, thus making it hard for them to guide themselves proper. In response to this, school time can be used to help out different students through character development. Character development does not have to be specifically moral education. It is proven that learning the different forms of arts can help with the students' character.


In conclusion, I agree that schools should focus and put more emphasis on character development than on academic excellence since they spent much time in school and that the teachers there are more experienced compared to parents who do not have experience at all. Adding on, academic excellence may be achieved by the child alone but this is certainly not the case for character development.

The Ideal School

The ideal school should be one that is fun for both students and teachers, and at the same time, allow to studets to learn. The teachers could be a little more interactive and friendly, allowing the students to treat them as their friends. Lessons would be fun and interactive, instead of boring lessons of which the teachers talk and the students listen, neither is it boring lessons where the interaction between students and teachers are dry. Fun and interactive lessons would be something as simple as jokes made by the teachers. Jokes don't have to be plain jokes, but it can be a little cheeky of a acceptable level. There should also be a comfortable learning environment for the students, allowing them to feel comfortable and looking forward to going to school.


Teachers can be friendly and allow students to joke with them more, reducing the 'stiff' relationship. Having this would allow the students to clarify work with the teachers more, since there is a much smaller margin between the 2. This is bring about better results, or at least a better improvement in results from the students. Adding on, while teachers be more friendly to teachers, they themselves find it much easier to not have put up a strict face in front of students. Instead, they can be much more friendly with their students, this making it a comfortable working environment for the teachers as well.


Lessons can be edited in a way that the students enjoy them. Getting away from the usual boring lessons, there could be more laughter in each lessons to bring up the atmosphere. This would also serve to wake the sleepy students up. Jokes could be cracked by teachers and also interactive games such as charets can be played during lessons. Through such innovative ways, students can learn with more interest and laughter during lessons, they would not feel sleepy since lessons are much livelier, thus allowing more to be learned during lessons.


A comfortable learning environment would be vital for the students. The school is what we call our 2nd home. Students spend most of their time in school. Having a comfortable learning environment is certainly necessary. Instead of only the basic tables and chair, the school can have decorations around the classroom, making the place look more attractive. Tables can be covered with a plastic cover, and students may draw and decorate the plastic cover to their own liking. The canteen could also be decorated. The walls can be coated with bright colors such as yellow or orange, such colors make the whole canteen look fresh and thus perking up the canteen.


In a nutshell, in order for a school to be fun for both students and teachers, the teacher-student relationship should not be as strict, but instead friendly. Lessons should also be fun and interactive where students use more enjoyable ways to learn. A comfortable learning environment should also be included in order to allow students to perform at their peak.

Online Lesson 11

Good afternoon Mr Lundberg and listeners. The theme of my speech today is prejudice against foreign labour workers in Singapore. They help us with the labor work, of which many singaporeans are unwilling to do. However, is it really fair treatment for these workers by the locals? Just a few years back when the government had launched plans of building a dormitory in the neighbourhood estate of Serangoon, objections were raised immediately. Reasons such as these workers would loiter around at night, littering and making unnecessary loud noises were given. It was even mentioned in a dialogue talk that the residents feared a increasing crime rate in the estate, and that their maids would hook up with these workers. 4000 residents that were livin in the immediate vicinity of the selected area immediately signed a petition to oppose this idea as well. These claims made by the residents may have been seen as mere assumptions, but it has been observed that in Jalan Kayu, a residential area of these workers of which there are 2 dorms housing around 6000 foreign workers, that these workers loiter around late at night, litter, and behave rowdily as well. In another context, foreign workers may be referred to foreign talents, who are employed to work in the knowledge-based industry of Singapore. This would include teachers, company advisors and etc. A common Mistaken view point is that these people snatch jobs from the locals, which sounds extremely nasty... But is this the actual case? NO!! instead, they contribute to the various trades. Teachers would mould out better students with their expertise in the different subjects, and talents who work in private sectors of companies would help the country's economy to blossom. So, is the prejudice against these foreigners really so justifiable? Not at all. One can't expect that were practiced for a lifetime to be changed over time. It's the same theory that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. So we gotta learn to accept the habits of the foreign workers. Furthermore, these workers have no entertainment in their domitories. Thus, loitering around is the only kind of leisure to them. At the same time, people should not view foreign talents as competition, but as encouragements for them to upgrade themselves, in order to strive for a better job. Thus i conclude that prejudice against foreign workers are not justifiable and shouldnt exist.

Online Lesson 10

She had enough of this. She wanted to stop all of these right away. But it was really out of her control. She knew that it was partially her fault, being too concerned about her own career, and not giving her child enough attention. Especially when he was a 15-year-old. In the stage of puberty, having his tantrums. She knew that what he need was a little more concern from her, a little more attention from her.

It was tough for her internally, it was the peak of her career. But the peak of her son's emotional instability as well. Career vs. Family. It was impossible to balance between the 2. She was no superwoman. Lying on her bed, she was frustrated about this matter. To her, if she had given up her career, it would be a wasted 15years in the trade. Nonetheless, if she did not do so, it means that she would not be able to help her son. Would she want her son to turn into a gangster? Learn the wrong ways? Get onto the wrong track? Finally leading the wrong life?

She lied on her bed, closed her eyes. Thoughts flew threw her mind. As she went drifting into her dreamland, she have gotten her decision made. The next morning, an email was sent. She got onto her car, dressed casually, with her son in it. She knew she made to right choice.

In-class online lesson #9

R&R:
1) He is describing cannons that are mounted onto war ships.

2) "Jackies" refer to the soldiers that are going for the coming war, and the "war chanties" refer to them winning the war, thus cheering about their victory.

3) The shovel are used to scoop out the soil, which refers to scooping out soil and making space for the dead bodies of the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the war. The word "gun" implies the equipment of the soldiers, thus having been a soldier and held a gun, means there was a chance that the soldier would come into contact with the "brother" of it, the shovel, which signifies death. And implying that death and war are related in a way or another, thus the whole sentence, is stating that soldiers would have to sacrifice their lives during war.

4) It is to signify that after a war, when the victorious party gets hold of a city they have defeated, that they have authority over the citizens, and that the citizens do not dare to go against any command from the enemy soldiers. However, this is so as they no have other choice but to do so.

5) The effect of such contrasting actions between the 2 stanza is that, is to tell the reader that war is a cycle, and that things repeat themselves again and again. After something is knocked down, it has to be rebuilt once again. From the effect, I can safely assume that the persona'a attitude is that the citizens and soldiers have hope to gain back their freedom, since after they have lost their city, they will gain it back as war is a cycle.

6) I find that it is always much harder to built up a society once again, after it has been torn down. The society may not only refer to it's infrastructure, but the whole lot of it, including the citizen's psychological and physical pain. For example, when Singapore defeated by the Japanese during 1942, it only took a few days before the morale of the whole city dropped, and that they thought that they could not have survived the whole thing that easily. It lasted for 3 years, and during this 3 years, numerous innocent citizens of Singapore had died, causing psychological pain to their friends and relatives. After the British took back their ex-colony, it was tough building back from scratch. The hardest part of rebuilding the society, is still attempting to recover the citizens confidence in them. It was also living hell for them, when they thought back of the horrible scenes they have witnessed during the occupation itself. The mental harm they were going through from the loss of their loved ones were also incurable in such a short period of time. Building back infrastructure was not much of a problem, but for the society to get back, the people had recover from their mental shock first.

7) There is a progression from loud sounds to softer ones, this can be seen from "drum of hoofs", followed by "hum of motors" and lastly "silent wheels". I imagine the sound of future wars to be much more silent, as technology improves, there will be more advanced weapons being devised. And from then on, war will not be 1 to compete who have better soldiers, but to compete who have the latest equipment and arms. "Silent" makes  me infer that the future wars may be about silencing people, without attracting attention. Such examples may be Chemical Wars, ironically silent yet deadly, compared to military fights.

8) ?


War Poem:

Germany and the Japanese,
taking lives of many.
First it was the killing,
followed by horrendous bombings.

Jews and other countries,
lived in fear in time.
First it was the worrying,
followed my the memories.

America and Europe,
stopped this tragedy from continuing.
First the nuclear bomb,
followed by massive killing.

What was lost?
Oh, what was lost.
Lives of the innocent,
innocent of their deaths.

Self-obsession and Narcissism

Effects of the rise of narcism may be more polluted streets, or congested roads. The world may even become a more selfish place. This is caused by people only thinking bout themselves and not the rest of the society. Our streets in Singapore may ger dirtier, and the already congested roads in Singapore may get more jammed up during peak periods. For example, a Narcisst who thinks that convenience is a way of loving himself, and thus start throwing his/her litter all around the streeta, anywhere near by. As long as the litter is gotten rid of, it doesn't really matter. This is a kind if behavior carried out my Narcisst. If which they only care about themselves, and show no concern for the society.
Self-obsession, would make people more selfish, they would tend to concentrate on their well-being more then others. As such, these Narcisst would come up with selfish acts, for example, scamming or deceiving people for their own personal benefits. Which could turn this world into 1 that is cold and unhappy. As people tend to get cheated, they would start to become more wary of others, and the vicious cycle continues. 
In conclusion, narcism is a selfish behavior of which practices only concern the narcist himself, without giving thought on how the actions would affect the rest of the people.