Personal Response - "The Road Not Taken"

On first look at the poem’s title and its first stanza, I am actually presuming that the poem is talking about the different choices and roads a person can choose to take in his life. He will make his own choice and decide for his own future whether which path of road he wants to take. After reading the poem, it is stated that the writer takes the path that is less traveled by. This could mean that he chose to take up a job in his life that few choose to take it. For example, in this case, he chose to be a poet. As we all know, few of us actually dreamed to become a poet. The writer, Robert Frost, is actually very brave, as he is different from the rest in terms of the path he takes. As stated in the poem, sometimes he doubted if he should go back, to give up being a poet and chose another job, but he didn’t. And as the last line suggest, it has made all the difference, making his life meaningful and enriching, and hence he had become one of the most famous poet in the world.

Recount - Sacrifice to make someone happy

Write about a time when in wanting to make someone happy, you were forced to make a sacrifice.

I made a sacrifice not too long ago, when Tom and Glenn was best friends. Apparently, Tom had gone overseas for his family gathering in the December holidays, and he promised to bring back gifts for each and every one of us when school reopens. Glenn was especially anticipating, wondering what gifts would Tom had bought for him. However, the end result was disappointing. Tom had bought for every single one of us, but had forgotten about Glenn’s gift. Everyone received their gifts while grinning from ear to ear, but only Glenn was the one waiting with an expressionless expression.

Tom explained to Glenn honestly, and apologized for his folly. However, it was obvious that Glenn appeared gloomier than usual. He was devastated by the fact that he did not receive a gift, but even more devastated by the fact that he, as a best friend, is the only one missed out by Tom.

Seeing Glenn and Tom’s relationship souring, I felt bad for them. I looked at my own keychain specially bought from Australia, and I headed towards Glenn. “Here you go, Tom fooled you, this is your gift,” I said. Glenn looked at the keychain, and his smile slowly started widening.

“I just knew it! Tom could have forgotten everyone but definitely not me!” Glenn exclaimed, grabbing the keychain and wiping it clean with a tissue while smiling. I smiled too, knowing that their conflict was resolved. I had made a sacrifice, definitely, giving up a keychain bought from America just like that. However, a keychain for a relationship is worth it, in my own words. Though I made a sacrifice, it really makes Glenn happy.

Should character development place more emphasis than academic excellence?

I agree that school should place more emphasis on character development than academic excellence. This is because a student will not achieve anything if he has the academic excellence but not character development. One’s character development will also define how he treats things in life. However, academic excellence is more important in some points of time too.

A student will not be able to gain the trust of others or even be able to succeed in life if he does not have character development. Though the student might have academic excellence, such as all straight As in the A Levels and O levels, diploma and master degree in a certain courses, he might misuse his intelligence if he does not have the right moral values to guide him in his actions. For example, nowadays, there are many incidents whereby intelligent people commit crimes such as corruption, outrage of modesty or even blackmailing. These people are smart, as they used their intelligence to come up with all these methods to make their life better or for their own desires. An example is Osama Bin Laden. He is intelligent, as he is the leader of the terrorists in the world and thinks of all sorts of ways to harm others. However, he misused his intelligence. Thus, character development should be more emphasized to make sure that he uses his intelligence wisely.

A student’s character determines how he treats and sees things in life. Therefore, academic excellence is limited in one’s future, as it could only assist him in applying for jobs etc. But a character development actually determines how he treats his colleagues, his family and friends. Though a person might be smart, he will have no friends if he is arrogant and thinks everyone is inferior to him. Though a person might be smart, he might have little moral values and not be filial towards his parents. Therefore, a person may have the intelligence, but without proper education of the importance of character development, one may in the end lost trust and neglect every one surrounding him, and eventually lost all his support an accompany, which may lead to his failure instead.

However, at times, academic excellence should as emphasized as character development. This is especially a person’s future is into concern. Though a person may have character development to ensure he succeeds in life through honest ways and to treat the people surrounding him with care, he should also have some qualifications to allow him to succeed in life easier too. Thus, students should put equal emphasis in academic excellence when their future is in concern, such as applying for a job.

All in all, character development should be place more emphasis so as to ensure one earn his living through honest means and to have moral values and know how to treat others politely. However, when one’s future is at stake, academic excellence should place equal emphasis to ensure the student’s qualifications for easier applying for jobs.

My Ideal School

My ideal school is a school that is able to provide me with a holistic education that not only makes me excel in terms of academic, but also put an important emphasis on the student’s future. The school has to provide a variety of facilities. I would also like to have teachers that have a sense of humor. Last but not least, I would like the school to not focus so much on academic results, but also put equal emphasis on the co-curriculum activities, or even programs that allow student to pursue their interest in, or even start planning for their future ahead.

I would like the school to provide a variety of facilities, such as swimming pool, gym, badminton court, basketball court, tennis court, café etc. This is because the various facilities would allow the students to relieve their stress after one whole day of schoolwork. We could enjoy ourselves and even keep ourselves fit by playing those sports games as well as other facilities, thus it’s as good as killing two birds with one stone. With these varieties of facilities, students would be more holistically developed as well, in terms of physical fitness and even social life when we play with our friends. Thus, the different facilities would bring about more fun, social interacting, as well as holistic development of the student.

It is also necessary to have humorous teachers in my ideal school, as I believed that students get bored and tired easily when they are given stacks and stacks of notes and homework. Thus, the teachers could liven up the mood of the class, whether in their little gestures or actions, or even crack a few jokes to lighten the atmosphere. Under such enjoyable environment, I believe students could absorb more and be able to pay more attention. As such, humorous teachers is vital as they can help to bring in the fun element into class, where students can learn more and be more energetic under such atmosphere.

Last but not least, my ideal school has to have equal emphasis on activities other than academic, such as co-curriculum activities or even programs that help students to pursue their interest and start planning for their future. This is because though academic is important to ensure students’ certificate for future applications etc, it is equally important to let the students to begin with the end in mind, as they have to start planning for future since young. To allow students to pursue their desired interest or career in the future, various programs could be set-up for the students to join. For example, there could be an art programe for students that wanted to be an artist, there could be biology class and science Olympiad for students that wanted to be a scientist, or even a dancing class for students that wanted to become a dancer and singer. Though most schools and parents wanted their children to become doctors and lawyers that earn big bucks, I think it is really important to respect the child’s decision and his own interest, as he could only strive and excel if he truly enjoys what he wants to be. Thus, different co-curriculum activities and programs are very important to let students plan ahead and start young.

In conclusion, my ideal school needs to have humorous teachers that could aid us in terms of academic, many facilities that could aid us in terms of physical fitness and social life, and programs that allow students to think ahead for their future. When all the different aspects merge, they therefore provide a true holistic education, forming my ideal school.