Narrative Decisions

Today is the day of the PSLE Math exam paper. The class was not as lively as usual in the morning, as majority of our class were busy studying for the paper. Normally, the class’s bullies, Tom and Dick, would go around pulling the girls’ hair, and paper airplanes would be flying across the classroom, with brooms and dusters as well. But today was different, PSLE, even the name of the exam sounds grand.

The clock shows 8am sharp, and the invigilator walked in with a stack of paper – our doom. 5 minutes later, the pens started scribbling. I was panicking over the difficult questions, and at that point of time, I saw Peter cheating.

Peter was cheating!! I could not believe that our class’s top scorer was cheating! I rubbed my eyes, hoping that I had misunderstood Peter, but to no avail. He was having glances on Jerry’s paper. I was appalled by his action.

Now, I need to have a decision. Do I have to report him to the teacher or keep it a secret?? It was a decision I had to make, and in the end, I made the decision to report Peter to the teacher. He was awarded demerit points, and given a “0” for his math exam paper. Though I had lost a friendship, I knew I had made the right decision, to prevent my friend from making the same mistakes in the future.

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.

Newsweek Reflection

The article that I’m going to talk about is “The one word that can save your life”. The article had mainly talks about the risks of certain surgery, such as knee surgery and cardiac CT angiography. It brought out some of the harmful effects of these surgeries as well, such as side effects and more exposure to high levels of radiation. Its main purpose is to tell audience to consider the harmful effects and potential risks of the surgeries before they took them, as some surgeries took more harm than good.

After reading the article, I was appalled by how some research had proven the vast amount of harmful effects of surgeries, yet no result was shown. For example, in a recent study, 1000 low-risk patients who had CT angiography had no fewer heart attacks or deaths over the next 18 months than 1000 patients who did not undergo the screening. Nonetheless, they took drugs and tests, all of which carry a risk of side effects, surgical complications. Therefore, I was really stumbled as I had thought that surgeries were meant to improve a patient’s condition. However, after reading the article, my perspective of the surgeries nowadays had changed. I had learnt to look at the surgeries at an objective point of view, to look at both the benefits and harmful effects.

There is also another example, whereby a 52 year old woman undergoes cardiac CT, but not only did the condition not improved, one of her artery was tore too. I was really shocked at how some surgeries could have proven nothing worthwhile, yet so complicated. This article had really served everyone a warning, to really consider the risk of a surgery before taking it.

Online Lesson 12

Step 2: The common theme present among the scrolls inside each of the caskets is the greed in the person who chose it. For the golden casket, the scroll in it explains that the person who chose it was greedy for money as many men had sold their souls just to get the gold. This is similar to Prince Morocco, as he prefers money and wealth of Portia rather than Portia herself. For the silver casket, it explains that the person who chose it had a little greed of money, as the men who chose it was fools that could only get shadows of joy. This is similar to Prince Arragon as he thought he had made the wisdom choice by picking the silver casket, and get what he deserves. However, he flavours money and rewards than Portia. Lastly, the lead casket’s scroll explains that the person who chose it does not greed for money. This is similar to Bassanio, as he truly loved Portia, and not her wealth or money. Thus, he was not greedy for money and picked the right choice.

Step 3: My parents had divorced. Upon hearing the news, I was devastated. I thought they were a loving couple, but now, it’s all too late. Being the only child of the family, my parents had been arguing and even sued each other on court over the custody of me. The judge had made the decision: It all lies up to the child. I was stumbled. Who should I go with? Should I go with my father to the America, or my mother that stays in Singapore? I had been pondering this decision all this while when my friend suggested me to use logic.

“How am I going to use logic to this complicated question?” I asked. My friend replied calmly,” You need to ask yourself, out of your mother and your father, who would you choose that you think will treat you better? You wouldn’t want to live with one that makes your life hell, that’s common sense. Secondly, out of the 2, who do you think is capable of giving you a better life? Do you feel comfortable with him? What about the surroundings? Do you want to migrate to America, or stay in Singapore with your friends?”

I was appalled by how my friend had broken down my chain of thoughts. I pondered over the questions that my friend brought up. Originally, I had wanted to live with my father. He had the capability to treat me well, or even better, as he was rich. I had also wanted to taste a different culture, and living in a different country, America. But after considering, I had decided to live with my mother instead. My mother was more caring and showered me with lots of love, and that’s the warmth that I have been seeking for. My father had just bought my favourite stuff, but no love was shown. I also could not bear to leave my friends here in Singapore, and I must admit the education system in Singapore was good too. At last, I went to my mother side. God bless me, all will be well.