Relaxing

Teen Crime Getting Out of Hand in Britain

2007-08-30T19:37:00.000+08:00

It was reported in The Straits Times, 23 August 07, in Liverpool, Britain, an 11 year old boy was gunned down by a youth riding a BMX bike. Earlier this month, a 47 year old man died from head injuries after confronting a gang of teenagers. Three days after that, Mr Evren Anil died after challenging a group of youths and an elderly man who tried to help had a knife put to his throat. All these incidents happened in Britain. With the rate of teen crime getting out of hand, it seems that the youths have placed no value on human life. Teen crime is also prevalent in Singapore. Although teen crimes in Singapore do not involve guns, they are still on the rise and if nothing is done to stop it, it will just keep getting worse. A simple action such as stealing something from underneath a classmate's desk can lead to students trying to break into other people's lockers to steal valuables. Some people may deem these as trivial crimes. However, if these youths are not corrected early, they may grow confident and move on to crimes on an even larger scale. Perhaps hacking into a computer system to steal money. According to experts who were interviewed by The Straits Times, the problem of teen crimes has been building for the past 20 years. For the past 20 years, nothing or little was done to stop teen crimes. This allowed the teenagers to feel like nothing could stop them and the crimes they commited just kept getting worse and worse. Likewise, in Singapore, to prevent teen crimes from getting worse, something must be done to curb this problem. Teen crimes have also got to do with the values the parents instill in the child. If parents do not take their responsibilities seriously, the child may not respect them. There will then be a lack of discipline and respect from the child. Values such as respect should be nurtured at home otherwise, youths will carry this disrespect past the thresholds of their doorsteps. Of course, to be able to discharge their responsibilities, parents must establish a healthy parent-child relationship with their children. They must be willing to invest their time in their children and start when they are young. This way they will know what makes their children tick. A survey by the University of Leicester revealed that two thirds of school teachers had faced verbal or physical abuse, from both students and parents. I will end off with a quote from The Straits Times by Mr Brennan. "We can't persecute these teens, but we need to know what makes them tick and time is running out.".

Fourth University Coming Up

2007-08-30T17:05:00.000+08:00

During the recently concluded National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong suggested that Singapore would have a fourth public-funded university, and it may not only stop at four. This university will have its own unique strengths and character. PM Lee pointed out that the three existing public universities were already large enough and should not be expanded any further. Although universities have increased the number of places, people are still fretting over admissions as there are also more applicants, as seen in the recent intake. The rising demand for tertiary education and the fact that more polytechnic graduates want to pursue degrees show the necessity for the new university. Statistics show that already 15% of polytechinic graduates move on to the National University of Singapore and many more go overseas. The government's response to the present and projected needs will prevent an outflow of local talents because most of these overseas students choose not to return to Singapore to work. Today, 23% of each batch of primary 1 students make it into either one of the three universities. By 2015, the government aims to increase the proportion to 30%, some 2400 more places each year. Again, this shows the necessity for the new university as we cannot keep expanding the existing ones. In his speech, PM Lee also stated that the aim of the government is to provide every child with a top-rate education. Lessons have also become more interesting after the implementation of "Teach Less, Learn More". Being a student myself, I too hope for the best education I can recieve so that I will be able to build a better future for myself. The "Teach Less, Learn More" scheme encourages students to explore furthur on their own and to expand their creativty and understanding, and I am experiencing it now. It also allows Principles and teachers to experiment new areas and methods. Personally I feel that this helps to broaden a student's mindset, it allows him to think outside of the box. Instead of just applying what he learns from textbooks, he is now unlimited in breadth and depth. This will teach students to be independent learners and to continue the learning process beyond their school years. Now schools are planning to implement IT learning, or using the notebook to teach lessons. I feel that this scheme will help to boost the interest of the students. It also has a wider range of information thus making learning a easier process.

Shots that were heard around the world

2007-05-15T22:16:00.000+08:00

I am sure you have heard about the Campus shooting at Virginia Tech University in the US and the lost of 32 innocent lives. It was senseless and cold-blooded. Senseless, because these people have done nothing to deserve this abrupt end to their lives. Cold-blooded, because these people were at a familiar place, doing the familiar thing with the familiar people -- they were at school. Supposedly a safe place, anyone would say. However, it was not so, at least not in the US. What are your views on this issue? In this post I will share my views on this horrifying incident. To begin with, how was it possible that it was so easy for a guy to walk into a gun store and in a very short time purchase all that was needed with few questions asked? This is the big question that boggles the mind of many Singaporeans. The Straits Times article revealed some appalling statistics: that for every 3 Americans at least 2 own a gun! When the store owner who sold the guns to Cho was interviewed, he simply said that Cho passed all the checks, without a trace of remorse. He even suggested that if other students were to have had guns on campus, they would have been able to defend themselves! The right to bear arms in the US is worrying many parents from different parts of the world. This will not bear well with the US education business. Some parents are going rethink and reconsider their choice of overseas education. This is not the first campus shooting. If the US government had reverted the right to own guns after the last campus shooting, these 32 lives would have been saved. Is the US government going to do anything? Judging from history, probably not. What lessons can we learn from this incident that has happened so far away from us? First, we can be thankful for the wisdom of our government. No one has the right to own arms. Law and order is maintained and we live in a safe environment. While we enjoy this safety, it is also our responsibility to ensure that this safe and secure environment is continued for our future generations. Second, and more importantly, is the need to accept the foreigners in our midst. There are many students in our midst who have come from various parts of the world. It will do Singaporeans good to accept them and help them to integrate with the new environment. Not that the loners are going to shoot anyone, like the lonely Cho, but we will benefit if they feel accepted and welcomed here. Many of these students are very capable and intelligent, like the ones in my school. If they choose to stay on in Singapore and continue to work here and contribute to our economy, we will all enjoy the benefits of a growing economy. Besides, some of them may even help us establish business connections with their home country. Like it or not, we are interconnected and interdependent on each other.

It's not just about pay, it's about securing bright future

2007-05-15T21:41:00.000+08:00

The issue on the ministerial pay can be considered "The talk of the town". Everyone has heard about it, students, parents, teachers etc. However, everyone has different opinions on this issue and I am here to share mine. In his speech published in the Straits Times, PM Lee stated that there are four questions we need to ask ourselves : What kind of government do we want? What kind of people do we need to run such a government? How can we sustain this system for the long term? How should we pay those people serving in government as ministers or as civil servants? I agree that what we pay ministers will directly impact the kind of government and system. However, I want to put forward another aspect on this topic. Singapore is a democratic country, this means that the government is elected by the people. In a democratic system, the people have the most power. In this case of the ministerial pay rise, I believe that the decision should be made by the people and not within the cabinet itself. However, the problem comes when the people all have different persepectives of this issue. Some think that a raise will not do the government good as it will make people unhappy and they might lose in the next election. Others say that the raise is good to the country as people with higher capabilities may be attracted to serve the government, thus giving us a more efficient government. With so many differing opinions, I think the best way to resolve this issue is tbrough a referendum. However, if we put ourselves in the ministers' shoes, it will seem reasonable to have a pay rise. A minister's job is demanding and stressful, not to mention the sacrifice of privacy, sometimes affecting even their families. But if they chose to serve the country, how can they compare serving the country with other jobs? I think as ministers, they must have a sense of duty and responsibility to build this nation. They must have the desire to serve and to give back to society, a conviction that Singapore is worth fighting for, and finally the confidence that if they join the government, they can do something worthwhile. However naive or altruistic this thinking may be, this is what marked the difference between a minister and a CEO of a MNC. With this in mind, a person should be paid according to the demands of the job, but then again with the true sense of duty and responsibility, they would not ask for a pay rise! Let's use an analogy, if a hardworking employee works day and night, overtime etc. He does not ask for a pay rise, instead it is his boss that will see his performance and give him a pay rise. In the same way, I think the group of people who should decide whether there should be a pay rise should be the citizens of the country. Therefore, to me the most important issue here is not really about the pay rise but is who initiated the idea of a pay rise and by how much should it be raised. Since this issue interests almost everyone, from the neighbourhood coffee shops to the offices in Shenton Way, it seems the most sensible thing to do is to have an independent council to propose and the people decide through a referendum.

Youth gambling: Nipping it in the bud

2007-02-27T21:44:00.000+08:00

Studies show that youth-gambling is a problem that needs to be tackled early. Nearly half of the Singaporean gamblers started between age 18-24. The one problem faced is getting the "don't start" message across in a way that does not turn the youths off. A way to solve this problem is to come up with interactive ways to engage the youth, such as open forum to discuss why teenagers start gambling at a young age. Did the young ones gamble because they enjoy taking risks? If so, perhaps youth organisations can organise games that instill the same level of thrill but without money involved. But why do teenagers start gambling at a young age? In my view, it has to do with the technology advancement. Now with online gambling teenagers have easy access to gambling. There is no need to leave the house, find gambling partners, or worst still, their parents may not even know. The most common type of gambling is soccer-betting. The legal age limit for soccer-betting is 18 years old. Some of the people I know start soccer-betting at a mere age of 19. These people are soccer fanatics, they start by watching a lot of soccer and when this becomes boring, they try to add a little fun into it by betting on the score. Usually they would start small by betting $10. When they win, they gain more confidence and have a craving to win more money, as such they slowly increase the sum of money they bet. This is how most gambling cases start. Even pre-teens are demonstrating risk behaviours such as saying things like 'I bet with you' so often. In my opinion, this issue is a very urgent one and needs to be resolved quickly. With the Integrated Resorts in the pipeline gambling will be made easily accessible to more. I am against the idea of the casinos being built but it does bring some benefits to Singapore's economy. Gambling does not only affect the gambler but his family as well. If the gambler loses his earnings in gambling, he may borrow money to make ends meet. When he is unable to pay back his loan, creditors will come after him and his family. Another mistake many families made is to encourage a casual game of mahjong or Black Jack card game during the Chinese New Year period when families gather together. Teenagers may misconstrue this as 'healthy' family activities. I personally feel that gambling is something that will cause a person and his or her family to suffer and it should be discouraged at all ages and at all costs. Teenagers should learn to channel their time and interests at healthier activities.

Confessions of An Ex-Gaming Junkie.

2007-02-16T15:13:00.000+08:00

Benjamin Toh, a student from a top boys' school was doing very well until he became addicted to computer games. This is very prevalent in our society today. Computer gaming companies are constantly trying to come up with new games to entertain our youth. Such an example is a Massive Multi-player Online Role-playing Game(MMORPG) called Maple Story. Fantasy games such as these are causing more and more teenagers to become addicted to the computer and as such causing their studies to deteriorate. The reason for teenagers to become addicted to these games is that it takes them away to another dimension of their own where they are free from stress and homework. It is a world where there is no stress, no parents and no work. It provides an outlet to help the students relief stress. However, why does this outlet keep students away from studies? The problem lies in the unwillingness to return to the real world. Teenagers like it when they are free to do anything they like without the restraining order of parents or teachers. Even those whose parents grounded from computer games will still not be able to study as their minds will be on the game itself and not on the task at hand. As such these MMORPGs capture youths and locked their minds in another dimension. In my opinion, addiction to computer games has also partially got to do with the parents and the people around the child. If the teenager experiences too much stress or pressure, they will turn to computer games as it is an outlet to relief stress. I myself play computer games and I am not afraid to admit, I too get addicted sometimes. I can play for around five hours straight without even realising it. This brings me to my next point, time management. Another result of this addiction is poor time management. On a normal school day, studies take up around 13 hours of their day leaving them very little time to play computer games. This causes the students to play through the night even though they have school the next day. When they are in school, they will be too tired to consentrate and as such their studies will go down the drain. Computer games by itself is not a bad thing as i have mentioned, it is an outlet to relief stress. However, it becomes a bad thing once a person gets hooked on to it, it affects their studies and their social life. The student would not want to go out with their friends just so he can stay home to play computer games. After awhile, his friends will stop inviting him and he will lose his friends slowly. As a remedy to this addiction, parents should constantly monitor their child's time management. The student must also be mature enough to know when it is time to return to the real world and if they are not mature enough they should not even start playing.

Picture taken from: http://www.supercoldsoba.blogspot.com/

Introduction

2007-02-06T22:58:00.000+08:00

Hi fellow viewers. This is just a testing post and also a brief introduction about my blog. As you can tell by the way I am typing, this is a formal blog, so please no vulgarities or improper languange in the tag box. This blog is for my English Language online reading portfolio. The next few posts will be about my personal responses to current affairs. Therefore if you see anything that you think is not suitable to be posted, please inform me personally or through tagging my blog.Thank you.