Vietnam War

Blog prompt 11

Do you think that crisis brings out the best in man?

          Yes, I think crisis brings out the best in man. Take the recent Japanese earthquake for example. The Fukushima Daiichi plant was badly affected. There was a nuclear leak and high radiation levels which was harmful to man. Most residents and workers near the plant were evacuated for their safety. However, a team of fifty workers aged 50 to 70 stayed behind. They risked their own lives and personal health to attempt to cool the radiators and keep things under control.

          On the contrary, there are exceptional cases. The CEO of Tokyo Electric Power did not make a public appearance the week after the disaster. As the CEO, it is the culture in Japan to take full responsibility should anything go wrong. However, the CEO conveniently disappeared during the time of mayhem and disaster, leaving the management of the plant to the workers.

Blog prompt 10

Reflections on should students be granted the autonomy to develop their own curriculum


          Freedom is not always good. Students given the liberty to develop their own curriculum would not work out well due to the possible mistakes these students make when developing their curriculum. When a student develops a curriculum wrongly, his academic grades may be affected and his studies would be affected too. Therefore, students should not be granted the autonomy to develop their own curriculum.
          Mature thinking is something very important in decision making. If someone lacks maturity and makes a decision, the decision is highly likely to be an immature one and may be of limited benefit. Likewise, if a mature person makes a decision, his or her decision would be a mature one. Young students have a low level of maturity. Should they be allowed to develop their own curriculum, they may choose to study the wrong subjects and less important subjects. He or she may choose to slack and choose to spend more time on subjects which are more relaxed like art and craft and music instead of things like Math and Science. Later on, he or she may realize that the arts is no place for him, and that he has chosen the wrong subjects to major in. By then, choosing another subject to major in would be slightly too late, as  students majoring in that subject would know a lot more than he or she does about it, and there would be huge pressure put on the student, which is bad.
           Students being able to develop their own curriculum would not be beneficial to the nation. If every school allows students to develop their own curriculum, the students may like school better as they get to study what they want. However, the government may require more engineers at one point in time. If students then are more inclined towards the arts, then the government would face difficulties finding these engineers, and may have to resort to foreign labor to help "supplement" for the missing engineers.
           On the other hand, some may argue that more mature students or elite students should be given the freedom to develop their own curriculum to better enable them to pursue their dreams. This is true. The more mature students and elite students have supposedly higher mental capacity and are supposedly able to make better decisions. This may not apply to every mature or elite student. Therefore, I feel, the teachers should recommend few students to the school that are capable of making mature decisions beneficial to each individual, and grant them the liberty to develop their own curriculum.
           As a whole, I feel that only few students, preferably the more mature ones, be given the liberty to develop their own curriculum as the development of one's curriculum requires mature thinking and it would have a negative effect on the nation if every student is allowed to develop his or her own curriculum.

Blog prompt 9

                I feel that students should be given the autonomy to develop their own curriculum as being granted this autonomy is beneficial to a student’s growth. A curriculum is the regular or a particular course of study in a school. Students being able to develop their own curriculum would essentially mean the students get to decide what and when they study certain subjects and learn different skills. Now, how would being granted this autonomy be beneficial to a student’s growth?

                Firstly, it would help students become more independent. A student has to plan and develop his own curriculum to his advantage. For example, if he is weak in a particular subject like maybe Mathematics. He or she can arrange more periods or lessons for this particular subject, resulting in more time spent on that subject, hopefully leading to an increase in marks in Mathematics. Every individual is different, just like how every snowflake is different. Everyone has their own weaknesses. Therefore, there is no recommended timetable which would benefit everyone. Thus, a student has to decide for himself what he is lacking in and what he requires more practise in. As such, a student cannot depend on the school to form a curriculum for him, but he himself must put in the effort and develop his own curriculum, as a result encouraging independence.

                Other than this, it enables a student to pursue their own interests from a younger age. A student may be very interested in the arts. However, the curriculum that the school has may focus more on Math and Science, with less focus on the arts. The student thus cannot pursue his interest and have to sit for Math and Science lessons which may be unappealing and uninteresting to him. Being able to develop one’s own curriculum would enable one to choose to spend more time on certain subjects. A student inclined towards the arts would choose more artistic subjects like music to study. Allowing this from a younger age would mean a head start compared to others. A student with the goal of becoming a Scientist can choose to specialise in Science from a young age. Due to this, he would have more exposure to Science when he turns 20 compared to other people. This head start would clearly distinguish the two, one being more experienced compared to the other.

                Finally, being granted this autonomy would encourage self-discipline. A student would face the temptation of choosing more relaxed subjects like maybe Music and Art. These students would thus have a more slack school life compared to other students, which may appeal to some. However, a student must overcome this temptation in order to succeed academically. This requires self-discipline. Students thus must exercise self-discipline when developing their own curriculum. Through the development of their own curriculum, the students are likely to become more self-disciplined, which is beneficial to their adult life.

                On the other hand, some may argue that not every student is has as much self-discipline and not every student is matured enough to manage such a task. This is true. These students should then be deprived of this privilege, as granting them this privilege would have negative effects such as poor academic results which may in turn affect their future on way or another.

Blog prompt 8

What are the qualities you look for in a potential MP/ Minister?

       An MP and a minister are both required to lead the nation, but not everyone can lead. A leader must fulfil certain qualities. As for me, there are some qualities I look for in a potential MP or minister. They are integrity, determination, method of thinking, ability to communicate, trust, level of education, passion and age.

          An MP or minister must have integrity. He or she must not be corrupted or the entire government would be affected and this indirectly affects the nation as a whole. A minister, at some point in time, has to handle money or funds. This sum of money usually is quite a huge sum. He or she must overcome the temptation of misusing the funds for personal gain.

          If one were an MP, he or she must have determination. To help govern a country is no easy task. During crisis like the economic downturn, measures must be taken to help the country overcome the problem. However, each action a government takes would bring about its own side effects. For example, PAP is fielding a new candidate who is of the young age of 27. This was an effort to win the support of the younger generation. However, some people, especially the opposition party, have many doubts and concerns that the candidate is too young and incapable of carrying out her tasks well as she is inexperience.

          An MP’s way of thinking is very important. Thus, the ability to think logically and rationally during difficult times is crucial. Failure to think logically would result in illogical decisions being made, and as such, would eventually bring the country down. As Atticus in ‘To kill a mocking bird’ said, “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”. In order to understand the people, a minister has to see things from their point of view. Then only would he be able to come up with suggestions or make decisions which are beneficial to the population.

          A minister also must have good communication skills. He or she must be effectively bilingual and be able to communicate in some dialects. This is so that he can reach out to the greater majority of the population, including the elderly and those who may not be able to speak English. Also, good communication skills are required in order to better bring forth an idea in parliament.

          No country would want an illiterate MP or minister. Although an MP is not required to have a Masters or a PhD, he or she should at least be educated and obtain decent grades. A country must be led by people who are intellectually capable. Singapore has no natural resources. Its people are its resources. It is important for Singapore to be led by people who are intellectually capable because it is her people who will eventually bring the country to greater heights. Imagine a country led by people who are illiterates. What would happen to the country in the long run? Singapore needs people who are able to make sound decisions and this is only possible if a minister is educated to a certain extent.

          A minister has to be passionate in what he or she does. Passion helps to keep one focused on the task ahead and motivated even when the going gets tough. Having a passion in what he or she does helps one perform better in the job. Passion also helps one to look beyond the job scope. With passion, the job is sustained and more will benefit in the long run.

          Age is the final factor I will look at. A young MP would, hopefully, inject more life and vibrancy to the ward that he or she is in charge of.  In addition, a young MP would be more in touch with the mindset of the younger generation and moving trends. This would hopefully lead to more updated and innovative ideas being contributed. With a young MP at the helm, the younger generation, hopefully, would be lured into politics, thereby, bringing in new blood to the party, and at the same time, generate new ideas to help the nation to prosper.

Blog prompt 7

        There was a thunderous boom. Pieces of the roof were flung into the air. Following that was a series of gunshots, like applause. The blast shook the building, like the tremor of an earthquake. It was mighty scary. The grenade missed me by few meters. It hit the other end of the roof.  The roof screeched in pain. I looked up and saw what was left of the roof. It was similar to paper after a printer jam, crumpled up with an obvious dent in the centre. The deafening explosion nearly burst my eardrums. I looked to the side. There were limbs, a hand, an arm and a leg to be precise. Now, what used look like a magnificent powerful military was reduced to run down looking buildings with dented roofs and smoke emitted from them. The ground had a makeover, it was now red. Bodies piled up along streets. Occasionally, a limb or two can be found on the roads. Tanks were blazing, the grasses were withering and dirt rained from the sky. There was no one in sight. Silence returned for a brief period. The sky darkened and a cold breeze blew by.

Blog Prompt 6

Tell us whether or not you tend to pay attention to events in other parts of the world and why?

Why should we care about what happens in places far away from where we live in general?

                    Yes I tend to. Event happening in other parts of the world may affect us directly or indirectly. It can affect us in many ways – financially, economically, health and safety. We can also learn from these events such as what we should do when we encounter a similar situation. With this past knowledge, we can draw from it and come up with an even more efficient and effective solution than what the victims in the past have done. Take for example the recent earthquake in Japan. This natural disaster registered 8.9 on the Richter scale. From it, we can learn how to rebuild whatever has been destroyed and how to build better infrastructure to withstand natural disasters on a similar scale. In addition, I learnt that San Francisco is likely to be hit by an earthquake. Thus we know that San Francisco may not be a safe place to be in in the near future. From the Japan earthquake, the San Francisco authorities can start making preparations to brace itself for the predicted natural disaster that it cannot avoid. When this happens, we can then minimise the death toll. Knowing about these events helps us to make informed decisions. While others are fleeing Japan, we wouldn’t want to be visiting it due to the possible radiation emitted from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. We would also not want to visit the neighbouring countries if we can avoid it. Since we are aware of the natural disaster that has ravaged Japan, we can do our part and donate money as well as other essentials to assist our Japanese counterparts.  We would also exercise more caution when it comes to consuming food imported from Japan.