Hello guys,

Sorry for not being so active… Anyways, I have had some feedback that my blog was too onto 1 topic or at least one genre. So from this post onwards, I will include more of world issues or some hot topics.

World cup season!!! Everyone is staying up all night watching live soccer matches, everywhere is just full or the soccer fever. Shops have started selling soccer-related items, games have also included soccer, even schools have been affected by this soccer craze. Hence this is my argument: should students stay up till 4-5 o’clock just to watch these games?

People have said, “Tonight is a must watch, because it is LIVE and it is my favourite team competing.” This is the problem: Is it really necessary to watch it live? Watching on youtube a few hours later is also a possible way to know the match, not only that, watching the telecast a few days later can also let you still watch the match. After said this people still tell me, “But I want to know the results fast.” To these people, I have only one word, “Newspaper”. Newspapers did not have a section for sports just for the sake of it. Not only do they tell you the latest news on the world cup, also they give you some people’s comments about it and “Paul’s” predictions etc.

To students staying late up at night to watch the world cup, a disadvantage is that they have a lack of sleep. As we know, students are supposed to receive 7-8 hours of beauty sleep while adults are able to receive less. Therefore, students should not stay up to watch and instead maybe record the match. If students do not have enough sleep, they would find it difficult to pay attention during classes and worst still, oversleep and be late for school. This is totally absurd when it is a weekday the next day! Adults too have to go to work in the morning and there is no way to watch a LIVE match and be totally energetic the next day.

This leads me to my next argument: Students not having enough sleep.

Students tend to stay up late either to revise their work or to play computer games, worst still, world cup. They have this thought: At night, I have all the time in the world as I can sleep whenever I need to. When I wake up, I feel the same as any other day. This may feel alright on the outside, however, research have told us that we would not be able to take in as much information as before, in addition, the person’s character will change slightly, thus the person would be easily irritated or frustrated.

However, this is not the main focus of the second argument. Students “SMS-ing” at night until early the next morning. The situation is that students tend to not sleep as they are waiting for the other party’s reply, hence having the mentality: What if my friend replies and I am asleep, that would reflect badly on myself. As this goes on, the student would suffer a loss of sleep.

Hence to solve the above problems, I propose that during bedtime, parents could impose the child to put his or her phone away from them. This would ensure that the student would not stay up late to SMS. If this is not possible, the parent could closely monitor until the point when they feel it has gone far enough, they could just confiscate the phone or buy a new sim card, keeping the old one. This would prevent friends from SMS-ing the student.

As for the world cup issue, well… Just watch the telecast in the future!!!

Regarding the above issues… if u have any comment or better ideas please write in the comments column at the bottom of this post. Please follow as well. Thanks! :D

We slept with our boots on

Unknown Words:

1. 1. Maim: To injure; disable; disfigure; depriving the use of a limb or other parts of the body.

Analysis:

Point of View:

I feel that the poet is writing from a soldier’s point of view, a war veteran. “They” refers to his comrades. The poem is written from his own experience as a soldier fighting in a war. Through the poem, he described what he and his teammates did for example, ”They washed out the blood, we loaded our ruck’s and then took to the skies”. This shows the action taken preparing for the war and it is written in such a way that the speaker is one of them, using words like, “we”.

Where this is more evident is during line 9 onwards where the poet starts elaborating more on his personal actions and feelings, such as, “Dirty and tired and hungry and scared”. This is clearly showing that he is writing in a soldier’s point of view and vividly describing what the situation was.

State of mind:

1. Resignation

2. Survival tactic

The author feels resignation as everything was just to hellish for him, driving him crazy until the point where he wanted to resign. This is shown in, “The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define. The only reason I survived that day was divine.” This shows that the soldier felt that the war zone was chaotic, the noise being tremendous and there is a lot of terror. These terrors came in many forms such as terror of being killed, terror of not being able to mentally accept it etc. Just because of these terrors and the madness, the author just wants to escape it all and resign.

The author had the mentality to do anything to survive. They would run forever if they have to, even to the extent to betraying their friends just to ensure the safety of one’s self. Hence these were the two primary mindset of a soldier.

Situation and Setting:

The poem is set in many different landscapes such as mountains, villages and valleys. While the situation is the platoon of soldiers are on a mission which involves warfare with the enemy. During then, the soldier or the speaker is really frightened and that everything was happening so fast and the whole situation was chaotic. This is shown in, “I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more”, “I run as fast as I can through the lead rain” and many others. The poem is trying to let the reader feel like he is in the poem, in the war itself, feeling the intensity.

Language and Diction:

Metaphor is used in this poem where the bullets fired through the air are being compared to rain. As rain comes down non-stop, the bullets are similar in this area. The poem in general used descriptive language to bring out the feelings and the emotions of a war. Not only descriptive but strong words to give an impact on the reader and truly show the hatred towards war, such as, “Who knew hell was so close to God”.

Military terms are used in the poem to let the reader feel that he or she is actually in the war. Such examples are, “LZ and Lock N Load”. “LZ” most probably referred to landing zone while “Lock N Load” was just some lingo the soldiers used. They used these terms to involve us in the situation he is in.

Contrast was used in this poem. This is evident in, “Who knew hell was so close to god”. In this short quote, hell refers to the war while God refers to heaven. I believe that they were having a battle up on the mountains which is near the sky, metaphorically where god lives while they were actually experiencing hell by fighting in the war.

Strong metaphor was also used in this poem whereby, “Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink”. In here, terror refers to the war, the battle and the horrors of it. For beauty, I believe it to refer to the beautiful scenery of the mountains. Saying that it is a strong mixed drink means that it is difficult to combine or mix together. Fighting in a beautiful scenery and experiencing the terrors of war. A person would feel happy for the nice scenery buy terror because of the war. However, it is impossible to house these two emotions simultaneously in one’s heart, hence this is what the soldiers are feeling now.

Metaphor is also seen in the following quote from the poem, “Brothers aren’t born they’re earned. In the poppy fields, the tears, and the mud”. This means that brothers have to be earned and not by birth and they two are already brothers. “In the poppy fields… the mud”. Refers to the experiences the brothers have been through together. Poppy here could also mean drugs as drugs are made out of poppy, hence suggesting the soldiers could have taken drugs.

Personal response:

To me, I feel that the title and the poem itself states 2 important points about war. The first is that war is tiring for everyone and it goes on for a long time. Sleeping with our boots on is actually a metaphor, the actual meaning is that the enemy may strike at any moment and the soldiers have to be prepared 24/7. This brings me to my second point. War is again a lose-lose situation and it will tire everyone out, from the strategists to the soldiers themselves. Running all over the place is tiring them physically and to always worry and prepared for an impromptu conflict wears them out mentally. In all, war is never good for anyone and should be considered the last resort or may not even be considered a method.

Through the poem, with all the description of the soldier or the speaker, we can feel that war could be able to drive one mad as with all the stress and fear all the time, the soldier may just be mentally unsound, until the point that the soldier may give anything for a slight relief of the pain he is suffering. Similar to the poems “mental cases” and “mental wards”, both describes the effects and the horrors of war clearly.

Rainbow Death analysis task 2

Unknown words:

· Potpourri: A combination of incongruous things/ a mixture of dried flower petals and spices used to scent the air.

· Omnipotent: Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.

· Deceit: A deception

· Nefariously: Infamous by way of being extremely wicked.

· Nefariously: hateful

Analysis:

Point of view:

I feel that this poem is written in the point of view of someone who sits out of the war and observes it. A person who is capable of seeing the effects of the war and what the world has become, more like “the wise one”. “Toll on the innocent and unborn”. This shows us that the person knows the deaths and sufferings of the war, Hence someone somewhat like an observer. “Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.” He sees the evil of those who are in power. Those which do not see the truth and horrors of the war.

Setting and situation:

I feel that this poem is written in the time after the war in America. The poem was about the outcome of the war and the regrets some may have. At the beginning, America thought that war was a glorious action, showing honor and bravery in fighting for your country. However, after seeing the aftermath of the war, their thought of the war changed and saw that there is no glory in war, instead sufferings and pain were all over the place.

Language and Diction:

In relation to the theme, the author added “colours” to his poem. I feel this is well used as we know that different colours evoke different kinds of emotion. Personification is used in this poem as “All the deceit continues to spread”. Deceit spreads like a human spreading his arms. Rhetorical questions were also used in the poem, “Now thinking twice?” The rest of the poem, the poet used vivid and descriptive language to bring out the feelings of the poem and make an impact on us.

Personal response:

I feel that the war may be over, however the hatred and pain will be brought to the future. Enemies will always be replaced by even more powerful ones when defeated and this vicious cycle will continue, one taking revenge and the other party too. War will always be a lose-lose situation. During a war, humanity will be lost, where everyone is selfish and only the survival of themselves matter. Death tolls are in 5 digit numbers, hence 1 or 2 will be forgotten. Everyone fighting in a war is suffering and the pain of your loved ones dying times the 5 digit number, it is unimaginable the pain of the people. Ultimately, problems should never solved via a war or conflict, instead have a peaceful talk over a cup of tea.

Task 2 Language Arts Home Learning: Children in the darkness

I feel that the poem is written in the point of view of someone who knows the common knowledge whereby children are innocent and pure and is able to differentiate them, most probably being an adult as an adult is wise enough to know these differences. Through the poem, the poet distinguished and has drawn a clear line between a ‘normal’ child to the one in the picture.

The situation is during war or during the mobilization. As the country does not want to lose the war, however they have not enough able man, hence they mobilized innocent children to fight in the war. In the poem, it mentioned that,” From this life they cannot flee”. And the whole of stanza 3. This shows the feelings and thoughts of the children and those not. The children felt that it was their fate to fight in the war. Also, there was a sense of pity inside as innocent children’s’ fate was to serve and most likely die in a war. Stanza 3 showed the emotion whereby asking rhetorical questions, showing that the children were hopeless and their ‘normal’ lives will be gone forever. Sort of like saying that they were ‘goners”. The whole poem is evoking a sense of hopelessness as throughout the poem, the poet emphasized the hopelessness of the children and us as we could no prevent this from happening.

The poet used repetition, “the darkness”. The poet repeated this phrase to make an impact that there was no justice to the world as if there is, the children would not have gone to war. In contrast with darkness, there is also light. Light in this poem I feel that it represents justice. Hence when the children have not seen the light, this implies that there is no justice here as it is very cruel to bring the children to take up arms. The word ‘consume’ is used here, meaning that the children is totally conquered by darkness, hence giving the impact that there is totally no hope or justice here. At the last stanza, ‘back in the darkness’ is used to show that there is no way out of the darkness but back in there. Overall, the words and diction used in this poem is very accurate as it brings out the feeling of hopelessness and creates a deep impact on us as readers.

After reading this poem, I feel that it relates me to the reality that life is unfair. Someone may be having the best of life, with wealth, and leading a carefree life. However on the other side of the world, there is someone who is poor and living a life of troubles and maybe danger. A question also appears in my head, “Why can’t other people be the same as us?” The world is unfair as everyone has a different fate. Regarding war, I feel that it is cruel and horrific as it absorbs life and makes people war-mad, until the point that children have to enter this war. It kills with no one winning in the end and young, innocent children’s life is sacrificed through this evil process.

Thank you.

Task 1 Language Arts Home Learning

Poem 1: Children in the darkness

The poet, Henry M Betchtold was in Vietnam in 1967 - 68 and again in 1969. The poet want back often as his soul lives in Vietnam and he wants to go back to visit it from time to time.

He wrote this poem during the Christmas season in 2009, in his hotel room in Saigon. His initial intention was to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and was treated badly by the men there. At the sight of this Henry was furious. However he was unable to write anything that did not sound weak. His inspiration was when he watched the news from the TV. From this, he saw that in the background, there was a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. Upon seeing this, words kept flowing out of his mind and thus, this poem was born.

This totally contradicts what the poet, together with what we think. To us or the common knowledge is that children are supposed to be pure and innocent, free of sin. However, through the photo and the poem about children going to war. War is a sin and by the children going to war, means that they are committing a sin, which is totally against the common knowledge.

Topic: Students and their awareness of world matters

Topic: Students and their awareness of world matters

Hi descendants of heaven,

This post will be a short one.

Students do not really know what is happening in the world or has no feelings towards it as they feel that it does not concern them. As the Hwa Chong values say," Global Perspective". Students should start to get themselves into the matters the world is experiencing. A good example would be the Haiti earthquake. Students only know that there was such a tragic event. If to write their thoughts they can do it. However if we ask them what are you going to do about it, I am sure that in their hearts, they would not doing anything or change anything about themselves. This can also be seen from the credit crisis. Parents are suffering as their income decreases, but the children spend it like always. Students just take things for granted and they do not know how people around the world is suffering.

I feel that children should get themselves more involved in world matters. This will allow students can plan for their own future and have a clearer sight on what they really want. Students will also be more sensible in controlling what they buy during the downturn. Another familiar sight would be students not eating cleanly their plate, having leftovers or just wasting food. They would also know what their parents are going through and can understand their parents better and change their own lifestyle according to the situation.

Question: What do you think students should do? How to attract them to world matters? Are you involved? Please enter your comments in the comment box. Thanks!!!

Topic: Students and their tuition

Topic: Students and their tuition

Dear the people whom are destined to overcome hell,

My question is do students really need tuition? O is it they are scared of doing well for the exams, somewhat like not being confident in yourself. So the question lies on whether tuition is that important or that your parents are just wasting money?

Students in Singapore are known to have their lives full of activities and packed with tuition, due to rivalry between students. Now a days, the world has became more competitive as parents wants their children to be the best or at least better than his or her mother's friend? This can be said as bragging or showing off. I am sure to say that at least 85% of the students in Singapore have at least a tuition lesson per week.

For some students, the tuition is really necessary to them as they really need external help from outside sources, to guide them in the right path. Parents are willing to pay about $60 easily for a lesson as they dream that their child is the best the world has ever seen. They want to groom the child and hope that he or she could fulfill the dream that their parents were unable to do so, pinning their hopes on you and to continue the family line.

However I feel that most students are having the second scenario: The students feel that the tuition is redundant as the students feel that it is boring and studying in school i already sufficient. Them going to tuition is mainly forced by parents or the parents feel a need to. They feel that revising at home is more effective than compared to going to tuition. Tuition is also time consuming and gives extra pressure to the student as they have extra homework for tuition and less time to do school work, resulting in burning the midnight oil. Studying at home, the student feels more relaxed and comfortable, compare to tuition. The general opinion is that the tuition is boring and have no need for it and currently going due to parents.

Questions for my dear readers: Which do you think is more effective, studying at home or in tuition? If you were a parent, what would you do if you had children? Please share with me your interesting views. Thanks!!!

Topic today: The mindset of students now a days and their attitudes

Topic today: The mindset of students now a days and their attitudes

Hi fellow crusaders of the sky,

Today my topic would be on the mindset of secondary 1 and 2 students through my observations. I have seen nowadays that most teenagers only get serious when near the date line of whatever they were doing. For example the test is on a Wednesday. Students would tend to have a carefree days before the exam and only really studying hard (by bringing their files and notes and studying at every time possible) the night before the test or worst, on the actual day itself.

This may be helpful to a certain extent where you remember fresh information from what you studied right before the test. This also shows the concept of revising as for the human mind, there would be a peak where you remember all the information clearly, like as they were at the back of you hand. However after some time, you start to forget some information and will come a time when you forget almost everything. The goal which we want to achieve is to have the tests or exams at the peak time or nearest to the point where we remember almost all the information. This is when revision comes in. Revision allows us to have another peak point, hence will have a higher chance of taking the test near the peak. (Can be imagined in a graph).

This leads me to my point of view. revision is definitely a must, however I feel revision at the Last Minute is bad as by doing that, you are stressing yourself out more. For example, the test is in one hours time. I am last minute revising and you suddenly realise that you did not remember this particular point, thus stressing up, trying to remember that point and in the process forget other important points for the test. There is also a chance where you may experience a mental block if the pressure is great enough. This is a time where the person totally forgets everything and remain "blank" during the test. Also, there is no use in revising everything over one night as the human can only stay focused for roughly 40 minutes. Hence instead of all in one day, the student should spread it over 40 minute intervals spread over a few days. Students will feel that it is very difficult to study the notes in one day and hence give up remembering some data. This will result in not desirable results. On the other hand, the student may actually revise the work over a few days and not find it overkill and at least revising it once.

Questions for the young at heart: How do you prepare for your tests? Is there a good solution as to how students should revise for their work? Please give me your great feedback in the comment box. Thanks!!

Maids in Singapore

Hi people of the above,

Recently, My maid was arrested for stealing jewelry worth of $5000 and after interrogating her she admitted her crime. The police came and soon after I never heard a word about that event.

Before the event took place, she started to have bad attitudes and laziness was observed. For example, When told her to complete a simple task, she would say that she was tired and when called for her, she would be either sleeping or in the toilet. Last time, she would do everything almost perfectly and very hardworking. But then I think that everything changed when she got hold of a phone and started making phone calls back to her brothers in her home town of Java. I am not sure why but after that call, she called again and again day by day and that was when her attitude towards work changed. My parents tolerated for a long time, her bad attitude that is and it caused my parents to be easily angry.

I feel that it is very difficult to have the courage to become a maid to earn money for your family. Imagine that you would not be able to see your family for a minimum of three years, it would feel like forcefully separating mother and daughter. Also, you would be in a place you have never been before and living under a roof of people you have never seen before. There had been cases where the owners abuse their maid by resulting in physically hitting her. The maids have to overcome the fear of that happening to her. There are some cases where maids undergo too much pressure, stress and sadness that they just commit suicide.

In my case, only my grandparents really understand them. During times when my parents attack her by scolding her, if my grandparents are there, they would definitely come to the defence of her. Sometimes, my grandparents even reward her for cleaning the car.

I feel that we as employees should really understand maids more. After all, they are humans instead of machines or robots. They have fatigue and feelings. Even the prime minister sees this as a problem and issued a law where by the maid must have at least one day off and proper accommodations. When maids get out of hand and have a change in mind, we should maybe have a proper talk of her, instead of immediately scolding her and this will only promote more hatred between the two. This would not solve anything.

When we have maids, we should take time to understand them more and befriend them, making them feel more at home. This will not only foster a greater relationship between the employee and the maid, this may make the maid feel more at home and work harder. When a person feels happy, he or she would feel more happy to work. Everything is well when a person feels no pressure.

Humble questions for the young mind: What suggestions do you have to have the maids feel more welcomed in Singapore? Or what would you do if you were the employee? Please post your thoughts in the comment box. Thanks!!!

E-Learning assignment (Intrapersonal)

Intrapersonal part a)

I would like to be friends with Arthur Radley.(aka Boo Radley)

Arthur Radley is known to stay in hiding in his house and not show himself unless in the night. Rumors about Arthur Radley have been spreading around Maycomb town saying he is a monster, evil spirit possessed etc. He is being depicted as an outsider and everyone is afraid of being near them, isolating them, considering them as not even part of their town. He is a colored men and that the whole town is prejudice against them, hence isolating him. Arthur wants to interact with the town. However he cannot do that as he is afraid of doing something wrong and be sentenced to death, the same case as Tom Robinson.

I pity Tom Robinson as I think that he is being treated unfairly and I want to comfort him and tell the world," Why is he so special, he is too a human being". I feel that I want to befriend him to brighten up his life and make him feel that there is someone in the world who cares about him and acknowledge his existence. He has no friends I wish to be his first friend.

I also want to understand more about him. As in why he is always in hiding and what are his thoughts. In addition to being his friend, I want to be a lying shoulder to Arthur to tell me his pain and share his sufferings. And maybe I would bring him out of his house and defend him, allowing him to feel safe going out of his house.

I know that Arthur Radley is a kind and good person and hence he will be a good friend. I wish to help him in any way I can and hopefully through time, the people maycomb would start to accept him. Everything has a beginning and I would be that beginning.

E-Learning assignment (Interpersonal)

Q:What is your defination of prejudice?

A:In my opinion, prejudice is a unfavorable opinion towards a person or a group of people with no evidence to support their generalized opinion. This results in being unfair to that specific group of people or person. It is a thought rather than an action

Q:Then what is your defination of discrimination?

A:Discrimination is the act of being unfair and/or unjust towards a group of people or a person due to prejudice thoughts.

Q:Is there a real life example of discrimination and prejudice around you?

A:In my opinion, discrimination and prejudice is still imminent in our society. Take for example, I am sure many of us still have the opinion that Indians and people from Bangladeshi are lesser than us, that they are dumb, stupid and are only capable of doing manual labour and are unable to jobs which require a certain amount of intelligence. People still tell racist jokes about how Indians are poor and that they are black. Prejudice and discrimination can be seen from the examples that I have stated.

Q:Do you consider yourself prejudice?

A:I find that yes I am prejudice, I share the opinion that many of us share which is the common thought of Indians and Bangladeshi workers, that they are dumb and incapable.

Q:If you see someone near you discriminating another person, what would you do?

A:The politically right answer is to go up and stop the one discriminating. However, it would be very awkward to go confront someone in the middle of a street, it would make the people around find you like a weird person and in Singapore, our “mian zi” is very important and most of us would choose to turn a blind eye and pretend that we didn’t see it. But we should try to summon the courage and help the one being discriminated.

BGFL Multi Intelligence Test

I feel that this test is quite accurate as it gave me the same results as the MIDAS personality test. However, there is no such thing as an accurate 100% test. I feel that people should know themselves well and not rely on some test to let you know yourself. The test gives vague options like there are six options ranging from yes to no. I feel that an accurate test should only have to options, yes and no. There will come a question where you are on the fence. This I feel that you must decide and put an answer based on your first instinct. I believe that people's first instinct is always the most accurate answer.

E-Learning

The topic for the day: E-Learning

Hi the people and guardians of heaven.

Is E-Learning useful and effective? Today I will be sharing my views about E-Learning and maybe touch on the pros and cons.

E-Learning is used as an emergency lesson online as teachers have courses or there is an event at school. This is used in hope that even though students are not able to go to school or the teachers are not free, the students can still study and will not waste a day without doing anything. This of course is not the same as school as we learn through videos, readings and online discussions. This can also promote and cultivate independent learners as the students are expected to gather the information by themselves and learn the topic with little help from the teacher.

Now I shall touch on the cons of having E-Learning. As almost the whole school is having E-Learning at home, everyone would be accessing the EMB portal and hence may cause jams, resulting in many students not able to access it to know the instructions for the E-Learning. This will cause delay in the students and in worst case scenario the EMB will crash and messages will be lost. The school may have created the learning-board EMB. However, students will be directed there and will similarly cause a jam there.

Another con is that students may be multi-tasking. For example when doing an assignment, students may on and off go to facebook and this will deter their attention away, having them not pay attention and hence not studying the topic well. This will result in the student not learning anything. The computer by itself is a distraction to some "computer game addiction-ers". Imagine this: You are doing your homework when you have a computer game right in front of you. The computer game is like begging you to play it. I believe in most scenarios, students would tell themselves that it is just a while to relax my brain and this is when addiction kicks in. At the end, nothing is done or accomplished and most likely have to do double the work on the next day.

Now I shall say about the pros of E-Learning. The obvious would be that students can wake up later and save travelling time. This also applies to the teachers as well. Also, students feel more relaxed and comfortable in their homes and it is more cooling compared to the classroom and maybe listen to some music while doing their work. This I am sure that most students like. Unlike in class, students can talk to each other freely. This lets the students feel as they have more freedom.

Another main good point about E-Learning is that it gives teachers more ways to teach and hence being more creative. It allows teachers to use different materials such as videos to teach the syllabus. This may help greatly in teaching the subject.

I feel that E-Learning is good but after the students have collected the information, they should get together in person to talk about it, along with the teacher. Hence I am tryig to say is that we cannot replace school lessons with E-Learning lessons.

Questions for the young mind: Would you want to have E-Learning every day, if so will you be able to learn the topics well? What can be improved about the current system for E-Learning? Please write your comments in the comments tab and I am excited to see your replies! Thanks!!!

The IP programme -- My thoughts and feelings

Hi guys of the world...

This post is in response to Shawn Ang's post of IP vs. "O" levels.

This question has usually crossed my mind...

What is the use of IP when the secondary 4 exams are like taking the "O" levels and if you do not do well, you will be in the "O" level stream and may be kicked out if you do not do well. My viewpoint is that what is the difference? This post will try to answer those queries.

To me, I feel that the IP program will not exactly help you get into HCI junior college. As mentioned above, the IP program viewed by others as a "SCAM". I too viewed the same way as I first came to HCI. After hearing from seniors the the Secondary 4 test is extremely stressing and difficult. However, after a few months at Hwa Chong, I finally understand.

The IP program is also known as the integrated program and allows you to follow through six years without the need of taking the "O" levels and hence study 2 more years for the "A" levels. The school will assure this by changing their teaching different stuff and offers different methods of teaching, for example the English lecture.

The program aims to give the students freedom to control their own way of studying and using creative ways to teach the syllabus. Through this, the students are expected to be independent learners and control their time properly without much help from the teachers. This is to develop independent learners and this trait will help greatly in the future.

I have still some queries about this program. Some of my seniors have taken this secondary 4 test but choose to go to another JC. So is the IP program really that useful? Some also find this as a way to have students go to Hwa Chong JC instead of others. Is this program also a scam?

To me, I feel that this program is like a "safety net". What do I mean by that? For example for some reason, you were off-form on the day of the exam and hence not doing well for that particular exam paper. For students taking the "O" level examination, they do not have the option to fail or be off-form on that day or have the time to fail it in the worst case scenario. So due to the program, we have an extra chance to prove ourselves. If we do badly for the secondary 4 exam, we can still enter the 4Q class and take the "O" level exam. However, during then, the chances of entering Hwa Chong JC would become slimmer.

To me, this program gives me freedom to try out new ways of learning and also spurs me on to study hard so as to cope with the different teaching methods and not fall behind. The methods of teaching may be interesting, but it is easy for students to lag behind or become or difficult to catch up. Also, to some it may have them relax and take it easy through the four years.

I have an irony. The IP program is to let students have a direct pass to Hwa Chong JC, however in order to have the students study hard, they have to set the exam to be difficult. Isn't this like making the exams seem like an "O" level examination? I hope that you all have the answer to my humble question. Below are some fruits for thought.

I have a question for my dear readers to ponder about: How much do you trust the IP program of Hwa Chong? Are you sure you will do well in the future of "A" levels? What do you think about the program and is it good or bad or no difference? Please share your views in the comment box. Thanks!!

Some reflections on the 'Allah' incident is Malaysia

I am not sure what to post but to start it off, I will post this.

Perhaps I feel that the Malays had some right that the term 'Allah' was a sacred god in their heart and was not to be used to replace the word 'god'. It was wrong of the high-court judge to suddenly take away the Malay's holy book suddenly. To prevent what had happened in Malaysia, I will not use force, such as the police to stop the Malays from burning down churches. I will return the Holy books to them and maybe not put a ban, but ask the newspaper publishers to try to refrain from using the word. Not only will the Malays feels more respected for their culture, but also assure the other side to use the word for their own, maybe as their god.

True, that Malays are slightly sensitive, but we have to understand that it is not their fault and to promote racial harmony, we have to respect them and maybe learn their ways. It may be right that 'Allah' is just an Arabic word that refers to god, but in their heart, it is their one and holy, almighty god.

For example, I am a Christian. If someone would to speak bad about Jesus, I would not start fighting against him but tell him nicely to stop it, if not I will seek my parents for advice.

Posting my readers a question, what would YOU do if someone insult your culture? I would like to know.