Changing phase of Singapore Society

As we look around at current day Singapore, we see the hustle and bustle of city life; we hear the buzzing and whirring of machinery and vehicles. This is nothing unusual in our revolutionized and modernized country. As time passed we have undergone numerous transformations; from a small fishing village, to a port, to a world recognized independent country.

What catches my attention however, is the exponential increase of percentage of immigrants and foreigners in our Singapore population over the past few years. Our government has been encouraging more foreigners to become a part of our everyday lives. Right now the ratio of foreigners to Singaporeans in Singapore is 1:3. As our country evolves and transforms itself once again, will there be further dilution of our already diluted culture? Will we lose our sense of belonging in our own country? Will we lose our national identity? What worries me the most is that with all the competition with foreign workers and foreign "talents", will there be unrest and internal conflicts within our own "home"?

Yes, we should not become xenophobic and drive away foreigners, which will be to our detriment. But at the same time, should we sacrifice our culture and sense of belonging just so as to achieve economic gains? If so, wouldn't Singapore be better off run as a company instead of a country? I believe that introducing foreigners into our country is not a bad idea. It helps to supplement our economy. However, all these should be done in moderation. Too much of a good thing is always a bad thing.

Impact of Pop Music on Teens

Almost nine out of ten teens spend a good amount of time listening to music every day. I feel that music contains both positive and negative effects on teens and what really causes the effects is how mature the teen thinks. Let’s say he/she can just listen to a song, enjoy it and relax, forget about it when he/she have to handle something that needs more attention (e.g. School work), there will not be too much of an negative effect on him/her. However if he/she listens to a song, gets all emotional and refuse to come back to reality, delays homework just to listen to songs, he/she will thus get the negative of pop music.

The effects of pop music include the argument of study habits, introduction and development to slang, and damages eardrums. The major difference between popular music and other media lies in music’s ability to enhance or modify mood. Pop music also affects the tempers in examples such as: fast paced techno exciting the actions of teens in parties or slowed down rock mellowing out its listeners. Common slang, when used in popular songs, slip into the vocabulary of teenagers. Popular phrases such as "Yay-yeah" and "Crank" are now used by teenagers in everyday conversations.

I believe that with enough discipline and self-control, impact of pop music on teens will mostly be helping teens to relax during the periods they are stress.

Changing face of Singapore's society

My view :

Because I have been living on this land for all my life, I love and cherish Singapore. When it comes to the topic on changing faces of Singapore, things that came running into my mind is how my grandma used to tell me about Singapore filled with kampongs and what I see now is everything being so urbanised and occupied with machineries. Yes, Singapore is indeed a well-developed country now with constant advancement and creative technologies. I can remember how happy my grandma was when she told me about her kampong carefree life; however, if now I am to ask a stranger how is his life, I can just sum whatever he said to one word, ‘busy’ – always anxious about our economic prospects. People nowadays work so hard to help improve Singapore’s economy that they skipped their time to relax and enjoy; there is always a lost to a gain.

However as Singapore advances, technology gives us an opportunity to interact, learn and live with other citizens on the other side of the world. My grandma use to write letters and now all we need to do is email. My grandma use to walk to find her friends and now all we need is a MRT to take us where we want to go.

Not only there is a major improvement in technology for Singapore, there is also a major increase of people in Singapore. The government may feel that there is necessary to integrate new immigrants but I believe that it is heart landers, the everyday Singaporeans who will play the biggest role in changing Singapore’s society and economy to aid Singapore’s growth.

Education system in Singapore

“The Ministry of Education aims to help our students to discover their own talents, to make the best of these talents and realise their full potential, and to develop a passion for learning that lasts through life.” From http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/

My views :

This is our notion. The Singapore education system definitely did its part by trying to cultivate every child. However is everything too systematic? Will the children really learn what is needed for them to survive in the outside world? Are we feeding them knowledge or rules? Do they know what is happening around them? Are we spoon-feeding them too much?.
Let me begin from the everyday classrooms. This is what usually happens in school when a teacher asked a question. Nobody answers, nobody speaks up, after waiting for a while, the teacher goes on saying, ‘alright, never mind, this is the correct answer …..’ . When I went to Beijing for exchange programs, the students there impressed me, they did not even wait for the teacher to question, they throw questions at the teacher. Look, the only reason behind this difference is the urge to learn. Singapore children rarely lack anything while children in China may be fighting for food. Singapore children may be served by maids while China children have to work as maids. We, tend to take things for granted, even learning. That’s why the urge to want to learn is small.
Everyone is studying the same subjects, at the same pace, in the same method as the rest of their age group in the same stream. Singapore children have to know that they have little choices, and only if they dare to speak up in school, they can get to learn more as an individual.
The system asked for students to keep fit, do at least 6 hours of community work, have national education, have a lesson in creativity and entrepreneurship, learn this, and know that. All these things are stress put upon a child since 6 years of age. Should we not think of reducing the ‘must-do’ items to relief their pressure?
However all in all I have to say we have a strong education system. We have good schools, with good teachers and good facilities and if the students make use of it well, we will have the smartest brains in the world.

How does Pop Music affect Teens

In this modern world, music has become an essential part of people’s life. We listen to music almost every day, whether we are happy, sad or tired. People listen to different types of music depending on their mood. For example, people listen to songs with faster tempo when they are happy and listen to slow songs when they are relaxed.

Personally, pop music is my favourite. I listen to pop music almost every day and even sing along with the melody. Like many teens, I do think that listening to pop music can help me to pass time. It allows me to enjoy myself whenever I have nothing to do or feeling bored. It can also calm me down whenever I am feeling angry and console me when I am feeling sad.

Pop music has not only accompanied me throughout my teenage years, some of the lyrics of songs have also been etched on my mind. Those motivational words used in the making of the music have inspired me to stand up when I fall and work hard to achieve my goals. But it is not always that positive. Some pop music has negative effect as these music made people believe in living in hedonism, or resort to violent.

Pop music has a huge influence on teenagers. As teenagers are looking for a sense of identity, they are easily influence by their pop idol. For instance, teens imitate their idols’ actions. They also dress like their idol as they feel that it is cool.

Pop music also brings teens together. Youths who listen to the same music have a common topic to talk about. As such, they will forge better friendship with one another. However, pop music can also bring about disagreement among friends. As different people may have different opinion about a particular song.

Music, being a regular companion for teenagers and people of all ages, pop music can affect an individual positively as well as negatively. It has the power to connect, calm and motivate people. However, it can be detrimental if a teen spends too much time listening to pop music and following his idol and neglect his studies.

Recent Natural Disaster

The earthquake in Haiti, the floods in Pakistan and China, and the forest fires in Russia contributed to making 2010 an exceptional year for natural disasters. More than 300,000 people lost their lives and damages of up to $13 billion dollars were incurred. In fact, in the year 2010, the world witnessed a total of 950 natural disasters, making it the second worst year in history, after 1980.

To many of us that are fortunate enough not to be caught in a natural disaster, we will never be able to comprehend how devastated people were when they survived one. More often than not, we will only be able to calculate the number of lives that were cruelly taken away and how much economic damages have been inflicted by the disaster. We will never be able to relate with those who might have lost their loved ones in a natural disaster or survived one, only to know that everything that was once his was gone.

One good example is the earthquake in Haiti. An estimated 230,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. These numbers may be just numbers to us. But to the Haitians, these numbers means that they have to see dead bodies lying all around, witness buildings collapsed and having to endure the pain and agony, alone.

Another example is China. China is facing its worst flooding in more than a decade. Weeks of heavy rain have swollen rivers and caused damage, landslides and bridge to collapse across a swathe of the country. According to state media, 928 people have died because of the seasonal bad weather and another 477 are missing.

The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide indications of advancing climate change. Have we done our best to alleviate the pain and sufferings of people who survived the cruelty of fate?

We have a part to play. Helping to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases could reduce the ferocity of these natural disasters. Instead of doing nothing or trying to sympathize with those who unfortunately got caught in a natural disaster, the most practical way is to help them by doing everything that we can to reduce the severity of the natural disaster and help them by providing them with basic necessities.

Bullying In Schools

In Singapore, we could often hear complaints of children being bullied in schools.  And like in many parts of the world, bullying is considered a significant problem. Despite the presence of teachers and discipline masters in schools, bullying still occurs. Albeit bullying in school tends to be relatively minor, this is no laughing matter.

Bullying could lead to a vicious cycle. As the bullied grows up, they have a higher tendency to bully people too. As such, bullying cases will only increase exponentially. And the impact of it could be disastrous.

Children who are bullied may be constantly keeping a lookout for the bullies and this is detrimental for his mind. He will have to be careful so as not to be caught off guard and being cornered when he is alone. Therefore, he will be restricted to the places where he go and feel the need to compel to the demands of the bullies. This will have an extremely negative impact on his views of school and he will not have a sense of security in school.

In some extreme cases, some students might be so afraid of being bullied that they skipped school and keep it from their parents. This could lead to an even more undesired outcome. Besides not doing well in their studies, these people could even mix with bad company and do things that they will regret later on in life.

Therefore, keeping the school safe from bullies should be the cornerstone of the disciplinary board. Schools and parents should work together closely to ensure that children are not being bullied in school. This way, not only will we be able to protect our young ones, we could also deter potential bullies.

Education System In Singapore

The education system in Singapore is perfect. I am unable to find any flaws in the education system.

Firstly, teenagers as young as 16 are forced to make a decision on which diploma they want to study in polytechnics. Usually, if one is studying the diploma, one will stay in that industry. In this way, the education system ensures that there are enough workers in most industry to support the economy in Singapore. There will not be shortage of workers in any of the sectors. Students with lower grades go to the less demanded industry and students with higher grades go to the sunrise industry.

Secondly, the A-levels are marked in Cambridge. This ensures that students who have taken the A-levels are able to enter overseas universities and having their certificates recognized. In this way, a student with weak communication skills but good examinations technique will also be able to do well in A-levels and have a very nice certificate, increasing their chances of entering a good University. Many Junior College also provide students with long answer keys to memorize before the examination. The perfect education system have ensured that many top students are produced and the Singapore brand is well-known in the world.

Thirdly, the cornerstone of education is to inculcate in student values and knowledge that will aid them in their life. As the society progress, there are more and more cases of divorce, underage pregnancy and disowning of parents. I guess this is the ideal result of the perfect education system in Singapore. By spending minimal time on Civics and Morale Education, students are not enforced with the correct values. This is perfect because student will have the working knowledge required and will do better than their parents or spouse. If everybody tries to out do one another, the competition will result in a good Singapore economy.

Education system in Singapore is perfect and should not be changed anymore. Looking forward, many countries will adopt our education system, and have their own education system replaced.

Changing Face of Singapore's Society

Singapore became independent on 9 August 1965. It has been 45 years since the day we call this small island, my country. Through these 45 years, the Singapore society has changed from a third-world country to a first-world country under the good governance of PAP.

Previously, it was difficult for parents to put food on the table and chicken and fish could only be eaten on special occasions. Nowadays, food is no longer a problem for most Singaporeans. The aim in life for most Singaporeans has changed. It has changed from survival to one of luxury. Our parents worked in the manufacturing industry, sweating it out and putting in hard work for money. However, with education, it is no longer physically demanding for the current generation to earn money. The hospitality industry, banking and finance and business industry do not require much physical work.

Racial riots were quite common then. When there was an argument, big or small, lines will be drawn and racial discrimination will be the root of the problem. However, thankfully, it has been a long time since the last racial riot happened. School and national service has made Singaporeans united as one. We might not be the same color but we help one another when help is needed. We are not separated by colors. We are one Singapore society. Together, we work to a prosperous and bright Singapore future.

Looking forward, I think the Singapore society will progress into one with many different nationalities. There will be more foreigners in Singapore. Singapore started with many people coming in. This culture will continue. With out workers, there will be no one working in the construction industry. With out maid, who will be the domestic helper?

In conclusion, unity is the key. As long as the government continues to bond with the residents, the Singapore society will only improve. Challenges like SARS or terrorism that tried to throw the Singapore society into mayhem will be overcome easily.

This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where that river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone, for this is where I know it's home

Animal Abuse

As we flip through the newspaper every day, we are bound to see some reports concerning animal abuse. Why is this so? In a civilized country like Singapore, we are supposed to be more humane, compassionate towards animals and more considerate to the feelings of these little animals.

So what was the reason that led to people abusing animals as though these animals had no feelings? Is it the lack of education? Or is it simply the fact that these people thought that owning animals gave them the rights to abuse them?

Each time a new animal abuse case surface, I cannot resist the urge to give these people a piece of my mind. What if one day, you were being abuse by people? How will you feel?

There are indeed many answers that have to be unearthed before we can understand why these abusers do what they did. But does that mean that we can do nothing about them?

There are in fact many things that can be done to change their attitudes. We have to be more proactive via education. Schools should teach children to respect the sanctity of all life forms, possibly even setting up mini-zoos where interaction with animals is fostered from a young age. This way, we will be able to teach future generations the need to respect animals and spare a thought for their feelings.

Pet shop owners can also play a part by refusing to sell pets to people whom they believe will not be able to take good care of their animals. We have to take a break from clawing up the economic ladder to focus on society's common good or else our efforts will have more bark than bite.

We cannot be selective though. On the one hand, we are protesting the ill-treatment of beloved animals like cats and dogs, and on the other, we are turning our backs on other species. The inflictment of pain is cruel. Do you think that animals do not feel pain when they are killed?

Therefore, unless we abandon the use of all animal products, I believe that the complete eradication of animal maltreatment is simply impossible - just feel the leather belt on your waist.

Impact of pop Music on Teens

Source: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/448758/kpop_madness_3000_fans_throng_mall_with_police_and_ambulance.html

Every one of us, regardless of age, loves music. To me, music helps me to release my daily stress and allows me to feel recharged whenever I am tired.  However, nowadays teenagers are so into music that they begin to overdo it.

There are few examples that I am referring to. One of them was dressing and acting like one of the pop stars. Often we can see from the TV programs that even kids nowadays dress up not even in competition, but even in real life, just to look like their idol. Teens do not mind spending all their allowance to purchase their favorite’s idol’s album or anything that related to them. Other teenagers are willing to spend a night at the airport, just to catch a glimpse of their idol when they touched down.

The way the teenagers react to their idols often makes me wonder why.  To me, the singer/actors or actress is just another person who is doing their job by entertaining us and the teens are like just throwing their money to buy something that is not practical. Yes no doubt those entertainer needs to be paid but again why do we pay more other then the CD itself? Don’t the teenagers knows that allowance given to them are hard earn moneys earn by their parents? Another thing is that teenagers get rough while waiting for their idols. The above mention is not the first time report that has taken place. Many even got themselves into trouble by challenging the law enforcer.

Another good example of teenagers too obsessed with their idol was the news on the suicide case. Few months ago, there was a case whereby the teenagers found out his favorite idol was attached, he was so depressed that she wrote down a note declaring her love to the idol and committed suicide.

In my own opinion, I feel that  we can enjoy the music or movies performed by the entertainers, but we must also make sure that we know how to control ourselves and not get ourselves too engross into such trends.  Entertainment is just a way for us to relax and enjoy, not making us tired and forget our main priority  

Education system in singapore

 Source from : http://app.www.sg/what/59/Education.aspx

Singapore’s educational system is one of the top in the world. having its current ranking is at 2^nd in the world, this is one of the main attraction to foreign who want their children to have top quality education. Singapore currently separate it education system into 4 different stages namely; primary, secondary, ITE / Poly and University.

By doing so, it allows the system to run more systemically. It separates all the levels and make sure that each level are learning the correct stuff and progressively improving them. Singapore government spends lots of money to improve the education system. Not only are the foreigners attracted to the education level of Singapore, Singaporean too are also fighting over for a place to be in well known school for their children.

I agreed that no doubt, the educational system is Singapore is good but it too, has its flaw. For example, there are some well known schools that selectively select only smart children into their school. We can view this example in two view point. Smart kids that are placed together are less time consuming when teaching them but again, it will cultivate a strong sense of competition among the students, stressing them out and making them to have a competitive mentality.

On the other hand, students who are smart and place into a normal well known school often learn much faster and progress faster because they help their peers by explaining to them. During the explanations, the students revise the work in their mind, allowing them to revise and apply the knowledge when teaching.

I feel that all the students should be mix equally so that no one will be left alone to progress. It may be slower in progressing but it will definitely bring the education system into another level.

Recent Nature Disaster

 

Natural disaster can happen anywhere anytime. From recent news, i realize that the rate of natural disaster is at an increasing rate.  The after match of the disaster often left many homeless, starved and loses their loves one. It makes me realize that how can such disaster affect one’s life.

The reason for the recent increase of natural disaster is partly due pollution. As the uprising of higher standard of living, mankind begins to build more machines and factories to manufacture the products. During the process, the gases, which are produced as byproduct was released to the air, causing the ozone layer to be thinner. Thus this affects the drop in the temperature and cause the ice at the North and South Pole to melt. This will inter affect the change in the climate and causes the rate of natural disaster such as hurricane, typhoon earthquake.

I think that for our part, we should try to help reduce pollution. No doubt we are staying in Singapore, which is one of the countries which do not have such disaster, we should do our part to prevent it and reduce the rate of natural disaster. We will never know when it will be our turn to experience natural disaster. Prevention is better than cure hence we can start doing conservation work today. It may not benefit us now but it will surely benefits our off springs in the future.

What we do may not be a great impact for the world, however, if each and everyone do a little bit more to reduce pollution, it will definitely help and reduce the rate of natural disasters.

Recent Natural Disasters

Deadly tornado and storms hit south-western China

News:
Heavy storms and a tornado have took away lives of more than 39 people near the city of Chongqing in south-western China.

It was reported that a minimum of 150 others were seriously hurt after the heavy rain, a hail storm, gales and a tornado struck two rural areas. Currently rescue work was ongoing in Liangping and Dianjiang, news reports some 70,000 people were temporarily evacuated from areas near Chongqing. The storms ruined more than 1,000 homes, damaged many crops, and caused power cuts. Local reports said almost 1,000 homes in Chongqing had partially collapsed and thousands more were damaged. The hospital there said that many equipments was damaged when power was lost. Local government has announced that it will take about two days to restore power.
The storms were known to be caused by a heatwave from the south colliding with a northern cold front.The worst affected area reported winds of more than 100km/h (62mph).

My personal view:

In a big country like China, there will be definitely some district areas which will be affect by natural disaster -like tornado and storms. Many of these severe incidents caused lost of lives and uncountable injuries. The after effects of all these will be the rebuilding of everything -buildings and house, and also the mental reconstruction of many who lost their love ones. And not all of these are recoverable.
Thus i would like to take this chance to let Singaporeans know how lucky they are to be able to live in such a good location whereby the worst things that could ever happen is just a monsoon season. The value of life should be deeply inserted into every Singaporeans mind, they ought to know that even though they don't lose their lives to natural disasters like how other people in other country does, the ability to value themselves and their love ones must stand strong.

bullying in school

 

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/421006/boy_bullied_by_classmate_for_over_a_year_but_school.ht

"Boy bullied by classmate for over a year but school doesn't take action"

This new was taken from stomp. I was surprise that the boy was bullied so long and yet, the school did not realize it until a year later. Many people will think that the school did not do their job, but it was otherwise. Students who get bullied usually kept quiet about it as they are afraid that they will be hurt if they report to the teachers.

Personally I feel that things cannot be resolved by violence. I’d say, turn the tables around so that the bully has to face the choices between morale and discipline actions. These bullies, or bully, have to be stopped and be counseled immediately and the victim too, must be counseled as well. This is to prevent victims from turning into future bullies.

Bullying varies from verbal, physical, psychological and being just simply biased. Anything that will cause another party to cry out “unfair!” or “it’s not fair!” also another form of bullying. In this day and age, bullying is so common that self respect is lost on them.

It is the very reason why these bullies do not understand the reality of respect and the way they do not show and give respect to others. It is one of the common reasons on why or where the bullying cases started. Attention seeker would generally bully as well. They will bully others just to seek people attention and see how the other party’s reaction. It is self entertainment for themselves to be amused.

For some, some parents teach their children to be tough or fight back if they think they are being treated unfairly in a situation. Thus, by turning their mindset; mentality and attitude in the wrong way. Hence, I think that family will play the most important part of the younger children lives to make them realize the true and better way to deal with bullying issues.