Friday, 31 May 2013

Concern over Singapore's 'instant-noodle generation' By JunTian

Summary: Parents and Government officials have been voicing concerns about teenagers becoming overly dependent on maids. Teenagers no longer do basic things like making their bag or keeping their shoes, and they feel that it is their maids' responsibility. According to the Singapore's ministry of manpower, one in every seven families has a foreign maid. teenagers have also readily admit that they are dependent on their maids. However, while these kids are very dependent on their maids, they are still very hardworking. Many parents have taken the approach of rewarding their kids for good results, and this may also be a reason why they are pampered.

Opinion: I feel that this is a very worrying trend. Teenagers no longer do housework, and even worse, they do not even do basic things like making their own bed each morning. They are also reliant on their maid to cook for them and the only thing they can cook is perhaps instant noodle. This is the exact opposite compared to just the generation before them, where most people were very hardworking, and also very independent.

Saturday, 25 May 2013

Learning for life, the Finnish way. By JunTian

Summary: In Finland, hardly anyone have heard of the term tuition. This is because teachers, parents and students all understand the importance of a 'school-life balance'. Once school ends, students only have to complete their homework which consists of a few math questions and some essays only. After that, it is a fun and games. The only group of students that feel the stress, that most students in Singapore feel regardless of age, are the 18 years old who will be taking a national exam, and this is the only national exam they will have to take.

Opinion: I feel that Finland has the ideal education system. Students should enjoy their youth and learn at the same time. But, apart from the subjects in school, what they should learn should also be life skills like communicating with others. The Finland education stress on this, and always make sure that learning is really for life.

Friday, 24 May 2013

Neuron growth in children 'leaves no room for memories' by demi tay

summary:

The reason we struggle to recall memories from our early childhood is down to high levels of neuron production during the first years of life.Neurosis, or the formation of new neurons in the hippo campus - a region of the brain known to be important for learning and remembering, reaches its peak before and after birth. It then declines steadily during childhood and adulthood.The researchers said this provided an explanation for the absence of long-term memory events from early childhood, known as infantile amnesia.Previous studies have shown that although young children can remember events in the short term, these memories do not persist.

opinion:

in my opinion it will be good if children can remember their childhood as even when they grow old the memories will be still in their mind. This can allow them to use their mind often by recalling back so they would not have amnesia.Therefore they would not need to undergo medical treatment and can use the money they save up for other needs.

Thursday, 23 May 2013

Israeli Warplanes 'Launch Air Strike In Syria'

Summary: Recently, there have been some reports suggesting that Israeli warplanes have launched an air strike inside Syria and the likely target was a weapon site. There has been sightings on Israeli air strike on Thursday or Friday. However, the aircraft did not enter the Syrian airspace. Meanwhile, there were warnings of a new "large-scale massacre" in Syria near the city of Bania. Several sources in the village say at least 50 people were killed in summary executions and sheiling in Baida Village.
Opinions: I feel that it is due to the fact that Syria is transfering chemical weapons or other game-changing weaponry to teerorists which lead to the air strikes by Israeli and it has been the second time this year that Israel conducted airstrikes inside Syria. Therefore, I really wish that Syria will stop these illegal weaponry transfering which would not have cause all these problems.

Threats to Earth : Water Shortage

Summary:
 Our planet is mostly covered in water but only a small percentage of that is able for us to use. Therefore some people worldwide lack access to this water and some other water-related illness. some main causes of lack of water are because of human works that result in climate change and pollution which affect the freshwater available to us. Ecosystem is also damaged due to the water availability.

Opinion: 
 I believe that mostly it’s human work that causes harm to nature which results in lesser fresh water available. I think government should put up measure as to save the fresh water that is available to us.

 

Saturday, 18 May 2013

Overfishing and Poaching By: Sherman Teo

Summary:
The problem of overfishing is the number of fisheries. Because there are no rights there is a lack of incentive for fishermen to leave fish in the water. The traceability of fishing activities has long been a problem in the fishing industry. Current rules and regulations are not strong enough to limit fishing capacity to a sustainable level. This is particularly the case for the high seas, where there are few international fishing regulations, and those that exist are not always implemented or enforced. Many fisheries management bodies are not able to adequately incorporate scientific advice on fish quotas, and customs agencies and retailers cannot always ensure that the fish entering their country is caught legally and in a sustainable way.

Opinion:
I believe that the government should stop all these overfishing activities as it is causing more harm than benefits towards us. Even though it does not affect us now, but in future we would have lesser fish to eat as the population of all fishes are dropping drastically. Such changes must be made now while we are able to salvage the situation. If not, the future generations would have lesser fishes to eat.

 

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Summary:

Teachers are blaming parents for chaos caused in classroom, they believed that the parents fail to lay down the law at home is the reason. From a survey result from 800 teachers by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers revealed a rise in the number of pupils with emotional, behavioural or mental health issues over the past five years – which had led to deteriorating standards of discipline in schools and colleges.Nine out of 10 staff said they had to deal with at least one case of a challenging or disruptive pupil during the past year.

Opinion:

Parents are not to be blame as the children may behave differently in school and at home, if that's the case than parents should not be blame as they are not with their children. The parents spent lesser time with their children than the children teacher so the teacher should be the one to find a solution to the problem they faced and the teacher are the one to be blame instead of the parent. 

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Strawberry Generation in Singapore

Summary:

Youth today are like strawberry, they are easily crushable like strawberry. Youth this day can't suffer much hardship due to being sheltered by people around which causes them to unable withstand challenges. So the children who are living in this generation are regarded as the strawberry generation. The strawberry generation takes things for granted as they take things as a given to them.

Opinion:

In my opinion, parents should not shelter their child too much. Parents should must also not always help their children whenever they come across trouble but should teach them and make them learn.
Children must also not relly on their parent too much which is the main cause to children's becoming like strawberry.

Sunday, 5 May 2013

Teachers Blame Parents For Class Chaos By: Sherman Teo

Summary:

A survey of more than 800 teachers by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers revealed a rise in the number of pupils with emotional, behavior issues over the past five years. Many said parents were to blame for a rising tide of disruptive behavior in schools because they fail to lay down the law at home. Nine out of 10 staff said they had to deal with at least one case of a challenging or disruptive pupil during the past year.

Opinion:

In my opinion, I don’t think that parents are the one to be blamed for their children’s bad habits. These habits are normally due to the games that teenagers and children play constantly which affects their mind and the way they think. I believe that parents are not at home most of the time and they pin all their hopes on the school teachers to teach their children moral values. Parents are constantly out to work and earn income for the family and are seldom home to educate their child on morals. Therefore I believe that it is the teachers fault for not teaching the values.