Canoeing

Recently, there was a sudden happen of events which happened in the canoeing CCA. All the secondary threes in a certain craft, the kayak craft, quitted the CCA upon our teacher-in-charge Mr Yong’s repeated persuasion. Personally I feel that these secondary threes are very irresponsible for quitting and giving into the temptation of missing all the tough and grueling training sessions. These secondary threes were set to be our seniors next year to try to lead the team on to try and win the National Schools Championships but many of them quit. Though, they did not have exceptional leadership qualities, they could still have stayed in the CCA to be a target for us juniors to set to reach so that we can beat certain timing. I feel that as next year, we will be competing in the B Division category, having competitors older will help a lot due to the increase of experience and the strength and stamina they have in them. This year, they did very well against the other secondary fours from other schools, but they decided to quit at this very important path the canoeing team is taking. As it is, we do not have enough quality secondary one paddlers in our team to challenge for the C Division championships. One of the secondary ones has an asthma problem, two of them are severely overweight, and four of them are having severe attitude problem. The secondary threes leaving of the team at this period comes as a very big blow to us sec twos as we are left to lead. However, putting myself into Mr Yong’s shoes, his decisions are very well thought and well made. Thinking back, the secondary threes who left are very rebellious and often stand up to whatever Mr Yong says and even staged a boycott of a training camp during the June holidays. If Mr Yong had not persuaded them to leave, they would have probably influenced us and the secondary ones to be like them. A team with attitude problem and having second thoughts of winning will never go very far. Considering their poor leadership qualities such as not carrying out what they are asked to, they cannot lead others though they can win medals on their own. However this selfish mentality will pull the others in the team who unselfishly sacrifice for the team. These seniors won medals in this year’s competitions because they played mind games with their competitors such as performing sub-standardly purposely to let their opponents get the wrong impression of them and get complacent. Mr Yong also made several wrong decisions by putting them into some events based on their timing. Mr Yong felt that the stronger should compete in the events which have strongest competition but these seniors who are very talented let the hardworking and deserving team mates compete in the most difficult competitions while they go ahead to claim their medals in the easier competitions. Though the chances we may lose next year’s competitions, we have a very high chance of winning 2013’s National Schools Championships as the bad hats in the team are already eliminated. Mr Yong has obviously gambled his hopes on us sec twos to lead the team and influence them.

Reflection on sex ed

Mr Charles Low, director of the ProEd consortium recently gave us a talk on sexuality education on going steady at our age. Being at 14 years, there are quite a number of people getting into the Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship (BGR), whether in neighbourhood schools or elite schools. Mr Low’s advice to us was that we are still too young and obviously too busy to have a girlfriend. In my opinion, going steady at an age of 14 is a bit too young. I think that what causes people to have the temptation to get a girlfriend or boyfriend is largely due to influence instead of the desire to find a partner in life. Where does this influence come from? The television and friends. In my class, many of us watch the television series Glee. In this show, it depicts the high school life of students in the United States. In high school, the students were having steads are most of them have intimate relationships. These probably cause people to have the desire to find a girlfriend in our school as we are also around the same age as the characters in the show. However, if we really get a partner what good would it do to us? I feel that what really gets to us if we fall into a relationship at our age is trouble after the short term fun and thrill. The initial stages of a relationship is usually fun when you get to send flirtatious messages to the girl, see the girl and get to stuff that you see adults do on TV. What would happen when the relationship gets into the later stages are usually not as interesting and fun as it seems in the initial stage. When one’s studies get affected because of spending too much time and getting overly distracted by your stead, it can be quickly solved by studying and going for more tuition lessons. However, explaining this compromise to your girlfriend may be quite difficult. This is not the worse of the problems that would be brought to you when you get into a relationship if you do not know how to take the relationship into control. If the ‘fun’ relationship really gets the girl or you to fall deeply in love with the latter, but you or your stead does not really feel the same way to you, it would be devastating, especially if the relationship comes to an end. Guys and girls at our age have had mental breakdowns because of such reasons. When something like that happens, our future may seem bleak. But what is the worst thing that could happen to a ‘couple’ at our young age is when the girl gets pregnant. Not many boys at our age are courageous enough to buy contraception for an intercourse which is about to happen or they could not tell that it would be coming. The girl would have to go through a very emotional period when parents of both sides come together to make decisions that would probably affect the rest of her life. The girl would have to go through a period of emotional and physical pain. The guy would probably get a black mark in his record and his future is most likely ruined. Also, even if the relationship is maintained all the way to junior college and the two of them are having a healthy relationship, there is still National Service which awaits the boy which separates the two for quite a period of time while his girlfriend goes on to study and she would get to meet other guys. Will the relationship still be maintained? Will he be able to take the blow when his girlfriend sends him an sms he dreads and he would only receive in his worst nightmare? My stand is that, we could just be good friends with students of the opposite sex and do not go overboard.

Blog Prompt

Largley as a result of sex-seletive abortions, Asia is today short of 160 million women. This leads to the serious problem of bride trafficking and prostitution carried out by sexually frustrated men.

The effect will be as mentioned, there will be a growing rate of bride trafficking and prostitution elicited by sexually frustrated men. there will be an increase in kidnaps and lesser security of young children. A smaller-scale of this sex-selective abortions in Asia will be China. as of today, China's boy to girl ratio is devastatingly large with males taking up the majority of the country now. This would definitely lead to the decline of facilities catered for babies in the future and for women also. Girls may also be treated the way Shylock is treated in the Merchant of Venice. Prostitution and bride trafficking may have to be legalised to raise the population rate. These would lead to Asia being a hub of human trafficking and prostitution.

Self-obsession and narcissism are on the rise in the US, with the effect that many Americans feel that they "can everything without having to pay for it." Some consequences of this rheotric are global climate change, the widening gap between the extremely wealthy and everyone else, and the current financial crisis.
In your view, what are the possible problems associated with a similar rise in self-obsession and narcissim in Singapore?
Write in ABC/PEEL format.

Recently in the US, other Casey Anthony was acquitted of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee, even though she didn't report the little girl's disappearance for over a month, and circumstantial evidence pointed to other suspicious behaviour.

Now that Casey Anthony has been acquitted, should the general public show mercy by accepting the court decision and leaving her alone?

The general public should show mercy by accepting the court decision to a certain extent, but they should condemn her ignorance of not reporting her daughter's disappearance. As a mother, she has the responsibility to look after her child, and in this case, he daughter when missing and she did not report her. This definitely raised suspicions that the mother had a part to play in her daughter's disappearance. However, since the court decided to acquit Casey of her crime, they must have several solid evidences to do so. There may also be several reasons why Casey did not report her daughter's disappearance. She may be too devastated by her loss of her daughter's that she could not bring herself to even think about her daughter. In this case, when Casey is being accused and publicly condemned, she will feel even worse, like causing her internal wound to worsen. So the public should show mercy.

Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper News of the World was recently found to have illegally hacked into the phones of British royalty, famous actors, murder victims and families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Is it ethically right to participate in the newsroom culture Murdoch fostered, "where you do whatever it takes to get the story, take no prisoners, destroy the competition, and the end will justify the means?

Blog Prompt #4B (Expository)
“Largely as a result of sex-selective abortions, Asia today is short 160 million women. They have disappeared silently over several decades, but their absence can be seen in classrooms filled with boys, in huddles of bachelors on city streets and in higher rates of bride trafficking and prostitution elicited by growing numbers of sexually frustrated men.”
What will be the effect on Asian society by such a large gender imbalance if this trend continues? Write in SEE format.


With this large gender imbalance trend continuing, Asia will start to face several problems such as higher rates of bride trafficking and prostitution elicited by growing numbers of sexually frustrated men