Justice VS Mercy

If I were to choose between justice and mercy, I would choose justice over mercy. Justice should be enforced in the law to ensure that criminals or offenders get what they deserve, the punishment given out by the law. This is done so to ensure that the offenders do not repeat their mistakes and to warn the general public not to commit the same crimes or else they will be given the same punishment or even harsher, allowing everyone to live in a society without any fear of their safety, thereby giving other countries the impression that Singapore is a country where people abide by the law and not do anything against their conscience, attracting more foreign talents to Singapore to work. If justice is not enforced in the law, criminals and offender will continue to commit crimes, bringing danger to others’ lives as they will not learn from their mistake.

However, mercy still needs to be shown. If the crimes committed are not serious like vandalism, the offender should be given a second chance and let off with a light statement such as a fine and short period of jail term since it is also their first time. Speaking of vandalism reminds me of Oliver Fricker case where he was caught vandalizing on the Mass Rapid Transit trains and given 4 strokes of caning and 5 months’ jail term. The punishment given to Oliver was harsh as I do not think that vandalism should warrant a caning as it might do physical harm and probably psychological harm.
Besides this, Oliver break-in into the MRT terminal shows that there is flaw in the security system and it allows the person-in-charge to look at his mistake, a mistake that will have cause the lives of many people should the person who break in is not Oliver but a terrorist who wanted to plant a bomb in one of the trains.

Hence, this incident serves as a reminder to all Singaporeans to be more secured and not let things to be just as they are. Back to the topic about justice and mercy, I still think that justice is more important than mercy in most circumstances to uphold the law.

Sportsmanship

Currently happening now in Singapore is the Youth Olympics Games and speaking of YOG, it reminds me of sportsmanship. What is sportsmanship? Sportsmanship is when one enjoys an activity with proper consideration of fairness, ethnics, respect and a sense of fellowship with one’s competitors. It is regarded as a moral value in sport where it revolves around two concepts: fair play and character. Fair play refers to everyone having an equal chance to pursue victory, acting towards others in an honest and dignified manner even when others do not play fairly and respect for others including officials. Character refers to the values and habits that determine the way one would respond to desires, fears, challenges, opportunities, successes and failures. Hence good sportsmanship must be shown during competitions and friendly match.

Acts of good sportsmanship include helping up your opponents, shaking hands with them at the end of the match, accepting bad calls gracefully and acknowledging good plays made by others. The real winners in sports are those who know how to persevere and behave with dignity whether they win or lose. However, this was not the case in the rugby friendly match between Anglo-Chinese School and St. Andrew’s Secondary School. Despite winning the friendly match, one of the ACS(I) boys went to insult another St. Andrews boy’s mother which was not an action of sportsmanship as respect was not shown. This resulted in a fight where almost everyone suffered injuries. This would not have happen if the boys have shown good sportsmanship.

Sportsmanship can also be shown in online games by saying good job or nice try if that person has done his best and saying nice one if one got defeated fair and square and not insult the person just because one gets angry over the defeat. This shows that he or she does not have self-control or the correct moral values taught by the parents or teachers.

Hence, I think that everyone should have good sportsmanship and by doing so, have more self control and not be rash in their actions, resulting in wrong decision making.

Are Risks Necessary In Life?

When asked about whether risks are necessary in life, the first thing that comes into about our mind will be the consequences. What consequences will it bring? Will the consequences be dire? And is it worth the risk? It is by human natural instincts to ask that. I myself think that risks should be taken but not all the time, especially when the consequences are very dire and one cannot even carry the weight of the consequences. Thus, we should take risks after great amount of consideration and careful planning with the mindset that we might fail and embracing the consequences should we fail. Sometimes, risks are necessary as they help one to uncover things that he or she does not know, adding more knowledge, learning in the process of doing.

One such risk taken in life was about the Bijami twins who always wanted to be separated in their lives. Neurosurgeon Keith Goh was the one who pioneered this operation and he knew that should the operation, the twins might not survive as a lot of blood would be lost in this operation. However, he wanted to help the twins who desperately wanted to be separate and they would have continued looking for surgeons if Keith Goh had refused to do the operation. Keith Goh also pondered on this operation, not knowing whether he should proceed with the surgery that the twins sought after since they were born. So in the end, he of course agreed to help and went through tremendous preparations for the operation. However, the operation failed in the end and Keith Goh faced criticisms from the public for taking on this dangerous operation.

I do not think that the public should criticize him for his actions but rather praise him for his bravery that he was willing to accept the challenge and able to face the consequences with the correct mindset. They also forget the fact that the twins also desperately wanted this operation and it would be wrong to not help them when he could have done so. If the operation was to succeed, then this operation would be a new discovery to help mankind should twins be born conjoined at their head. Sometimes, risks are worth taking and the one taking it should not be blame for his action if he had put in much effort and time for the challenge.

Effects of war

Movie watched: Empire of the Sun

Merchant of Venice's plot

Task 2

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!


1.Point of View
This poem could have been written in the point of view of someone who has gone through the Vietnam war and seen the effects 'Agent Orange' have on the Vietnamese people. The person is able to know that the 'America did not forsee' that the 'Agent Orange' not only destroyed plants but also harmed the people, the 'innocent and unborn', causing illness, birth defects and significant amount of deaths.



2.Situation and Setting
The setting is after the 'Agent Orange' has been used and the effects could be seen on the innocent people. The poet mentions of 'toll on the innocent and unborn', 'omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn' and 'illness, born defects and prematurely dead', showing that he had seen the side effects of the 'Agent Orange' beside destroying crops - it also has harmful effects on the people who were exposed to it. He also regretted that 'Agent Orange' was used in the war as could be seen from 'Now thinking twice', showing that he was having second thoughts about 'Agent Orange' being used since the herbicide caused devastating effects on the innocent Vietnamese.



3.Language/Diction
In the title, rainbow itself symbolises something positive as in Bible, it means the symbol of God's everlasting agreement with the mankind that never will there be floods that will destroy all lives. Besides that, it also means to serve as a bridge between heaven and earth. Death means something negative since it is most feared by us. By putting rainbow and death together does not really make sense but in this case, it could mean that the rainbow herbicides cause many deaths of people, including innocent people, resulting them to cross the bridge to heaven.


4.Personal Response
This poem has invoke my sympathy for the innocent Vietnamese that were affected by the herbicides used by the Americans, and it seems to be blaming the America for using the herbicides as it was referred to as "nefariously" which means wicked. America also made other to pay a high price by causing illness, birth defects and toll on the innocent and unborn, making younger generations pay with their lives and bodies.

Task 1

Rainbow Death



America did not foresee

Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!

Expecting others to pay a high price.

Now thinking twice?

Toll on the innocent and unborn.



Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.

Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.

All the deceit continues to spread.

Nefariously America led astray -

Generations untold WILL pay -

Execrable effects of agent orange spray!



This poem is talking about the Vietnam War that was fought between the communist part of Vietnam and anti-communist part of Vietnam. This war caused lots of suffering and death on the Vietnamese as 'Agent Orange' was used on the enemies. 'Agent Orange' is the code name for the herbicide and defoliant. About 4.8million Vietnamese people were exposed to this herbicide, resulting in 400 thousand deaths and disabilities and 500 thousand children born with defects.

This 'Agent Orange' is by the far the most commonly used of the 'Rainbow Herbicides' eomployed in herbicidal warfare program. These 'Rainbow Herbicides' come in colours of purple, pink, orange and green and are used to cause the leaves of a plant to fall off, destroying cover for enemies and their main source of food.

Credit:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

Life is not easy

Life is not as easy as it may seems, and it is not just about living life to the fullest or enjoying it while you can but to do something that will make oneself proud. This is one thing that I have yet to achieved as I do not think I have done well in my exams, this certainly does not feel good for me as everyone around me seems to improve by leaps and bounds while I am still stuck at the same place, or deproving. This is certainly not something to be proud of and I feel that I did not meet my expectations in life.

Firstly, I failed my history test, it was something that I did not really expect, since I thought that the paper was quite okay, and it was the first time I failed a test in my whole primary and secondary life. I felt so upset over the first failed paper that I did not feel like studying for the next few tests as I have already failed one paper, why study for the other papers. This sentence seems to make sense at that moment as I had lost hope at that time. However, a friend of mine encouraged me to persevere on as I had already finished one paper, why not just finish all of them? In the end, I studied for the remaining of my test, I could say that I scored quite well for the others except for Language Arts which again is going to pull my marks down.

Maybe it's because I did not work hard enough, thus not able to fulfill my target that I set last term. Afterall, life is not easy, you cannot expect the marks to drop down from the sky. Nothing in the world is free, it comes with hard work and determination.

I guess it's time to go to mugging marathon, better than spending my time idling at home. I seriously need to get a MSG of 2 or less for next term and for EOY since I really do not want to go 3Q or 4Q. So mugging marathon, here I come.....

Bystander Effect

Bystander effect is a social pyschological phenomenon that refers to occasions where individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present and such incidents happened in New York before. One incident was about Ms Kitty Gevonese in 1964 where she was being brutally murdered and raped with no residents coming down to her even though they saw her being stabbed a few times.

Not many people would remember about this incident since it was ages ago. Bystander effect was shown in this incident and there are many reasons behind why people do not go forward to help but just stay on to look or just shouting something for someone to do but not themselves. One main reason is the diffusion of responsibility which everyone usually adopt, onlookers will assume that someone else will go forward to intervene and this makes them to feel less responsible, hence refraining them from intervening. This happened to our class last year, where everyone adopted this attitude and nothing was done to solve the problem in the end. Maybe some people felt that those who created the problem should go forth to solve it but none did it anyway.

Another reason for the bystander effect is because the onlookers do not know who are the people involve and hence do not want to bring unwanted trouble or attention to themselves so the best way is to stay clear of the situation and not get involved since they are strangers and not relatives to them. Some may feel that their assistance may be unwanted or that their assistance may be rejected, causing them to lose face in front of others so they will rather wait for some expertise to help like doctors or police who could give some help. While some others look around and see no one going forth to help, hence thinking that the situation is under control and needs no one's assistance.

In conclusion, this bystander effect certainly does no good in emergency situations and this should not be promoted. Instead, everyone should lent a helping hand to those in need and not wait for others to do first, if this could be done, the society would not have the bystander effect.

Education or Law?

Which way do you think is the most effective, education or law? For example, do you think the law or education will be effective towards people who have the habit of throwing rubbish onto the floor or leaving rubbish behind? Both of them will, of course, be effective to a group of people.



The law imposes fines on people who throw rubbish on the floor and have to pay the fine when caught. This will only work for people who care alot about their money. This group of people do not want to lose their money as it is their hard-earned money and it will be a waste by paying the fine($1,000) when caught for littering. It is certainly not worthwhile to just lose that much money to the government by just getting caught for littering so this group of people will consider about throwing litter. This group of people are those who are from the low class and middle class since they do not earn much money and every little bit of money matters alot to them.



Education is to educate people on the correct ways to do things like throwing rubbish into the litter bins or keeping the rubbish in a plastic bag until you see a litter bin to throw it in. Education is best taught to kids from young and this correct ways of doing things can be cultivated in them, letting them having the good habit of throwing rubbish into litter bins and despite inconvenience, they would still keep the rubbish and throw it into the litter bins if they found one later on.

I would think that educating people from young would be a most effective way and kids would learn everything taught to them since they yearn for knowledge as a curious child, allowing them to absorb everything they learn. If everyone has this good habit from young, then the law would not need to impose such heavy fines on people caught littering in public places and Singapore will continue to live up to its prestigious name of 'Garden City'. The law will only work on those who are scared of the law and do not want to pay the fines or to be caught in the public, causing themselves to be a disgrace in front of the public. Those who violate the law would only be scared after being caught once and having to pay fines, if not they would keep repeating the offences and by the time they stopped littering, Singapore would lose its name of 'Garden City'.

So what do you think? Education or Law?

Once again...

Once again, school has reopened. One week of March holiday past so fast, with almost everyday busy, monday was CIP and there was this incident where one resident of the block which we were doing CIP at, threw water down. Luckily it didn't hit anyone though it was by a close margin that Hui Ming got hit. Sadly, we did not saw who the culprit was. The one who did it is so irresponsible and does not play his/her part as a resident. He/She certainly thought there was no one below and went ahead to throw the water down. That person certainly never think what would happen if he/she hit someone and the consequences for doing so. I hoped that person would not do the same thing again as it would cause serious trouble and injury if the thing thrown was not water but flower pot.

Tuesday,Friday and Sunday were EP3 days. Sunday was to perform for the Founder's Day celebration and by the time I reached home, it was 9.30pm. I was tired and my performance attire was ruined when I reach home. And feeling so sleepy in class today. During recess, I went to check my term 1 progress report and once again, I did badly, first time I have gotten a MSG of higher than 3, 3.17!!! Feeling so sad and angry with myself for getting such a poor MSG, I could have done better, better do some soul searching and work harder.... Time to be serious and not slack around, I certainly do not want to get the same or higher MSG this term. That's all for now. Mugging Time!

Sabbaticals Week

So as I promised that I will post every week, here am I posting about the sabbatical I took during the Sabbaticals Week.

The sabbatical I took was Maths and Origami, where the trainers taught us the mathematical concepts behind the making of origami solids. One of the concepts was Pythagoras Theorem, a^2+b^2=c^2. This formula only applies to a triangle, a right-angled triangle, where the side c has to be the longest. This concept was from the folding perfect thirds on a piece of square paper and I am glad that I was able to learn this formula as this would probably be taught in the later part of this year. Another formula was Euler's formula where the sum of faces and vertices of a solid minus 2 equals the edges of the solid,F+V-2=E. The vertex is the sharp point of the the solid.

Of course, the workshop is not just about learning mathematical concepts but also folding origami, it was totally fun and I mean it, when it comes to folding all those solids and other stuffs. I folded alot of solids, from a tetrahedron to a icosahedron and other stuffs like box, swan and many more. Some of them took mere minutes to fold while others took an hour to do. However, I enjoyed the process of folding of this origami as it bring great satisfaction to be able to complete folding the origami and seeing it exactly like the one that was on the worksheet. It is like accomplishing a difficult feat.

Overall, I think that the workshop is pretty fun and you could learn alot of things from it. It also helps to refresh your concepts and formula about maths during the sabbatical week where you might forget everything you learn during the term. I would recommend all of you this workshop for the next term. And enjoy your March holidays!

Poem on prejudice against blacks

Blacks are black,
Whites are white,
Don't go near a black if you are a white,
And don't go near a white if you're a black,
That's how the prejudice against blacks in Maycomb is.

Whites are high,
Blacks are low,
Let the seat to the white if you are a black,
And just take the seat if you are a white,
That's how the prejudice against blacks in Maycomb is.

Whites always win,
Blacks always lose,
No use struggling if you are a black,
Sit back and relax if you are a white,
That how prejudice against blacks in Maycomb is.

To sum it up,
The whites have the advantages,
The blacks are at disadvantages,
It's not fair but that's the way of life
In Maycomb, the prejudiced community of Maycomb.

Intrapersonal(LA assignment)

As the highest score in the Multiple Intelligence Test is intrapersonal, I decided to do it first. And the question I had choose is question A " Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? Explain."



I wanted to be friend with Jem as he is courageous in his own way may it be wrong or right. His act of courage was shown in him accepting a dare from Dill to touch the Radleys house, taking his pants back from the Radleys house and not backing off when facing a mob of people who are older than him and even when one of them tried to beat him.



I admire his courage as not everyone could do what Jem does, especially not backing off when facing a crowd of adults or gangsters who have tattoos on their muscular arms, and are very big and tall, making you feel as though you are like an ant to them. This is what true courage is. Also, Jem knew his father would be beaten by the mob and hence wanted to stay by him to protect him. This also shows his love for his father who had taught him things, from moral values to being a true man. This is what is lacking in our society nowadays. Children leave their parents who are old in the old folks home, and not visiting them when they are free. Furthermore, children like us are defiant and do not listen to our parents, hating them for whatever choices they had make for us as we did not want it their way. This is another point why I wan to be friends with him.



He is also mature in his thinking when he told Atticus that Dill was in their house. Since he is mature, I could ask for his advice when I am not sure about something as he would not think of any crap solution but give what he views. This would be very useful to me since I am in need of advice and would certainly be thankful for any sensible advice available. He could also differentiate from what is right and what is wrong so the advice given would not be wrong and childish. Hence, I would befriend Jem for his courage and maturity in understanding.

Multiple Intelligence Test

After doing the Multiple Intelligence Test, I found that I am more of a intrapersonal who prefer to work alone and I can visualise things in my mind as much as I am talented in music.

However, I do not think that the results of the Multiple Intelligence Test may be correct as they would ask us some simple questions that could be answered by you yourself without needing the question. Some of the questions are in the same format as what the Facebook quizzes have, which are redundant. Also, if someone who have his or her own pride, he or she would not put the correct options as to what he or she really is, causing the results to be inaccurate. It is best to look at the person according to his achievements and past records then having him or her do the Multiple Intelligence Test.

However, one good thing about the Multiple Intelligence Test is finalising the results to a range of numbers from 0 to 25 and comparing each kind of intelligence to another, letting you to know which intelligence are you better in which without the test, you would not have known.

In conclusion, I would like to say that everything in life does not have not only one side, may it be evil or good, but each thing has its own advantage and disadvantage.

Amendments

Hi guys! Sorry to say that I did not make much changes to my blog as firstly, I feel that the blog skin colour is quite nice as the colour coordination is perfect, black and orange. Also, my slogan " City Life..." shows the life that I am experiencing which the life of a busy city, Singapore. So I changed the description about me to " Living in a city experiencing city life" to fit the slogan.

The hit counter was added to count the number of people visiting the blog and I also kept the ninja text generator which writes out my name. The music player was remove as I think the songs are very distracting to a person when he or she is trying to read the post. Furthermore, I am trying my best to add one new post each week and I think I would write about local and international news as many interesting things are happening around us. One such news is the opening of the casino in Sentosa which is to boost the economy of Singapore but instead, it caused the thefts of bankrupt people who lost their money in the casino.

And if you have any something that you would like me to add or blog about, please post it in the tag box. Thanks you.

Time flies...

In the blink of an eye, it is week 8 now, how fast time past. 8 weeks have past since the start of school and I am feeling that secondary two life is so different from secondary one. Secondary two life is much busier, with more ep3 training days which means more days of staying back and there are more programmes that are coming up after school which means another more days of staying back. And with the new grading system, it certainly hard to adapt to it and some students are complaining about it. Also, this year is a crucial year for secondary twos as what MSG we get this year means what courses and which class we would be going next year. Of course, everyone want to go to CSE and certainly want to choose a special programme so that means everyone would give in their best this year so that they could get to choose the programme they want next year. This year is going to be tough year. Going to work hard to go into SMTP or BSP.

Now let me talk about Chinese New Year now. Chinese New Year would be officially ending tomorrow which is Yuan Xia Festival, the 15th day of Chinese New Year. On Yuan XinaFestival, it would be a day where people would solve puzzles on lanterns and eat glutinous rice ball and get their families united in this joyful atmosphere. There is this belief where Yuan Xia Festival means celebrating and cultivating positive relationship between people, families, nature and the higher beings they believed were responsible for bringing the light each year. Tomorrow, there would also be a full moon and there would be alot of lanterns hang up for people to appreaciate. So tomorrow is the day where people would enjoy the last day of Chinese New Year and this would be the day where people could enjoy before going back to sowing seeds in their field in the ancient times. So enjoy the last day of Chinese New Year under the full moon and enjoyed the scenery! (:

Should smoking be prohibited totally in coffee shops?

Nowadays, the government has been trying to reduce the amount of people smoking as smoking is not good to one's health and could cause lung cancer and other diseases. Some of the methods that the government had used were restricting smokers from smokeing at air-conditioned places like shopping malls and they could only smoke at areas that have the signs that allow smokers to smoke. Some of these areas include coffee shops where there is a small area for smokers to smoke and also some fast food restaurants like macdonald that has both tables outside and inside the restaurant so the outside tables would allowed smokers to smoke.

Smoking are the biggest killers in the world and many people died due to smoking than due to accidents. Smokers can die 10 years before what they are suppose to live if they did not smoke. Back to the topic on whether should coffee shops be smoke free totally. To me, I think that smoking should not be prohibited totally in coffee shops now but could instead gradually restrict the places whereby the smokers can do their smoking. By doing so, the smokers then can slowly get use to the fact that the government wanted them to quit their habit of smoking and is slowly decreasing the number of areas for smokers. The smokers would then try to curb their habit of smoking since there isn't alot of place for them to smoke and if they wanted to smoke, it would be very inconvenient of them to do so. Slowly by slowly, I think that the number of smokers would eventually decreased until left with a minority that would not give up smoking habits so easily, so by then, there would be only 1 out of 100 people smoking.

However, if the coffee shops were to be make smoke free totally now, the coffee shop owners would lose alot of business as the usual customers who go there to have a cup of coffee or tea while smoking would not go to the coffee shops anymore since smoking is prohibited there. And these customers are the majority who would go there for a drink before their work or are taxi drivers stopping there for a rest.

In conclusion, smoking cannot be prohibited completely in coffee shops as there are still this minority in the society which could not be get rid of. But the amout of space for the smokers would have decreased significantly and this would be at least an improvement seen from last previous years.

It's the process that matters

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

This is the Olympics Creed by Pierre de Coubertin who got the idea for this phrase from a speech given by Bishop Ethelbert Talbot at a service for Olympic champions during the 1908 Olympic Games. This is somewhat alike to an ancient Chinese proveb, "The journey is the reward." I fully agree with what the proverb and the Olympics Creed as the most important thing is the journey and not the result. Why is the most important thing is the journey and not the result?

That is because through the journey, you will learn alot of things that may teach you moral values which is very important for your whole entire life. The most common moral value that would be learn is perseverance as usually in the process of doing something, you would always encounter problems that are difficult to solve or vexing to you, making you feel as though you want to give up. With what you learn during your journey, your result would not matter much anymore. No matter if you win or lose, it could not be as important as the reward you gain from your journey which could benefit you for the rest of your life while the winning only give you a temporary sense of satisfaction and losing would make you grieve. Why cry over spilled milk when you could think about what you have learn and how you could apply it in your life?

I would also like to say to everyone, move on in life and not look back at what wrong you have done cause it is not going to help. To those who have not done so well last year, focus on this year and work hard, with hard work and determination, it would get you to your goal. (:

Friends

What are friends? Friends to me are those who support me no matter under what circumstances, bad or good. They care for you when you are down and will always have a listening ear for you and a shoulder to cry on. They will always welcome your company and shows loyalty towards, often to the point of altruism. They will give you advice on what is best for you, share with you the sweetness of success and the bitterness of hardship they or you face. They would be honest with you when in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults which you did not see.

You will meet friends throughout your life, during your preschool years, your schooling years from primary to university and when you are working. Some of them will forget who you are after a few years while some of them will still remember vividly about you or have a vague idea who you are. Some people want to be your friends with a motive in mind, it could be because you are rich or have authority and they want to gain something from you or want to use you as a tool to get something better for themselves. Then, they would try to dump you off or pretend not to know you. While some people really want to be friends with you cause you make them happy when they are sad. These people do not have any motive and would help you when you are in trouble.

Friends you make in preschool would probably forget about you when all of you went to different primary schools. Friends in primary school would not bother to greet even if they know you when you all meet, except for some whom you are good friends with. However, friends in secondary school would be the friends that would help you when you met with troubles during the time when you work. They would probably company you through your junior college time and university too. These would be the time when you have alot of troubles in your life, about your relationship with your parents, your love affair, and other troubles. They would somehow be interlink with each other and come to you at the same time, this is the time when you would need a really good friend to help you, giving you advice on what is best for you. So it is best to make a good friend during your secondary school years. They would be more mature and you could tell them your troubles, instead of keeping it to yourself and by tellling them, you would feel better.

So I would end off this blog post by telling everyone to treasure your friendship with your good friends and make them last as long as possible for when your family is not there for you, you could always turn to your good friends. =)

Plagiarism Or Not?

Our class met with a case of so called plagiarism so I have decided to post a topic on plagiarism. Firstly, what does plagiarism really means and what does it means to you? I have checked it up on the dictionary and this is what it means,"the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." To me, plagiarism means the exact copy or rephrasing of people thoughts and opinions about something. However, what I think about plagiarism may not be the same for what others think about plagiarism. And this is what happens to our class.

One of our teacher gave us an assignment to do, and alot of questions could not be found from the textbook so some of us went to search for it online and found the same set of questions with all the answers so they copied the answers from the website without checking whether the answers were right or wrong and sent it to the teacher. After that, everyone in our class received a message from the teacher about students copying answers word for word from the website,saying that it is plagiarism and hence decided to give us a test. However, some students do not feel that they have plagiarised anything as they felt that it was part of their research. I felt the same too as if we could not find the answers for our homework, we would try to find it on the internet. But I think that the pupils are in the wrong too as they copied everything without checking from other sources and some of the answers could be wrong. But the teacher meaning of plagiarism is that anything we copied from the website word for word is wrong. So this started the misunderstanding that we were plagiarisng from the website which is not really the case as everything on the website is all facts and not opinions of other people.

So what do you think plagiarism is?

A whole new year

One year had gone so fast, and now it is 2010. Second year in secondary school. New subjects, new topics, new teachers, and last but not least, new grading system! I hate the new grading system, but still hating it won't do any good to me, so at least the best for me is to get used to it. Two reasons for hating it: Firstly, there are now two new subjects, Oral Communication and Independent Studies. Oral Communication requires me to speak more and to take part in current affairs, if not the total score at the end of the year will be pulled down. For Independent Studies, I relied on Project Day's Competition to max my Science ACE, but now, ACE and Project Day's Competition are two different things, each is a part of the subject, so well you get what I mean and why I hate it. Secondly, ACE and OP would not be able to help to pull up the marks of each subject, so if I were to get B3 for Science, it would not jump to A1 as 10 ACE and OP can get help me to jump two grades.

However there are few good advantages to it. Now that ACE and OP would not affect the academic results, I would be able to see what I could achieved. And the current affairs prompt me to speak up more, which is something I hate though, caused I am really scared of saying something wrong, but luckily there is this critical thinking subject which would help me to think seriously so that I would not say the wrong thing. Hopefully.

So I think I would end my post here, wishing all a happy and enriching year ahead!