Who cares for the caregivers?

I feel that there should be more awareness raised on this issue so that even more people can contribute to effort being put in to help mentally or physically disabled people. In fact, there should be homes for them being set up if their families are too busy to take care of them, where they can interact with others and be taken care throughout the day.


However, the bad thing about this is sometimes family members might find them a burden and just dump them into such homes. This would be the opposite of what we wanted, to care for the disabled and make them happy. The homes should also be opened to the disabled with no other family members to care for them, like in the case where the father of a disabled person wanted someone to care for his son after his death, and was extremely worried for him.

Normally, if the family members become too distraught, they might kill the disabled person and / or commit suicide, like mentioned in the article. There should be organisations set up to prevent such cases, like letting those with troubles contact them so the organisations can assist them.

I feel that the best solution will be to raise awareness on this issue, so that people can put in various efforts to aid those disabled people. Although there are already many nursing homes and services, there will always be room for improvement. Besides, not all disabled people might have been contacted and helped, some are still relying solely on their family members.

We should really find a way to ease their burden and help one another as civilised people.

All Summers in a Day

In the story "All Summers in a Day" , I find the children actually quite cruel and heartless. They are able to deny someone else the only chance in many years to catch a glimpse of the Sun. The children can actually bully someone slightly different from them, for a long term period, and is capable of doing serious things like locking Marget in a locker. What I find the most shocking is the children are barely in their teens!

Such young children are able to do such outrageous acts. However, the main attribute to this behaviour is their jealousy. They find that Marget is more fortunate than them, and they hate her for that. They are also not aware they are doing wrong, with their childish way of thinking.
They have not learnt to accept people for who they are and are prejudice against people who have seen the Sun more often than them. They should consider other people's feelings and not be so selfish.

However, Marget is not all right as well. Although she knows that she is different, she did not make any effort to fit in. Although she does not like it on Venus, with all the rain and no Sun at all. It is shocking, but she should learn to accept it. "Live and let live". She should adapt to the new environment.

If she had even tried, I think the children would treat her in a much different way. She could also stop boasting to the children about the fact she had seen the Sun more times than they ever had. This methods might have helped her to endure her stay on Venus.

I feel that the most important but challenging values that one should attain is equality(fairness) , open-mindedness, and selflessness. The values from our J-Tigerr should also be included as they are the key to building a good character in yourself. However, I feel that the most important one is Resilience. Without it, we will not have the will to do anything and the other values will be as useless.

Scary Settings

Pure darkness surrounded me.

My eyes were constantly scanning my surroundings, catious of whatever monstrosity lurks waiting for me. Dark figures crept all around me, and shadows loomed over me. I was dripping wet and the chilly temperatures of the deep ocean did not help one bit.

My flashlight only illuminated an area equal to a few feet in front of me. The entire ground area seemed bottomless and my view was obstructed by large creatures hovering around me.

The corals nearby seem to be swaying merrily, mocking me for my stupidity. Large, bright eyes were staring at me from all directions.

I regretted my decision to go diving at night.

Youth Happiness

I feel that I really fit the description of the youths in the survey conducted by the National Youth Council. I really am quite happy with life in Singapore. It is very convenient with all the transport networks and various facilities all around the country.


Singapore is a very democratic country where people can voice their views. The people in Singapore are also treated equally based on merit.

Most importantly, the education here is very good, with the addition of all the scholarship and other programmes being offered. This ensures that I have a bright future here. There are also many job opportunities here so I will not need to worry about getting a working career.

In addition, Singapore is almost free of disasters (excluding floods) so we will not need to worry about emergencies here.

We also have very good ties with other countries so we will not worry about having to defend our country from war. There are also alot of people in Singapore to make friends with, and we can socialise more with people of other races.

However, I would like to question the purpose of this survey. Is it really a survey to see how satisfied Singaporeans are with their life here, or a propaganda movement by the government to gain popularity?

But I do not mind it, as life here is really very good and uncomparable to other countries.

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Firstly, I would like to say that what Amy Chua said is not always true. There are in fact some Chinese parents who do not pressure their kids into perfection, and some Western parents who use that tactic.

However, some kids whose parents do not pressure them still performed well. In fact, they will be more motivated to learn, as they do not learn things as often as Chinese kids, and they will not grow tired of learning. Whereas, the Chinese kids are pressured into learning things and doing assessment papers everyday, so it is not surprising that they will feel tired of learning.

If one has the will to do something, he will have the ability to do it well. If one has the potential, yet made to study until he is tired of it, he will not take it seriously any more and "study for the sake of studying", without any improvement. This is what I call a huge waste.

Ask yourself, which is better: An hour of intense and serious studying, or five hours of studying blindly just to please others?

I feel that a more effective way of learning is to reward and not to punish. Reward the child for doing extra homework and studying well, instead of punishing him for not doing enough homework.

When I was younger, my parents often rewarded me with toys whenever I did well in exams. This encouraged me to study harder and and I excelled in my studies. However, whenever they punished me, I would feel extremely stressed and upset.

That is why when some kids in China are pushed to the extent, they might commit suicide, which explains why the suicide rate of children in China is on the rise. (excluding the fact that they have a growing population).

So, what the Chinese mothers are doing is not really right, but also not really wrong. I just want to say that this method does not work on everyone, and even if it does, he / she must not be pushed to the extent.

Comic Strip

I chose a dark and deserted background as it will start off as being sad and gloomy (with the kitten kicked off the cliff) . Furthermore, this particular background looks quite "mysterious", which will add tension to the story and readers will anticipate an incident to happen.

In the story, I had used the kitten to portray the victim as the cute, innocent little kitten will be small and defenceless. This is what allows the bully to bully it, and it cannot really fight back.

The bullies ( including the second one), are represented by Man himself, as in fact man is the biggest bully on the Earth. He is capable of doing many things, some which are bad. This story is also based on the theme animal abuse, and humans are the ones constantly bullying and disturbing the wildlife.

The last slide is changed to a sunnier scene, as it tells us the ultimate moral behind the story. (and the villain also had his just desserts).

Mindmap on Southern Traditions and the impact of the Great Depression

"Mum, Singaporeans are very kind"

I feel that the writer is trying to say that Singapore is actually a very pleasant and nice country to live in. The people here are indeed very friendly, although no country is perfect, and we do have our fair share of black sheeps.

In fact, I can feel the contrast of the situations. In Dubai, it was a very unfamiliar place for the writer and his family. His situation is only made worse by the fact that his son is often ill-treated.

Upon returning to Singapore, he finds the place very nice and the friendliness of the people here helped improve the conditions of his son.

What I really liked is the realisation that some Singaporeans do have a sense of belonging to the Singapore spirit, contrary to what others may say. In fact, Singapore is multi-racial country and all people are treated equally, so it is very easy to blend in.

It is also very heart-warming to find out that the writer's son's friends are very kind and accept him for who he is. That definitely cheered him up and gave him a sense of motivation. I really hope that all Singaporeans can get this acceptance and enjoy his life in this beloved country.
I am proud to be a Singaporean.

Loss

Is it better to have never known something than to have known it and ultimately lose it later?

I feel that I is better to have never known something than to have then lose it. Actually, when you have lost something, that feeling of loss will be there. In fact, the feeling of the gain is not as much as felt than compared to the feeling of loss.
For example, which will leave a more lasting impression on you? Losing $10, or finding a $10 note?
If the lost is very great, you may even live in pain all your life. Isn't it better to live normally than to live half of your life happily, and the other half in pain?
Take the story "All summers in a day" for instance. If Margot did not experience the Sun before, will she still feel the pain and loss of it not being there, and live miserably for a long period of time?
To me, it is not worth it...

My Past (True Story)

Have I ever been in the company of a group of which I was clearly not a member? The sad answer is yes.

This all took place in my primary school, from Primary 4 to Primary 6, since the same batch of "classmates" will stay with me for three years. When I was in Primary 4, I was somewhat very plump and not very tall.

My results were quite good that time, which made most of my classmates very jealous. They also said that I was fat and was very different from them. At first, I thought nothing of it, since they only did childish things like refusing to play with me during recess, and I had good friends from other classes to talk with. So, I ignored them at first.

I even tried to make friends with them, by attempting to play with them during their games, helping them with their schoolwork, inviting them to my birthday party, etc. However, they only got worse in their actions.

Imagine how hurt I was when they spreaded messages not to invite me to birthday parties, not to accept me as a friend. They even went around telling my own friends that they should "un-friend" me unless they wanted to get treated like me. The worse part came when they told one another to call me "Pig".

In school, at the shopping mall, on the internet... they always greeted me as " Pig".

Whenever during project work, I would be the only one without a group, and the reason they gave for not accepting me is "Cause he is fat" or "We just don't like him". I was like a toy being passed around group after group, with the "super unlucky" group ending up with me. Furthermore, during group discussion, I was not allowed to speak or voice my ideas, and all the negative comments my teacher gives will be blamed on me. This carried on until it was decided that I would do all project works on my own.

I still remember an incident when I sought help from a "classmate", he simply brushed me aside and said,"Shut up! I'm busy". However, when his friend came along with a question as well, he spent some time patiently teaching him before he went off.

In Primary 6, I lost a lot of weight and looked like an entirely different person. However I was still treated like an outcast because "once a Shawn Chan always a Shawn Chan". I became fed up with them and only concentrated on my studies.

On the day the PSLE results were released, I got 4th position in my class. So, I made it, came into my school, and left those hooligans once and for all.

Personal Targets 2011

1) What went well for LA last year?

Although my grades for Term 1 was very bad, I felt that I managed to improve my grades constantly throughout the year.
Our LA teacher Mr Teo also made the lessons very fun and interesting by continuously engaging with us. He often prompted us to voice our opinions whenever we discuss a particular topic in class. Furthermore, he also kept encouraging us to do better and assisted us in our work when we needed it. For some of us, he was like a godsend.
I managed to improve my narrative writing and comprehensive skills thanks to our class' "buddy system". My LA result at the end of the year also came as a surprise for me, as I did not expect to do that well.

2) What went wrong?

Actually I was not very attentive in class during the first term, and I did not practise enough narrative writing and comprehension. This caused me to panic during the exam period and I did not revise much before my tests. Thus, I was very unfamiliar as what to do during the test and this probably caused my grades to go downhill.

3)What is my LA target for 2011?

My target score for LA is an A1, and I hope I can achieve this by working hard throughout the year and get exempted from the LA End Of Year exams, although it is very difficult to do this.

4)How do I achieve this target?

The most basic things to start off with is probably to pay more attention in class and do more revision before the exams. I can also read more composition and search for other learning resources such as "Sparknotes".
I also hope that there will still be a buddy system this year so that we may study as a group and share some ideas and strategies.