Lack of Camaraderie- A Pressing Issue Indeed

Hi guys,

Browsing through the pages of 2O1's history, I have come to a conclusion. Our class lacks camaraderie. Short, seemingly harmless, yet pressing and fatal.

The first sign of a un-bonded class is the unwillingness to help out each other in schoolwork. I would like to express my appreciation to those who really help me as well as the other classmates in the class. Yes, that means Martin, Jonathan, Hui Ming, Zhi Xin, Dexter etc. However, I feel that sometimes we are unwilling to help others, including me. Although help is still rendered in the end, I occasionally get a little frustrated or irritated. It is just human nature to be selfish and self-protecting. I promise that I will help everyone to the best of my ability.

The second sign is the flaming of classmates on blogs. From the posts that I have read, many involve unreasonable and often fictional descriptions of another classmate. It is extremely saddening to see fissures forming in the class. I hope that there will not be anymore hatred in the class, especially unjustified ones.

The third sign is the many “social circles” formed in the class. Well, it might not be bad if it was an open social circle, however in the class it is an extremely closed social circle. Somehow I feel as if the whole class has been divided into a few factions opposing each other in subtle ways. There is no sense of belonging to the class.

So how did the lack of camaraderie affect us, you may ask. Well, for one we got into a lot of trouble with our results. Our MSG ranking dropped 10 positions. That is one great “accomplishment”. However, I think this could have been averted if the class had enough teamwork to help each other out. Though it might seem troublesome, you never know when that person might help you in return. Furthermore, by repeating your knowledge to others, you are actually learning yourself! As the Chinese saying goes, revise the old and learn the new, you are able to gain knowledge just by thinking about it again. It is not a disadvantage to you to be helpful to others, in fact it is beneficial to you.

To solve the problem of the lack of camaraderie or the lack of class-spirit, I propose that we have more outings/CIP activities. Having fun is the best way to develop teamwork and camaraderie (unless you prefer the more painful solution-going through very hard times together). It will not be easy, but it is possible. For a better class, it must be done.

Whether you are a member of “fearsome four____” or the “waterpolo brothers” or the “mighty muggers”, I sincerely hope that everyone will be able to put aside their personal feuds and start anew, to rediscover the class in a whole new way.

Thank You

Popularity VS Profit

Hi guys,

I'm sure all of you have heard about the iPad or the iPhone. Much of the talk in the technology world is about these two items, which are both products of Apple Inc. Apparently, Apple has become the most popular and perhaps the most well-known computer + phone company in the world. It has sold over iPhone 3GSs since it came out last year, with over 4 billion apps downloaded from the apps store.

300,000 iPads just on the first day and 450,000 by the first week. So much so that the stores in America ran out of stock and they had to delay international shipping. Reviews of the iPad popped out all over the internet, media, newspapers and even Newsweek and China Weekly. There is so much buzz over the iPad and even the supposed iPhone 4G, which has yet to be even released! Evidently, Apple is receiving most of the attention in the tech world.

However, Microsoft has much of an "unsung success", according to Newsweek.Windows 7, Microsoft's new operating system, has sold over 90 million copies in just 5 months. The magazine said that windows 7 is "pretty high quality stuff" and has received "the highest customer-satisfaction scores of any product in its history". Its "revenues in the December quarter hit a record $19 billion", but "nobody seems to care". This is because Apple has captured almost all the computer/electronics market with its high-end Macbooks as well as its cheaper iPads and iPhones. For now, Microsoft is just raking in the money boringly, without receiving much attention.

So now for the question. Is popularity or profit better?

Firstly, I would like to say that both of them are inter-linked. If a company is popular, it will make a lot of money. However, if a company is profitable, it will most likely increase in popularity as its trustworthiness is high.

However, which one would you prefer to start off with? Personally, I prefer popularity. (No, its not because I love Apple more than Microsoft) With popularity, one can easily "convert" the people who are loyalist to your rival. Not to mention the free advertisements on newspapers and online tech blogs dedicated to your product reviews. Popularity will be a faster way to increase profits.

However, being profitable first is not so effective. If one is profitable but not publicized, your customer numbers will never increase as all the customers would be people who already trust your products, without many new customers. In fact, if you rival manages to create much better publicity, your customers would be poached. This is the case for Microsoft. They do not publicize their products much, so most of their customers are the same old ones from before. However, Apple publicizes their products a lot, and more and more people are converting to using Macs rather than PCs, iPhone rather than Windows Mobile, iPads rather than netbooks.

What is you take on this? Please Comment.

Aftermath of TKAM

WOOHOO!!! To Kill a Mockingbird literature test is finally over! Here's a song I want to dedicate to TKAM:

(sung to the tune of What a friend I have in Jesus)

When this test is gone and over,

Oh, how happy I will be!

No more boring annotations,

No more literature for me.

No more TKAM essay writing,

No more studying prejudice.

When this test is gone and over,

How I'll sleep and how I'll dream!

Well, that song pretty much sums up what I have to think about TKAM. Personally, I feel that TKAM is not very suitable to teach in Hwa Chong at a sec 2 level. Here is what happened what I first took out the book:

1. "WOW! So thick! I don't fell like reading it already"
2. I look at the synopsis and think, "I don’t know what will happen in the story at all!"
3. “Why is the first two pages about the history of some weird old guy from some fictional American town?"
4. “Hey, I think I’ll just leave this book alone until my teacher instructs me to read it.”

Even after analyzing the book in class, I still am not able to appreciate the book. If you ask me, Animal Farm is so much more interesting and captivating than TKAM. As people who have just reached teen-hood, I feel that we do not really find much importance in knowing about prejudice or moral courage, let alone take interest in it. Adults might think that it is of utmost importance to educate teenagers on the proper kinds of courage so that teenagers would not get into fights or start arguments, but instead have the courage to walk away. However, how effective can a literature book be in educating teenagers?

Yes, it is one of the greatest novels of all time. Yes, it has won the praise of many critics. However, I feel that it has not won over us teenagers. It is common to hear a swear word associated with the boredom of studying TKAM in class every morning, and sometimes on Facebook. This 'phenomenal' is not only confined to HC. There are many people from other schools such as RI or NY who post complains about the book on facebook.

The most compelling reason why this book is not suitable to be taught is because it not only did not serve its purpose of eradicating prejudice, it in fact made many of us more prejudiced. Many of the racist and ostracizing terms from the book were introduced into our vocabulary. Was TKAM counter-productive?

Personally, I think that Lord of the Flies would be more suitable to be taught in school. Although it has a violent nature, it is still acceptable to teenagers nowadays, who think nothing of playing violent video games that involve killing innocent people. Furthermore, its theme of savagery will prove to us that violence will get us nowhere. Its plentiful and varied vocabulary will serve to improve our english language skills (based on the first chapter. I am not sure whether the rest of the book is as such).

What do you think? Should TKAM be taught to us?

Disclaimer- All information provided in this post is purely the opinion and observation of myself only. This is not a critical review of the book, but a personal opinion. No offense is intended for anyone involved in one way or another with this post.

Intrapersonal Intelligence Assignment

Which character would you like to play in the movie version of the novel? Explain.

I would like to be Atticus in the movie version of the novel.

Firstly, I find that Atticus is the most likable character in the novel. Most people would regard him as the most just, non-racist, dependable, loving person/father in the story. Indeed, he sets a role model not only for lawyers around the world, but also us common folk. He is akin to Martin Luther King Jr in his actions, beliefs, and words, as seen in his unwavering belief that all humans should be equal before the law. He is willing to go to the extent of putting his own reputation, as well as his life on the line for his beliefs. Even in the face of opposition, he never faltered.

He is also dependable as he was always there for Jem and Scout, willing to listen to their grievances and stories. He never acted different on the streets as he was at home. Everyone in town respected him, even after the trial. Despite this, he was humble and respected his children's opinions, often willing to give way for his children, reaching a compromise.

But why act as him in a movie, you may ask? Well, from my experience (sorry, I could not find scientific evidence) humans always sympathize with the 'good guys', that is, the people who stand up for what is right. Take for example, most people will like Jake from Avatar because he stood up for his dreams, his beliefs and defected over to the natives of Pandora.

Likewise, acting as Atticus in a movie would boost my popularity. Acting as someone such as Bob Ewell or Mr Radley would only bring about scenarios like this:

You walk down the red carpet and a child says, "Hey! It's that bad guy from To Kill A Mockingbird!"

That would not be very nice, would it? Also, being one of the main, influential characters in a movie has many benefits. If the movie makes it to the Blockbusters, companies would flock to me to ask me to model for their advertisement. This is especially so for baby products, or law firms, where a role model as a father and a lawyer respectively would come in really handy to sell their product.

Lastly, acting as a morally upright person would no doubt affect my views on morality, and strengthen my moral courage. Although it is just an act, there is still an amount of feeling and reality to it. Just like acting out Boo Radley's rumors affected Scout's perception of Boo, acting would also affect me morally.

Do you agree with my reasons? Is my post answering the question?

Comment

Visual/Spatial Intelligence Assignment

Hi,

This is my assignment for Visual/Spatial Intelligence. It was drawn with reference made to To Kill A Mockingbird, Enotes and zsp417.tripod.com

I simplified the map and removed some less important information (or those that I could not remember whether it was mentioned in the book) such as the hardware store, the treehouse, the picket fence etc.

LA IT Home Learning Assignment

Hi,

This is the result of my Multiple Intelligences Test

As you can see, I am Visual/Spatial Smart and Interpersonal Smart. I think that through this test, I will be able to know how to make myself learn effectively. For example, if I am people smart, I would consult my friends and hold study sessions together to better facilitate my learning. If I am a picture smart person, I would create pictorial diagrams or mind maps to help me understand my work.

This knowledge is especially useful when studying for my exams as I need to know all my work in the shortest, most effective way possible. This will allow me to accomplish just that.

One thing I find weird is that I am actually people smart. I would not say that I am not, but I always thought I was better at intrapersonal. But in the end, intrapersonal turned up as the last in the test! Perhaps this test is a little inaccurate. So for the two assignments I need to complete, I will do Spatial/visual and intrapersonal.

Changes to My Blog

Hi guys,

Now I will be posting on how my blog has improved over last year's. I admit that my

previous blog was a little plain, boring and dead. So that is why I want to prove to you that my blog is better now!

(Firstly, if you happen to think that this is my personal blog, you are gravely mistaken. :D Do not take me as a "mugger"!)

Blogskin

I have adopted a new blogskin because many of my classmates feedback that the old Blogger blog template was too plain, boring and not eye-catching enough. This new blogskin features a interesting image in the background of the Earth being submerged/drowned. My world is now drowned in many things, whether good or bad. I want to share my thoughts in this blog, hence the cool new image.

I also like this blogskin because:

1. the font is not too small
2. The picture is not behind the words, thus it does not cause difficulty in reading
3. There is a clear colour contrast--Black background and white words
4. there is a large enough sidebar to fit my widgets

These improvements will be especially valuable to my blog because, though most of us do no believe it, we DO judge a book by its cover. The first impression one receives when he/she enters the blog is the blogskin. With this cool new, exciting blogskin, I am sure that people will be more interested in my blog.

Widgets

There is not much change to the widgets, except the change of music and the change of the blog visitor counter.

I changed the music to feature livelier songs that I think will help "hype-up" my visitors. These songs are not so common on other people's blogs because they are not that famous songs, but still quite nice.

The new blog visitor counter allows me to check my daily visitor traffic. This will help me better know when to write new blog posts, check back for comments etc.

Blog Slogan

I have already posted on this issue, which is available under 'older posts'. However, I wish to clarify that my blog slogan is my ASPIRATION, not what I already am.

I did not like my blog slogan (These words will change the internet) because it sounded very egoistic and proud. This new blog slogan is a little more humble, I would say. I chose to put an aspiration because I do not want to remain at what I already am, but rather I want to continually improve myself, climb higher than the highest peak!

PS. In case you have not realized, my blog slogan is an awesome alliteration!

Blog Content

I am still working on this but, I will try my best to post about things that are fresh and new, such as SLC. I try not to post about cliche topics like inconsideration on buses, what I did for the weekend etc. (If you really want to know about these topics then go visit some other boring blog.) I will also add more picture onto my posts to make my post more eye-

catching.

What I Plan To Do?

Well, I aspire to be the best I can, so no blog post about how I have improved is complete without how I will continue to improve, right? From another perspective, no reader actually would like to know how you have improved, since the end result is already right before their eyes. But rather, they would like to know how you would be in the future, and this part of my post is specially dedicated to that.

I will try to find a better font such that the paragraphs do not seem too cluttered. The current font is a little messy. I will also include more humour in my post, as well as videos to captivate visitors.

I will try to find more interesting issues to talk about, as well as decrease the amount of bias in my posts. This will be important as I want my blog to be as reliable as possible, though I do admit that there is no such thing as 'zero' bias-ness.

Is there anything else I can improve on? Please comment.

Why I LOVE IT Home Learning

Hi,

Well, as most of you probably know, next Mon and Tue will be our IT home learning days. Yes, that means there is no need to go to school! All our work and lessons will be prepared by our teachers and posted on the internet, and we have to finish it by a given time.

Personally, I like this method of teaching because I would have the opportunity to learn for ourselves, instead of having a teacher teach me everything. This will train my self-discipline NOT to play games, watch anime etc. during the Home Learning period.

On a usual day, where I have to wake up at an insane 6am, I would have lost my concentration by 11am. Hence, I would be nodding off to sleep during the second half of the day. The good news is that we only have to wake up at 8am during the two IT Home Learning days. (I know most people will just sleep two hours later, right?) This is really, really important because only then will I have the energy to work. The end result of this extra boost will be increased efficiency during my studies.

To some people, learning from the internet is easier and more efficient than learning from a real life teacher. I do not know why, but somehow an inanimate object can answer their questions and teach them better than a real-life teacher. Perhaps its because they prefer anything that is related to technology and computers. (I do)

However, everything has two sides of the story. (quite sad, huh?) There is this dark, looming, sinister temptation that threatens to seize you anytime during those two days-- Electronic Entertainment. Almost everyone in the world can be distracted with games, songs etc available in the internet. Even when in school, many people use their laptops to access Facebook, Youtube and computer games, sometimes during lessons. This problem will be worse when students are at home without the watchful eye of teachers, and are required to use the computer throughout the lesson. Work done might not be of top quality.

Also, we cannot clarify our doubts with teachers in those two days. questions directed through the forums will only be answered a few hours later. By then, student will be late for their submission of homework. There is also the possibility that students may not get their doubts clarified on the day itself and forget about the issue when he returns to school.

Lastly, if students do not complete their work properly or are unable to learn effectively during the two days, teachers would have to spend more time correcting the students' mistakes in class or revise the topics. This will waste precious curriculum time.

Verdict

It is alright to have IT Home Learning for a week at most to ensure that the students do not forget their questions and have a chance to voice them out. Also, it allows students to get a first-hand experience of independent learning, and is long enough to effectively develop self-discipline. Students can play computer games if they want to, but they have to make sure that they do not neglect their studies. Those who do not finish the work assigned may be punished by their teachers in school. (It is also like a holiday for us students!)

However, students who are unable to learn well with this system will still exist. There is no avoiding it. However, I feel that they can consult their parents or tuition teachers to teach them about what is being taught, if possible.

I LOVE IT HOME LEARNING! (who doesn't?)

Happy Chinese New (torturous) Year

Hi Guys!

Firstly I would like to wish all of you a very happy Chinese New (torturous) Year!

I am sure many of you detest the large stack of homework that is on the table/in you bag right now. (yes, even the night before school reopens) Well, my teacher once forbad us to wish her 步步高生 because it sounded a lot like 簿簿高生。The first one means constantly improving but the second one means more and more books. In other words, she does not want more books to mark. Similarly, I also strongly dislike homework during the CNY holidays.

Here are some Facebook Updates I found:

"I am overwhelmed by the heap of things to do. 4 times I have tried to sleep, 4 times homework reminded me I cant."

" is trying to do homework and watch tv at the same time..."

"it seems that the long weekend wasn't long enough..."

These are just some of the many posts complaining about the not-so-long Chinese New Year weekend. This overwhelming amount of homework has DESTROYED our Chinese New Year!!! Well there is a deeper implication to this seemingly small issue- Should our present societal norms outweigh our culture?

This issue is rather prevalent in the world today. This is because in today's society, there exists one generation of people who grew up about 60-80 years ago, therefore are deeply rooted to traditions and culture. The younger generation in today's society live in a world where culture and traditions still play an important role, but modern trends/customs threaten to overwhelm them.

If you are still confused about what I am talking about, think of it as:

A Red Packet VS A Black Packet

The reason for the usage of red as the colour for a red packet is because red is considered an auspicious colour for the Chinese. However, some people give "red" packets of other colours such as pink, orange, brown, and worse of all, black because many of the younger generation feel that red is a little boring and want to explore different alternatives. Sad to say that the usage of Black is regarded as inauspicious, a total contradiction with Chinese traditions.

The question at issue now is whether modern customs should replace old traditions and cultural customs. Let us now look at both sides of the argument. (We will be using the Chinese New Year and homework incident as an example)

For homework:

- Termly tests are just around the corner, if students do not revise their work, they will fail.

- CNY is a long weekend. Students will lose out on a lot if no work is done.

- CNY is not all about celebrating There are times to be serious and do work too.

- This is today's society. There is no escaping from homework.

- CNY is just a celebration. It is not against the law to do homework during CNY.

Against Homework:

- CNY is for people to enjoy, meet up with relatives and friends.

- Students should not be bogged down with homework during a festive season as it will cause them not being able to enjoy the festive season.

So what do you think? Which one is more important? Comment!

End of part 1

SLC 4 Weeks down the Road

Hi Guys

Sorry for not posting for so long. I know this may sound like an excuse but I have been reaching home at 10pm for a few days already, and the rest of the days are 'homework-packed' days.

So far we have started on the publicity part of our work. We need to create a publicity video, a brochure and website. Our first proposal was rejected so we are currently working at 150% trying to come up with some more by next week! I am in charge of the video. I have to say it is one of the most challenging of all, mainly because it was started only this year. That means that there are no resources from past SLCs to refer to.

SLC so far has been a cross-country run. Long hours spent in school and at home trying to dig out new ideas has left me a little tired. But this is just the beginning, still 5 more months to go! Stop and rest, and the deadlines will catch up with you. (our OS will also get to us) This mere 4 weeks is like the run from the track to the JC for Hwa Chong's cross-country run.

Just like a cross-country run, it is not just torture. There is still fun and experience gained. Just as running improves your stamina, this SLC-run has given me valuable skills and experience, such as teamwork and punctuality. I have learnt many miscellaneous things such as formality for our product, video editing etc. I have no doubt that this will come in useful in the future.

Finally, every run cannot be successful without the help of the organizer in the background. Similarly, this 4 weeks would not have been possible without my teachers, parents and friends. Thank You for all your help, and I hope you will excuse me if I am unable to complete any work.

Samuel Ng