Who cares about the caregivers?

I think this article gives an interesting perspective on the problems our society faces because of the mentally and physically handicapped. It shows us that even though the focus is usually placed on whether the handicapped have caregivers, and whether they are able to live properly, the people around them, who have to take care of them and are responsible for their well-being, are greatly affected in terms of their lifestyle too, not necessarily in good ways. It highlights the fact that those caregivers need to have emotional and maybe financial support too.

Handicapped people have much greater needs than ordinary people, hence their caregivers have a great responsibility to hold, and have to invest much of their time into taking care of the patient, and are able to spend much less time doing things they would normally be able to do, like socialise. In a certain example, giving care to a handicapped sister caused a lady to be unable to marry, and in another case, it destroyed a relationship because the caregiver's husband was too frustrated with his wife having to spend so much time on caring for the patient.

Firstly, I feel that it is definitely necessary to care for handicapped people among us, as it is a basic human right to have food, water and love, and to be able to live with dignity. However, it is also necessary to provide the adequate resources such as homes and day care centres to allow their needs to be met. Another person having to sacrifice their own happiness because of giving such care, is as much of an evil as not caring for the handicapped patient in the first place.

LA - 28/1/11

In All Summers in Day, how did the Venus children deal with a person who is different from the rest? Can we learn anything from the behavior of these children? What positive character traits do they lack? What mistakes does Margot seem to make? Give her some advice on how to fit in. What are the most valued and the most challenging character traits for students?

The children ostracised her by not only not including her in their group of friends, but also did mean things to her like locking her in the cupboard and criticising her everytime she mentioned the sun, which only she among all the children had seen before. We can see from their behaviour that people are generally very intolerant of others who are different from them, and mixed with strong feelings of jealousy, this can result in severe bullying. It can be seen that they lack a sense of acceptance towards others who come from different backgrounds, and are intolerant of those who have different opinions from them. They also lack the compassion to stop tormenting Margot despite the fact that they can see the suffering she is going through. However, all this is somewhat provoked by Margot herself, as she always talks about the sun, and all the good things about it, which tends to enrage the other children and make them jealous because they have not had a chance to see the sun, unlike her. In order to fit in, she could try to engage with them more, and not mention the sun that much, which is a sensitive topic for many of them. I feel the most challenging character traits for students to attain are honesty, which involves resisting the tempation to cheat or copy from others, tolerance for others, which involves not bullying schoolmates who are different in some way, and self-control, to manage their time properly to get their work done

Setting

The orange rays peeked through the thin branches of the willow trees that swayed with the breeze. Tiny ripples drifted across the emerald green waters of the pond, and in the background, elated giggles were heard. The little boy toddled across the soft grass, feeling like he was stepping across an ocean of pillows. The ground was still wet and the air still smelling of rain. As he reached the water, he tentatively dipped a toe into the cool water. He put his other foot in, a pleasant tingling feeling creeping up his leg. Sweet chirping mixed in with the occasional chirp of crickets echoed throughout the little park. Suddenly, a shriek rang out....

LA 26/1/11

I think that I fit the description though the environment that I live in is a little different. In terms of the way I go about my daily life such as eating or transport. Also, I do share some of the aspirations of most of the youths surveyed. For example, I think that it is more important to maintain good ties with my family and friends, rather than just focusing on a successful career.

However, my schooling environment is very different from most of Singapore. Firstly, my school mostly has students of the same race, which is contrary to racial diversity, one of the key traits of Singapore. Secondly, I feel that I have many more opportunities for learning compared to the rest of Singapore, like special programs that allow us to learn in different ways, such as online lessons.

Why Chinese Mothers are more "Superior" ?

When first reading the article, it is very easy to immediately form a judgement that Ms Chua's method of parenting is utterly abominable, and totally wrong to nurture a successful and all-rounded child, but I feel that there is definitely a grain of truth in her methods of parenting, and her goals for her children are valid, though the means she uses to achieve those goals could be quite extreme.

Some of her expectations, such as not allowing her children to get any grade less than an A, or not allowing them to go for sleepovers, are obviously very strict by any standards. I feel this kind of expectations for studies may not work in all cases. In Ms Chua's case, she made her daughter practice a piano piece she couldn't seem to get endlessly, by shouting at her daughter and using many threats, which made her daughter very angry, and left with no choice in the end, she had to keep practicing and mastered the piece in the end. However, in some cases, maybe the child simply does not have the ability to do it, and the endless drilling will only serve to demoralise the child and crush her self-esteem.

Despite these negative aspects of her parenting, the rationale behind her parenting techinques is quite valid, and could work in some cases. For example, her attitude that assumes her children are mentally strong, not fragile. She drilled her daughter endlessly after she did badly after a math test and said she hated math. As a result of this, her daughter aced the next test, and admitted that she had begun to enjoy the subject.

In conclusion, I think her methods are harsh, but have a good rationale and logic behind them. Her methods worked in her case, but no parenting technique can work with all children. I feel the most important thing for parents is to see what kind of personality their child has, and change their parenting methods to ensure the child maximises his potential and at the same time is happy.

Home Learning 24/1/11

The underlying message I wish to put across through this comic strip is how people tend to neglect their elderly parents, despite the fact that they have been responsible for their upbringing. The "story" I have created compares how a woman treats her young child to how she treats her elderly father.

I took away the colour from the two scenes involving the elderly man, representing how the happiness and energy gradually fades away from a person's life as they get older. This is in contrast to the scene with the baby in it, to show that the beginning of the life is full of joy. Also, I compare the abundance of toys in the baby's room to the lack of objects in the scene involving the elderly man. This represents physically that the baby is showered with toys whereas the wants of the old man are somewhat neglected, and also that a newborn's life is full of love and concern, whereas an elderly man's life is often devoid of those.

The two things that happen to each of the individuals are also somewhat the same, such as the baby crying and the old man tripping. This shows that both of them do not have the ability to really take care of their basic needs. I use this to show that despite differences in the two people's lives, they have the same needs.

The woman, who is the main character in the story, deals with these two people with similar needs in very different ways, doting on the child but brushing off the old man. I highlight this by making sure I contrast the woman's expressions from the two scenes, and also the tone of her speech.

Facebook - Good or Bad?

In class, we discussed how Facebook has affected human relationships in ways such as causing people to have less face to face interaction.

I feel Facebook, whether we like it or not, is now a very big part of our lifestyle, and not just for "tech-savvy" youths, but for people of all ages. Within the span of 4 years, it has grown to have 600 million users. In this period of time, it has caused much controversy, and has radically changed how we view our social lives.

I don't think it would be fair to judge Facebook as a bad influence that people should be banned from, but neither is it perfect. Just like other technology such as forums, email and blogs, Facebook can be made use of to enhance one's lifestyle but it can also be abused and cause much inconvenience to people.

Firstly, one of the advantages I feel Facebook has is that it has made communication between people much more convenient. You could send a message to a person, just like an email, you can chat with them just like on other instant messaging platforms such as MSN, you could write on someone's "wall" for short messages instead of text messaging or voicemail. Furthermore, these features are all in one website.

Facebook also has many features for both work and play. There are a huge number of quizzes and games for entertainment purposes, and there also are many features that help you plan events, organise gatherings and network with colleagues/schoolmates.

However, these features cause some people to decrease their face to face interaction with each other, and their friendship is weakened, rather than improved, which was the original purpose of Facebook.

Some people also abuse these features. People often use Facebook to conduct cyber-bullying, by posting snide comments on other people's posts, and creating pages full of criticism for the victim. Many others also waste a lot of time on Facebook playing a whole range of addictive games available on Facebook, causing them to spend the time they could be using on productive activities on games.

Personally, I do use Facebook quite actively. However, to prevent myself from wasting too much time, I make sure I limit myself to about half an hour's usage a day, and only work-related communication outside of that time. I believe it is fine to use Facebook as a tool for de-stressing and useful communication, but should not take up unnecessary amounts of time or compromise on our interaction with friends in real life.

Mind Map - Harper Lee

LA - 19/1/11

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

I believe that it depends on the environment you are in. If you have not known something, there is no way you can yearn for it, because you will not know what it is, and hence not be able to appreciate it. For example, if you have never scored good grades in school, you would be expecting to constantly to score those grades, and would not be extremely distressed if you continue doing poorly,especially if you mix around with people who do just as poorly, because you would not feel any pressure to perform.

However, on the flip side, if your peers who were close to you all did very well, and you can see the privileges and joy that they derive from it, you will feel pressured to do well so as to fit in with your friends, and you will feel as if you were missing out on many privileges that you could have otherwise achieved.

I also feel the same way about having something and losing it later. Using the same example, if you had always had very good grades, and lose it later, you would lose out on many privileges you would otherwise have. You would yearn for those constantly, and this will cause you a lot of disappointment. However, if those around you also were faced with the same problems, you would not feel as if you have let yourself down so badly.

LA - 18/1/11

Have you ever been part of a group of people who were unkind to one or some individuals? What was the circumstance? How did you act? What did you feel?


Yes, I have. I have been in this kind of situation many times before, and I have found that usually, it is simply because the other individual was different, or he reacts and deals with situations differently. For example, when I was in primary school, there was a boy who participated very actively in class, and did very well in school work, but did not seem to share our interests, such as playing games and sports. When we would run around the school during recess, he would be quietly sitting down reading. This caused him to be seen as square and anti-social. Many of my classmates made fun of him by playing pranks on him such as hiding his school books outside the class, and stealing his food during break.

Looking back, I realise that we should not have picked on him just because he was different, just because his priorities at the time were different from us. I feel that when we meet people who are different, we should try to get to know them better better, before trying to judge them or form preconceptions about them.

First Lesson / Goal Setting

Today was my first lesson of the year as well as the first LA lesson. My class has a new teacher, Ms Soh, who taught us AAP last year.

The lesson mainly involved my class getting briefed on admin matters, and it helped to clarify certain issues I was unclear about, especially online learning. I am excited to try this new method of learning as I feel that online learning can help enhance my learning for LA.

Firstly, it provides convenient platforms for me to share my views with my classmates easily. I feel this will help me to get constructive feedback from my peers to improve on my schoolwork, and it will also allow me to help others in areas they are weaker and I am stronger in.

Secondly, technology will allow me to access a large amount of resources that can help me learn many things outside of the syllabus.

Goals:

1. What went well

- I feel I fared quite well for my letter writing last year, and I was able to grasp the different requirements for letter writing.

2. What can be improved upon

- Overall, I did not understand all the requirements for all the exams/tests.(Not sure what exactly are teachers looking out for when they grade a paper)

- I did not pay attention to details, especially about Animal Farm, which resulted in insufficient knowledge to back up my statements in the test.

3. LA Target

- I wish to attain an A2 as my grade for term 1, and at least an A2 for my EOY grade, preferably an A1. I also do not wish to score below a B3 for any test. I feel this is a reasonable goal as my EOY grade was B3, and the marks of many of my tests fluctuated a lot, between C5 and A1, so I wish to maintain consistent results this year.

4. How I wish to attain these goals

- Pay a lot of attention in class, especially to topics such as the Lit books, as I find understanding them quite challenging.

- Practice more using additional materials for areas I am weak in such as Comprehension.