Blog Response 4

Article: 联合早报 2007年5月14日— 男生拳打把士司机，父跪地代儿求原谅

Many would be shocked by this piece of news. The beating up of a bus driver who was only doing his duty as an employee of the company he works for, not by a gangster, not by a convict, but by a student from the top junior college in Singapore. What does this show about the education in Singapore? What does this show about the teenagers in Singapore?

After reading this news, several issues surfaced in my mind. Firstly, there was education, then there was family love, and finally, there was the question, whether it was right or wrong.
This article reflects a lot about the education system in Singapore. Is the educational system merely just a degenerating process, eating away at the moral fibers which parents had tried so hard to instill in their children when they are young? Is the educational system merely a reproductive machine for producing future barbarians? Or is the educational system too focused on achievement in areas of academic, the arts and sports to totally neglect the important emphasis on morality? What use is a good mind without a good heart?

Perhaps, the problem really lies in Singapore’s educational system. Students nowadays placed too big and emphasis on school work, such that at times, they forget the true meaning of living. Getting good grades seem to be the only golden goal in our society as the years go by, but I heed all of you to take a step back and look at the situation again. The superficiality of it all. Knowledge is renewing, it is ever changing and fickle. What lasts at the end of the day is our set of values which we hold dear to; it is that same set of values which make us who we are.

We must understand that when we move on into the world outside, away from the cuddles of our parents, away from the teachings of our teachers, we stand alone. It is not the same when you make mistakes. In school, you can beat up any tom, dick of harry and get away with it, but in face of laws, in face of order, that is impossible. In this article, the rashness of the boy’s action resulted in the humiliation of his parents. What made his father kneel down and beg for forgiveness? One simple word, love. Now if that word had even crossed the head of the boy before he committed such folly, these would never have happened. When we get into trouble outside, it is our parents who bear the full blame. They are willing to sacrifice their pride, their dignity to protect us. So why is it so hard for us teenagers to swallow that moment, to keep our cool, to make everything all right?

In my opinion, I feel that the Hwachong boy had done a great wrong to himself, to his school, to his parents. The incident had reflected his character as one of rash, one that is incapable of rational thinking. It had too tarnished the school’s reputation. He had let down the tradition of his school when he donned that uniform and committed that foolish act. The disappointment his parents faced, the humiliation.

Ask yourself when you decide to do something in the future. Is it worth it?

Blog Response 3

Article: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070413/5/singapore270071.html

There has been a lot of debate over the rise in parliamentary salary ever since the news erupted a month back. Were they right in doing this? It is hard to debate over this question without any grounds to argue upon, and this article serves just that purpose.

Compare the two, assistance for the needy and the parliamentary salary. Now which is worth pumping money into it more? For me, I would say the former. To summarize the entire article, on the view point of the government, the main argument of defense was that there is no apparent linkage between the two. There is not even a need for comparison since you cannot compare oranges with apples. However, I feel different about the entire issue.

I am not putting any side down, but I feel that the two events cannot be seen as two completely isolated events. If the parliamentary salary cannot be compared to the funds for assistance programs, then why should it, in the first place, be compared to the income of international organizations such as Hewlett-Packard?

Living in a society, it is true that at the top of the hierarchy, there is the government. However, the lower rungs are all made up people, groups of people. Some of these are better off than the others, and in a society, this community where we co-exist in, there will always be a group of people, who needs the assistance, who needs all the help that we can give. It does not matter how great or how strong your government is, prosperity is not gauged this way. It is instead, a measure of how your people live; it is a measure of how you take care of the needy. Now to say that government pay and assistance funds are completely separated in a society, how feasible is that idea actually?

On the other hand though, the government pay rise might not be all that a bad idea or move. If this little amount we are paying can guarantee us a corruption free and compassionate government for the future years to come, I do not see the reason as to why there would be a debate about this. But then, promises are still merely words. There is no way we can actually prove them till they happen. Let us hope that we will never have to prove it.

Whatever the case might be, the die is cast and the salaries had been raised. These debates that we hold are in fact kind of pointless. The government must have their reasons for doing what they did, and only almighty time will be able to tell if this decision is a good or a bad one. For now, what we can do is to continue helping those people who need our help, either by donating money or doing voluntary work. they constitute our society and as people living under that one single roof, we could and we should, render our fullest help to them in every way we can.