Cyber wellness

The internet is widely use by people in the whole wide world. Surfing the internet seems to be everyone’s staple activity in their daily life. One of the dangerous things that have been discovered is that most of the users that are mostly teenagers seem to ignore the cyber responsibilities when they are involve in it. The government emphasised and focus more on the teenagers as they are more vulnerable and influenced when it comes to something new that really interest them.


The teenagers have to be careful also about engaging new friends or meet strangers from the internet as they might be a lot of people out there that are trying to con or prey on the teenagers so that they can do anything they want to the victims who might have already fall in their traps unknowingly....


Many teenagers of today fall prey to the cyber predators so easily because of their curiosity and lack of awareness of the dangers the internet have. There have been many cases whereby the teenagers had been warned of what could happen to them if they leaked private information of themselves, only to have the advice fall on deaf ears and they still become victims. To prevent this from ever happening to anyone a set of core values must be instilled onto children, as to teach them of the responsibilities that they must have when surfing the net at a young age so that by the time they become teenagers these values have been drilled into their brains.

Through the internet the teenagers can also freely get porn videos as evidence to what happen in Indonesia and

• People can easily get porn stuff inside the internet

• Download songs and movies illegally, etc.

Reflection

I had started off blogging on current affairs reluctantly. Though I have had a similar experience during my secondary school years, I have to admit that I never enjoyed blogging on the specific topics provided. It is different to blog on given topics as compared to blogging personally. There are restrictions to follow, such as the language used as well as the formalities. It might seem easy as it is not a new experience for me, however, I do realise that I find much more difficulties to blog this time round as I expect myself to give insights which are much more matured and sensible.

 Frankly speaking, just to blog on certain topics, I took so long to generate my thoughts and ideas. At the same time, trying to avoid what has already been covered in the articles provided. As the weeks passed, this blogging task became my weekly routine, but I have to admit that I still procrastinated.



As I am not an avid reader of the newspapers, I barely know the updates on the world. Having to blog every week, I am forced to read the articles and give my insights on them. The entire blogging experience has certainly made me more knowledgeable on what has been happening around me for the past few weeks. This is obviously a very good opportunity for me to express my feelings, opinions and thoughts on the particular topic. It has made me think deeper and at a more matured level. So, thank you to Mr Pang for the experience! And, sorry if some of my blog posts had exceeded the time limit slightly.

Emotional Intelligence

After reading the articles, I got a better definition and picture of what Emotional Intelligence really means. Basically, Emotional Intelligence is a package of soft skills that includes self-awareness, an understanding of the effect of your mood and behaviour on others, impulse control, stress management, initiative, discipline, time management, a positive mindset and leadership. But, most importantly, is empathy.


Empathy refers to the ability to understand and put yourself in others’ shoes, which will eventually allow one to build good ties with his/her fellow colleagues or subordinates. Not only that, it would also allow improve communication and interaction between the two parties thus, minimising misunderstandings. With better communication and lesser misunderstandings, productivity at workplace would increase. Hence, an employee with a high EQ is an asset to the company.


As more employers are searching for this one criteria in their future employee, one has to ensure that they are ready to be quizzed on their EQ when they go for job interviews. Fresh graduates have no excuse though they have just graduated. As said in the article “’Emotional Intelligence’ a new hiring criterion”, emotional intelligence can be displayed when one describes how he/she has managed events, met deadlines and trained a group of people.


I feel that the Internet has actually made it easier for people who want to show off that they do have emotional intelligence, as EQ tips can be found easily on the Internet. This would certainly help those who are attending interviews or sending in their resumes as it would give them a good first impression.


Therefore, I do agree that it is very important for one to be equipped with Emotional Intelligence in order to have a fulfilling career, no matter what the job is.

World Cup 2010 Fever

The World Cup, a football event that takes place only once in every four years also means the kick start of the event whereby employees start to make up various excuses to skip work. Employees from all over the world will start to make excuses no matter how farfetched it is just to view the world cup to see the action or see the outcome of the match. The reasons can range from headaches, tummy ache, vomiting, and food poisoning to even faking the death of someone close to them just so they could get time off from work. Some of them would even quit their jobs if they had tickets to the world cup but not allowed leave.

It is a surprise though that quite a number of the bosses are forgiving enough to grant leave for their employees even if it may affect the company productivity. The bosses of the companies are also forgiving and less strict when their employees are less enthusiastic or late for work. In fact there are bosses who think that this is a good time to bond and forge a good working relationship between the employee and employer in the future as they share a common interest. While doing this, the bosses should also enforce that the employees should know their limits and their work commitments. Of course there are other company heads that do not support this and are strict about employees coming to work late, albeit they themselves do it also.

Sometimes it is not always the employees who watched the football match that will obviously affect their work productivity but to those filial employees that did not watch also will be affected because of those people who have watched the world cup match near their houses would watch it until in the wee hours and including the noises and nuisance that their did as well. That’s why sometime the bosses will not blame and try to be understanding as some of the employees might not watch the football match because for the basic reason that they don’t like to watch it but it’s because of those people who had watched it and that had disturb the peace at night; that is for sleeping time.

Reflection

Woo oh yeah! It is going to be my last blogging for this coursework! I wonder how I can say in my reality feeling. All I can feel is the pleasant and relieved feeling when typing this blog now. It really feels different from typing the last blogging. The Feeling! When you won a first place in competition, it is the same feeling I used to feel before. A sense of accomplishment I guess. You have never known how much hardship and feeling I have endured blogging the last 10 weeks. In blogging, I was able to type what i wanted to say in the views of these topics. Although I hate to say it that it was quite tiring, it has been a fulfilling experience for me at least.

Allow me to say my favourite blog topics I had taken interest in.

Be Veg! Go Green! Save our Earth
It was that topic which gave me much emotion. By coincidence, I was given the articles from Mr Pang, which said about the Ocean Fish and Year of Biodiversity. At that time, I felt so urged to post the blog beyond these articles. I wanted to take this chance to talk about it and the facts that Earth is currently undergoing a climax situation where sea level is increasing due to the Carbon Dioxide emission. As it was said that it was due to Livestock industry, it was the main cause of carbon dioxide emission. I really hoped that people would know of the situation and start to change the lifestyle by going Green, in the hope of saving Earth. http://www.suprememaster.tv/save-our-planet/?wr_id=1183&page=2

Emotional Intelligence
It was very interesting topic that I did not even know at first glance. Beside IQ, EQ appeared surprisingly towards me. You may not know that I really have high EQ. Being a hearing impaired, I cannot hear quite clear but I use my very important sight to observe others. It helps in my academic school works and communication. By observing the slightest clue, I really can understand how my friends are feeling and help them. Once, I was said to be a gentleman for understanding their emotions, especially girls. During my age of 14-17 in Secondary School, I had gone through a period of time, learning that being calm enables me to make the right decision. I was able to fully understand it after observing some of my friends whom hot tempers landed them in trouble – gangs fight. After gaining a deeper understanding of emotional intelligence, I am glad to know that my EQ will be of useful in future business, work and relationship. From then on, I will be looking forward to using my EQ with my sight.

Well, I want to say thanks to Mr Pang for this valuable knowledge that you have given me.
All these blogging really gave me much happiness and saddness for the past weeks. I am starting to view the world in a new place where I am going to expand my general knowledge.
It did make me more mature though I was already mature in Secondary School times.

The World Is Indeed Vast! Once Again, Thanks! Here is to my first causal blogging. :)

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence describes the ability or skill to identify, assess, manage and control the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. It is about how well you understand other people that will get you ahead.

In our modern world, EQ becomes an important attribute in our life. Employers now do not mainly look out for people with skills. It all depends on yourself and your ability in understanding how your mood and behavior affect others; including the ability to motivate and lead others.
In business we have to deal with pressure and conflicts constantly. For example, if a manager faces a heavy pressure with his low level of EQ, he is bound to get easily angry and take improper decisions. So in order to deal with the pressure, one has to look inside oneself and understand the different opinions that your team is sharing and what their emotions are. Only then when you understand these, you will be able to do well in business management. By going along the right flow, you can make the right decision without falling in to conflict.

Relationships are also one of the ways we interact every day. We need to relate with everyone for business, work, family, love, friends and anything else. The people that have high emotional intelligence are the ones that have better personal relationships and can get the most out of them.
In relationships, you should not keep your feelings in yourself, but in other, ask him how he feels, what his interest are and how you can help him solve it. Even if you disagree with him, let him know that you understand him and that you just want to talk and get the most for both of us. By going through the processes, your relationship with him or her will develop a strong and deep bond with each other in relationship. It shows that you have a high EQ in handling with relationship.

EQ can be developed by oneself and everyone has his or her EQ. It is common knowledge that people are born with talents and thus they become successful but it is wrong as most people that are successful are in fact not gifted and do not even have high intelligence. People who are successful in most areas of their life, have the ability to understand their own emotions and influenced, inspire and understand the emotions of others. In short, everyone can be successful if they truly understand themselves and others’ emotion. Only then it will bring you to greater height.

Emotional Intelligence can be practised on daily life and can be used in wide variety of areas. If you can learn to perceive other people’s emotions and understand your emotions and the importance of emotional intelligence, you will achieve a good result in your life as long as you have EQ to spur you ahead.

Reflection

Over the past weeks, I have been blogging about various topics as an assignment.

At first, I was reluctant to blog. Especially when the topic that was assigned is not the one that is of my interest. However, as it gets routine, I feel fortunate being able to blog. I have never blogged in my entire life; making this assignment an onset of my blogging appreciation.

The article that has captured my attention is the article about the ocean wildlife disappearing in 40 years. I personally love wildlife and to read about life in the ocean is depleting, it hurts me so much. I understand that people depend on the catches in the ocean; but over-fishing is totally different. Furthermore, when irresponsible fisherman or anglers throw their unwanted equipment such as net in the ocean, it kills wildlife.

Well, this is probably the last time that I am posting on this blog. I must say that I am somehow a bit sad typing this, maybe because it is the last time I am doing it. However, I have learnt something.

Things in life are like shooting an arrow. A good bow will help you get a firm grip when you nock an arrow. But when the arrow is already propelled, you must not get in the way of the arrow that has been positioned to hit the target; or else the arrow may lose its way.

In life, you can put the best foundation. For example, one can pull the weightage of a subject so that students can focus on other subjects or an employee can be flexible so that the workers get to watch world cup. But one would not know whether it hits the bull’s-eye. We aim for the goal, but not sure whether the effort put on would hit the target; until we wait and see where the arrow hits. In my opinion, through experience and practice is the only way to hit the target.

In conclusion, I wish to thank my teacher, Mr Pang for allowing me to complete this assignment and expanding my general knowledge. And thank you for those who have read my posts.

Emotional Intelligence

This week’s blog article is about ‘emotional intelligence’ (EQ).

Emotional intelligence is the understanding of feelings; personal attributes that enable people to succeed in life, including self-awareness, empathy, self-confidence, and self-control. People with high level of EQ would most probably have good relations with their friends and colleagues because they understand the needs of a person or a co-worker.

Nowadays, companies are hiring people who are not only skilled, but also has a high level of EQ. This is because some companies are wasting time and money to replace managers or employees that are unable to connect to employees emotionally.

With people with high level of EQ in the team, there would be more understanding and teamwork among the workers. The article from http://www.boston.com/bostonworks/news/articles/2006/09/10/, also included some EQ tips. For example, ‘never fib’ or lie. In some cases, people fib to impress another. However, according to the article, this is one of the things to follow. In my opinion, there are some cases that making a white lie is acceptable.

For example, you are applying for a job that gives you the choice of three departments and in your resume you have indicated that you want to be in the human resource department. During the interview, the interviewer asks you ‘how serious are you about the other two choices?’ You cannot possibly say that ‘not serious at all’, I think you would probably be turned down.

What the article meant that do lie about something that you do not know. For instance, one was to be asked whether he knows about bookkeeping, and lie a yes, he has put himself in a very temperamental situation. If he were to be employed and assigned some bookkeeping work, he would most probably be in deep trouble.

All in all, I would like to say that being yourself is the best way. Although EQ is a must have characteristic of a potential employee in certain companies, it would be no good if you were to fake about yourself.

Experience

Throughout this experience, I have learnt a lot as I am a South Korean and I do not know much about Singapore cultures and practices such as mother tongue, the education system which teaches about plagiarism, cyber wellness and other such matters. I have also learnt how South Korean practices can be improved upon when being compared to these Singapore systems. It was also a good opportunity for me to organize my thoughts on these subjects and topics.

Emotional intelligence

Nowadays, people’s relations with another are very important. Although skills are important, it is important to know how to work with their co-workers. Skills can be learnt through the process of the job but it is very difficult to change one’s attitude towards their job and co-workers.
In Korea, we have EQ tests for any company and for top university entrances; we can only get in if we have high EQ scores. If we have low EQ grades but very high Academic grades, it is useless as they will still fail to get into their desired workplace and company. I think this maybe something that can also be enforced in Singapore.
People who have low EQ but want to raise their EQ have to try to improve their EQ, even if it is very hard and difficult; it is a must for them as this will determine their future jobs or education. It is also essential to have high EQ in Polytechnic as we have to work in groups for group projects and if we do not have high EQ it would be very difficult for us to work together. This is also evident in the working world as we have to work in groups for company projects in the future.

English

“Hello, Where is it?” may have been one common sentence you can hear in every country.
You can hear such simple words coming out fluently from the mouths of tourists who are sightseeing. This one simple language is clearly shown as English. It goes to show that the tourists from different countries know the basic language – English.

In the 21st century, English has become a well known language used by 750 million foreign who study it as foreign language. In addition, between 300 and 500 million more people, they study it as second language. It totals up to about 1 billion English speaking people in a world.

Through English language, it allows people of different jobs – merchants to trade, businessmen to sell/buy, overseas students studying, politicians to discuss, etc.

Taken from wiki, English being as a global language, English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language.

English is an official language of the United Nations and many other international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. In 2008, Olympics was hosted by Beijing. It had been said in article that 5.5 millions of Chinese residents were taught some basic sentences for the purpose of welcoming every tourist who has come to watch the Olympics. Among them, there is one common thing which is the English language to communicate with each other, be it different races, religions, different languages.

Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and even English is the most commonly used language in the Science magazines.

Being a hearing impaired person since small, English has been my first learning language for me. There is no Chinese mother tongue for me as I may have problem pronouncing them. I should consider myself fortunate in 21st century. Learning English has been the right path for me even though I should learn my mother tongue. Learning two languages can be difficult for HI person.
English, acting as my one way ticket of communicating with different people, I get to interact with people in modern time and even with different people from countries speaking English words.

English

English is a very important language nowadays as it is widely spoken. It is becoming a universal language used by almost every country, linking the different countries together, aside their different cultures, traditions and lifestyles. Hence, it is important that all the citizens of the country know how to converse and write the language as well.

This would allow the country to develop and prosper in time to come. There would be more business opportunities open for them and, being able to interact in English would give them a headstart and allow them to compete for the business venture with other countries.  

English would also make travelling easier. It is quite hard and impossible to master a foreign language in a short while thus, English is probably the only language that can allow one to communicate with the locals in the foreign country. With this, business transactions and ventures can take place smoothly. Those who have travelled overseas to further their studies would also not face any obstacles.

In many countries, employers are bound to choose someone who is more fluent in English as compared to someone who is poor in conversing and writing in English. Therefore, one will have to ace conversing and writing in English before even dreaming of getting a good job. This is evident even from tertiary education. To enter tertiary institutions, one will have to ensure that they pass their English language in order to get into their desired courses as certain courses prioritise English. It is even better if one can get better grades.

As said in the article, 'Global English 'Strengthening U.S. Supremacy'', '"Half the world's people are projected to be speaking English by 2015.'. This is indeed a very good move. The next step, would be to aim that the whole world can speak English.

English

English; a language spoke by 1 billion humans in the world.

United states is known for her English speaking citizens. Countries around the world are adopting English as a language for communication; including Beijing. This means that the united states would not be left out in the happenings of the world according to the article from http://english.chosun.com/svc/news/printContent.html.

Beijing also enforces its citizens to learn English, especially those who are under 40 years of age, so that their country would be known as a ‘world city’ according to the article from http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/264411.htm. This would allow the city to be more connected to the world.

In Singapore, English is being taught by teachers to students since the start of the primary school education. This gives the students the ability to speak fluent English when it comes to the time for them to start work. However, the English in Singapore has evolved. Otherwise known as singlish, it is a mixture of English and some native language slangs.

But in my opinion, English is an art used to communicate with another from a different country or region. Without English, there would not be any system and progress in the nation. I am happy that English is a part of me; allowing me to communicate with my friends from different racial groups and dogma with ease.

Cyber Wellness



Cyber wellness is an important issue that everyone should pay attention to. The internet is an essential tool which is widely used by a lot of people nowadays. This is because the internet makes information easily accessible, allows users to express themselves freely via blogs (blogspot, tumblr, onsugar) and also allows users to make new friends and connect with existing friends via websites such as facebook, friendster, twitter, etc. Now, people not only access the internet with laptops or computers, but also with handphones.


Hence, internet users should also know the importance of cyber wellness and should be informed on how to protect themselves, as well as their laptops or computers from viruses. Internet users should be aware that any information they send or publish online might be open to the public. Therefore, they should be more careful of what they intend to say as others can read it too. As a precaution, one should not say anything that discriminates another gender, race or religion.


Cyber wellness is not only about protecting yourself and your property, it is also about respecting other users and their property. We should follow copyright laws and respect the property of other users by getting their permission before copying the content they have published. Or, at the very least, give credits to the website you got the content from.

Importance of English

It is no doubt that the importance of English is extremely huge in this world. This is evident as this is the reason that I am here now in Singapore. The reason why I am here is to learn English to be a global person who can communicate in a common language to learn about their many cultures and differences. Moreover, the influence of English is extremely huge in any daily activities that we do such as watching movies or even buying things in the supermarket we have to use or understand English to carry out these activities. In South Korea, they are also stepping up in their quest to improve in the English language. They are starting with elementary students and making them study English until university. However, they are only learning grammar and not learning how to communicate with foreigners. Thus, I feel that if South Korea wants to be a global leader it must step up its efforts in making its people learn English so that they will be able to communicate with other people from other parts of the world.

Cyber Wellness

People are enjoying easy life in modern time. The greatest invention in age is the Information Technology(IT) where people get to blog, watch youtube, see facebook, play online games. All these are related to Internet mainly. But you can never know how bad it can be.
That is where Cyber Wellness comes to mind. To know the important of cyber wellness, it involves positive well being of internet users and development of a healthy cyber culture for the Internet community. Understanding the risks of harmful online behaviour and being more aware of how to protect oneself and other Internet users from such behaviour and using the Internet to benefit oneself and the community at large.

Cyber bullying can inflict a serious impact on teenagers. In front of computer screen through internet, when people interact with each other, most people do not know your face or real name. Such interactions can be MSN, gaming online, forums, blogging,etc. Through their virtual names, people cannot find out about their real names. Thus, with this advantage, these people start to accuse, torment, threaten, harass, humiliate, embarrass the helpless children or tennagers. As a result, being helpless against those accusations and humiliation, the affected ones feel negative feelings – sad, angry, embarrassed, etc and even leading to one committing suicide.

Game addiction is the excessive use of computer games that interferes with daily life. Teenagers nowadays have become more obsessed with online games especially Dota, counter strike, maple story, etc. By being addicted to these, they keep on playing even until late night. It affects their ability to study and being tired in school after late gaming. It is viewed as a bad habit and they should learn to be more aware of serious consequences.

Dangers of sharing personal information online (for example, in chat rooms), online socialisation (for example, making new friends via chat rooms). Hearing people getting scammed over internet is common nowadays. Those people nowadays are not fully aware of cyber wellness. These deceivers set out to cheat people of their feelings and money. They offer attractive benefits to the customers if they can buy their products online. It makes use of them to give out their personal information such as credit card numbers and also paying online. In the end, these deceivers are able to scam people of their money easily and the customers become victims unknowingly.

Invasions Of privacy is the act of invading other’s computers through virus and fake software. By invading, they can get personal information such as online ID and PW for websites(facebook, twitter, etc) and also online gamings. People especially teenagers without knowing the importance of cyber wellness, tend to fall in trap easily. With a lack of understanding through internet, they unknowingly download illegal software, songs and files. Among them, there is a virus which can damage their computers and steal some important information. It can never be a good thing to download illegally with the idea of getting “free things”.

By knowing oneself and the importance of Cyber wellness, one can protect himself/herself from the dangers and serious consequences under the use of Internet.

Cyber Wellness

Teens of this generation uses an average of 17.5 hours on the internet. However, only a few really is knowledgeable about cyber wellness.

The national internet Advisory Committee (NIAC) is a committee that strives to establish a greater understanding amongst Singaporeans on the importance of Cyber Wellness and its relevence for a positive online experience, foster a responsible nation of cyber users who take ownership for actions online and nurture and empowered citizens who will make informed media choices in an online environment.

In the 21st century, the internet is a widely used link between people from around the world. People also use the internet to upload files that has a copyright for anyone's download. According to the article form http://www.asiaone.com/print/Digital/News/Story/A1Story20070523-8363.html, 90 percent of people who download files from the internet would not pay for the items downloaded.

This indicateds people, mostly teens, are not well educated about the meaning of Copyright. In my opinion, to prevent illegal downloads, the first step is the stop uploading of files for everyone to use. this way we are focusing on the solution and not the problem.

Cyber wellness

In schools, I feel that students should join CCAs this would help them to lessen the time spent on the Internet. Unlike in Korea, where there are little or no such activities, almost all the teenagers are always only playing online games and using the internet. Even in school they only talking about the things they did on the internet and about their online transactions. I feel that this system in Singapore is better than in Korea as students can spend more time doing these activities than spending time on the Internet.
Another good suggestion that the article( by Tan Yi Hui from AsiaOne) gave was to use the Internet for better purposes such as serving the community and to help other students. Using these methods, teenagers would have a better understanding of how the Internet can be used for better purposes and not for illegal and vice activities.
Although the internet may not always be a bad thing, as it can help us to communicate with other people who we can’t meet often or to meet new people, there still must be control over the way we use it as this may also lead to a cyber addiction and a lack of cyber wellness.

World Cup 2010 Fever

Be it anytime and anywhere, you will think for a moment,” Who will be the World Cup Champion this time?”
Even myself as a student and football fan, I will think of it too.
Every four years, the number of football fans has been increasing rapidly in hundred thousands. Singaporean fans including students and employed people who work, had been under the effect of tiredness lately. It is due to watching world cup matches especially at 2.30am.

However, we should be prepared for the outcome when people will start to get sick leave on the days for watching the semi-final and the last final matches. Instead of waiting for upcoming, I feel it is best in the interest of workers’ well being that they should be permitted to report for work at afternoon. So that they have plenty of time to sleep for the whole morning after watching the semi-final and final matches. Beside allowing them a half day to sleep, in pro and con, it has less impact on "half day" than forcing them to come to work looking sleepy. By doing it so, it helps the workers to be more energized in doing works. Also,it benefits the employers to be viewed and respected as being generous employers or bosses for granting them.
Surely the companies will not want to see any unfortunate happening during morning.

It is quite interesting to see how a Chinese quitting his job to watch World cup. What I wanted to say to that man is that it is admirable to do so but that is not an effective way. In China, jobs are not easy to get. One should treasure earning his own living in hard times. He should keep his job and know how to plan his time including for watching matches.
Employers were worried about the workers’ performance and their businesses. They had to put themselves in the workers’ shoes, thinking about the world cup and how it affected them physically and mentally. Once it happened during the world cup, the employer was betrayed by his worker when the worker applied for sick leaves to visit his mother in hospital. In fact, he was taking leave to watches world cup. That was a dishonest thing to do and it could bring serious consequence to the employer and worker.

Overall, I feel best even for a few days, the employers should be more generous and concerned about the workers. In Singapore, they should allow them to sleep in the morning and report to work at afternoon. In this way, the workers will not be looking tired. In addition, they will feel more psyched, giving their best and be thankful for the care given to them.

World Cup Fever

The world Cup have begun and employers around the world are sceptical that people will skip world cup action for work.

In china, employees are geared up for the world cup fever. 20 percent of the sample size of the survey conducted says that they will stay up no matter how late the matches are. But, they also admit that it will affect their performance at work. In another scenario, there is an employee that holds up a card board saying ‘I will quit my job to watch world cup. These facts are based on the article from http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7022145.html.

In Singapore, employers also expect an increase sick leave and lower productivity according to http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1061763/1/.html, due to world cup.

The main issue to my opinion is the ability for the employees to watch the world cup matches rather than employees lazy to work because of world cup. Meaning, that if they were able to watch world cup and work at the same time without compromising each other, there would be any problem. I agree with the article from http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8754867.stm, saying that using the important or urgency checklist, one would be able to manage their issues better. Another point that I agree with the source is that employers should be more flexible and take advantage of the situation. What I see is that employers are focusing more on the problem instead of the solution.

For example, people in china are quitting their job because they want to watch world cup. This means that they are not able to watch their world cup when they are employed. The solution can come in many ways. Either change the shifts of the employees that follows world cup by allowing them to leave early from working over lunch or allow days off duty. This way, the level of productivity would not be affected that badly and the level of unemployment can be improved.

Lower productivity, more sick leave expected during World Cup

During the World Cup, productivity is lowered. I think it is very natural. This is because world cup is worldwide festival and all most every people interested in it especially the countries which participate in world cup. In Korea also, all people crazy about world cup so they always talking about it and check the result of every match. Not only employee but also employer consider about it. Even the exchange rate changes according to result. I think it is better that show the game in the workplace and then go back to work. In any case, people only concentrate on worldwide festival and give something a lick and a promise. It would be better not to do it at all than to do it that way.

How the soccer craze impacts productivity in the workplace?

Most countries would find that soccer craze is a negative impact to the productivity in the workplace. This is true as employees who are soccer fans would most likely turn in late for the night just to watch the soccer matches, especially for those countries whom they support or which would put up a good match.

This would definitely affect productivity in the workplace. Employees tend to come to work with tired and sleepy faces due to lack of sleep the night before. They would not be able to focus and give their very best at work hence, not being able to meet deadlines. Other employees who are not able to make it for the next day at work would just simply take days off or sick leave. Thus, employers would face a lack of manpower at work.

Many employers are bound to get irritated with this situation which is under control.

However, I believe that cases such as the one in China, whereby Zhang Huiquan, an editor of a Wuhan-based sports website, demonstrates his passion for soccer by holding up a sign that reads: "I will quit my job to watch the Worldcup." is rare. Many employees are bound to be aware that it is not easy to find a job these days, as the economy is just starting to recover from the recent financial crisis. Therefore, though they might go to the extent of sacrificing their sleep for the sake of the Worldcup, they would not resort to extremes such as quiting their jobs.

To resolve the problem of the soccer craze affecting office productivity, employers should look on the bright side and take this as an opportunity to build goodwill with their employees. Hence, employers would be able to communicate better with their employees and this would minimise misunderstandings. Employers can also use this as a platform to promote creativity, innovation and teamwork among the employees. This could turn out to be a good way to increase productivity in the long run.

Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression

What I discovered, analyse and observed are that humans nowadays have grown to become an impatient people that won’t tolerate even the littlest thing. It’s hard to find people who are sincerely kind and helpful without any conditions attached or should I say their own selfish world cravings. Most of the people won’t really care much of what happens in this world or even towards other people that are affected because of their selfishness and stubbornness of wanting to get what they want.Like what this one article says about the recent findings on Singaporean behaviours:

http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/06/02/singaporeans-slammed-for-being-rude-in-australian-newspaper/

and do please read over more than 3000 feedbacks on this findings. It sure is interesting with that big amount of comments cum feedbacks at the same time try to reflect ourselves also on it, whether it's totally true or you totally object to it.

1. Self-reflect on conserving and protecting the environment

Honestly, as I’m writing this blog, I’m really upset and my heart hurts as I ponder how people have change so much in this era to someone.... that’s really evil and will do anything only for his or her own survival and of course for money too . It made me sad even more and the feel of crying was nearly came upon to me but I brave myself not to, as this is my self-reflection as I’ve watched Michael Jackson Earth music video on what we humans ignorantly and selfishly damage this world. These will not only be my self – reflection but I want it to be everyone’s too as I believe that there are people who will read this blog and I want to take the advantage to spread the message. The world would come to an unpleasant end if this goes on.....

From watching the Michael Jackson earth song I have somewhat come to realize the importance to conserve and protect this world and the environment. To that I would also like to share with everyone on the true meaning of life which is by cooperating and understanding to live in harmony.

Another picture for self reflection on the environment issues......



2. Weightage on Mother Tongue

My reflection on the topic of the government reviewing the mother tongue system will be a good idea as the future generations will benefit from it, for the world will eventually speak in English. On the topic of self reflection independently leading to depress creativity is that it may be true as there have been many examples of them, like music artist, fine arts students, scientists and writers as they find their materials from them.

3. Plagiarism

On the topic of plagiarism, because of the rise of the new technology students have become more bold to cheat and less afraid of being caught.
4. How to make Singapore younger

On the recent post about “how to make Singapore younger?” had make me feeling doubt about the quality of my content that I wrote about in it. The one that make me doubt was the foreigner part, where I said that the Singapore government should follow the footsteps of Malaysian Government on curbing the Malaysian employers to take on too much of foreigner workers.

There are something that is amusing and can ponder on too:-

My definitions of self-reflection and aspirations :
Self –reflection usually make one person realize on the mistakes that they have done throughout their life. As for me, every time I do self –reflection on my life it will only end with sadness, regret, crying, disappointment and the near pathetic life that I’ve gone through. Honestly, I will always try to avoid as it always a very painful thing to reminisce on. Most of the time I would think on why I’m the chosen one to be a late bloomer in studies and also slow in churning out the info for me to really understand and eventually accomplish it and other sad things.....

How I wish that I could turn back the time, then I could amend the unpleasant things in my life and this world or might be that I can get the chance to stop the unwanted things from happening. Or maybe that will just be my wishful thinking though..... It won’t and impossible to be a reality.

To me when I tried to self –reflection on myself most of the time I get stress and depressed from it thus to alleviate them I tried my best not to think too much on it and instead I will try to come up or create new ideas or imagination on how to solve my problems with of course better and more of a happy ending stories. Maybe at this point of time where people (I think this applies to poor people that can’t afford to buy happiness) will try their best to avoid on the unhappiness in their past life they will also unknowingly try their best to be creative at solving their problems? This is just my part of assumption so I think this couldn’t really be the official evidence.

Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression


Self-reflection refers to the act of pondering and reflecting on one's self, actions, thoughts or emotions. It is good when we are able to think creatively and generate ideas or when we are able to introspect ourselves and change for the better. For example, people normally self-reflect when they think they have done something wrong. By self-reflecting, they are able to identify the problem and come up with a solution to solve the problem. Hence, self-reflecting promotes creative thinking and can be considered to be a good thing.


We can look at it in another way too. Some people self-reflect on themselves during their leisure time. They introspect themselves to see if they can change and improve themselves for the better. However, self-reflection might lower one's self-esteem as they might find flaws in themselves. They might get troubled and depressed thinking of it thus, causing depression. This would happen if they are unable to look on the bright side and think of a solution to change instead.


Depression, can be looked at from a few angles too. Depression can have both positive and negative advantages. When one is depressed, they tend to think creatively and generate ideas. Some people also work better under pressure. On the other hand, depression can also affect one mentally. But, this does not necessarily mean that self-reflection is sure to lead to depression.


Hence, self-reflection should be encouraged in some instances as it would benefit us.

'I need to score full marks!'

Regarding the article, it is shocking to hear that some children are pressed with the highest pressure from parents in Singapore. More than 50% of patients are primary students who went for checkup at IMH - Institute of Mental Hospital and were found to have problems such as learning problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders or unable to control their emotions. It becomes a worrying cause for the IMH.

Although we view the “99 marks” as being good works, some students and parents do not find it satiable at all. If they score 99 marks, they will still be scolded severely by parents. It is an unfair treatment and is different from other parents who will praise their children for the “99 marks”.
Even I find “80 marks scored” as “It is at least A which is good enough”.

Nowadays, we can understand that our world is a fast-paced society and moves by the mindset “Whoever has the greatest knowledge, will get a good job and pay too.” Many will try to get the highest education as possible as they can.

It also applies to parents who are not being considerate of their children’s hard efforts and emotions. They should learn to give the right treatment to their children such as treating them with whatever they want if they can get good result. Unlike the treatment where parents will keep pressuring their parents to get full marks despite getting a good result. If their children cannot a prefect score, they should accept their children’s abilities and view it as a good job the children did.

World environment day 2010

The Earth, a beautiful and lush green planet that is inhabited by many different species of animals and plants alike that is shared with us humans. They have been built into the ecosystem of the planet so that every single one of them balances each other out to create a peaceful existence on Earth. Humans have also been part of this balance for many millennia, and yet recently many of us have been unknowingly upsetting this coexistence that has been created.

For a few years ago we have almost completely forgotten the responsibility that we have towards the Earth. The reason for that is that many of us just do know or do not take the time to know what is going on in our environment. Even if a child is taught at school or see an advertisement on the television he or she only see as a passing phase, that it does not have anything to do with them and will simply forget about it. The child may participate in environmental activities held by the school, but unfortunately for most of them, that will be it and they would not volunteer or bother with such activities when they grow up. Only a handful of the children would grow up to continue and help to take care of the planet for future generations, but this is not enough as there are more of us who blatantly continue to damage the Earth. Like the recent incident oil spill following a ship collision off Changi on May 25. People or beach-goers can't enjoy the water at Changi beach as usual. Not only in Singapore that has such kind of incident but in America also recently has, such as the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We can look at some of the pictures here as the incident had affect the animals there. Oil Spills Are Devastating to Ecosystems and All Life.

We need to really make everybody aware that the next generation of children may not be able to enjoy the natural wonders of the Earth, like a jungle filled with the sound of animals or a meadow with the forest creatures squiring about. The first step to make it a realization is to let them see for themselves what the state of the world is in now. For example the polar ice cap is melting away and the existence of the animals there like the polar bear is threaten because of the side effect cause by us humans, called global warming. They have also only recently realize through the studies it shows that on parts of the world there have been a rise in sea level and that some places have begun to be submerged underwater. The world needs to work together to create a solution for this problem.

Maybe this video can make the views and our responsibilities towards the world much clearer:-



Or maybe this video will make us realise to start saving the earth quickly into a reality :



The World Environment Day and Earth Hour are one of the steps taken to unite the people of the world in working together for a better future. On these days everyone, young or old are encourage to try and do something to save the environment, like switching off electrical appliances for an hour or recycling. Electrical cars and cars that do not give off those harmful fumes or hybrid cars have also begun to be sold around the world. People are also motivated to recycle the trash that they throw away or reuse those that can be used again.

The ever vast developing technologies in this world are actually having dangerously threatened the wildlife lifespan. We human might conveniently have been using and depending on the technologies nearly most of our lives but we unconsciously or maybe purposely being an ignorant person to ignore the other living things that actually live with us too in this world. Example like the animal, plants etc.





In some places they have begun to use wind and solar energy to generate electricity. This is a great step in helping to conserve the environment as these two methods are considered the clean way to generate power, as they do not produce waste of fumes of any kind. A dam is considered as a good method too but unfortunately not all the country and places in the world have such landscapes available to them.

Remember the late Michael Jackson song on earth and environment awareness? He's an influential celebrity that never stops or fails to effortlessly to remind other people about the welfare of this world through his songs. Michael Jackson has put his musical talents to good use and often participates in charity recordings and gigs such as Live Aid and The Green Concert.

Michael Jackson was not the only celebrity that have tried their best to increase the public awareness on environmental issues but there are other international celebrities too that are willingly to help such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo Dicaprio and the popular model Gisele Bundchen by trying their best in going green. Our local media and celebs have also recently collaborated to increase the public awareness with the logos and mastheads of MediaCorp's platforms adopt a green hue and the ad where celebs make bold statement on the endangered environment.

Other examples are you can also buy the environmentally friendly products for the households such as:

1. Products with refillable containers
2. Unbleached paper products
3. Recycled paper products
4. Phosphate-free cleaning products
5. Organically grown fruit and vegetables

• There are a lot of fun and inspiring things to do to save the earth as well as the environment. Here's a website that I chance upon that are targeted at the locals mostly, to start conserving the earth.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/savinggaia/

• Another article I chanced upon is the definition that I think will make people understand better on the importance of sustainable living by protecting the environment welfare.

http://www.ciel.org/Biodiversity/WhatIsBiodiversity.html

All of us want a healthy and peaceful world that we hopefully can live in, in a longer period that is free from major environmental issues. How I wonder whether this world will live longer than us or it might be that this `world' life span will be shorter than ours; us humans......

It would be impossible to turn yourselves into a vegetarian or someone who totally environmentally friendly in an overnight transformation but we have to start from the basics such as recycling and try to conserve the resources whenever possible. Every little things that we do, does counts on what the world will become. It's best to inculcate green habits from young in a green household such as start purchasing organic cotton clothes. Apart from that we would like to see a cleaner earth.

What I've realized and remembered was that the only one time the human start to realize the importance of protecting the world environment issues was when the unexpected and a big Tsunami that had swept away Aceh; Indonesia, Thailand, part of India and Malaysia where a lot of their beloved ones died swept by the big tidal waves just in front of them while watching helplessly. To that I think it triggers them to voice out on the environmental issues and start on conserving one. But, do we really need such a thing happen again just to make us humans back on our feet and start the action to protect our world and the animals that are naturally have always been part of our life, again?

Conclusion: We must look into what we have done for all this years.... as what it says in the Michael Jackson Earth song and lyrics.

Please donate your time to protect the environment. The earth is our responsibility and please don't ever forget that.

Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression

This week’s blog article is blog article is about self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression.

Self reflections lead to creative behaviour because that is a way ideas are generated. When we reflect about ourselves, we would generate ideas in our head about what to do. For example, in class when a joke is let out and it accidently hurts someone else’s feelings; we reflect on the incident. A thousand thoughts streamed through the mind; generating ideas of what is to be done to fix the situation. That is how self reflections lead to creative behaviour.

According to the article, people that suffer from depression are more prone to have creative thinking. This is because, people when suffering from depression would spend some of their time not being able to do anything else but to reflect on self. By doing this, they generate ideas. Thus, this ‘disorder’ is regarded as a gift to those suffering from depression.

However, creative thinking does not lead to depression. Meaning if a person always think about creative thoughts, it does not mean that the person is suffering from depression. In other words, there is nothing much to worry about when it comes to creative thinking.

2010 Year of Biodiversity! & Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN!

Extinction is a huge problem. Many flora and fauna species are endangered due to various reasons, one of which is the change in climate and another due to human activities. Humans can take the initiative and responsibility to do something about the problem of extinction. For example, the article ‘2010 Year of Biodiversity’ stated that ‘They can cut down on their own CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions...’. If everyone were to play their part and reduce their carbon dioxide emission, this would greatly reduce the climate change and this could help prevent or reduce the problem of extinction. In this case, the government also plays an important role in encouraging the citizens to play their parts. The government will have to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss to human well-being.


Global warming is adversely affecting the Antarctic species as it increases the ocean temperature and causes loss of ice. These problems affect the habitat for these species and also its food availability. When there is a slight change in the food availability for one species, it indirectly affects other species as well hence, affecting the food chain. Just by doing our part, we can help to prevent this domino effect that would in turn affect us as certain sources of our food decline.


Global warming is not the only problem. Other problems that affect these species include the increase in carbon dioxide emissions, rising sea levels and increased storm activity. With the extinction of certain species, it would affect our rich biodiversity. The new generations would also be less informed of the existence of these species.

Hence, to prevent all this from happening, we have to be more mindful of our actions. Humans can cut down on their intake of fish and poultry and, increase their intake of vegetables. A quota should also be set for fishermen, to limit the number of fishes they take away from the ocean. In conclusion, we should start now and not waste any more time in preventing this extinction crisis.

Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN

I feel that the governments of the world should do more to help this Environmental problem. As suggested in the article. Instead of fishing in the ocean, more subsidies should be given to fish farming as it will be a more environmentally friendly option. Also, fishermen who have caught smaller fish should let them back in the ocean to grow to bigger fish and have better fishing etiquette. With this, I think that the fish stocks in the world would recover faster and this would not pose a problem to us in the future.

Be Veg! Go Green! Save our Earth

Have you ever wonder whether the Earth is in danger or not? I can only say it that Earth is undergoing through the process of being in danger right now.


Summarizing from this article – “2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions”, it has a main problem which is global warming. Global warming is the increase in temperature of Earth’s near-surface air and ocean caused by the excess of carbon dioxide. We all know what is global warming but some are not sure what the main cause is. To say the true fact, Livestock (51% of global warming) is the main cause. Livestock industry produces more carbon dioxide than all the world’s cars, trains and Livestock raising drives 1/3 of the world’s deforestation. It uses up 3.4 billion hectares of land for animal gazing and for growing crops to feed the animals. Livestock’s gas and waste produces nitrous oxide and methane, which are 310 and 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide respectively.
Because of carbon dioxide, it affects ice to melt around the poles which in turns, affect the marina lives to decrease due to being unable to adapt to this “increasing temperature” in surrounding. It also causes the underground ocean where there is methane layered by frozen reserves. As the underground ice melt, the methane escapes to the air and is highly poisonous and dangerous to us if we breathe in some. It also applies to vegetation and marine lives.

In order to stop this process and save our planet, we have the power to do it and it is all up to us. It is to “Be Veg! Go Green! Save our planet” and in doing so, we can reduce the carbon dioxide from livestock. Being vegetarians, it benefits us and provides us with healthy lifestyle. If we all can act fast and start to change our way, our planet can be saved. Not only so, we can also save our loving marine lives who are suffering right now and stop the pain in animals’ hearts from being slaughtered for meats.
Being veg and go green, I can make a little difference to my planet. And you can do it too.

Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years

This week’s blog entry is about ‘ocean fish could disappear in 40 years’

This article is basically saying that the human race is consuming more fish than suppose to. This is due to demand. With more people wanting fish, the fishing fleets will catch and sell as much to obtain highest profit. This demand is the one that is causing the number of fishes in the oceans to go down.

Government subsidies to fishing fleets aroung the world, amounting to 27 billion, in my opinion is obviously not enough to make the fishing fleets fish less; this is because the total revenue by catching fish is 85 billion. That is a whopping 58 billion dollars worth of revenue to fish.

We as humans that roam the earth, should know our limits in what we do. Although we like blue fin tuna or rays, we should try our best to avoid these fishes. According to http://www.fishonline.org/advice/avoid/?item=9, these two fishes are two of the 48 fishes that we should avoid fishing. If we still choose to do so, a major catastrophe will happen, these fishes will be wiped out from our earth forever.

A little away from the topic, we are also encouraged to be vegetarians. This is because the process of moving the meat to the consumer causes global warming. According to the United Nations movement, Be Veg! Go Green!, if we do not adopt a meat free lifestyle, countries and glaciers would disappear in a few years time.

I suggest that we should think of what we are doing to our planet and stop the harm. Be Veg! Go Green!, eat less fish!

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offence that could be dealt with seriously. In layman's term,it basically means copying. Without realizing, we might have committed the act of plagiarism while completing our school work or projects. This happens when we do not include bibliographies,credits or acknowledgements to recognize the efforts of the rightful owner. By plagiarising, we are not respecting other people's property and are not giving them credit for what they really deserve. Students should be taught the importance of plagiarism and they should learn to acknowledge the rightful owner of their intellectual property.


Plagiarism also encourages students to be lazy as they can easily copy and paste someone else's work without providing their own opinions or views. They even make it seem as it is their own work.


Students should be trained since primary school to include urls or websites from which they got the information from. By doing so,they are giving credit to the rightful owner for the information they have provided online. This would be a good practice as throughout their whole schooling life,there would be many instances when they need to make use of the information available online.


Hence,actions should be taken against those who commit the act of plagiarism.

Plagiarism

This week's blog article is about plagiarism; which is copying someone else's work and claiming it theirs

Introducing the idea of plagiarism to primary school students is a good idea to inculcate the habit of giving the credit to someone that they have taken the information from. This is very important for students when they reach secondary school. In the last year of their secondary school life, they are required to take the ‘O’ levels. This includes making coursework and projects; that needs research.

Before this scheme has been implemented, students taking the ‘O’ levels face problems as they did not know how to make a bibliography. This is a serious issue because students will be given a zero for the entire coursework that they have spend much time doing.

In the life of the working adults, plagiarism is a very important thing to know as they could be charged at court if their work is to be found similar to someone else's. This is huge price to pay to learn the meaning of plagiarism.

All in all, this scheme implemented is a good way to teach students about plagiarism and it will help them when they reach institutes of higher education.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism can be a serious offence when it comes to schools, works, etc. It is an act of copying another person’s ideas, words or work and pretending that they are your own. It is viewed in a way that you are not respecting the other people’s own works and rights.

In my opinions, it is an effective way to start teaching the younger students in primary schools about the pros and cons of plagiarism. Although it is not much of a serious problem in primary schools, it can lead to much serious problems in higher levels especially in Universities if not taught early. It is usually common sense in primary schools when teachers often stress that we cannot copy other students’ works. Otherwise, we will be punished severely. Living along with this “common sense”, most of us are able to use our own abilities and efforts. Also, we learn not to copy from intellectual property- reference websites (for researching and projects) and respect the authors’ rights and works. As quoted from the article, “while the problem is so small at the primary level as to be insignificant, say principals “, so even though the problem is small, it is a ‘must’ for them to know the importance of plagiarism.

However as we progress on the paths to higher levels- secondary, polytechnic, universities, there are many obstacles we are likely to face them. At that point, it is where most students give up and commit plagiarism. The schools and tertiary institutions then start to focus their attentions on the plagiarism. From this statement “polytechnics and universities said the penalties would normally be a fail grade in the course, suspension, or expulsion in the most severe cases”, these consequences can be serious. Through this policy, it puts a heavy pressure on them when they do not want to get involved in some troubles.

Despite knowing the importance and consequence of plagiarism, adults still commit it. University professors falsified their credentials and plagiarised mainly of his doctoral thesis. Claiming them as their ‘own thesis, it is not fair to the original authors and students. It is an action of disrespecting the authors’ rights and making use of their hard work by simply coping them into their ’thesis’. In the end, it gets you in deep trouble- getting your doctoral licence revoked and “blacklisted” for the rest of the life. Nothing comes good out of it.

Concluding them, Singapore can be said to have a highly effective primary educational system for teaching them at young age about the awareness of plagiarism, cyber-wellness, etc. Gaining knowledge of it helps to put them in good stead in future and it all depends on their mindsets whether they should dig their own graves.

Plagiarism

In Korea, plagiarism is also a big problem. Before university, students normally copy some information from the internet and use it for their projects and research. They also do not credit the authors of these works and carry on without references and bibliographies. Some professors even copy and make use of their students’ thesis for work purposes. I feel that this is very wrong and that the teachers who are supposed to teach are not teaching and even copying their students work and this is very irresponsible. Only some professors tell the students to write a reference page and to credit the author, however, they do not put emphasis on this. There is also no education to students about intellectual property and rights.
However, as I have read from the article, I find that Singapore’s education ministry is doing a great job in educating the students from young about this issue and to let the students know about the importance of intellectual property rights. Using somebody’s intellectual property and not crediting it is something like stealing somebody’s work. Thus, I feel that it is very important to teach the students from young about this.
If Korean universities crack down on plagiarism it will be a big problem. This is because they never taught us why it is wrong to plagiarize. That is why I feel that schools in Korea should start teaching their students about this now.
In Korea, when students graduate from the university, it is very easy to pass their Thesis Examination. They also copy other people’s work and use it. However, they credit them but they still copy almost their entire thesis. I feel that this is not right for us as a developed country to develop further as it will hinder the education of the entire student population in Korea.
Thus, I actually feel that what Tokyo University is doing is harsh but it would be good for the students in the future.

Plagiarism

In my opinion on why the primary students nowadays have mostly sorted to plagiarism is because the studies are getting tougher. But that doesn’t mean that the students can continue their plagiarism as they see fit as it will not benefit their life in the future.


Some of the other reasons for students to commit plagiarism is that they lack the motivation to study, as life nowadays has been made easier to live in. The students of today probably think that studies are unimportant and that they would rather go to the mall, play video games or just hang out with their friends. They think that the life they have now is enough and that their parents can provide for them, thus not wanting to achieve much of anything by themselves.


The other reason is the availability of various kind of information that can be found on the internet. Almost anything can be found on the internet, from biographies of movie stars, purchasing handphone and even buying school essay answers. All of this is made available to anyone who has the right price and the knowledge of how to find them. For example just this year there was a case of a student who was caught paying someone over the internet to complete an essay for him.


We should also prevent the young students from committing plagiarism so that would less likely think of breaking other rules as well. If the students who committed the plagiarism are permitted to do as they wish and not reprimanded for it they will become bold enough to do other bad things. It is also to build their character and to make them be a moral and good person, instead of a person who would like to do things the easy way and not think of the consequences of what they are doing.


As for the adults, to some of them the world now are moving and developing rapidly and “viciously” that is why these people were daring and were forced to choose plagiarism as it is getting tougher and more difficult to live and survive in this world. My own assumption is that they might actually want to create or come up with their own new ideas through other people’s works.


Conclusion: Actually and honestly....... it’s individual responsibilities to handle this problem. We have to have the intelligence and the alertness in us not to become the victim of plagiarism nor the person who plagiarised other people’s works.

How S'pore can stay 'Forever Young'

When I attended first class in NYP I was very shocked because it is different lecture system from Korea. In NYP, there is lots of discussion time with classmates. After that they share their opinion with teacher. During presentation some students joke with teacher. Sometimes they talk strange answer. If they do like this in Korea, they can’t stay in classroom. It is not allowed to joke in class especially when teacher ask answer. However, in Singapore, teacher write all things on the board, and tell them “Ok, not bad.” or “possible.”
How can is it allowed? Why teachers don’t angry to them?
At that time I thought a lot of thing. I was very envy this system. The students can speak what they want to say, it means they don’t need to afraid of ‘NO’. Compared to Singapore in Korea, most students are afraid of teacher’s reaction. Teachers think that their thought is truth and they are also very authoritarian. So if student answer something different from their thought they said “You are wrong!” This kind of teacher’s attitude makes student lose confident and blocks student’s thinking. It also makes students as a same person who thinks same. Students try to find answer that teacher wants. So students can’t make progressive ideas and further the ideas. Even some students don’t talk anything during the lecture because teachers ignore students thought.
Also Korea’s education way is different from here. We have the cramming system of education. We just listen and write some information from teacher. It isn’t common to share ideas with classmates and teacher. I think we need change our system like here.
Helping to grow student’s ideas is teacher’s task. They have to encourage students to announce in class and respect all students’ opinion. It makes students be creative, and broaden their thoughts.
By comparing Korea to Singapore, the Singapore education really instills a senses and culture of learning and creativity in the students. This is in line with the first 2 points of Deputy Prime Minister Teo’s speech. This is so as being creative would lead our future thinkers to be more innovative and have more ideas for the Research and development hub in the future. Also, with this culture of learning that is instilled in the students, students would feel that learning is an enjoyable thing and they would be encouraged to be lifelong learners and not just stop learning when they leave school.

The third point that the Deputy Prime Minister brought up was to be environmentally sustainable. I personally feel that being environmentally sustainable starts with the individual. Although the government is trying its best to make Singapore more Eco-Friendly and environmentally sustainable,, most Singaporeans, I feel, are not putting in a lot of effort in doing this. One example, I have noticed is in Supermarkets, where most Singaporeans do not bring their Eco-Bags to use and use the free plastic bags provided by the Supermarket. Unlike this, in Korea, most people use their own bags and have to pay extra to get the plastic bags. I have noticed that the Supermarket is starting to introduced new ways to get people to use their own bags but it is not enough as most people still do not abide with this rule.

The fourth point is how Singapore must be a talent magnet to stay ‘fresh and young’. Since I am a foreigner, I feel that for someone to be attracted to migrate to another country, that country must offer the best for him. For example, the country’s education system must be a good one so that his children would be well educated and the social, moral and cultural environment of the country must be good. I feel that Singapore has achieved these because it is a very safe country and very clean and almost everyone is effectively bilingual. If I get the chance I would also want to migrate to Singapore because it really attracts me here.

How Singapore can stay forever young

"At the recent annual Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean noted that like global cities such as New York and London, Singapore too ‘can stay forever young’ and remain socially and economically energetic, competitive and attractive." Quote from an article.


A lot of the Singapore citizen have been complaining mostly about the increasingly and overwhelmingly foreigners being congested in Singapore. Especially it affects the ‘rice bowl’ of the Singapore citizens. If the non-talented foreigners have been hogging Singaporean jobs, what more can you expect now that the government wants to ‘shipped’ a big pool of highly educated and talented foreigners.

Especially when these foreigners will always be willingly to be paid at a lower income than Singaporean usually ask for. Not only that, they would even be willing to work long hours without any much of complain. The employers will absolutely hire them the foreigners instead of us who have been charged by our credit cards or in terms of money since we were born. We pay the Singapore hospitals for giving birth in Singapore. Afterward had invested in such big sum of amount in our children’s schools life so that in the hope that they will have bright and good future in securing good jobs in Singapore. One example is in Malaysia, where the government are trying their best at curbing the overflow of foreign talent into country itself. They were trying their best to put their citizens as their top priority. The government trying to push the employer in Malaysia to employ more of their own citizens (Malaysian) instead of outsiders or foreigner.

Last time there wasn’t this issue of the government taking and prioritising the talent of foreigner. But it’s a curiosity on why suddenly the Singapore government suddenly would prefer and even encourage the foreigner of coming to Singapore not only to study but also working here.

It has always become the top issue among the Singapore citizens that the increase and the support of the government have become tremendously and ridiculously increased.

The top issue is on tough at finding jobs in our own birth country. The low job wages worker will be at a total loss as they would be fired or sacked for foreigner that willingly to settle down cheaper salary.

Although there are other jobs that most of the time the Singaporeans wouldn’t want to accept but Singapore government should not have sorted to sought foreign talents instead do something that can encourage or try to successfully change the mind of the Singaporeans on the specific unwanted jobs. Let the employers or the government itself to discuss about the uncontrollably overflowing of foreign talent.

It is a big curiosity on why does the government still wants to welcome so much of foreign people or talent to our country? Although a lot of the Singaporean have voiced out their concerns over this issue. Maybe their concerns were not heard at all. Another example was the Philippines where they help the citizens actually prepare to work in overseas by providing them to study for free in hospitality department-to let them work in hotel section.

One successful example from the Philippines is where a woman who had been offered to work in Italy because of her expertise in housekeeping and have been offered of $2000+ as her salary, as compared to her salary in Philippines that is about less than half the price that were being offered to her.

Doesn’t mean getting more of foreign talent can give a Singapore a younger outlook. It might even pull down the special look and identity of the true Singapore. The government should resolve this major issue that have been hogging the citizen’s heads.

Like what DPM Teo Chee Hean had touched on is the education part.

It means that education is forever important in our daily lives. Knowledge is power. So as citizens of Singapore we should do our best to always upgrading ourselves in various amounts of studies with what the individual can afford to.

By updating ourselves with education we can always relate to things and can manage to the ever changing world. Things always change so do the educations. With education we would not left behind and can always update with the current issues.

In a nutshell we as a citizen of Singapore can always be cooperative and help each other on improving the lives of Singapore to make Singapore become forever young, alive and harmony too. At the same time not to sacrifice or offend anyone to achieve this noble mission.

How S'pore can stay 'Forever Young'?


To ensure that Singapore stays 'Forever Young', it is essential to keep ourselves socially and economically active, competitive and attractive. There are 5 factors that were raised by Deputy PM Teo Chee Hean's in his speech at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum.

Firstly, a strong culture of education and learning is important as being educated and constantly pursuing knowledge ensures that we are able to compete with other countries. With a high standard of education and the determination to continue seeking knowledge, we are promising ourselves a better future as we would have more opportunities awaiting us. This instills in us a sense of competitiveness and hence, we would strive to give our best. Therefore, a strong culture of education and continuous learning keeps Singaporeans fresh, young and relevant regardless of their age.

The second factor, a culture of seeking knowledge, innovation and ideas is equally important. If we are stuck on old ideas and do not have new innovations, we would not be able to expand our research and development hub. This would affect the job opportunities available in Singapore and would hinder Singapore's development. By encouraging new innovations and ideas, we are anticipating change and still staying relevant at the same time. This would allow us to compete globally with other countries.

A magnet for talent. One of the factors to ensure Singapore stays 'Forever Young'. Singapore, as a magnet for talent, would be able to increase its population if immigrants decide to migrate and stay in Singapore permanently. Their talents and skills would also be very much valued here, especially if we have a lack of such a skill or talent. This would allow Singaporeans to pick up new skills and talents hence, allowing Singapore to develop in other areas we were not specialised in before. This also encourages interaction between locals and foreigners and hence, promotes bonding and fosters good relationship.

Lastly, a strong and forward-looking leadership. Having a responsible leader is important. Singapore needs a leader to lead the citizens and encourage them to play a part in keeping Singapore 'Forver Young'. To do so, we need everyone's efforts and contributions. It cannot be done if it is a one man's show. Hence, the leader plays an important role in getting everyone together and implementing ways to encourage all these 5 factors to be constantly practiced.

Thus, if Singapore is able to put in place all these 5 factors, it would be able to stay 'Forever Young'.

Singapore- "Forever Young"

In regards to Our Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, he had raised some interesting topic related to our Singapore’s future - Forever Young? It concerns us and every citizen in Singapore. To keep Singapore “Forever Young”, we must keep ourselves socially and economically energetic, competitive and attractive. PM Teo has listed the 5 main points which affect the Singapore’s future. Personally i feel the three points are important in this Singapore’s path to forever young - a strong culture of education and learning, a culture of seeking knowledge, innovation and ideas and lastly a strong and forward-looking leadership.

A strong culture of education and learning- In Singapore, our education standard and expectation are high. In comparison with international countries, it is surprising that our students do well in Science and Mathematics also in English. It is all due to the parents and students’ mindsets and government cooperation in making it possible with having the World-class Universities, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education. Singapore Government has played an important role in every student and school by providing them with better quality of education. However, it is not only the quality of education that mainly matters. Our very own mindset is the main key to keeping Singapore forever young. It is true in my life as i always have a strong mindset of getting good grades with the highest possible education in Singapore, keeping myself socially and economically.

A culture of seeking knowledge, innovation and ideas- In an economically place, Singapore has grown into an “attracting place” as research and development hub with many areas of different sectors. In this way, Singapore has constantly been creating many opportunities for us and open the path for us to pursue our dreams. To be at forefront of knowledge and innovation, we should discard old skills and progress to a new level where we can create our ideas and technologies instead of depending on imported products and old skills. In addition, our working population contributes mainly to the growth of Singapore. That is why many Singaporeans are encouraged to upgrade their skills and be more reliable. If not, Singapore will fall behind and will not be “forever young”.

A strong and forward-looking leadership- Singapore had gone through many past experiences such as British Colony, Japanese Occupation, Merging with Malaysia. We have learnt the most important lesson from these and what we really lacked is this strong and forward-looking leadership. Enduring many setbacks with blood bled, Singapore has finally evolved into a stable country with good leadership thanks to our hard work of our government.
What we fear is in future is that who can keep Singapore forever young. It is all depended on our voices and efforts. As a Singapore citizen, we have the right to elect a group who has the ability to lead us to the future. We have to look out for leaders who are good, capable and have forward-looking attitude. Most importantly, one has to be utmost loyal and committed to Our Mother, Singapore. In my opinion, i will not want to go through our forefathers’ sufferings and not be in the same boat as the venetians who fell in the wrong hand of leadership before. If we can find this kind of strong and forward-looking leadership through our hands, our future path will look bright. Not also, it will keep Singapore forever young.

I can feel the hard work and effort of government in building casino and integrated resorts. Also, Singapore won the bids in Youth Olympics and especially Universal Studios@Singapore. Singapore is able to be recognised throughout the world as a vibrant global city. It attracts many tourists who want to visit Singapore and also these new integrated resorts. Although we as Singapore citizens are charged $100 for playing in casino, Government is actually helping us by controlling us not to be addicted to gambling. In addition, Universal Studios is well known especially in USA, Japan. Here right now, we are overjoyed to hear that Singapore government won the bidding to have the next new Universal Studios built in Singapore. It will be a great attraction for tourists and singapore citizens who have not go there before. All the things that government had done, help to keep Singapore young.

To stay young forever, we must not be embarrassed, scared, shy and not be like a little mouse. We MUST have forward-looking and positive attitude. We must also have a courage to challenge ourselves and go further beyond our current abilities and also not be intimidated by other biggest countries than Singapore. “We, as a citizen of Singapore...”shows we have the power to change Singapore. It depends on our hands especially choosing reliable leaders who can lead us and make the right decisions. If we have these abilities to do, we can make Singapore “forever young”!
Among these statements, Singapore is able to be YOUNG all thanks to the five factors especially strong and forward-looking leadership. This factor is the most important key to keeping Singapore forever young.