Raffles Institution

English Department 2009 Deadline: Term 3 Week 9

Secondary 3

Name: Mohamed Danish Fawaz Bin Rahmat (14) Class: 3L Date: 23 August 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article644804.ece

Often when a child does a rather unacceptable deed, you would hear, “Go to your room now! You’re grounded for a week! No TV, no PSP! You hear that?” Or perhaps, “I’m cutting half of your monthly allowance young lady!” These are common methods of to instil that expected amount of discipline in a child. But when all these disciplinary actions and strategies have failed, there is one method that, according to Times Online, eighty percent of parents surveyed, believes in, a method that never fails to succeed. Surveys have showed that eighty percent of parents believe in smacking their children. Despite the government’s effort in UK to ban smacking, most parents still believe smacking is the last resort that would not fail in educating their children. I believe smacking can be deemed as an effective method in disciplining a child. When all other methods fall short, smacking seems to be of the last resort.

Other alternatives to smacking recommended by experts from websites like kidshealth.org include taking away privileges from the children. When a child breaks a rule, experts recommend for parents to take away some of his privileges as to warn a child that there are boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. However, in certain cases, these methods do not work on certain children. Smacking is still the last resort in disciplining their children. Smacking proves to be more effective than methods recommended by experts. In the article, a 36 year-old mother of three, Ara Macmillan, claims that she has tried all other methods including warnings, withdrawing of toys and treats but it did not bring upon any positive changes to her children, in other words, it did not work on them. Only when she resorted to smacking them, they repented and listen to instructions. Smacking proves to be of success in dealing with such children. This shows that smacking proves to be the dominant method over other methods such as taking away privileges.

It has been a controversial issue on whether smacking should be illegalised by the government over the period of past few years. According to Cambridge dictionary online, smacking or smack in definition means a hit from someone’s flat hand as punishment & to hit someone or something forcefully with the flat inside part of your hand, producing a brief loud noise, especially as a way of punishing a child. Smacking simply means causing physical harm to someone especially a child as a form of punishment. Parents argue that smacking should not be ban because it is an effective method in a child disciplinary. And when compared to other methods or ways, it emerges as the most effective method to most parents. A former police special constable who is a mother of three, smacked her dear eight year-old boy when he refused to get ready for school. After one smack, her son, Ross, got up and got ready for school. Mrs Macmilan states that smacking leaves a lot more impact than a naughty step of taking his privileges away such as his Gameboy for an evening or turning off the TV. While other children may feel mortified or upset when not able to watch TV, Mrs Macmilan’s son, Ross would divert his attention to a new activity. But smacking sent the message across in an instant. This proves smacking to be of utmost effectiveness. It should not be banned. It acts as a form of effective punishment on children.

However, as Mrs Macmilan has said too, different children confer different reactions to different methods. In example, her son is immune to the depletion in privileges and smacking works on him. However, for her daughter, the deprivation of privileges works on her and smacking was never needed for the 14 years of the young girl’s life. You have to find the method of discipline that works for your child. Every child differs thus the way of handling them would differ too.

Mohamed Danish Fawaz
3L(14) 1st May 2008
ERP Question 2aShe had always been there for me. She’s the harmony to my melody. She’s the bright phosphor bronze strings to my guitar. She is the oxygen to my fire. Without her, I would have had an aimless life. Without her around, I wouldn’t have a shoulder to cry on. She offered me that serenity that nothing else could offer. She’s little Guilin Lake. Located behind the Bukit Gombak Mrt Station, she is a beauty that is able to mesmerize many. The calm waves of her waters, the picturesque view of her humongous rocks gives you that sense of joy that comes naturally when you visit her. But, the government is going to claim that piece of land. They are going to build a new entertainment centre in replacement of her.
I found out about a month ago. My heart was filled with an amount of melancholy that overwhelmed me for subsequent week. It was disheartening to note that something that you value so much would soon be taken away from you.
She was there for that one moment in life that almost got me kicking the bucket. In fact, she was always able to cheer me up or at least pacify me. She had always been able to make me feel tranquil. Whenever problems occurred being it at home or school, with my family members, relatives or friends, being in front of Guilin lake would take my mind of the problems.
It was the December holidays and my family along with 3 of my aunties families went on a journey to Melacca. It was a fun experience initially but it came crashing down at the end of the 3rd day. My auntie, Cik Piah, got into a conflict with my mum and my other two aunties. Cik Piah and her husband were having financial difficulties and that affected the relationship with my mum and my other two aunties. I took the situation with a pinch of salt. To me, it did not seem to matter then. But things got worse when Cik Piah segregated her family and she never came to our family gatherings. She stopped contacting us. After a few months, things got better between Cik Piah and my other aunties but it got a lot worse between my mum and she. She developed this pool of hatred towards my mum. They used to be the best of friends. But look how money could easily break a bond. It was hurtful for me. She was my beloved aunty. I loved her dearly but she had to turn her back on us.
Later on, it was the early months of the year and it was the worse year one could have. My auntie, Cik Anita, a widow was supposed to get married on Chinese new year, but to her horror and in fact all of my relatives, her husband-to-be was caught in a hotel with another lady. This incurred the wrath of everyone in my family, the Rabi family. Despite that incident and thorough interrogation coming to the finding that he was having an affair with that lady, Cik Anita still insisted to get married with him. This aggravated me greatly. Cik Anita was too blinded by love that she couldn’t see the probability of a dark future for her 3 lovely princesses. I was utterly concerned for my cousins.
A few months later, we found out that one of my uncles has had a second wife for more than 7 years. It was during my cousin’s wedding ceremony that we found out. My auntie, Cik Faridah was crushed into pieces. She was supposed to be happy on that day but i could see glitters in her eyes. She was holding back her tears. It was painful for me to see her that way. It left an impact on me as well.
All these happened in a matter of a few months. Before this, Rabi Family was very closely bonded. But when these things happened, i asked myself, why did all these happen? It was hurtful for me because the victims and people involved in the conflicts were the ones i was close to. They were dear to me. I did know where i could vent my frustrations. I just wanted to calm myself down from the emotional turmoil. Throughout these string of events, Little Guilin was there for me. I would make a trip there, all the way from Woodlands, just to visit her. She would then bestow me with her power of peace. I was always cheered up after every trip and i would then be able to smile again. She was the only thing that could cheer me up. No human being could. That is how significant she is to me. That is how dear she is to me. But soon, she will be gone. Perhaps one day, I’ll be able to find such a beauty.

The evolution of goodness

I feel that altruism is build in every human being or perhaps living thing. This characterstics show that one is innocent and nice when born and he or she becomes bad when he or she is influenced by the things around him or her. Everyone is nice by nature. That is true.

Some human beings are good to others with the hopes that the other party will be nice to them as well. Other are nice because they believe that being nice is an important aspect in life. Well i believe being nice is a necessary thing and it doesnt do any harm being nice. For example, giving up your seat to a senior citizen doesnt do you any harm. It makes you feel proud of urself and feel happy doing so.

When you do nice things, you feel that happiness that you can never find. you feel proud of yourself and you feel happier. It is better off being nice than bad. I personally feel that every human being is nice but some just choose to not be nice. This may be because of their selfishness of wanting something or how they feel towards that action. For example, they might think that giving up a seat or helping an elderly cross the road is something "gay". This is because it is not a social norm. Not everyone does it. Maybe there are people that do it. But not enough to make it something normal.

I do hope that everyone can turn nice. However, if everything is nice, it might be bad as well. hm..

I was in a state of shock when I read the article displaying the number of accidents that occurred due to the recklessness of the citizens. The accident articles read, ‘pedestrian crossing accident’ , ‘a guy gets hit by a bicycle on pavement’, ‘Robber made easier ‘. However, what astounded me more were the reasons behind the occurrence of these accidents. Two of the most major reasons were listening to their music players and utilizing their cell phones or text messaging. The two very common actions carried out by our Singapore Citizens these days. This includes youngsters, adults and even senior citizens. I could walk down the street and point out at least 50 percent of the citizens walking along would be doing either of these actions. However, I strongly feel that these actions should be reduced by Singapore citizens. It will make opportunities for accidents to occur. These accidents of which are preventable.
Firstly, when one is too engrossed in music or text messaging, he or she is ignorant or is unable to be wary of his or her surroundings. For example, if one was to have his earphones plugged, he would not be able to hear anything from his surrounding. Yes, it can be argued that if the volume is rather low, he is able to hear, however, statistics have showed that out of 30 people observed, 24 people had their volumes at 50 percent or louder. The louder the volume, the more the mood sets in. This reduces the chances of one to be able to hear its surrounding. And this can cause accidents. For example, a bicycle that is going reasonably fast and the biker rings his bell a few meters away for caution purposes, the one with the earphones is not able to hear anything and this would reduce the biker to halt and slow down in time and thus crash into the one with earphones or injure himself while trying to swerve his bicycle. This could have been prevented if the guy did not have his earphones on.
Secondly, when one is engrossed in text messaging or in using his phone, his attention will be distracted. This applies heavily when he is driving, crossing the road or doing heavy work. An experiment by The RAC Foundation, a British non-profit organization, using a driving simulator has shown that when a driver is driving and text messaging at the same time, his reaction time is reduced by 35 percent and this can and is likely to cause road accidents. This also applies to road users and people walking in crowds. An experiment was done by the reporters and it showed that of the 30 pedestrians were text messaging, five bumped into the reporters and six dodged them only at the very last minute. This shows that their attention and focus is solely on their phones and not to their surroundings. This can cause accidents such as bumping into visually-handicapped citizens or senior citizens that are frail and fragile. These accidents can be prevented if the phone user does not use his phone when he is walking in crowds or walking for that matter. However, some users of the music players and cell phones, mostly comprising of youngsters, argue that music and text messages are crucial and essential in their daily lifestyle. Without the company of their music players or cell phones, their life would be mundane and music just sets the mood as said by polytechnic student Farhana Zulkifli aged 21. Other users sets the blame on others. For example, another polytechnic student by the name of Seah Jia Hao, 17, says that if there is a car behind him and he cannot hear it, it is the driver’s responsibility to look out for him as he is in front of the car. Others say that it has become a habit that is inevitable. I do agree that if we don’t listen to music or text message while walking down the street or crossing the road, the situation can be considered pretty boring. And if we don’t listen to music during long MRT journey rides or such events, then when at all? Every other activity requires alertness because anything can happen unexpectedly. However, I believe that reducing these actions can reduce the chances of accidents occurring.

CCTs should be scraped.

CCTs should be scraped.

CCTs should be scraped. These CCTS bring stress to the students. The students are already busy with their everyday homework and CCA commitments and some are even holding posts in the leadership aspect. This takes a lot of their time during weekdays and even on Saturdays. The students would only have sundays as their free day. This sunday I believe is to be a family day where they spend their day with their family. Family time is important as family is a students pillar of strength. If these sundays are taken away to study for CCTs, no family bonding would be available. And this would severely affect the students ties with his family. When the ties of family is affected, the student is affected in many other areas such as academics and social behaviour. Thus, CCTs should be taken away for the better of the student’s welfare.

An exposition is a literary technique used to inform, explain, analyze, or define. The technique is used in the writing of texts such as textbooks, how-to essays, recipes, cook books, business letters, personal letters, news stories, press releases, research reports, scientific reports, term papers, wills, and encyclopedias.etc. It should expound detailed explanation. An exposition is also mostly not written in first person point of view as it mostly shows the historical context of the topic discussed.

There are a few types of exposition essay.
-Sequence writing lists events or steps in chronological order.
-Descriptive essays use the senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste to provide the reader with a mental image or feeling about the subject.
-Classification writing uses an organizational strategy to arrange groups of objects or ideas according to a common theme.
-Comparison writing shows the similarities and differences between two or more subjects.
-Cause-and-effect writing, also known as analysis, identifies the reasons for an event or situation.