War Poetry

War poetry is a type of poetry whereby a poet expresses his views about war. It can be both positive and negative. Some prominent war poets are Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen. Although they both write war poetry, their views about war are totally different. Rupert Brooke, who has never participated in a war, glorifies war through his poems while Wilfred Owen, who had been in a war before, knows about its bitterness and thus, warns readers than war is not glorious at all. However, the similarity between them are that they were all going to or had been part of a war. Rupert Brooke was a young man who was going to participate in war while Wilfred Owen was a person who had already participated in war.

In response to Dr Hon's new system.

During the previous assembly, Dr Hon reminded us of the new system in which we had to achieve a B3 for IS and a C5 for OC. However, most of us had no idea of the requirements which were needed to be promoted to sec 3. For example, in my class, more than half of us thought that the passing mark was C6, and thus, did not try to max out our ace points. This may be our fault. the teachers may have briefed us on this matter during the start of the year. However, if they did, it would not be possible that so many secondary 2 students have forgotten about it.

Personally, I feel that IS should not be used as a subject in which we have to go to 3Q if we did not meet the passing mark. The purpose of independent studies is to encourage students to learn beyond the curriculum. And to achieve this, we have to either be forced or to allow us to gradually gain passion or interest for a subject. The new system is a system whereby we are forced to do ace. Ace is student initiated and supposed to be a gauge in which the teacher checks how independent a student is. It also allows the student to be self learners. However, with the new system in place, the student is forced to do ace as if it is homework. Thus, there is no independence, as everything is forced.

Secondly, if a student fails to meet the requirements, he should not be sent to 3Q. In our school, 3Q is considered to be a class for students who are "failures" in their studies. If a student gets sent to 3Q, he would most certainly go into depression as he would think that he is not good enough. Also, there would be peer pressure. Peer pressure is found in every single school in the world. If a student gets into 3Q while all his friends and classmates got into IP, how would he feel? Would he have the courage to meet them again? I don't think so. This may cause a long lasting damage to him. If he is not able to recover from the shock, he would most definitely be unable to concentrate on his studies. Thus, sending a student to 3Q may do more harm than good.

Lastly, I would I like to make some suggestions. I feel that the system should revert to the old one. In the previous system, students can choose not to do ace and to concentrate on their studies. This way, students can focus on their strong suit instead of trying to be an all-rounded person.

This is what I feel about the new system. Please leave comments and share what you think about it.

Youth Olympic Games

The Youth Olympic games started on the 14th of August, which is also my birthday. Since everyone already know about it, I am only going to state my opinion on it.

I feel that Singapore is putting a great effort in making this Youth Olympic games a memorable one. For example, there is a initiative like letting students volunteer to help in the games. It allows students to gain greater exposure to the games and also learn more about it. 2 of my friends were involved in it. However, it was during the test season and they missed some important lessons and tests. Thus, I feel that the organisers could try to start the games after exams. This will allow more students to help out as all their tests are over.

Also, another issue is the showing times. I understand that the competitions are held during the morning in consideration of the competitors. However, maybe they could broadcast encores during the evening when more students are at home.

Emily of Emerald Hill

Emily of Emerald Hill is a novel based on a play. It features Emily as the only real actor, while all other characters are made known due to the actions of Emily.

This book tells us the life story of Emily, from the time she was abandoned by her mother to the time she grows old and suffers dementia. It portrays Emily as a traditional peranakan woman, one who believes that a woman must be a housewife and a mother, taking care of the family. Emily shows the perfectly because she was a perfect wife but a over-controlling mother. She is a perfect wife because even though her husband does not love her anymore, and has a mistress, she does not abandon her role as a wife. She continues to send him food, clean clothes, indirectly caring for him.

I feel that this book increases our knowledge of olden Singapore. Before reading this book, the only old Singapore I knew was the one under Sir Stamford Raffles and the one during the Japanese occupation. I had no idea about the cultures in Singapore. After reading this book, I realised that Singapore is closely linked to Malaysia in the olden times-the peranakan culture. The peranakan culture shows us the Nyonya way of life. The book also shows us the traditional roles of a woman and the sexist attitude in the olden days. There are also many themes like relationships and tradition.