29_Ng+Jun+Wei+Clement

Name: Ng Jun Wei Clement (29) Class: 2LY

__Term 1 Assignment 3 Corrections__

1. Although females make up about half of the world’s population, gender inequality is still widespread around the world, where many countries have made earning a living much harder for females compared to males, even to this day. Does it make sensethat the majority of females who have to put in more effort to make a living and do the housework are paid less compared to most males who only need to focus on making a living? This is a clear sign of gender inequality. In all of America, China, and many other countries, studies show that women are paid an average of 78% of what men are paid. For some races, the percentage is further decreased to a mere 56%, such as the African Amercan and Latinas. Though it can be argued that the ‘Equal Pay Act’ was put into action by the United States of America and the United Kingdom as an attempt to equalise payment among genders, it has taken six whole years to increse women’s payment by 2% since 2011 and still counting unbelievbly slowly. Surely this is a clear indication that gender inequality is still prevalent in this world and that it would most likely continue to be so in the future?

2. Furthermore, many countries all over the world deprive their females of independence, but allow males the freedom which is rightfully everyone’s. Such is the law of Egypt, Bahrain and Syria, where husbands are allowed to ban their wives from leaving the country regardless of the reason. The limitations are further enhanced by countries such as Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Yemen, where the married women (the majority of them) are only allowed to leave the country or even take public transport to other parts of the same kingdom with their closest male relative’s permission in black and white. Females are restricted from even travelling within the country and the decision is placed on the males despite the many risks such as detainment or abuse. This is no doubt gender inequality at work, and in such a variety of countries as well.

3. Finally, we even have the developed countries having conspirations of gender inequality within its societies. In the United States of America, as a historical fact, not once has a female been made president. Though it may be contended that there have been female candidates, they were all rejected by the majority of polls, by society’s final judgement. In so many years of history, not one female has been made president. It definitely sparks a thought on how society thinks of females compared to males in terms of mental prowess. Another point I would like to raise would be that of gender inequality in China, one of the most developed countries in the world, and India, a developing country. Both are some of the most respected countries in the world. But who would know that they had a dark secret behind them? Even in recent years, there is still a cultural belief that males are dominant over females, due to the fact that they carry on the familt name (this practise has also been observed in other countries). But due to the ‘One Child Policy’ in China and poverty in India, parents are not able to support more than one child and too many children respectively. Thus the preference for males would lead them to deliberately abandon female infants and leave them to die. Actions have yet to be taken against these wrongdoings, To the extent of depriving females ofdepriving females from the chance to live, is probably the ultimate example of gender inequality’s provenance in this world. If this is practised even in the most developed of countries, who knows where else in the world it may be occuring? Perhaps they may be taking place closer than we think.

(22.5/30 after revision)

__Term 1 Assignment 4 Corrections__

1. It may be argued that being able to tell lies occasionally is important to maintain a healthy relationship. However, I do not agree with this statement. Lies, no matter how minute can affect a relationship negatively. For example, let us say one were to lie to his spouse in order to go drinking with friends once, in an attempt to not get her worried. But what would happen if that lie is found out (and on many an occasion, it most likely would be)? Suspicion and misunderstanding would occur, resulting in loss of trust between the two. This may eventually lead to even greater forms of conflict or more lies, possibly ending in divorce, seperation, severing of ties, etc. This simple “one-off” lie with “good intentions”, could cause a relationship which has probably taken years to build up to come crashing down. It poses the question, if one is capable of telling an “occasional lie”, who is to say that that person will not make one that is more drastic?

2. It may be argued that it is better to be a student in our parents’ time as students nowadays have to face more stress. But I strongly disagree with this statement. First and foremost, as written by Donald C. Orlich, Prefessor Emeritus in the Science Mathematics Engineering Education Center, “If we look back into the 1950’s and 1960’s… This era was dominated by the theory of ‘mental discipline’, physical punishment, order, and obedience.” How can it be said that there is less stress for our current generation’s students if those of our parents’ time had to deal with stress from ordeals such as “physical punishment” in their schools? Furthermore, in our generation, the advancements of technology have made communication devices widespread in our society, as compared to that of our parents’ generation. This has a observably positive impact on students of our day, not only allowing them to keep up to date on the issues of society via the news using computers, but also adding convenience for outside of school, arranging of project meetings via e-mail or calling or perhaps even research through the internet. This decreases stress for students of our generation considerably as contact is more convenient as one dial away, compared to our parents who during their time had to spend valuable time just to plan a meeting date in person. Finally, in today’s society, teachers, parents and all citizens are prohibited from physically abusing, namely hitting, a student for minor offences such as not doing homework. Without having to worry about such punishments from home or school, students of our time can focus on their work with a clear mind, allowing them to be less stressed as opposed to the students’ of our parents’ time who had to constantly worry about these terrible punishments, resulting in a decline in schoolwork and increase in stress. With all this said, it is clear that to be a student in our time is better than being one in our parents’ time.

3. It may be contended that organ trading should be allowed in Singapore as nothing can be more imporatant than saving a life. But I disagree with this statement. Though organ trading may very well save a life, it may also sacrifice another’s life. Legalising organ trding may unleash a black market in which people sell their own or another’s organs for profit without government authorisation. This poses a threat to the donor’s health as the operation may not be performed by a licensed professional (who charge more for the procedure) in an attempt to increase profit. This would be most common in black markets as most who turn to them for money are usually in poverty. To further illustrate my previous example, the poor can be easily tricked into selling an organ by “organ retailers” or people of the sort. This would be due to the poor’s desperation to make money. In the process, they may not only experience health problems, but may also be cheated of their money. mSimply put, they could be given only a fraction of the organ’s true value and they would not even know the difference. This is even happening in Singapore as I write and you read this. So if this has been happening even when organ trading is illegal, just imagine what would happen if organ trading were legalised here. Futhermore, legalising organ trading would increase crime rate. For example, during the period when organ trading was legalised there, kidnappings took place, where organs would be removed from those taken captive without notice simply due to financial gain. This not only poses a threat to safety, but a threat to the law and order as well, putting innocent people’s lives at stake, potentially resulting in death on a large scale. Yes, organ trading could very well save a life, but at what cost? Just because we want to save one life does not mean we can ignore the rest’s. Thus I can conclude that organ trading should not be allowed in Singapore as there are more important things than saving an individual’s life.

(20/30 after revision)(Revised again)

__Term 1 Assignment 5 Corrections__

The idea of casinos in Singapore had received countless criticisms, whether positive, negative, or in between. And the truth is that allowing casinos in Singapore is, and was a correct decision for various reasons.

Casinos contribute to society in general with a variety of effects. The best to start off with would probably be with our employment rates. With casinos introduced to our society, aside from the attractive pay and exhilarating working environment, casinos require a gargantuan amount of employees, the largest having approximately 13000 workers in the casinos themselves. Furthermore, according to the research of Anderson in 1996, it revealed that for every 1 million in revenues, the casino introduces and created 13 jobs. This number does not even include the number of jobs indirectly created by other industries such as bars or cleaners. Also, 1 million in revenues is mere child’s play for a successful casino such as Resort World Sentosa inSingapore.

But it can be argued that most of the jobs in casinos are taken up by foreigners. However, they fail to mention the sheer number of jobs created not just by the casinos, but also by the other industries. Furthermore, if many Singaporeans for whatever reason find jobs directly linked to the casinos such as dealers to be unrespected occupations, surely they will accept the other jobs created indirectly such as waiters, security guards, cashiers, chefs etc.

Then come the tax increments. Locals benefit the most via this technique which the government may, and most likely would, choose to impose on the casinos. Not only is the profit gained by the service tax on casinos higher than that of when applied on residential areas, but also relevant to the amount spent specifically at a casino. This income is beneficial to the government, the economy and the people as it can be used for anything, from charity to funding of the casino itself, which actually has some irony to it once you think about it. What could be better than a self-funding money maker? It does not hurt that foreigners are pouring in to ‘contribute’ to our society either.

Now, it can be contended that casinos may promote immoral values or addiction to gambling among our own population, but those who succumb to the temptation are simply the minority. Furthermore, action has been taken to protect against addiction. For example, if one finds that his /her family member or he/she has an addiction to gambling, one is allowed to apply for casino exclusions. This prevents the person from accessing any government registered casino in the country, namely Singapore. Furthermore, if one is bankrupt or is receiving financial aids from the government, that person will be automatically applied. Then one might ask, what if the person goes to an illegal gambling den? Well then that is not the said casino’s problem anymore is it?

With all this said, in general, in the introduction of casinos toSingapore, the pros outweigh the cons. Casinos not only brought and should bring more financial and economical gain to Singapore, but should also bring fame and fortune. Thus, allowing casinos in Singapore was in fact a correct decision.

(14/30 after revision)(redone)

__June Holiday Homework__

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__E-Learning Day Activity__

I find that avatars are simply not capable of replacing humans as teachers. Avatars may not be able to teach others efficiently. Though the avatars are able to speak and move like teachers, they are unable to carry out the tasks that human teachers can and must. For example, if a particular class is weak in a certain topic or chapter, the logical thing for a teacher to do would be to either go into further detail or revise the topic. However, an avatar is not able to do so, rather, it is only able to ‘speak’ in a fixed pattern, unable to go off its already pre-planned speech. Furthermore, if an avatar were to teach, it would not be able to answer questions posed by students. For example, a request such as “Can you please explain this formula in more detail please? I do not understand it.” can go completely unanswered. This can have a drastic impact on the quality of teaching as if a student is not able to thoroughly understand a topic, they may use wrong techniques or use techniques wrongly during exams, proving negative to their results, and with that, their confidence (caused by low results). Therefore, it is clear that at least at this point in time, avatars should not and cannot replace humans as teachers.