8_Denese+Ong+Wen+Xuan

E-learning worksheet

I think that we should not replace the teachers with avatars as Man created computer, computer did not create man. So, no matter how much it tries, an invention cannot outwit its inventor. Avatars can help to teach a class, but they cannot teach someone style or help clarify an idea. They can display a three-dimensional model of a sodium chloride molecule, but cannot answer a question about it unless the programmers who designed the model had anticipated the question beforehand. They can tell the story of the Alamo, complete with pictures and sounds, but cannot tell what it feels like to walk inside the room where Jim Bowie died. They can record whether a student is present in class, but cannot ask why the student looks nervous or angry or depressed. They can print a story that a student has written, but cannot recognize its potential and encourage the student to keep writing.

I agree that some aspects of the educational system are already provided by the computer and yes, it is definitely true that you don't need a person to learn everything - education is a largely personal matter. However, if we eliminate the teacher-student interaction completely, a part of the educational experience will be lost. It's not just the act of standing before a class that makes a teacher a teacher, there's the whole social experience of learning - the working together, bouncing ideas off of one another, for example, people are always complaining about the loss of social contact that has come with the age of technology I fail to imagine what they'd be saying if the computer became the new teacher.

Assignment 5

It has been said that building a casino in Singapore was a correct decision but I beg to differ. Building a casino brings different problems to Singapore like people becoming addicted to gambling. Building casinos also destroy families and cause various soul problems.

When casinos open, there are sure to be many things that might happen. An instance is those who gamble will continue gambling as there is more reason not to quit from it since there is a casino in Singapore. In addition, it will create a base of new gamblers, who in the past never gambled because the activity was associated with vice. But because gambling has now been redefined to mean simply an entertaining game of chance, these non-gamblers might be enticed to join the others. This might lead the players to addiction. Once a person starts playing they would never stop. By playing it big to open a casino in Singapore, we are creating the opportunity for a new addiction to form. At the same time, we are making it harder for the addict to reform. We are also creating a new addiction for those who have stayed away from it so far. Viewed purely from a social perspective, gambling has no positive impact on the society at large. Every game won or lost is not going to stimulate any other economic activities. In fact, because the gambler loses more than he wins, he loses also the opportunity cost of what might be money for some meaningful capital investment. When people congregate in the casino before the wheel of fortune and a desk decked with cards, their prime aim is to gamble and win. Everything else is secondary. People do not go there to relax and exchange views about life and work. They go there to gamble. Counselling centres have said they are seeing more cases of gambling addiction since Singapore's first casino opened. A member said he plans to get a self-exclusion order as he had lost about S$100,000 so far from gambling in casinos. He also said: "My friends are all either bookies or loansharks. I gamble through the Internet, soccer betting, then Internet casino and then Internet 4D.’ They also said that since the casinos have opened, there has been a 10 percent increase in people seeking help. Counsellors said the average profile of someone who is addicted to gambling involves Chinese males aged 30 to 40 who earn about S$1,000 to S$3,000 a month.

Our government has so far done well in emphasising the importance of family values and responsible social behaviours. By opening up gambling, are we not jeopardising these moral foundations that have been crucial in our nation building? How good are we in making right ethical judgments? If our government takes the lead to decide on this moral issue basing on the philosophy of pragmatism, many fear that our people will also view all other moral issues with the same lens of pragmatism. Many Singaporeans have never been given a classical liberal education to think broadly about ideas that needs to be considered from a moral and ethical perspective. Gambling is an ethical issue that needs to be considered on moral grounds as well. It simply cannot be decided basing on economic or pragmatic grounds alone. Because it is an ethical issue, we must be matured enough to define concepts like truth, virtues, values, and consider the moral consequences stemming from our decisions.

It may be argued that casinos boost the economy by increasing billions of revenue back but I beg to differ. I find that the moral and ethical aspect is also very important as if one does not have the right moral values, he would behave in a way which cause a lot of problems for people. When making the choice between the right and wrong, we often judge others more strongly on their morals than on their values. So most people would mostly likely think of the good points about the casino than the negative consequences that may arise. Moreover, money is not really important because money will come and go when we have enough but morals never come twice once lost. According to Mahatma Gandhi, "the roots of violence are wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humility, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principles." How we see ourselves and others is based on ethical terms.

So even though Singapore may derive many opportunities to earn money and attract tourists into our country, due to the casinos I find that it is still important to let the citizens in our country know that gambling can bring many dangers.

All these examples tell us what harm the casino will bring us. Firstly, there would an increase of gambling addicts and also there would be many people who many lose their moral values due to this. I hope that the government would do more to help gambling addicts to give up on gambling so as to save their future. after revision: 22/30

assignment 4

After revision :18/30
 * 1) It has been argued that being able to tell lies occasionally is important to maintain a healthy relationship. However, I beg to differ. Lies in a relationship can lead to limiting the partner’s ability to make decisions for themselves. Quite a number of people often use deception to limit their partner’s choices. More often, people tell lies to their partner because they want to take away their ability to make decisions for themselves. People who use deceptions limit access to information. This information is required by the partners in order to make decisions for themselves. Essentially when you tell a lie to your partner, you are actually stealing his rights to make his own decision based on the conditions of the situation. An example is when a girlfriend lies to her partner about a crush she has on one of his friends, she is actually taking away his ability to respond to that situation which is to either convince her that he is a better choice or prepare himself to face the break up. Another example is that when a guy lies to his partner and tells her that she looks attractive in her new outfit, he is taking away feedback that might influence how she dresses in the future. The people who lie to their partners are very selfish people.
 * 2) A recent survey shows that out of a 100 people who are in a relationship, more than 50 percent of them do not want their partners to lie to them. And also, in a survey, more than half the participants said that they would immediately end the relationship if they caught their partners lying to them about something very important. They felt that if their partners lied to them, they would not easily trust their partners in the future. The lies that their partner made cannot be kept in the dark forever as one day, they would be able to find out about it. When they found out that you have lied to them, they would be much angrier. Once a person starts lying, it is quite difficult to stop. In fact, research shows that people repeat the same lies so often that they eventually convince themselves that they are telling the truth. An example is that people tend to lie about how their past relationships ended. Over time, their stories tend to drift further away from the original story. Ironically, as these stories become less accurate, people would see through their lies.
 * 3) It has been argued that it is better to be a student in our parents’ time as students nowadays have to face too much stress. However, I disagree with the statement. Technology was less advanced during our parents’ generation. During their time, no one had invented many things yet and the computers were very expensive then. Only people who came from rich families could afford to buy computers. Many students now rely on computers and the internet to do their homework and research for their projects. The students in our parents’ generation did not have a computer to help them with research and if our parents come from a poor family, they would not have even money to buy a computer. The information from the internet can help us in many ways and because of this point, we can cut down our time to search for information compared to the students in the parents’ generation. As people normally have very little time to prepare for their project, and since the students in our parents’ generation generation doesn’t have a computer to help them, it is most likely that they would not be able to finish their projects in time. This will then result in students in not getting good grades for their project and since their grades are not good, they would feel stressed. Moreover, a lot of money is needed to buy textbooks. Only children coming from richer families can afford to send their children to school. In olden days, teachers were allowed to hit students with a cane when they misbehave and after being caned.
 * 4) It has been argued that organ trading should be allowed in Singapore as nothing can be more important than saving a life however, I feel that it is not true. People might die from organ trading. There are always chances that the recipient’s body could not accept the organ, in which case it has to be removed. The organ might not be able to accept the new environment so it stoppes performing its function. An example is a patient in turkey who could not accept the donor’s liver so the organ had to be taken out from the body but as the patient’s problem was serious, he died right after the operation of taking the organ out. In some countries, like India, the donor’s organ might have some problems or virus when it was taken out from the body, so when the recipient take the organ, the virus might pass on to the patient’s other organs. Kidney patients, for example, may die from complications resulting from the operation itself, although such a mortality rate is still considered low enough for certain sections of the poor to take that chance. There is always a possibility that the donor’s health might get affected, especially with kidney teansplants. Some of the donors may suffer from fatigue and other debilitating symptoms associated with patients with only one functioning kidney left. Research carried out by clothes in Coventry shows that out of eight of their patients who travelled to India for organ trading, six of them had to take their donated organ out because the organ was not being able to function well enough. This shows that many people would most likely not be successful if they went for organ trading.

1. I agree that there is still gender inequality in the world. In India, quite a number of women are forced to stay at home and are not allowed to go to school or work. A recent survey shows that of the 130 million 6-11 year-old children do not study and 60 percent are girls. This shows that in most regions of the world, especially the developing countries have gender bias impinges on girls' education. Cultural factors related to the 'correctness' of sending girls to school, reluctance to send girls and boys to the same school after third grade, as well as the perceived and real security threats related to girls walking to school and attending classes all contribute to slowing down the enrolment of girls in schools. the foremost factor limiting their education is poverty.

Economics plays a key role when it comes to coping with directs costs such as tuition fees, cost of textbooks, uniforms, transportation and other expenses. Wherever, especially in families with many children, these costs exceed the income of the family, girls are the first to be denied. As many women do not study, the literacy rates in some countries such as Afghanistan and India are disturbingly low. In many areas of Afghanistan, girls are often taken out of school when they hit puberty. Likewise, the enormous lack of female teachers, who are fundamental in a country where girls cannot be taught by a man after a certain age, is having a negative impact on girl's education. While progress has been made since the fall of the Taliban, women are still struggling to see their rights fulfilled. Only 18 per cent of women between 15 and 24 can read. The total number of children enrolled in primary schools is increasing tremendously, the percentage of female students is not. All these examples show that in some countries, gender inequality is still present.

2. There is also gender inequality for Afghanistan women. Some woman in Afghanistan do not have to rights to leave the house whenever they want and they often have to listen to what their husbands say and also have to serve them. In other words, they are being treated like maids. And if they disobey them, they would either be killed or badly abused by their husbands. In some parts of Afghanistan, it is legal but in other parts, it is not. It is very unfair for their wives as they are being tortured for such a trial offence. Women's unequal; rights increase their vulnerability to violence. In many countries in the region, no specific laws or provisions exist to penalise domestic violence, even though domestic violence is a widespread problem. Domestic violence is generally considered to be a private matter outside the state's jurisdiction. Battered women are told to go home if they file a complaint with the police. Few shelters exist to protect women who fear for their lives. Spousal rape has not been criminalised; husbands have an absolute right to their wives bodies at all times. Penal codes in several countries in the region also contain provisions that authorise the police and judges to drop charges against a rapist if he agrees to marry his victim.

A recent example is that an Afghanistan woman’s nose and ear was being cut off by her husband and some of his relatives when she was caught running away from home. Instead of sending her immediately to the hospital, they left her on the ground and let her bleed. Luckily, someone found and sent her to the hospital and she survived the ordeal. It is always the wife suffering for their husbands even though they did nothing wrong. ﻿ 3. In many countries, while husbands can divorce their spouses easily, wives’ access to divorce is often extremely limited, and they frequently confront near insurmountable legal and financial obstacles. In Lebanon, battered women cannot file for divorce on the basis of abuse without the testimony of an eyewitness. A medical certificate from a doctor documenting physical abuse is simply not good enough. Although women in Egypt can now legally initiate a divorce without cause, they must agree not only to renounce all rights to the couple’s finances, but must also repay their dowries. Essentially, they have to buy their freedom. In Israel, a man must grant his wife a get, a Jewish divorce document that can only be given by a man to his wife and would never be the other way around.   After Revision : 23/30    <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">﻿media type="file" key="Recording1.m4a" width="300" height="50"media type="file" key="recording2.m4a" width="300" height="50"media type="file" key="recording3.m4a" width="300" height="50"