E-LEARNING 26th May

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay –

Execrable effects of agent orange spray!
By Hubert Wilson

TASK 1

Background

Hubert Wilson was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. Along with a dozen or so intelligence school graduates, he prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang.

Hubert's health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago his central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. No physician has ever rendered any medical assistance. The symptoms were probably due to the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during Hubert's year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure. Since his brain still functions moderately well, and he has mobility issues, he turned to writing just like his late father and late singer(and writer)Johnny Cash.

What the poem is about

The poem is about mostly about the sights and sounds of the Vietnam War. Modern chemical agents were used, such as the “Orange Agent” and other colour agents, as can be seen from the numerous colours that were state in the poem. It was reported by Wikipedia, “Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. Many Vietnamese were killed by exposure to such a chemical and many of its later generations were affected as well. The purpose of this poem is probably to warn us that war does not only affect one generation but even its decendants.

TASK 2

Point of view

• This poem is written in the point of view of either a war veteran or someone who has seen the after effects of the war, basically someone who does not necessarily need to be involved in the war at that time, but someone who was born in the later generations after the war.

-This can be seen from the rather third point perspective of the poet.

-“America did not foresee”

-This is written in the perspective of someone who has seen what America had not foreseen and hence is either someone who has seen what has happened or someone who lived from the war and saw what happened.

Situation and setting

• The poem shows the aftereffects of war and that war does not only last for that generation but may even bring it on to innocent members of later generations

-This can be seen from certain quotes

-“ Toll on the innocent and unborn.”

-“ Expecting others to pay a high price.”

-These quotes show the damage or the harm done to innocent generations.

-The “others” in this case, represents the later generations, and the “high price” is probably the deforms or the deaths of the future generations caused by the aftereffects of the “orange agent” or other chemical weapons

• The poem also shows the emotional conflicts of war.

-This can be seen from a few quotes in the poem

-“Toll on the innocent and unborn”

-This probably shows the emotional agony and depression of the family members of those who were innocently killed in the war and those who died due to the aftereffects of the chemical weapons used in war.

Language/Diction

• The poem also uses several words to demonstrate that war is extremely large scale and probably not as simple as just downright killing

-This can be seen from the use of certain words

-“Potpourri”

-This word shows the mixture or combination of certain or in this case the different ways in which the soldiers

were killed or the number of soldiers that were killed, showing that the war was extremely large-scaled, with even

different methods of killing the enemies.

-“Toll”

-This word is used to show that war is sacrificial and can be unbeneficial to everyone, as everyone has to pay a price to war, even if one may not be directly linked to war.

Personal response

I strongly agree with the poet in the sense that war is unnecessary and may even drag many innocent people into it, even if they have no part to play in the war. With one simple biological weapon, many generations may be affected and may even die due to its aftereffects, and this is extremely pathetic, in my opinion, as they have no part in the war, and may not even know of what happened a few generations ago and hence have to suffer due to the mistakes of their earlier generations.

Criticism ---> Turns towards the better or a fall towards the worse?

Should we criticize others for what the do? How do we take criticism in our stride and learn from it?

Many of us are unable to accept and take criticism in our stride. We are unable to learn and improve from such criticisms. This is perfectly understandable. Being criticized could even be comparable to speaking a sentence and getting a slap in your face. One may not realize his mistake and think that he is doing the right thing, hence, may not take the criticism lightly as they are unable to accept the fact that there might be an error with what they are doing of have done. Most of us are unable to take criticism lightly because of our pride. We do not want to admit that we have erred or that we have made a mistake, as we are afraid that by admitting that one has erred, it would make us seem weaker than everyone else. Some may even call it "humiliating" to admit to a mistake.

However, is admitting to one's mistake really something that make us seem weaker than others? Is it really humiliating to make an error. When one does not admit to his or her mistakes, it just makes him or her seem like a total sore loser.

Think of it this way. Everyone makes mistakes. By refusing to learn from one's mistake, or refusing to accept criticism, it is as if one was stating that he or she is the perfect person, someone who does not make ANY mistakes, someone who does not make ANY error, and someone who is ALWAYS right. I doubt that there is anyone on Earth that is perfect.

It is probably the fact that we do not have "perfect" people on Earth that we require the existence of criticism in the first place. With criticism, our flaws and weaknesses are pointed out. With the existence of criticism, we can hence learn from our mistakes and build on our weaknesses. Imagine that there is no one to show you your mistakes. Imagine that you are left to think that you are the best in the world. Imagine you are not shown the existence of errors. You would be left in your own little dream world of perfection and thinking that whatever you do is correct. You would be left to think that whatever others do, it would never surpass yours. You would be left to fall once someone does find a fatal flaw in whatever you do. Left to fall and left to die.

Criticism is ever so important to us. However, it depends on what the person's intentions are. Stop and think. Why did that person criticize my work? What are his or her intentions?

If someone just criticizes you so as to make you feel bad about yourself, so as to make you feel dejected, honestly speaking he is just scum. However, if that person actually cares about you and wants you to succeed, you should do well to heed his or her advice. If you are the one who is criticizing another person, stop and think before you act. Is what the other person is doing that unacceptable and wrong that you have to tell that person off? Put yourself in that person’s shoes. Would you get angry if another person told you off for something that you did? Remember that you must put your perspective from the other person’s point of view, not your own. You would naturally say that it is right to criticize the other person as you are not the person that is being criticized.

Lowering the weighting of Chinese ---> A good idea or bad?

Recently, I have read an article regarding the MOE planning to lower the weighting of chinese in the PSLE. Is this really a good idea? What are the good points and the bad points of doing so? How greatly would it impact the Singaporean society?

Personally speaking, I do not think that lowering the weighting of the Chinese language in the PSLE is a good idea at all. Think of it this way. There are so many disadvantages to such a choice.

Chinese is the mother tongue of a lot of Singaporeans. It is our ancestral roots. It is our culture. Without Chinese, how are we able to communicate with people from China, when China may be extremely powerful and important in the future? How are we able to communicate with them when we do not even understand our own mother tongue? We are Chinese. If the government decides to lower the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, then wouldn't it be like discouraging the students to learn more and strive harder for the Chinese language? If they are discouraged to strive to learn the Chinese language better, then are we really fit to be called Chinese? Are we really fit to have our Chinese culture? Are we fit to be the future generations of our Chinese ancestors? If the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE is lowered, it would be akin to asking the students to stop putting in too much effort in Chinese and concentrate more in subjects such as Math and Science.

Think of it this way. Chinese is a subject. By lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, doesn't that make it seem as if Chinese is a subject that is of less importance than other subjects? What makes Chinese so different from the other subject. It is, in my opinion, as important as any subject in the education system. What if the main language spoken by the world now were to be Chinese, instead of English? Then the situation may be reversed. Chinese would not seem less important than the other subjects. In fact, English might even be the language that seem less important to the students.

By lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, it is akin to disregarding the dedicated Chinese teachers that spend so much time and effort teaching and preaching these students. They spend so much time teaching their students, so that they would do well in their PSLE and even use the Chinese language more often, helping themselves in the future. If the weighting for Chinese in the PSLE is lowered, then would the teachers still feel like they are as important as the other teachers that teach other subjects such as English and Math? They spend so much time teaching Chinese, and realize that the subject that they so dearly enjoy teaching is lowered, making them less important than the other teachers that teach other subjects. Wouldn't this affect their morale? Wouldn't affect the students in the end, when the teachers are unable to teach as well, when they feel inferior to the other teachers?

Perhaps there are reasons for such a choice. Recently, more and more students are struggling to pass the Chinese examinations and tests. This choice could have been a choice so as to make their lives and education easier, hence enabling to strive on and get better results for the other subjects. However, this should not be the way to do it. If the students are unable to cope with such hardships in their studies, how are they supposed to cope with even more setbacks when they reach the higher levels of education such as secondary school or junior college. By lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, we may be actually weakening them in terms of their character in the end, as they are unable to even get past the obstacle in their life, in this case, Chinese. It may even be akin to spoon feeding them and trying to make their lives as easy as possible.

Another reason why lowering the weighting of Chinese is considered is probably because the government does not want to punish the students for doing badly in the subject but instead trying to reward those that do well in Chinese. However, by lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, it is also undermining what the students who score well can do. It makes their efforts and achievements less important.

Basically, I feel that lowering the weighting of the Chinese language in the PSLE is a bad idea due to the reasons stated above.

You have 1 friend request: "Hi son, this is mom! Accept my friend request!"

I am quite sure you send out a lot of friend requests on Facebook.

I am quite sure you have received a lot of friend requests on Facebook.

However, how many of you actually accept friend requests from YOUR PARENTS?

Recently, more and more people face a scenario where their parents add them in Facebook. Most of them probably face a very agonizing dilemma: Do I add them? How do I reject them without hurting their feelings? Will they monitor whatever I do? Will my freedom be restricted if I add them in Facebook?

Are you one of the people who face problems when you accept your parents' "friend" request? A 23-year-old friend’s worst fears came true last week when a guy she had a crush on tagged her on some Facebook photos. Next thing she knew, her very excited mum left a Facebook comment that read: “Wow, Sarah! How come you never told me your new boyfriend’s such a delicious hunk?” Predictably, the said “hunk” never called again.

Perhaps it IS true that there may be problems due to the simple fact that there may be a huge age gap between you and your parents. If they do not spend enough time with you, they might not be able to understand you and your feelings and thoughts. They may not understand that by talking to you in a manner that they always do at home online, they might even make you feel uncomfortable.

However, I honestly do not believe that adding your parents or relatives on sites such as Facebook is such a bad thing at all. Are there any words that you do not want to say but want to convey? Do you have something in your mind that you want your parents to hear but do no want to tell them directly? Doesn't your life get easier if you are able to convey these thoughts online? Your parents are able to better understand you when they can learn about who you really are or want to be online. They can also interact with you more efficiently. Who knows? Perhaps they may even be your online "best friend".

Lack of sleep linked to early death? What about us?

Recently, I have read a newspaper article about a study that shows that lack of sleep is linked to an early death.

Researchers said yesterday that people who sleep less than six hours a night have an increased risk of dying prematurely. It was stated that those who sleep less than six hours a night would have a 12% chance of dying prematurely, as one can get various illnesses from sleeping late, for instance, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Scientists believe that the relation between little sleep and illness is due to a series of hormonal and metabolic mechanisms.

Personally, I believe that this is rather unavoidable in Singapore. Take a look around. How many people study till late at night? Take a look around at night. How many lights do you see in the houses around you? A lot right?

Singapore is such a busy nation. We have students studying till the break of dawn and we have people coming home from work only at midnight. There is so much to do, and so little time. Is this, then, an inevitable part of our lives? All of us know that education is very important for us to survive and get a good job in future. However, many of us are willing to sacrifice our sleep so as to squeeze in that last bit of information into our heads. Is there actually anything we can do about this?

Think of it this way. If one really pushes ourselves to the max, just for the sake of squeezing a little more information into our own heads, is it really worth it? Is sacrificing so much sleep time really worth it just to prepare ourselves for examinations?

Perhaps if we knew how to manage our time, then we would not have to resort to all-nighters, and this clearly shows the importance of managing one's time. If we know how to manage our time, do we still have to study through the night? NO. We do not have to, for the simple fact that we are ALREADY prepared for it.

We can do so much if we know how to manage our time. So do plan and organise your day. No. ORGANISE YOUR LIFE!

What happened to my favourite long rides?

I have read a news article not long ago regarding the government planning to remove long "cross country" bus rides and replacing the long bus rides with only short distance bus rides.

I feel that there would be a lot of problems if such an action were to be taken. Think of it this way, many commuters take the bus from one end of the country to the other everyday, most of the time to go to work or school and return. If such bus rides are removed, how would the commuters and students go to work or school each day? How would they get to work on time?

The lack of long bus rides may be replaced with more MRT stations and more sophisticated MRT train services. However, there are already many commuters and students taking the MRT trains. Even if the train services are improved, how much more efficient can the MRT train services be? If every person who takes long bus rides to get to their destinations take the MRT trains instead, would the MRT trains be as efficient as it is now? With more passengers, the MRT trains would be more packed. Every time I enter the MRT train cabin, the MRT train cabins are always fully packed. There is barely space for us to stand straight, let alone for us to find a seat. There is also the issue of getting to our destinations quickly. By removing the long bus rides that may be able to get us to our destinations quickly and directly, we are forced to use the only alternative of taking the MRT trains. The MRT stations are not stationed at a lot of destinations, unlike the bus stops. If we use the bus services, we are able to reach our destination a lot quicker as we can reach there directly. If we are only left with the choice of taking the MRT trains, how are we able to get to our destinations quickly when we have to use a bus service after reaching the MRT station? How does this make our lives easier. Also, there may not be MRT stations around our homes. We are hence forced to use a bus service to get to a MRT station, before taking the train. After that, we may still have to use another bus service to get to our final destination. This clearly shows that by removing the long but direct bus rides, we are greatly inconvenienced.

Perhaps the government's intention of removing such long bus rides is to lessen the congestion of the roads during peak hours, but is this really the right solution to this problem? Is removing long bus rides the way to reducing the number of vehicles on the road? Doesn't this "solution" simply inconvenience even more people? The original intention of reducing the number of vehicles on the road is to make it more convenient for road users. However, by doing so, even more people are inconvenienced.

Moreover, one can do several things while in a long bus ride. One can catch up on lost sleep while on a bus ride. One can also read a book or start one's revision in the bus. There are several things that one can do in the bus. By removing such bus rides, it is akin to removing one's opportunity to rest in the bus, and to spend time wisely on the bus.