Do schools try to teach too much?

Intoduction

Schools are organized institutions, whose duty is to pass on to future generations, the wisdom of all the previous generations. The purpose of schools is to teach its students what the governments of the countries think is best for the country. The emphasis here is on what the government think is best; not necessarily what is really best for the students. It is not uncommon for governments to so dictate what they want the students to learn, so that it helps keep the governments in power.

Thesis statement: Schols really teach too much. This is literally with reference to quantity.

Point:

• Schools not prepare students to meet what world of work need: A person’s ability to analyse situation & make quick decisions.
• Students get exact guidance from parents & teachers
• It takes them ages to get out of the trap that they have to be told what to do.
• Eg: Economics. Students are probably bursting at the seams(接缝) at the end of the course with all the theories about the subject. But ask them to open a small business and we see that they do not even know the start point.
• Quite often a total unschooled person, using their intuition(直觉) alone do well in business- Adam Smith
• Dependence on textbooks teaches students nothing but hw to be dependent on others to think for them.
• Students memorize info from textbooks in order to pass examinations, learn only what the authorities want them to.
• Experiment class is useful.
• Students have the chance to discover the universe and hw it works– naturally with close guidance by enlightened teachers.
• This method of teaching can be applied to teaching subjects like mathematics & Sc.
• Analyse and make choices > memorizing power
• Suggestion: if student can be taught to analyse and choose edge that he/she requires, all that needs to be done is tell him/her hw to get the information.
• Importance of Language.
• In order to avail himself/herself of all that knowledges, the student must be excelent in languages.

 

 

Technology breeds laziness. Discuss

Technology breeds laziness. Discuss

tech·nol·o·gy: video games, internet, cell phones, iPods, TV,PSP, computer

noun

1. the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science

2. the terminology of an art, science, etc.; technical nomenclature.

3. a technological process, invention, method, or the like.

4. the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their civilization

American sociologist Read Bain wrote that “technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them.”

  Technology advances

 People don’t ever question where their basic necessities like food, clothes, and shelter are coming from. They don’t care where they are made, and they don’t appreciate them at all. They totally take them for granted. And then, they have luxuries: gadgets and technology to distract them from it.  Technology is anything that has facilitated our survival since the dawn(变得(为人所)明白) of man. So, yes. Technology does in a way breed laziness.

  But there must be more to it. The cavemen, for instance, did not sit back on their lazy asses after securing a food source. Once their needs were met… they started experimenting with things like science and art.

 Technology is innovations, aim to ease human’s life, technology advances, , life as simple as remote control to control TV, fan speed, air conditioning, easy life = lazy life.  Kids no longer play sports, they play Playstation, eg: Wii, Playstation I, II, III, Game Boy  Overdependence of machinery affects human health: Asthenopia (Vision prob), Deafness (listen on music with headphones), thrombosis (sit longer than 8hrs a day)

 Relate laziness to low physical workout, turning people into lazy bone, relate to disease. research shows that usage of Ipad causes shoulder and neck strain [Work: A journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation; from the Harvard School of Public Health, Microsoft Corporation, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital]

 Invention of cars, people refuses to walk, even a short dist. / few steps.

 Reliant on technology

 People can buy groceries on net

 Potential to live without setting foot outside the door.

  E- University, study at home online, not interacting with other people, joy during Uni period forgotten, friends web shrink

 in the field of banking, people had to visit banks for performing every transaction, but now ATM booths have set up in widely set up in public: shopping complex, colleges and university, eased to a great extent for the people who cannot make themselves available in the bank. In addition, features like E-Banking and mobile banking encourages settling banking problems with a few clicks online.  Chinese traditional practices: 4th April is a day for the posterity to pay respect to their ancestors; this can be done online…

 E- shopping, e-radio, online dictionary, online games, e-news

  Isolation Vs. Isolated, isolates individual from reality

 Hinders communication

 Creates gap between one with his/her close friend

 Texting instead of talking face to face

 Visiting Family members & friends is easier, world is so close on WWW, yet, why not pay a visit to his/her house? Even talking to phone

 Feel more alienated (疏远), Eg: Not calling frens, just reading pic & updates on FB will do; Felt like that was really connecting to them.

 intellectual dependence on readily available information or quicker to accomplish schemes. This may lead to a decline in the conceptual ability of the student as he/she no longer sees the need to utilize innate mental capabilities to problem solving.

 The important thing is that technology must be used to boost the intellectual capacity that students already possess, not replace it. This done, certainly technology will not make students lazy but rather more efficient.

 Students, Uni graduates, tends to put their thinking skills on hold and live off “copy and paste” for school work without much research or though

 Will the memory last long if info come too easy to get? No pain no gain. Incidents which cause you headache, hurts keeps in your mind forever, eg: Experiments result, doing it hands on, experience enhance memory and remember them.

 lots of information at my finger tips when it comes to the PC, it makes my life easier yes and a bit more exciting  Machinery replaces many of human’s labour work

 Those machine can work automatically with directions from a small group of people

 Agriculture and farming: plough field is an easy task with usage to tractors instead of manpower.

 industry: solving problems like shortage of worker

 Population grow drastically, land shortage problems can be solved with the building of high buildings and large mansions serve as office, house, shopping complex; human able to reach the 30th floor with an aid from lift, making impossible task to possible, increase human’s ability.

 With technology, human understand the environment better: study cells with using LM, EM (TEM n SEM), introduce new vaccine, medication to combat disease, prolong human life.

 Technology helps the Great Physicians Professor Stephen Hawkings, renowned scientist, professor and author, suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative motor neuron illness. While the disease has not affected Dr. Hawking’s intellectual capacity, it has robbed him of many physical abilities. He can only move two fingers on his right hand and he is unable to speak, making his computer with voice synthesizer essential for communication.

 Dr. Hawking has a computer screen mounted on the arm of his wheel chair, which runs communicator software. The software enables him to press a switch in his hand to create words and sentences easily and intuitively. Once he has built up a sentence, he sends it to NeoSpeech’s VoiceText speech synthesizer, which turns it into speech. The technology enables Dr. Hawking to communicate, including writing scientific books and papers, and giving lectures.Stephen Hawkings using NeoSpeech’s Text to Speech engine, VoiceText, as his new voice.

 Privacy pitfalls

 Internet crimes arises

technology includes all t…

technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them.

American Sociologist Red Bain

Throughout history religion has been a divisive factor causing religious discrimination, persecutions (torture), civil strife(quarrel) and wars among nations.” Discuss.

All religious lay emphasis on love and humanity. But in practice religious make people hate another: those who believe in a particular religion does not like those who believe in other religion. This has divided mankind, and has been one of the causes of bloodshed in the world.

HOW RELIGION DIVIDES MANKIND?

• Dive into the history, religious wars and persecutions have done incalculable harm to mankind.

Eg:

1.  Early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Emperors.
2. The Saracens and Christians in Spain hated one another . When the rising power of the Turks frightened the Europe, the Pope and his Church Council declared a ‘holy war’ on the Muslims and called upon all the Christian people of Europe to march to rescue the ‘holy’ city, namely Jerusalem. Thus, began the Crusades in 1095 A.D.  The Crusade continued for more than 150 years, the war had brought death and misery to millions of Christians and Muslims.[*Saracens= Muslims, Crusades=any of the military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries for the recovery of the Holy Land from the Muslims. ]
3. The people of India during their freedom struggle became keenly aware of their religious differences and there ensued large-scale riots and bloodshed resulting in the final partition of India into 2 countries on the basis of religion.

• All religions have different ceremonies, rituals, beliefs and practices. But when such a man considers himself and his co-pratitioners superior, he gets intolerant of others’ beliefs and practices and starts despising them. This leads to religious bigotry and fanaticism -hostility. [*despising= disgusting; bigotry=prejudices]

Eg:

1. Punjab was noted for fraternity between Hindus and Sikhs, but the strands of togetherness were severed and the revered Golden Temple was used to store arms and a sanctuary for terrorists.

BENEFITS OF RELIGIONS:

• Religions laid down values and standards, pointed out principles for the guidance of human beings.
• Religions helped in the development of humanity.
• Religions imprison truth in set of forms and dogmas [*dogmas= set of beliefs]

EMOTION:

• In all religions and religious sects, the emotional element has been prominent. [*prominent= leading]
• If emotion is curbed by the intellect and the essential values upheld by all religions are cherished by mankind, religions will cease to be a divisive force. [*cease=stopped]
• Man’s chief duty according to all religions: to love mercy, to do justly, and to walk humbly with thy God.

(c) General Paper Essays for G.C.E A Level, FBP Pte Ltd.

“Affluence is necessary for the flourishing of arts.” Do you agree?

Summary:

The word “affluence” means wealth or riches, and therefore, material prosperity. The existence of prosperous society abounding in material comforts is a precondition for creative works to thrive. THIS IS A DEBATABLE PROPOSITION.

Affluence or prosperity is conducive to creative activity. Indeed, material wants and poverty would not give an artist the necessary leisure for engaging himself in creative work is perhaps true to a certain extent. People does not view artist as a formal job, as real as no parents would ask their children to make artist as their ambition. This is a materialistic society, no artist can work when his physical needs are not met.

A society that is not prosperous is not likely to care for the work of the artist, regardless how excellent the work is. Arts and enjoyment will never take precedence over hunger. Consequently, the artist fails to get recognition and material rewards to drive him to move further.  Inspiration alone is not enough for the artist to work, for a good work, it need the recognition and reward. Come to this extend, an artist is hardly survive if this job could not support his physical needs, how about those who have to support a family?

Yet, history had proved that money reward is the only encouragement for the artist to continue their creativity. The famous Florentine painters Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael are the best role model for this. Perhaps they got encouragement as a result of reappraisal of the artist’s role in society which become possible when patrons and princes began to take interest in the arts of the time. Individual painters like Van Gogh were living in poverty when they drew their world-famous paintings.

The novel is a form of creative expression. Novel was used to reveal that it is lack of affluence and the existence of social injustices and tensions, such as poverty, misery and tyranny suffered by the people. Yes, the ordinary people have often been the subject matter of novels. Charles Dickens wrote about prison conditions; Tolstoy wrote about injustices of his time. Their novel has its own value due to its ability to reflect a people’s movement in his own country. All forms of art flourish in periods when geniuses have been free to engage themselves in creative work.

The golden era of literature, painting and other forms of art has always been an era of freedom when men of genius could express themselves without fear. This is where the people is entitled to the freedom of speech. The Renaissance, the Elizabeth Age, the Romantic Age and the Victorian Age in English literature are noted for the absence of tyranny and despotism and for the comparative freedom of the artist.

 

Xx regarding Social Media

Quotes: Technology is the language that youths understand.”

-Datuk Seri Najib Razak, The PM of M’sia

Introduction:

-Technology modernized life- make life more interesting.

– Internet as the fastest developed technology- make the world border-less.

-Social media tools:
Given the big demand for infomation in the country, politicians and government officers must keep abreast of technology development and trends and use the available social media tools to engage with the people.

-Facebook (FB) has 800 millions active users around the world.

-More and more social networks bloom: Twitter, blog, etc…

-According to research, Malaysian spend 32% of their time using social networks

Point 1:

Benefits of social media :Builds closer ties among friends and colleagues.

– Reading post or status updated, even he or she is in another country.

-Contact with lost friends, primary and secondary school mates, childhood’s playmates, etc.

-Politicians creates Fb page to keep in touch with their people, artist, singers, stay in touch with their fans.

Point 2:

Promoting business

-E-shopping is getting famous, certain website offers one-stop shopping items, range from clothes to stationaries….

-Social media- promote to friends, customers

-Shows the latest promotion, new arrival items, hot selling items, shows customers’ review…

-Creating “Page”,  “like” indicates number of fans, famous or not?

Point 3:

Opposite effects of social network: Privacy pitfalls

-Sharing of email address- rubbish email

– Hp number- unnecessary calls, distruption

– Photos- manipulated photos- for criminal purposes

-Account information exposed even password is set

Point 4: Social network users feel more alienated

-Arguement: Fb strengthen or lossen friendship?

-Ancient style: write letter, phone call

-Modern’s: seeing pictures and updates from Fb, feel connected, virtually.

-Fb creates gap between closest friends

Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle, says review

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16031149

Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle, says review

By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News

Booze, cigarettes and inactivity are collectively bad.

Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year – over 130,000 in total – are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.

Tobacco is the biggest culprit, causing 23% of cases in men and 15.6% in women, says the Cancer Research UK report.

Next comes a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in men’s diets, while for women it is being overweight.

The report is published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Its authors claim it is the most comprehensive analysis to date on the subject.

Lead author Prof Max Parkin said: “Many people believe cancer is down to fate or ‘in the genes’ and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it.

“Looking at all the evidence, it’s clear that around 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change.”

Weighty matters

“Start Quote

We didn’t expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer”

End Quote Prof Max Parkin

For men, the best advice appears to be: stop smoking, eat more fruit and veg and cut down on how much alcohol you drink.

For women, again, the reviews says the best advice is to stop smoking, but also watch your weight.

Prof Parkin said: “We didn’t expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. And among women we didn’t expect being overweight to be more of a risk factor than alcohol.”

In total, 14 lifestyle and environmental factors, such as where you live and the job you do, combine to cause 134,000 cancers in the UK each year.

// // About 100,000 (34%) of the cancers are linked to smoking, diet, alcohol and excess weight.

One in 25 of cancers is linked to a person’s job, such as being exposed to chemicals or asbestos.

Some risk factors are well established, such as smoking’s link with lung cancer.

But others are less recognised.

For example, for breast cancer, nearly a 10th of the risk comes from being overweight or obese, far outweighing the impact of whether or not the woman breastfeeds or drinks alcohol.

And for oesophageal or gullet cancer, half of the risk comes from eating too little fruit and veg, while only a fifth of the risk is from alcohol, the report shows.

For stomach cancer, a fifth of the risk comes from having too much salt in the diet, data suggests.

Some cancers, like mouth and throat cancer, are caused almost entirely by lifestyle choices.

But others, like gall bladder cancer, are largely unrelated to lifestyle.

The researchers base their calculations on predicted numbers of cases for 18 different types of cancer in 2010, using UK incidence figures for the 15-year period from 1993 to 2007.

“Start Quote

By making small changes we can cut our risk of serious health problems ”

End Quote Public Health Minister Anne Milton

In men, 6.1% (9,600) of cancer cases were linked to a lack of fruit and vegetables, 4.9% (7,800) to occupation, 4.6% (7,300) to alcohol, 4.1% (6,500) to overweight and obesity and 3.5% (5,500) to excessive sun exposure and sunbeds.

In women, 6.9% (10,800) were linked to overweight and obesity, 3.7% (5,800) to infections such as HPV (which causes most cases of cervical cancer), 3.6% (5,600) to excessive sun exposure and sunbeds, 3.4% (5,300) to lack of fruit and vegetables and 3.3% (5,100) to alcohol.

Dr Rachel Thompson, of the World Cancer Research Fund, said the report added to the “now overwhelmingly strong evidence that our cancer risk is affected by our lifestyles”.

Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said leading a healthy lifestyle did not guarantee a person would not get cancer but the study showed “we can significantly stack the odds in our favour”.

“If there are things we can do to reduce our risk of cancer we should do as much as we possibly can,” he said.

The president of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir Richard Thompson, said the findings were a wake-up call to the government to take stronger action on public health.

“The rising incidence of preventable cancers shows that the ‘carrot’ approach of voluntary agreements with industry is not enough to prompt healthy behaviours, and needs to be replaced by the ‘stick’ approach of legislative solutions,” he said

The government said it was intending to begin a consultation on plain packaging by the end of this year.

Diane Abbott, Shadow Public Health Minister, said: “The government is failing on all the main public health issues.

“And the message from Labour, the Tory-led Public Health Committee, campaigners like Jamie Oliver and even some the government’s own policy panels is clear: the government’s approach to tackling lifestyle-related health problems is completely inadequate.”

Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: “We all know that around 23,000 cases of lung cancer could be stopped each year in England if people didn’t smoke.

“By making small changes we can cut our risk of serious health problems – give up smoking, watch what you drink, get more exercise and keep an eye on your weight.”

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