Disability by Xiao Qing and Faith

  Some may argue that by integrating children with disabilities into mainstream education, they can not only have a chance to learn like any other normal child, but also have a good influence on other peers. It is inevitable for these disabled children to face difficulties in normal schools. However, this will allow them to cope and adapt to the people and environment, and at the same time they might learn better. As Mr Jaieden Shen, Minds' head of job placement and job support programme said, "Once you give them a structured routine, the quality of work is awesome...some might be a little slower, but they pay so much attention and are detailed in their work." This shows that the one's disabilities are not a big hindrance to his/her proficiency, so they should be given the chance to have the same education. It is true that they might be ostracized by peers because of their difference, but they will turn out to be a motivation to them when the peers see the great effort they put in to do well in class. Hence, children with disabilities should be integrated into mainstream education.

  However i believe that children with disabilities would have difficulty integrating into the mainstream education, and would only further hamper other students. Children with disabilities would require a longer time and more effort to fit in with others of their age. With their possible mental disabilities, they would struggle to catch up with lessons and would fall behind. This would require teachers to slow down the lesson and teach at a slower pace or go over the same content repeatedly for them to understand, which would inconvenient the other students as they would have to be taught at a slower pace as well. A normal student may require only 1/2 hr to understand a topic but children with mental disabilities would require up to more than twice the amount of time to understand it, slowing down the whole class. Hence, though children with disabilities should have the right to study mainstream education, they would only hamper and slow down the learning process of the other students in the process.

Changes to psle, what could be in store?

Link: Changes to psle, what could be in store?

Summary:
By this year, Psle aggregate scores may be scrapped and replaced by simple bands such as A, B, C, would this be beneficial?

Opinion:
I feel that this is system should not be implemented as it would mean serious competition for spaces in popular secondary schools. The grade 'A' has a range of 25 marks for those above 74 and we would than be unable to differentiate those of higher grades in the same band as all would receive the same grade, unlike with the aggregate scores, which provided a more specific score. This would also mean that many people would have to fight for spaces in popular secondary schools belonging in their grade and it would mean difficulty choosing places for students who more or less have the same grades. This would result in many popular schools either having to give our spaces at random to those of the same band or to give them out on a first come first serve basis, which may be unfair for those more worthy students and actual higher scores, who may lose out to those who chosen at random. However I do agree that aggregate scores put large amounts of pressure and stress on primary 6s, but I do not believe in simple grade bands being the best solution to this problem.

Smitten With Infatuation- is it real?

We agree with the author's point that love at first sight is a frequent occurrence, but the chance of such couples having a long term happy relationship is close to zero. Infatuation is only a short-lived love for someone. People who fall in love due to infatuation does not usually go through deep thought about their relationship. They are just blinded and intoxicated by love. Hence, infatuation is not reliable if one intends to find a life partner and starta serious relationship.

Paris attacks

Link: Paris attack—as it happened

Summary:

On the evening of November 13, 2015, a series of terrorist attacks in Paris killed more than 120 people and injured almost 200, with 80 serious injuries. A Paris city hall official said four gunmen systematically slaughtered at least 87 young people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall. Anti-terrorist commandos eventually launched an assault on the building. The gunmen detonated explosive belts and dozens of shocked survivors were rescued. Some 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, including an apparent double suicide bombing outside the national stadium, where Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a friendly soccer international.

Opinion:
It is clear that this incident has left an impact on many people around the world, and I feel that it should deserve the front cover of a major magazine because it was the most tragic and saddening news that had happened all year. Many people lost their loved ones in the bombing and it has also caused many people to reconsider their choice of holiday locations, causing many tourism businesses to lose out. Not only that, it had shocked the world into realization of the seriousness of the threat of terrorists. Many countries had also banded together to help out France in tracking down the terrorists which was quite admirable.

Self-introduction of Xiao Qing and Faith

Faith:

As you might have already known, I am previously from 2K and I play softball. I am a Christian and I have 3 siblings, with my eldest brother being 29 currently. I am a person with few words but people say I am weird. I love books, especially science-fiction, but I am also a hardcore Kpop fan online. My New Year resolution is to minimize procrastination and I hope to get to know 3D better soon.

Xiao Qing:

My name is Xiao Qing and I am originally from 2K. My hobbies are reading and listening to music which I do often in my spare time. Though I am not really girly, I love the colors pink and purple. My aspirations for this year is to improve in my Chinese. I also hope to make more new friends in class.