Views on Plagiarism

My views on this after reading the two stories is that i agree that plagiarism is a serious offence and steps have to be taken to educate especially students not to do this as it is not worth it because it would lead to serious consequences for them.

Plagiarism is the use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. Thus, the people who plagiarize, especially students need to realize that this is wrong and that many schools are very strict about this. If they are caught, they can wind up suspended or in the worst cases, expelled and when you're kicked out of one school, it can be hard to get into another. Therefore, this is no laughing matter and this should be taken seriously.

In my opinion, some ways to avoid this is firstly, through educating students from a young age not to plagiarize and emphasizing about the consequences of it so that they would not do it. Secondly, while it is wrong to use other people's work and pass it as your own, but personally, i feel that it is alright to use part of other people's idea as long as you give them due credit or write it in quotation marks to indicate it has been taken from some other source because as a student myself, it is inevitable that I would have to find information from sources such as books or the internet to help me with my work and as long as you give them due credit or even learning how to correctly paraphrase, write and cite resources from the original sources, i don't see that as a problem at all and you would not be committing plagiarism in the process.

However, i feel that the best way to avoid this is to simply for the schools and its teachers to encourage students to do their own work and not copy from other sources by teaching them the proper ways of research and writing. The reason i feel this way is because it is only when we do not know what to write in our assignments that we resort to plagiarism. If we had our own ideas and thoughts, there would be no need to steal or cheat someone else’s ideas. Thus, learning the correct way to search reliable resources such as libraries and internet and writing them down properly is a sure way to avoid plagiarism.

WEI JIE

Views on how Singapore can stay 'Forever Young '

With regard to the five points Mr Teo said in his speech , One of the more important point would be a strong culture of education and learning .

Singapore students consistently do very well in international comparisons in science and mathematics as they have received a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy . Our students also do very well in comparisons of literacy which is quite an achievement considering that our students take their literacy test in English which is not the home language for most of them . Such achievements show that our students and their parents place a lot of importance on education . The goverment has also invested Singsignificant resources to improve the quality of education for every student in every school to ensure that they study in a conducive environment .

Our education system have also recognise the value of diversity and students can choose to achieve success by pursuing education pathways that match that interests and individual ability . Also , despite the fact that our local universities , polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education are among the best in their class among the world , the Goverment are still investing heavily in them which shows that they take great pride in them .

Singapore also comes up with schemes to help the people who wants to increase their knowledge and upgrade their skills . One good example would be Continuing Education and Training Masterplan to continually allow workers to upgrade their skills .

In a nutshell , Education is not about which instituition you go to , it is the attitude . If our citizens are allowed and given the chance to learn continously , their mind would be fresh and young which is one of the keys to keeping Singapore and our people 'Forever Young '

How Singapore can stay 'forever young' (Thierry)

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean's recent speech at Kent Ridge forum contained an interesting notion, that Singapore must stay 'forever young', or relevant to times, so that Singapore can enjoy continued success. He elaborated further on how Singapore can stay relevant to times through methods such as fostering a strong culture of education and learning, and a culture of seeking knowledge, innovation and ideas.

Fostering a strong culture of education and learning is vital if a country is seeking to preserve its success. The future success of a country lies in the hands of the future generation, thus it is essential that the future generation be equipped with the best education possible to aid them in leading the country for the years to come.

Creating culture of seeking knowledge, innovation and ideas is important as a country that wants to be successful should not be reliant on the innovations and knowledge of other countries. Most countries enjoy success because they are able to rely on their own innovations, ideas and knowledge. A country that relies on its own innovations and ideas will always be one step ahead of those that rely on imported ones.

My opinion on how Singapore can stay forever young as a city

My vision on how Singapore can stay "forever young" as a city is by having a stable economic growth which will eventually make Singapore a mature country. When Singapore is in its mature state, there would be a greater possibility of it to be "forever young". As long as a country manage to maintain its HDI(Human Development Index) high up, it shows that the country can stay "forever young".

The five points mentioned in Mr Teo's speech have set Singapore to be ready to stay "forever young". One of the points that I agree most is the third point, for Singapore to be vibrant global city - a city where people want to live, work, and play - it also has to be an environmentally sustainable city. Because of Singapore's exclusive eminence, Singapore has the opportunity to be one of the cities that is doing very well for its size. As Singapore grows to have bigger population, there should be more works available for the economic state of Singapore to increase. Singapore will continue to grow if there are more jobs created which would allow the citizens to contribute to the country's income. Even from now onwards, Singapore will continue to produce new ideas and create more things for the country to be able to be "forever young" in the eyes of the world.

Also, by hosting more world-class events such as the Youth Olympics and F1, Singapore can be more known throughout the entire world. By doing this, it might increase the chance of Singapore being world-widely known and therefore stays "forever young".

By: Felicia Natalia

Views on How S'pore can stay 'Forever Young'

My views on this topic is that all the five points raised in Mr Teo's speech are quite relevant as to how Singapore can stay forever young as a City.

One point i especially agree with in his speech is that we need a strong culture of education and learning to stay "Forever Young". This is because the country is going to be in the hands of these current batch of students one day, therefore it is necessary to build up the students' foundation on different levels, both education and learning wise, so that they can develop into "all-rounders" and the country will be in very capable hands in the future. Thus, Singapore have done a very good job with the education system in this aspect because according to Mr Teo himself, our students receive a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy and consistently do very well in international comparisons in science and mathematics. This is very positive as this shows that our students are very competitive and are able to match the knowledge of students on international level, which would mean that Singapore is able to match up to other established countries such as USA or China in the long run, keeping Singapore young and relevant in the process.

The fact that Our universities, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education are among the best in their class in the world and people come from all over the world to study here also shows that our education standard is high and efficient. In addition to this, by also encouraging lifelong learning for all Singaporeans through various schemes offered by the government, it would also make Singapore "Forever Young" and relevant no matter what ages its citizens are because its citizens are the only form of resource for Singapore. Thus, it is essential for its citizens, young or old, to continue learning and upgrading their skills to keep up with the rest of the world and ensure our competitiveness at the same time.

My other views on making Singapore stay "Forever Young" as a city besides Education and Learning is also through organizing world-class activities such as the Youth Olympics and F1. This is because through organizing these activities, Singapore would get a lot of media exposure and publicity which would allow it to establish itself as a "Hip and Trendy" city. As a result of this, people would gradually take note of Singapore and take notice of it and some may even be tempted to come to Singapore and experience it, just like cities such as New York and London where they are centuries old but have stayed young and energetic by constantly reinventing themselves.

In conclusion, I am very hopeful and optimistic that all these building blocks to provide us with a strong foundation to make Singapore a "Forever Young" City will pay off in time and Singapore would still be known as a young, relevant,vibrant,trendy and a great city to live in through the years ahead.

WEI JIE

Views on reducing weightage of mother tongue in Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE)

With regard to reducing the weightage given to mother tongue in the Primary School Leaving Examination . If this suggestion materialise , it may result in students disregarding the importance of learning the language . The students may think that even if they do very badly for the subject , it will still not affect their grades very badly as the other subjects . Such a move may discourage the young from learning the chinese language even at the primary school level .

Also with China's economy rising rapidly , many of our next generations may need to deal with chinese speaking clients from China and if they only speak English which most chinese from China are not very good in , it may result in a language barrier which makes discussions harder to progress which may result in a loss of a potential client .

In conclusion , i think that reducing the weightage given to mother tongue in the Primary School Leaving Examination will not do the students any good . The school should try to help out those who are weak in the subject by organising supplementary lessons . If they have a better grasp in the subject , they may develop a liking for the subject and score better . In the current society , English is an essential aspect and it definitely gives you an edge if you are bilingual .

My opinion on Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue weighting

In my opinion, the diminution on Mother Tongue weighting for Primary School Leaving Examination(PSLE) students have gotten good and bad responses. Many of the citizens whom are not in favour of the new move were in uproar ever since the government decided to reduce the 'language load' off the primary school children.

Actually, this has its own advantage as the primary school students could concentrate more in other subjects when the weightage of Mother Tongue is lessened. However, this might lead the students to think that Mother Tongue is not an important subject and therefore do not do well for their Mother Tongue exam. Doing so would discourage the students to learn more about their native language.Also, this might affect not only the students, but the Mother Tongue teachers as they would feel demoralised when they think that they are not as 'important' as the other teachers. Other than that, there are still many people in Singapore who cannot speak English and are still speaking in their own Mother Tongues. They would feel discriminated if their next generation is not taught Mother Tongue properly like English.

Therefore, I think that by lessening the Mother Tongue weightage, it does not mean it would lighten the Singaporean's lives or making it any easier.

by: Felicia Natalia

My Views On S'poreans split on Mother Tongue weighting

My views on this is that reducing the Mother Tongue weighting will bring about different effects, with regards to social and individual impacts on the students.
Firstly, the advantages that reducing the Mother Tongue weighting may have could be that students who are not as strong in Mother Tongue language can take this chance to focus more on the other subjects like English, which is known as the common language for communication among people in the world and with so many foreigners coming into Singapore to work, therefore having a good grasp of the English language is vital so that you can communicate effectively with them, which is why probably this idea was suggested in the first place. Socially, it would also be good in a sense such as it would encourage more students to take the English language more seriously so that they can communicate and write more effectively when they go out to the working world in the future as they would have a better command of the language and also reducing the dependency on using the Mother Tongue language everywhere for the students in the process.

However, in reducing the Mother Tongue weighting, individually, it is unfair to the students who are good in the subject, thus affecting their morale as they would not be as motivated to study the subject anymore. They would gradually lose all interest in the subject because through this idea of reducing Mother Tongue weighing, they are sending out the message that Mother Tongue is not as important as the other subjects and the students would think that "if they are not as important as the other subjects, why should I put more effort into studying this subject?" Therefore, this would send a very negative message to the students and about the subject. Socially, it would not be good as well as we would live in a society where everyone speaks the English Language and no one is speaking the Mother Tongue language, which would make the subject lose its purpose of communication and it may gradually die out and no one wants to see that day to come. It is because the Mother Tongue Language identifies who we are, what our culture is and symbolizes our race.

In conclusion, while reducing the weighting of the Mother Tongue language would lead to various benefits such as encouraging students to take the English Language(which is no doubt an important language for communication) more seriously, but you just can't do that as i feel that they would be sending the wrong message to students through this suggestion, morally and socially. I am sure everyone wants to live in a society where the presence of the Mother Tongue language is still there and wont die out easily, as well as communicating effectively through the use of the English Language.

WEI JIE

Thierry's two cents on Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue weighting (Fair and Balanced)

The government's recent plan to reduce the weightage of the Mother Tongue subject in the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) has resulted in an uproar by members of the public.

The government believes that by doing this, they will benefit the primary school students by reducing their 'language load'. Singaporeans are split on the issue, one group support the government, while the other group opposing it.

The opposition of the government's move believes that it would cause socio-economic problems, such as children strong in Mother Tongue, coming disadvantaged families, being possibly kept out of the best secondary schools.

While it is true that a child who is strong in the Mother Tongue and weaker in the first language may have issues getting into certain top secondary schools, it is definitely untrue that it is not possible to get into a good secondary school with a strong background in Chinese. A large number of Special Assistance Plan (SAP) Schools, schools which cater to students who are academically strong in their Mother Tongue, are top-notch institutions in Singapore, for example, Anglican High School, Hwa Chong Institution, Dunman High School, just to name a few. A student who excels in Chinese will have the same chance of getting into a top secondary school as a student who excels in English.

Singaporeans against the government's move also believe that it undermines the importance of the Mother Tongue, which should be equally important as English.

In Singapore, and in every country, there is always a dominant language which all the citizens use to communicate,called the First Language. Singapore's official first language is English, and most of the citizens in Singapore use English as their mode of communication. Even those who come from families that speak in their mother tongue usually know how to speak English too. If the government was to make the Mother Tongue just as important as English, it would result in a huge social and cultural gap between the English speaking families and the Mother tongue speaking families.