Task 2 - Critical Analysis of Children in the Darkness

1. Point of View

Evidence - "Children in the Darkness"
Elaboration - It is trying to say that the children is living in darkness and not exposed to light, making the point that the children live in a dangerous place and the have to hide from the light at all times in order to stay alive.

Evidence - "From this life they can not flee / And these children are not free"
Elaboration - It shows that the children could not choose their life and have no freedom at all.
Details - "Chalk and blackboards will not be / To this door there is no key"
Elaboration - It shows that the children were not given a chance to study. This can also be seen the next stanza.

Evidence - "Or will a war consume them / Their body and their soul" "Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole"
Elaboration - The author is trying to make a point here saying that the war is so cruel that it will take away many children lives. It is so cruel that it will will never stop as was is an 'endless thirsty hole' that will keep taking away lives.


2. Situation and Setting

Evidence - "Darkness"
Elaboration - The word 'darkness' gives the reader a feeling of 'afraid/scared' by the setting the surrounding dark. When it is completely dark, one tends to be afraid, afraid that what will happen the next moment. Afraid that they might die. And often they feel helpless. In this case, it is referred to the children that are struggling in the war. Children, often to be timid especially when they hear the gun sounds tend to feel helpless, as if they were living in a complete darkness.

Evidence - "From this life they can not flee / And these children are not free"
Elaboration - The situation here is that the children have no freedom, they have no right to say about their life, they have no ways to change their life. This makes the children living in the war, living in the darkness pitiful.

3. Language / Diction

Evidence - "Could We...Could We...Could We...Could We..."
Elaboration - The repetition of 'could we' in stanza 3 emphasize that the children have no chance to do the things they want, the things they should do as a children or they want to do as a children. For example, to study, to read. COULD they be given this chance? The answer is no. As a children at that times, their responsibility is to learn how to operate a gun in order to eliminate the opposing enemy, to keep themselves living.

Evidence - "Back into the darkness From which there is no flight Back into the darkness Into which there shines no light "
Elaboration - The word 'back' makes it sounds that the children belong to the war place originally, and they were fated to live in darkness, and they will not be given a chance, a chance that exposed to the light as 'there is no flight' that brings them to. And also, the word' light' and 'darkness' contrast each other, showing the importance, the difference between 'light' and dark'.

4. Personal response

After reading this poem, deep in my heart, I really sympathize the children in the war. They should not belong to the place in the first place. But the cruelty of this world, of the war, forces them to live in complete darkness. Force them to live in a place, which make them worry everyday. Force them to face the cruelty facts of the world at a very small age. It shouldn't be that way. I feel that they should not be involved in the war. I feel that they should be like us, happily, given a chance to study in schools and lead a better life. From this poem, I can at least feel how the children lives were, for example darkness. It also make me understand that how fortunate we are, and we should learn to cherish life more instead of complaining how bad is life.

Task 1 - Background of Children in the Darkness

Children in the Darkness

There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Henry M Bechtold
2010

Background:
Henry M Bechtold was in Vietnam in 1967 - 68 and again in 1969. He go back often because his soul lives in Vietnam and he go back to visit it from time to time.

He was sitting in his hotel room in Saigon just before Christmas 2009 and he was trying to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them. He was angry but unable to write anything that did not sound trite or weak. He looked at the TV and the news was on. He did not know what the news reader was saying but in the background was a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. This poem flowed out. The words just came to him and he typed as fast as he could to get it all down.

Resource taken from - http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Children_

To put it in simpler words, the poem is trying to convey the message that the children live in darkness. They are not exposed to the light. They were not given a chance to learn. A chance to study. A chance to do what they like. Instead, they have to start to learn on how to use a gun since young in order to survive. Imagine young children have to start fighting at a very young age, the hardship that the children have to go through; it really catches the reader sympathy for the children. It shows that war is a very dangerous, a very cruel fact to many, especially to the children.

Teachers' union concerned

Hello readers. Just a few moments ago, I came across this article on stratistime and decided to share with you all, regarding the weighting of the Mother Tongue Language, in particularly chinese, for PSLE, should it be halve or remain ?

OFFICIALS of the Singapore Chinese Teachers' Union (SCTU) have met Education Minister Ng Eng Hen to express their concerns over a possible cut in the weighting given to mother tongue languages in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

They had a 11/2-hour dialogue on the issue, which has stirred up strong, polarising reactions in recent days.

The union, which represents the 1,600 Chinese teachers in Singapore, yesterday released a statement about the meeting on Monday evening, which was also attended by Mrs Josephine Teo, assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress.

Currently, mother tongue has a weighting of 25 per cent, similar to that for English, mathematics and science, the other three subjects in the PSLE.

The union called in its statement for this weighting to be preserved 'so that it is more in line with the principle of bilingualism and further strengthens the competitive advantage of Singapore in developing bilingual talents'.

At the dialogue, Chinese teachers shared their concerns with Dr Ng and gave their feedback on how the teaching of the Chinese language could be improved, particularly for weaker pupils.
(adapted from http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_522725.html)

Upon reading on this article, i feel that the union has came out with a right conclusion. I totally agree that this statement 'so that it is more in line with the principle of bilingualism and further strengthens the competitive advantage of Singapore in developing bilingual talent'. Even though some may not like it, but that's a fact. Bilingual talents are better than people who only knows one language. And of course, they will go even further in their career in the future. I know some may have objections to what i have said. Well, feel free to share with me your views by simply commenting. :D

HIV Discrimination

Today in school, i had an interesting thinking lesson on HIV Discrimination. And thus, i want to share my views with you.

Well, before that, you may be wondering what is thinking lesson? Well, it's a lesson that i would say is reviewing on anything, which allows you to think from different perspective. This is a lesson conducted in Hwa Chong so as to develop our thinking. So back to the topic - HIV discrimination.

Why HIV discrimination is one of a hot topic in the society? Well, I personally feel that it is because the number of people contracted with HIV are increasing, and HIV discrimination is getting more common and obvious.

HIV is transmitted through sex. That’s a fact known by many. Until now, there is no cure for it. If it is serious, it causes death. And thus, you can see why people discriminate HIV. Firstly, it causes death and there is no cure for it. Secondly, it involves sex, which is also very sensitive. And this, people’s fear for the disease often turn to discrimination in order to keep the HIV positive people away, and keep themselves safe and away from the disease. But is this an effective way to keep one away from the disease? Is this fair towards the HIV positive people?

Everybody should be responsible for their actions. Since one ignored to have safe sex, they should face the consequences when they contracted HIV. In this case, the consequence will be being discriminate by the society, or even ostracized by the society. These often pressurize the HIV positive people and they might not even feel like living. But is this a fair treatment to them? After all, they are still humans. Human do make mistake and they do deserve a second chance. And also, they also do deserve our pity as everyday in their life, they are just waiting for death.

I feel that since HIV is only transmitted through Sex and blood, I feel that it’s still safe to interact with them. This disease is unlike SARS, or any diseases that spreads through the air. Well, I understand that one is afraid, but even so, we should muster our courage and help them get onto life, help them instead of discriminating them. Before discriminating a person, think of what’s the point of discriminating them? To keep them away? To make ourselves feel better? Personally, I feel that it does not make ourselves feels better, and also, I feel that there is nothing to be afraid of to the extent that we have to keep them away from us, or even from this earth. I feel that that’s too cruel. They are also part of the Earth, they also have a life. We should be fair to them. We don’t have the right to take away their rights.

And thus, I also agree the ‘red ribbon’ project that is carried out in Singapore. It reminds people to give the HIV positive people a second chance, and help them instead of discriminating them. So I would like to emphasize my stand that I feel that it is not right, it is not the best way to discriminate a person with HIV. Instead, we should help them, encourage them, give them a second chance.

I am sorry that i may sound a bit 'fierce', but this is what i personally feel, deep in my heart. We should always give people chances, even if they commit a mistake, and not discriminate them. So how far do you agree with me? Do you think we should discriminate people with HIV? Share with me your views by simply commenting. :D

Elite Education

Hello readers, I am back to post again. Today, I am like over the moon. It really feels great to receive great results. I got back my history, maths, and Chinese tests results. I scored an A1 for both my Chinese and maths test and a B3 for my history test. This is considered quite good results among our class. Well, can say that it’s above average. But at the same time, I do see a lot of people, crying over their results. But why? I feel that this question somehow relates to the topic on elite education for the principal’s dialogue during my Level Assembly held today.
There is a difference between an elite education and an elitist education. HCI offers the former because the HCI education framework aims to support holistic development of students.

An elite education means providing the best (facilities, education, teachers) to groom the best. Intense competition may be one major mode of sharpening the skills of the members in such a community.

Collectively, the best efforts of the students can move the organisation forward as well as benefit the students in achieving their goals. But would such intense competitions create blind spots for the people in the competition such that while they succeed in their endeavours, they don’t know how to connect with people beyond their communities? If that is the case, how can HCI students overcome such blind spots?

While holistic education is offered as in HCI, students may not leverage on the provisions. Instead they narrow their own options especially when their career aspirations have been preset by their parents. It will be good for HCI students to reflect on how they can make use of these provisions for growing up to be true leaders instead of putting blame on parents and systems.
And thus, the pressure from the parents, the intense competition, I think it is one of the causes that made one cry over their results. Well, is this a good thing or a bad thing? People always say ‘you only grow when you experience failure’, and in this case, failure is referred to failing your tests, losing to the ‘competition’, how far do you agree? Share with me your views.

hello readers ! I am back ! Guess what, my school does not have MYE ! But of course, for tracking our progress purpose, we have class test. Even though the weighting for it is quite low, but everyone of us work very hard for it. And finally, we gone through it. After a long and tedious month, we are only left with science and Infocomm Studies test. Well, even though we have not received our test results, but i feel that we deserved a break before the next test, which is one week later. Well, through out the weekend, i went to catch a movie with my friends from my class.

The movie is named Ice Kacang Puppy Love. It's in chinese, and made in malaysia. Well, indeed it's a nice movie. It's a romance love story, of a complicated relationship. It is a profoundly emotional tale of teenagers puppy love, parental love, generation gap, truth and make-believe. Set in a unique small town of 1980s Malaysia, the story evolves between a nice, shy boy - Botak and a brave and adventurous girl Da Jia Yu. The story brings you back to their experience of first love and crushes or what we call puppy love. The first love feeling is like the popular ice-kacang (shave ice) melting away even before one can truly taste it, only its sweetness painfully residing in our memory. I can say it's rather touching especially towards the end of the movie. It's worth to catch the movie. So readers, if you have the time, i urge you to catch the movie. you will not regret it!

Well, its time to say goodbye. I will be positing soon, so keep a lookout ! :D

Labour Day!

Today is Labour Day!! Well, i bet many are enjoying their long weekend. It's indeed a great weekend. But while we enjoy, we must also learn the origins of it, why is there labour day?

Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. The majority of countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, and it is popularly known as May Day and International Workers' Day, while some celebrate on the first Monday of September.
The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the Eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

As you can see, its celebrated among so many countries, either on May 1 or 2. But it is a great day for many, especially to labour workers. Throughout the year, the put in so much efforts to make our life easier, better. They might not have as much holiday as us, but their hard work, their sweat really bring us a more comfortable life. And thus, i think they really deserve a break.

All in all, i would like to wish everybody, especially Labour workers, Happy labour day and hope you enjoy your holidays !