A time when in wanting to make someone happy, I was forced to make a sacrifice.

Write about a time when in wanting to make someone happy, you were forced to make a sacrifice.

It was in primary five. The end-of-year examinations were around the corner and I was busy preparing for my subjects. My parents had set a goal for me, which was to get the first position in my class for that exam. My father promised to reward me with one of his montblanc pen if I achieved the target. The pen was a cool piston fountain pen with 14k gold nib and a barrel and cap made of rare precious resin, with a gold plated clip and rings. From young, I had seen my father writing with that pen and when I touched it, the smooth surface of the reflective black surface with gold inlaid stuck me and I often dreamed of one day having it in my possession.

Although I had never scored first in class before, it was not an impossible goal, given my nice academic records of consistently getting top five. However, in order to jump four positions to achieve first in class, a lot of effort is required. With my target in mind, I was very focused in studying for my weaker subjects, namely Chinese and English. As for mathematics and science, I had no problem scoring above ninety five marks, and as a result, I only focused on my two weaker subjects to maximise the amount of time I had.

Everything went according to planned, until my best friend, Bob, came up to me. After some waiting, he finally spoke. He requested for me to give him tuition for maths and science! Apparently, his parents had given him a target, which was that if he could get within the top ten positions of the class, they would reward him with a branded phone that he had long wanted. The problem was that although his language was unbeatable, his mathematics and science pulled him down greatly. He pulled my hand and kept on asking me to help him. I was in a dilemma. I told him to give me some time to consider before getting back to him.

Bob was my best friend and he had been my classmate since primary one. From his expression, I could tell that he really wanted that phone. However, teaching him maths and science would be of no benefit to me, as I could already score close to full marks for those two subjects. Furthermore, I still need to revise for my Chinese and English in order to reach my target. However, I was still unable to reject Bob's request as he was my best friend for many years, and I really wanted him to be happy. Also, I did not want to let my selfishness harm our friendship. I agreed to his request.

When the results came out, I scored a half version of first, as there was another guy that achieved the same marks as me. In response, my parents gave me another fountain pen, but this time it was a parker pen. Although I did not get the montblanc pen that I really liked, Bob was able to get the tenth position, and he was rewarded with the phone. Although it was a sacrifice, I felt that it was worth it to make my best friend happy.

Character or academic development?

Schools should place more emphasis on academic excellence. This is because character development will be more effective when developed at home, and schools have one of the best academic learning environments. However, character development is also very important in life, but without academic excellence, good character's benefits are greatly reduced.

Character development will be more effective when developed at home. This is because, parents are the ones that interact with their children the most, and often, children are influenced by their parents' behaviour because of the interaction. Research have shown that "Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as juveniles, 28% more likely to be arrested as adults, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime." This clearly shows that parents can influence their child's character greatly. This also supports the fact that character development will be more effective when developed at home because parents possess one of the greatest influences on their child.

Schools should focus more on academic excellence as they have one of the best academic learning environment. Schools contain one of the best learning environment, including well-trained teachers, classrooms designed for learning and facilities like a library. This type of good learning environment is hard to find elsewhere, and so, schools should focus more on academic excellence as it will be maximising the benefits of their learning environment. It is harder to achieve academic excellence if a student learns by himself as many students do not have the discipline to focus on learning as they will be easily distracted by different forms of entertainment, and they need to depend on the teachers to guide them and instill discipline in them through the use of punishment. However, schools do not have a good character development environment as the amount of time a student interacts with each of his teacher is very little as compared to the interaction with their parents. Thus, in order to maximise the benefits of going to school, schools should focus more on academic excellence.

However, character development is also very important in life. When a person have good character, things normally come in favour of him. More opportunities are given to people with better character as compared to people with bad character, when both have the same academic qualifications. However, without academic excellence, the benefits of a good character will be greatly reduced. An example will be that if you were to give a job to a person, you will most likely give it to a university graduate without a good character instead of a cleaner with only primary school education, even if he has good character. Therefore, since a good character is not very beneficial without the presence of academic excellence, schools should focus more on academic excellence.

In conclusion, schools should focus more on academic excellence as character development should be done at home, academic excellence is necessary to make the presence of good character beneficial, and that schools are designed to develop students academically.

My Ideal School

My ideal school is an extremely technologically advanced school. Students in the school learn without the use of papers. Also, the machines in the schools are fully automated. Finally, there will be no teachers present, as they are teaching through video cameras and voice transmitters.

Students in my ideal school learn purely through the use of internet and electrical devices, making the school paperless. When students enter the classroom, the first thing they do is to go to the internet, and check out what the teacher had given them on the internet, and check out what the teacher had prepared for them. After that, they will have a device device similar to a laptop, except that they are not required to type, but instead, required to speak. The device captures the words of the students and transmits the data into the documents, which will be sent to the teacher. This makes learning much more efficient as a lot of time is spent on typing, and speaking is much faster. Also, this makes it more environmentally friendly as this learning process does not needed to cutting of trees as no paper is involved. The use of these technologies make my ideal school a technologically advanced school.

The machines in my ideal school are fully automated. An example will be that students need not go to the canteens to buy food, but instead, dial a specific number, and food will be delivered by a machine within minutes. Another example will be the transportation of students to other places in the school, for different lessons. Students travel in small vehicles that move at great speed, to the art room if it is art lesson. This minimises the time spent on travelling, as my ideal school will be a big school with many facilities. The use of transportation technology also made my ideal school a technologically advanced school, with technologies unique to the school.

Finally, there will be no teachers present, as they are teaching through video cameras and voice transmitters. The teachers are all doing their work at homes, connecting with the students and guiding the students through the use of technology. The teachers teaching comes from all the different parts of the world, from China to the United States, connected by the internet to teach the students. With the use of technology, one student can have many different teachers, and this unique learning technology makes my ideal school an extremely technologically advanced school.

In conclusion, my ideal school is a school that depends heavily on technology, from learning to transportation to teaching.

Online lesson 12

Task 1: The common theme in each of the scroll is the reference to the personality of the person that will choose each casket. Prince Morocco was very greedy, as seen from the fact that he wanted what "many men desire". This means he wants to get more than what many men deserves, as the word "desire" suggests a type of greed, and he feels that men would only desire for valuable things. Thus, he chose the golden casket as he was greedy and wanted to get the most out of anything, and since the golden casket states that many men want it, he chose it as it would most likely be the most valuable casket, as compared to the silver casket, where he only gets what he deserves, and lead casket, where he will need to loss out. Arragon chose the silver casket as he feels that he should get what he deserves, meaning that he was not very greedy, but he thinks too highly of himself, feeling that he is the wisest of all men. This can be seen by the fact that when he chose the silver casket, he feels that he was the best of all, and only the best of best, Portia, can be comparable to him. This shows that he feels that he deserves the best, as he himself was one of the best. Bassanio chose the lead casket as he feels that although lead is cheap, it is useful to us. This shows that Bassanio was appreciative, and values things more than their mere appearance.

Task 2: This is unbelievable! This question tests on a topic I have not learnt yet! There are four answers, but any one of them could be the answer! This is way too bad.......I knew nothing about this topic! I am going to lose marks. What can I do now? I will be dead! My teacher will scold and yell at me for not paying attention in class! What am I going to do? If I guess each answer, I only have twenty five percent chance of getting correct, but I will still fail. This is so lucky for me. Since I cannot guess and cannot solve, what should I do? Can I get it correct? Yes! Yes, it must be this way. Using logic, since there are only one answer to this question, the setter would not want to isolate this correct answer from the rest so obviously! In other words, the setter would not want to isolate the correct answers from the incorrect ones, as if people guessed it, they would normally pick the odd one out! The first property of the four answers is the units they are in. The first three are all in centimeters square, but the last one is in meters square! If the last one was correct, a person that randomly chose the odd one out would get the marks, so it must not be the answer! Thus, the last option must be incorrect as it is the only one which is different. Now, the second property, the square numbers rule. Only option two is not a square number, so it must be incorrect! Now I am left with option one and three. Option three does not have any possible combination to get to the sum of two square numbers as it is too small! Yes, I got it! It must be option one!

Online lesson 11

Theme: Justice and mercy

The United States should have shown justice toward Osama bin Laden by imprisoning him, before going to trial, rather than killing him. Answer me. Do you think it is alright to kill a defenceless man straight away, even if he had caused great harm? I strongly disagree.

We all know that Osama bin Laden was the head of the terrorist group that caused the September eleven terrorist attack on America, and that he had caused a huge loss of lives. This is a fact. However, does this give the US the rights to kill him without the proper procedure of going through trial? Imagine you were Osama. You killed people, and you deserve death. However, since you are unarmed, you are defencelessness, and you have not yet proven guilty, shouldn't you be allowed to live a few days, weeks or months until it is confirmed that you are guilty? Shouldn't you be given the chance to settle your own affairs and tell your family and friends about the news? If your answer is yes, then why must the US deprive Osama of human rights and assassinate him?

The US should have given Osama justice, by allowing him the chance to settle his personal affairs before death. Since he is no more threat, as he is safely caught and unarmed, there is no need to kill him straight away. The US should give everyone, including Osama proper rights, which is the proper procedure of going through imprisonment and trial. By assassinating him, the US is violating human rights! Furthermore, this might show the image that the US will not give terrorist a chance to mend their ways as upon seeing a terrorist, Osama, the US killed him.

I strongly believe that every human being, be it the US president Obama, or the head of terrorists, should be punished if they did wrong, but ought to be given proper rights like any other men, from the day they are born, until the day they are dead. Each of us is innocent until proven guilty by court. Since Osama was not yet proven guilty when killed, he is considered innocent, and killing an innocent man is a crime! In conclusion, only the court have the power to end someone's life, and the US should not kill Osama at first sight even though he had caused great harm, as they do not have the right to do so.

Online lesson 10

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/01/21/study-americans-prejudiced-muslims/

The above link talks about the fact that many Americans had prejudice against Muslims. This was like what happened in The Merchant Of Venice, where Christians were prejudice against Jews.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8411215.stm

The above links shows how Abu Dahbi helped Dubai by giving Dubai 10 million dollars when Dubai was desperate for help. This case was similar to the case in The Merchant Of Venice, when Bassanio needed money from Antonio to woo Portia. In the case of Dubai, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were on close terms, and when Dubai needed help to repay debts and avoid bankruptcy, Abu Dhabi helped her. Both cases show how friends would help each other in times of need, showing how financial problems can be solved through friendship.

The story:

Henry's parents were killed in a car accident. Some say the accident was deliberate, but almost everyone felt that they deserve it, because a Jew and a Christian should never have married. Now, Henry could only turn towards his Uncle, who was the only person that accepts Henry and treats him like a human being.

The first day living with his uncle was great. His uncle brought him around their houses and spent the day with him, enjoying. He felt happy, a feeling that was like a stranger to him.

The second day arrived, his uncle went for work, and his aunt became the ruler of the house. "You filthy creature, with half the blood of a Jew, better wake up your idea about life here! You have ruined the purity of the Christian blood and you are worst than my dog! If not for your uncle, I would have killed you and feed the dogs of Jews, as you don't even deserve to be eaten by the dogs of Christians! I am tired of scolding animals! You think you can relax here? Go wash our clothes now!" Henry nodded in fear.

Henry knew how to wash clothes. He had been washing clothes from young. Suddenly, his aunt kicked him in the face. "Who told you to wash clothes using our washing machines? Who told you to wash clothes using detergent? Don't touch these stuff! You have your hands so wash using them!Feeling angry, Jew? If you hate it, then get of of my house!" Henry cried, only to receive another kick.

Lunchtime came and the other kids were having lunch. Henry went to his aunt and asked, "May I have a bowl of rice please?" His aunt slapped him. "Can't you see our dog's poo? They are your lunch. If you don't like, don't eat!"

Dinnertime came, and Henry ate dinner, the first meal of the day. When he placed the spoon of porridge into his mouth, tears just flowed out of his eyes uncontrollably. The taste of porridge, pure porridge, have never felt so pleasant in his life. Every single grain in the porridge was beyond description.

During bedtime, thanks to his uncle's presence, Henry was able to lie on a bed. However, he could not sleep. He thought to himself, "Why should I be treated like this? I am, like Christians, a human being. I feel hungry when starved, scared when scolded and upset when isolated. Why should I suffer the life of a slave? Why should my relatives, the closest ones to me treat me like an animal, like a prisoner, like a Jew?" With that, tears started flowing down his eyes. Burying his head under a pillow, he whispered, "Why must my mother be a Jew?..........."

War poem

We had many men

We had many planes

We had many tanks

But the Japanese had brains

Zero fighters filled the air

Flying coffins dropped down dead

Two great ships were on the guard

But flying fighters send them sunk

We had anti-tank guns

But they failed to work

We prepared for tanks

But there came bikes

The white flag was raised

The Japanese flag waved

Banana notes filled our land

Black markets roamed at night

You can say Japan is smart

You can say Japan is strong

But a fat man and a little boy ended their war

And we were freed from horrible hell