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.