Thursday, June 22, 2006
The price of bully
In this stressful society, bullying had progressively been part of our lives, as either an act to regain self-esteem or a mental and physical torment that some will face. Bullying had somehow turn out to be a way to vent out anger and pressure that the public face in the demanding society these days, therefore bullies are getting more and more common around us. Bullying has not only become a method to relieve stress, but also a means to gain security and power.
Patrick is a typical boy who unfortunately, is mentally weak and is unable to handle situation in which he turn out to be targets of bullies. Whenever he is being bullied, he would surrender and give in to the bullies, making him the ‘easy prey’ for his ‘predators’. Since young, he has always been the one being thrown at, pushed at, shouted at and even framed at. As his parents were always out at work, and he is reserve in nature, Patrick had no one to share his problems to whenever being bullied.
He finally broke down after the pain exceeds his endurance. Due of this, he became a bully during his secondary education and changed to a ruthless person who target on those who are mentally weak. He thought that the only solution to protect himself form bullies is to become a much more powerful bully.
He joined gang, and found himself many ‘true friends’ and this gave him the impulse to collect extortion fees from timid classmates. If they do not pay up, he would threaten them with his fist. He also made fun of his classmates by calling them names and spreading rumors. This gradually made him notorious and he could not let go of his power. He specifically preyed on Vincent who was smaller in built, by deliberately misplacing and messing up his stuff. He would also humiliate him in front of his friends by scolding vulgarities. He also made prank calls and put up false information on the net about Vincent. This made Vincent suffer serious emotional break down and he had to undergo counseling.
Patrick was canned in front of his school as a warning to the rest. He did not repent and instead participated in a gang fight. He died during the fight suffering from multiple injuries.
Being bullied made Patrick a bully and later caused his death. Is Patrick the only one responsible for his death???
i'm watching you at 10:52 pm
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Monday, June 05, 2006
Comment On Article by Seah Chiang Nee on Scholar system
My stand: I AGREE with the author
In this 21st century, there are different challenges and the education system has to cater to overcome the challenges faced by the young generation, who are the future leaders and entrepreneurs. One such challenge is that the world is changing rapidly and we will need to change our styles of education, economic, and various systems. For instance, during the past, Singapore’s education system focuses on engineering, architecture, so as to prepare this batch of students for the developing nation whereby constructions of HDB flats, town centers and various commercial buildings were being carried out throughout the island.
But, in this new century whereby students have to take the initiative to learn things, and that information technology and knowledge is important for this new system of knowledge-based economy, having the skills and knowledge is definitely important. However, apart from the knowledge… personalities, communications skills, socialization, stress management, time management, and many more other skills where we simply could not acquire them from the textbooks, are vital for one to survive in a competitive and ever changing society.
Hence, I feel that the education system should be designed in such a way that it would train one’s Emotion quotient (EQ) rather than just splashing words on the students and expect them to regurgitate them during the exams, which they would probably forget them a few days after the exams… EQ is the ability to control one’s emotion and to understand other people’s emotion, which is a skill that would be useful in all aspects and this is a skill that would always stick to our minds =)
Therefore, from an employer’s point of view, I would hire one that has a good character rather than having a lot of knowledge but keep on offending people and looking down on others. No matter how smart the person is … no one will respect him/her if he/she does not show respect for others that is a problem in most Singaporeans. Is something lacking in our education system? Definitely!!!! à The failure to equip us with the necessary life skills for our future use
Hence, I feel that the present education system which focuses largely on academic achievements rather than developing qualities in students, has to be revised…=(
~ Rong²
i'm watching you at 10:03 pm
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