Author: lal19205@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg
Project Week Planning Reflection
For project week, my group initially decided to go and do a hiking trip in Vietnam, however, this plan needed to change due to other groups also wanting to use the same provider. As a result, we decided to plan a biking trip in Cambodia which while not our first option, was still something that focused on the activity aspect of CAS which is what we wanted to do. Although we were not able to visit due to the pandemic, there were still a lot of benefits to me and our group as a whole during the planning stage of the trip.
The most important aspect of the planning stage was determining our roles within the group, and who would be responsible for what. This was especially significant for our group since we were a group of 6 and we had to ensure that multiple people weren’t working in the same area for no reason. By doing this we were able to distribute the tasks amongst us, thereby allowing each of us to have input into designing the ideal trip for our group. Another major part of the planning stage was communication, not only between us as group members, but also the provider we had chosen to organise the cycling trip with, in Cambodia. There were constantly emails exchanged to and from the provider so that all the details of our trip could be planned out, and that the trip would fit into the budget that was set for us. Lastly, organisation was a significant skill that was developed through the planning process. As a group, we had to have all our materials in one place so that our supervisor could easily access it as well as us being able to send relevant parts to the provider. Additionally, we also had to plan out and consider what we would do should something go wrong on the trip and this required us to create a document outlining where the nearest hospital was and other safety measures such as that. This entire process of coming up with a detailed plan was quite challenging but was definitely worth the effort and time as it helped develop many different planning skills, even though we weren’t able to go in the end.
#CAS
Creativity Post – Science Society
Throughout my time in the science society during grade 11, I was exposed to different areas of science and the impact that they can have on people’s lives. While participating in this activity, people often gave presentations on areas of science that are current and interesting to them. As a result, a partner and I created a presentation on COVID-19 and the impacts that it has not only on health but also ethical implications to be considered while trying to identify treatments. Because at that time the coronavirus was new and had just started spreading globally, in the presentation my partner and I created, we included the science behind the virus and how it infected people, potential solutions to combat the virus such as developing vaccines, and how we could prevent the spread. In doing so, we were able to inform the fellow participants about the seriousness of the virus and the actions that we must take to combat the global pandemic as a collective group. As well as this, I was able to get a better understanding of the ethical implications of creating a vaccine. This is because when researching ways in which the virus could be combatted, I realised that the production of vaccines requires years of research due to the ethics around long term testing, as there may be side effects which negatively impact people. As a result, I have been made more aware of the fact that when coming up with a vaccine for COVID-19, long term testing will likely be forgone due to the immediate need for the vaccine. By participating in this activity, I have therefore been able to realise the potentially significant impacts that may occur later on due to the lack of time available to us, and the ethical impacts that are sometimes overlooked in the world of science.
#LO7
#CAS
The Handmaid’s Tale – What if the Constitution was replaced with the Bible
In order for something like this to take place, there would have to be some kind of a political leader that could influence the people within the population that already hold fundamentalist views. If this were to happen and an extremist leader was to be put into power, it is possible that a situation such as this could happen. In turn, the consequences felt by the population would vary depending on the group of people in question. Women would be forced into the stereotypical role of only staying at home and looking after the family as this is all that people would think they are meant for. Additionally, it would be the case that any minority groups that do not completely share the values of the fundamentalists in power would be threatened and likely punished for not following the word of the Bible exactly. However, the words that they would have to follow would be the government’s interpretation of the Bible rather than it’s actual word.
Third Service Post – 4PM
After having now been part of this service for a few months and having had a numerous amount of lesson with the children from 4PM I have had a lot of opportunities to learn about how to plan and structure certain kinds of activities, however, I have also become more aware of keeping in mind limitations to what can be done. As we were working with children, in order to do certain activities we had planned such as taking them to the school playground, we had to ask for permission from their parents to ensure that this would be allowed. As some parents weren’t comfortable with these types of activities we had to decide to change the plan that we had for certain lessons because of it, as parental permission always came as the highest priority in this case. Additionally, for certain activities we had planned, often ones that included running, we had to keep in mind the safety of the children as in these scenarios it would have been quite easy for them the trip over and fall, or knock into something, causing potential injury to themselves and the other kids. We had to make sure to avoid this happening at all when carrying out the activities we had planned, especially since the running games are what they seemed to enjoy most.
Other than learning from taking part in and doing the direct service, recently we have been focusing a lot more on the indirect, raising awareness type service as we can no longer do direct service with 4PM due to restrictions from covid-19. As a result of this, I have learnt a lot more about the issue of income inequality and the potential impacts it can have on not only young children but also on various other groups of people. In doing research and talking with other service groups who work with people facing similar circumstances our group created a presentation outline the significance of income inequality mainly in Singapore, however keeping in mind potential global impact. While the issue itself is much broader and will take a much longer time to fix, organisations such as 4PM that provide education for children with fewer opportunities, and the actions we take in this service can slightly improve the lives of some people which while not large scale can still be impactful for them.
#LO6 #LO7
#CAS
Home Fire and Ethics
Within the book Home Fire, we see that Isma puts more emphasis on her duty to her country by informing on her brother to the Police, and this raises the question of whether or not this was the ‘right’ thing to do.
In order to discuss this idea, we can connect it back to ancient Greece in which the notion of morality and ethics started, as well as the play Antigone, which Home Fire is based on. When it comes to ethics, the basic most important question is ‘what is considered as right or wrong’, and there are many different approaches that one could take to this idea. From a deontological perspective, one would look at taking action based on authority and without much regard for what the consequences would be. This seems to be similar to the system of ethics that Isma was following when she informed on her brother. When she did this she was thinking more about the law of the country and what would be right based her duty to her country. Furthermore we are able to see a similar kind of behaviour from Ismene in the play. In this case, Ismene decided to follow the decree of the king Creon, and not help her sister bury their brother. Looking at ethics in this way both Ismene and Isma’s actions are completely justifiable as they were doing what they thought was right based on a certain law or rule. However, if we are to look at ethics based more on the consequences of an action, it can be argued that Isma’s actions were not morally correct.
Teleology is a system of ethics in which actions are guided based on the consequences they result in. People who would follow this system have an end goal that they are trying to achieve (eg. happiness) and act based on what would lead them to this outcome. Using this system of ethics focused more on the outcome, it can be thought that Isma acted wrongly as she betrayed her family and resulted in her relationship with her siblings being ruined as Aneeka blames Isma for Parvaiz not being able to return back to the UK. Furthermore, ultimately as an end result, Parvaiz and Aneeka both die. From this perspective Isma should have put more importance on her personal life and family, and thought about what the consequences would be of informing the police about Parvaiz. However, there are many other different types of morals and systems of ethics which all might justify Isma’s behaviour or condemn it.
Overall, claims can be made either way for Isma choosing to be loyal to her country or her family, and ultimately there is no real way to choose which is the ‘right’ thing to do. Using one system of ethics her actions can be seen as morally right, however the same action can be seen as wrong from another perspective. This results in there never being an absolute ‘right’ or ‘correct’ decision for Isma to make in this situation and therefore, the fact that she decided to inform the police cannot definitively be categorised into just right or wrong.
Third Creativity Post – Marimba Pamberi
Having been a part of a marimba ensemble for multiples years now, I think that what most motivates me to keep doing it is the performances and concerts that take place in which we perform. Since we put in quite a lot of practice and effort into the pieces we learnt, having a performance feels like a sense of completion in which we are able to show a full audience of people what we have done and learnt in the form of a piece of music. Another thing which motivates me to keep pursuing this activity is the fact that I enjoy the pieces that we play and the rhythms and melodies that come out of this type of music, especially since African marimbas aren’t usually common instruments that are heard. I think that my commitment to the activity showing up to every rehearsal and continuously practising every week, along with all the other members, has resulted in us being successful in performing our pieces. Within high school music concerts, we are able to perform well and coherently due to the practice that we have put in and the time spent trying to bring the pieces together as a whole, and without this, we would not be able to perform at the level we have.
#LO4
#CAS
Study Skills
In this PSE unit we have been talking about study skills and what habits are good to have and use to make studying more efficient. The main six skills that we should learn to use are:
- Dual Coding – Use more than one method to try to memorise something
- Retrieval Practice – At the beginning of every study session try to write down and see what you can already recall
- Interleaving – Do short blocks of different subjects rather than one large block of only one
- Spaced Practice – Once you have revised something wait a day then do it again after than wait longer before revisiting it
- Elaboration – Expand on your knowledge by asking questions or finding examples
- Concrete Examples – Find examples to support what you have learnt
I think that of these six things what I need to work on most would be dual coding and concrete examples. This is because whenever I am studying or practicing for a test, I often just memorise hat I need to by writing it down waiting some time and seeing what I recall. I think that it would be useful for me if I also used another method of memorising things other than writing such as using diagrams or pictures. This would make it easier to recall things in a test situation. I also think that I need to work on finding examples as I never really do this, and if I were to do it would make me understand what I am studying a lot better. Furthermore for subjects such as economics, we need to use examples within our tests to support what we are saying. This means that if I study real life examples and remember them, it will be much easier for me to recall them in the exams and I will save time since I won’t have to think about it. As well as this, knowing the examples beforehand will make it much easier to elaborate and explain what they are and why they are significant to my answer.
Written IO
The global issue that I will be talking about is beliefs, values, and education and more specifically, to what extent are our societal beliefs influenced by stereotypes. In order to talk about this issue, I will be using two different texts, ‘The Intoxicated” by Shirley Jackson and a tweet by Donald Trump. In both of these texts we can see how stereotypes placed on people, and the environment we are in, can affect the way that we believe society should actually be, and this is what I will be talking about.
The first text is a tweet by Donald Trump in response to Greta Thunberg winning the person of the year award. From this we are able to see that Trump, believes that all teenagers should be acting in the way a stereotypical teenager might. This is most likely due to the type of environment he was brought up in, which would have shaped the kinds of beliefs and values he hold now. From the way Trump starts the quote, “So ridiculous”, we can immediately see his beliefs about this issue come out. The specific diction here with the use of the word ‘ridiculous’ conveys the idea that he believes Greta winning this award is ludicrous and should have never happened at all. As a result we can see that his beliefs on the topic of climate change which Greta stands for, are that it is completely ‘ridiculous’. One of the potential reasons for this may be to do with the stereotypes place upon young people. People’s societal beliefs can be affected by the stereotypes they know of, for certain groups of people, and this may be the case here. When trump says in his tweet, “go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend!”, it almost sounds like he is giving Greta advice because he knows what is better for her than she does. This is clearly Trump stereotyping teenagers, as this is an activity that most teens will do. The use of this line leads us to believe that Trump may believe that teenagers should just be relaxing and hanging out with their friends all the time, and that teenagers cannot really do anything substantial or significant for the world. This leads to the idea that Trump believes Greta is getting involved in matters that are too complicated for her and she should be acting more like a ‘normal’ teenager. Furthermore, when Trump ends the tweet by saying, “Chill Greta, Chill!”, we can see the emphasis he puts upon Greta being too young to deal with such complex issues. This is seen by the repetition of the word ‘chill’ and the use of an exclamation mark, making the idea that Greta should be doing more ‘regular’ activities prominent. Ultimately, the stereotype that young people and unaware and can’t make an impact can be seen here from Trump, and this may be one reason why he believes that Greta winning is ‘so ridiculous’.
The second text that I am using is a short story called “The Intoxicated” by Shirley Jackson. Within this literary text, there is a large amount of dialogue utilised by Jackson, which is conveys the fact that stereotypes influence our societal beliefs about how specific groups of people act. This can be seen while the drunk man is speaking to the girl and he says, “It’s part of a stage you go through, like being boy-crazy”. Here we can see that since he knows of a stereotype in which all teenagers will go through a stage like this, he assumes that all teenagers will act in that way and believes that is the way society is, whereas in reality it is not. We can also see a similar idea when the man says, “in my day, girls thought of nothing but cocktails and necking”. This suggests that gender and societal stereotypes of what was happening while he was growing up, is affecting his societal beliefs of the younger generation currently. Furthermore the fact that this line is repeated in the text twice, once as a thought and then again when it is spoken, reinforces the idea of stereotypes affecting our beliefs, that we get from it. Also, in the dialogue when the ‘host shook his head ruefully’ and said, “Kids nowadays”, it conveyed the idea that he speaks about children in the young generations with distaste. This is likely because of the ideas he already has about teenagers and the stereotypes about them which are generally not too good. This results in him believing all kids of that age group will act in the stereotypical kind of manner, once agin showing that the stereotypes placed upon groups of people can affect our societal beliefs about how they will act.
Advertisements
In this ad we can see that L’Oréal Paris has used their product of a mascara brush to convey the statistics that women are just as good as or even better than men in leadership roles. We can see that around the entire center of the advertisement is taken up by the image of the brush, drawing attention to the fact that this is an ad for a beauty product company. However, ironically this ad is aimed towards men as stated in the large bold font at the top of the ad. The emphasis on these words immediately draws attention to the advertisement as it seems to be a cosmetic campaign that is actually aimed towards men. In comparison, the rest of the text is written in a much smaller size as to not take away rom the fact that they want men to be reading it.
This ad acts on people’s assumptions (usually mens) that women are not as good or as qualified as men in the workplace. This results in L’Oréal using the unusually large bristles that are increasing in length to draw attention to the fact that the more women there are in leadership roles, the higher the employee satisfaction is within the company. As a result this ad is using the nature of the product and facts to represent women the way they are which is as equals to men, in order to get people to hire more women into leadership roles.