I thought in Grade 9 I would get so much more homework compared to Grade 8, but actually, the topics we learned were similar to what we learnt last year, just covering different topics and going more in depth. One special moment was when I sang a solo for Music, it’s nice to hear really good things about my voice. Not only do I feel appreciated for singing, but also for my acting skills during Drama and to see that people around me appreciate my special abilities. It has really boosted my confidence in knowing what I could do, like for example having the guts to perform in front of a crowd of people.

In the activities part, I continued Choir by joining the high school choir Sonos. I enjoy it so much and it is very fun, my favourite part about it is learning a new song and adding different harmonies. Choir is still helping me build my confidence in being a risk taker because sometimes you have to audition to get a solo part in the song, I would tell myself “You can do it,” and this helped me try new things that are actually really fun.

I like learning about the topics in Music, especially composing music. When I learnt that a lot of songs are made up of these special notes and it is so cool how many songs you can make by making a random code. I can also boost my creativity because we have to come up with our own music, it could also be for singing because I love to sing if you haven’t noticed already. Next year I want to continue to develop my friendships because I feel that I have found people I can trust and are comfortable around which was a goal I had from Grade 8 and I feel I have accomplished that goal. I also want to improve my grades, like from 5 to 6 and maybe even to a 7 in Enterprise because I am very close to getting my desired grade. I am concerned about having harder and longer tests/exams and that’s what could make my grades drop. I do have to say I am looking forward to the rest of the IGCSE course and growing my knowledge even further!

Amanda Walton

Throughout the week of Writers Fortnight, I have gained so much knowledge from people within the UWC community. I have learnt about very interesting topics such as criminal psychology, which is what I ended up writing an article about. The criminal psychologist that came and talked to us about his job really changed my view on ex-offenders. He mentioned how the media heavily impacts our opinion regarding offenders and ex-offenders. Out of the 4 topics I was presented with, I found I had the most interest in criminal psychology.

I wanted the reader of my article to gain a new perspective on ex-convicts. The majority of society has a negative opinion towards offenders because the media makes them out to be evil monsters who will never change. For some cases that is true, but there are many examples where ex-offenders can change. Christian Perrin who is the criminal psychologist that talked to us about his experiences with offenders mentioned he has seen offenders change and learn from their past mistakes. He is not saying that every single offender he has worked with changes, but very many have. That changed my view on offenders and I grew an interest in this topic.

Is the media lying to you?

 

Almost everyone watches reads and hears about current news; what if someone told you most of what you hear is not even the full story? For many decades, the media has always been a valuable resource to inform people about current events and the latest news from around the world, most would say it is a very reliable source, but today I’m here to tell you that it is not.  

 

The media often has a very bias opinion that is not fair and doesn’t explain both sides of a story. I have most commonly found this in news articles/stories about offenders who have served time in jail. Christian Perrin is a criminal psychologist and has worked very closely with criminal and sex offenders. During his talk, he mentioned how the media portrays offenders in a very negative way whereas he explained to us that not all the offenders he has worked with are bad people.

 

Whenever the media writes or tells a story about an offender they always use very harsh language to describe the offenders. This vocabulary includes words like evil, gruesome, or monsters who have no heart. I can prove that is not true for everyone because there are several offenders who have turned their lives around for the better. Offenders such as Derek Jones, Duane Jackson and Jermaine Morrison are principal examples of people being able to change. For example, Derek Jones. He became a repeat offender during his 30s, turned his whole life around by starting a business offering Prison Technology services at a whopping six-figure sum.

 

Christian Perrin has worked with many offenders who have been able to change, but that doesn’t mean all offenders can change. He has also worked with offenders who will never change. As he said during his Writer’s Fortnight talk “some people might never change but we can try to help them.” That’s what he tries to do in his line of work, trying to help offenders change their way of thinking and reacting in different situations. The media puts offenders into only one category which is viewing them as awful people who will never change. The media is using very strong words such as ‘never’ which makes people believe that offenders will stay with the same traits/characteristics for their whole life. I know that not everyone can change but that doesn’t mean we can’t help them, and many criminal psychology programs have helped offenders make a positive change within themselves.

 

The media also doesn’t fully understand how badly they portray offenders. For example, let’s say an offender has served their time in prison and has shown that they have matured as a person. The media has been saying all these horrible things about what every single offender is supposedly like. This shapes the public’s mind on what every offender is like and it can really ruin their lives. Yes, offenders may have made a very bad decision in their past but that doesn’t mean they can’t grow as a person and learn to not make those mistakes again. This can affect their relationships, their jobs and even their family life. Essentially the media is brainwashing the way the public thinks of offenders.

 

Criminal psychologists are truly able to see the growth and development of an offender through the programs that they go through whereas the public sees none of what happens behind the scenes and only sees their past mistakes and therefore make them out to be an evil monster.

 

In this news article from Chanel News Asia stated “In a news release, the prison service said the overall recidivism rate for the 2015 cohort of inmates was 25.9 per cent, lower than the 26.5 per cent for the 2014 cohort and the same as the 2013 cohort. It attributed this to SPS working closely with community partners for the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders, strong community support and help for ex-offenders to secure stable and gainful employment.” This is proof that ex-offenders in Singapore are less likely to re-offend because of the different services offered to help them change and grow. The Singapore Prison Service declared that “The number of former prison inmates who break the law again within two years of their release has remained low and stable,” which is once again showing how ex-offenders can develop and learn from their mistakes.

 

During our talk with Christian Perrin,  someone asked the question “Does society treat ex-offenders right?” and he answered, “The media shapes societies response to offenders.”  Generally speaking, that statement is true because most of society has a negative view upon offender’s which is formed in a result of the media.  

(Examples of articles that portray offenders in a harsh way.)

 

Through this very insightful talk from Christian Perrin, I was able to create my own opinion on offenders and how media is portraying them. Somebody might view the negative lights upon offenders as a tool to help generate fear from the public. Fear to not commit horrible crimes which is a good strategy for teaching society what is wrong and what is right. I don’t think it is necessary to neglect all offenders because of crimes they committed in the past because it can ruin their life once they have recovered and finished their sentence. Now I want to ask you a question, do you think offenders/ ex-offenders are able to change, grow and develop as people? And once offenders are out of prison should society view them in a negative manner?

 

Bibliography

• http://www.prisonstudies.org/country/singapore

• https://realbusiness.co.uk/6-criminals-who-turned-their-lives-around/

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/number-of-repeat-offenders-remains-low-and-stable-prison-service-9932100

In this session, Ms Sabrina talked to us about her experience as a cancer survivor and her rough pregnancy journey. One thing I will take away from this session is the horrible feeling of not knowing how long you have left to live, but I highly admire her for having a positive attitude/mindset throughout her chemotherapy and still going on with life. One thing I thought before this session was that going through cancer would be much worse than going through a failed pregnancy until she told us that losing a pregnancy was like losing a part of her because of the guilt that came with knowing someone of her own DNA died.

In this session, Ms Joy talked to us about her refugee experience moving from South Sudan to America. She had a very rough childhood considering she became a refugee at the early age of 12, then when her family found refuge in America she didn’t feel like she fit in because of her skin colour. Before this session, I thought nothing could be as hard as being a refugee and moving to a new country, but now I realize that there are so many changes that happen such as language, food, culture, school and many other things. If I could ask her a question I would have asked her, would you ever consider living in South Sudan again? and why?

In this session, Mr Perry who is a criminal psychologist talked to us about working with violent and sexual offenders. This was definitely the most interesting talk out of them all because I have always wanted to know what these peoples minds are like to make them do the horrible things they did. I used to think that, once you have done something bad you can’t possibly change, but Mr Perry told us that not all the offenders he has worked with can change, but some have and can. After spending some time thinking about this topic I would have liked to ask him, how do you not have a bias opinion when working with these offenders?

In this session, Mr Sweeting talked about how he almost got flooded in Myanmar. I used to think that floods and droughts were not a big deal and can be solved easily, but after this talk, I now realize that when you are put in any dangerous situation you never know what the chances of survival are. A question I now want to ask Mr Sweeting is, How has this experience changed the way you approach going on trips like this?

For my “Language world map” project for English, I discovered many things about myself and the way that I speak. I found out that I don’t necessarily identify with one mother tongue, I identify with 2 mother tongue languages. Growing up learning 2 languages has made me fluent in both. For me, the definition of your mother tongue is the language you grew up speaking in and I just happened to grow up speaking 2. I also found out that many things around me have a big influence on the things that I say. A couple examples being my friends, TV shows, people I follow on social media platforms, etc. On my poster, I decided to include my cultural background so whoever is reading my poster would understand why I grew up speaking 2 languages. I had many topics that I wanted to address/talk about in my poster which I feel people don’t have enough context about.

In conclusion, I have learnt a lot of things about myself through this project that surprised me. It was interesting to see what has influenced me to be the person I am today because that has a lot to do with the way a person speaks. I feel that I was able to discuss topics that I took interest in about myself and overall I am happy with what is included.

CHILDAID 2018

This week I have been very occupied with rehearsals for a  show called “Childaid” that happens every year. This show is directed by the very famous “Dick Lee” who is a singer, composer, songwriter, and playwright. The 13th annual Childaid (2017) raised more than $2.1 million. ChildAid is an annual charity concert that raises funds for two children charities, The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF) and The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BTBAF). It also epitomizes the aspirations of the beneficiaries from these two charities. STSPMF helps children with school pocket money so they do not go hungry at school while BTBAF provides access to arts training for children to pursue the arts so that they can grow in confidence and overcome their personal circumstances.

Preparing for a very big event like this takes lots of time, dedication, practice, and passion! Over the past 3 days, the ChildAid group has been rehearsing very hard. Although I am very tired, I have had such a fun experience and made so many new friendships. Make sure you get tickets for the ChildAid concert this year, “JUMPIN’ JUKEBOX JIVE!”

Some useful information about the concert this year.

I agree with my results. I would associate myself as an extrovert most of the time, but sometimes I am an introvert. I definitely go with my gut feeling usually, I don’t analyse the situation at hand. This quiz for me is accurate to my personality.