Tuition - good only if you want it

Tuition is only good if you really want to learn. Nothing can stop a passionate heart. Currently, I only have tuition in one subject, which is Chinese, one of my worse scoring subjects. This is fairly different from most of my other classmates, who have about 3 tuitions to attend each week. In my tuition class, I realised that some of the students in the tuition class do not really pay any attention.

When told to write a composition, they would only write the minimum number of pages (that's how they count it in the tuition) required. To meet the requirement, they would have a lot of paragraphs and leave a few lines after each paragraphs. It was then I realised that they only attend tuition classes to meet parents' expectations.

Is tuition really helpful? By attending more tuition classes, can a student excel in his/her studies automatically? There is a Chinese saying “耳到，眼到，心不到”, which roughly means that despite having your physical body here, you are actually not paying attention (your mind is elsewhere). This behaviour can be found in many students who are forced by their parents to attend tuition classes.

In my opinion, this does not apply to tuition only. If forced to do assessment books/exercises by their parents, children will not improve because they are not putting it the effort (due to their reluctance). The child himself must have a desire to learn and to improve for him to excel.

Here's where the problem comes in. What if the child is unable to focus and give priority to his studies? Even with failing grades, he or she still has no desire to learn. What can he/she do? This is a question that I am still unable to answer for myself. Comment please!

Home schooling - Pros and Cons

Some teens do not attend school, yet they still get an all rounded education. In this blog post, we'll be finding out what their lives are like.

Most parents of home-schoolers want their children to be free of the national school system because they think that it is too stressful and grades-driven. They also prefer their child's education to have a greater emphasis on family and moral values. However, home schooling also has its disadvantages.

Pros:

• The best teachers are parents. Parents can guide their children instead of having the child turn to their peers to solve problems, which sometimes result in trouble.
• Parents are also able to give their full attention to the child, while a teacher has to teach more than 20 pupils at once.
• Not exposed to negative influences in school (e.g. vulgarities)
• Flexible time schedule

Cons:

• No Edusave money
• Students home schooled at secondary level get no student concession for public transport.
• Some experts say that home schooling potentially limits the teen's opportunities for socialisation.

Extracts from IN article - Matthew Lim, 13, aspires to be a American Olympic gold medallist. Unlike other teen swimmers of his age group, who juggles the tough training tuition and homework, Matthew balances between both swimming and studies. Matthew is a home-schooled child, and thus has a more flexible time table to allow him to have more time to swim. Studies take up four hours each day from Monday to Friday, leaving him with plenty of time to pursue his hobbies and of course, swim.

In my opinion, home schooling is good for different children. For a child who would like to pursue academic qualifications, I believe going for the national school system is a good choice. In a case like Matthew's, he aspires to be the next Michael Phelps, as such, he will need a more flexible schedule and thus home schooling is more suited for him.

Debate on embryonic stem cell research

I believe that embryonic stem cell research is sustainable.

I will start with some background information. Embryonic stem cells are stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells. Isolating the embryoblast or inner cell mass (ICM) results in destruction of the fertilized human embryo, which raises ethical issues.

Most may be thinking that it is cruel to end a life like that just for experimental research. However, we must think, when does life actually start? Does the embryo know what is happening? Unlike abortion which is usually done much later during pregnancy, the embryo of 4-5 days old has barely developed any of its sensory organs. Besides, embryos are cultivated by in vitro culture, meaning they aren’t even placed in a parent’s womb, and it has been proven. “If the pre implantation embryo is left or maintained outside the uterus, it cannot develop into a human being.” Also, More than a third of zygotes do not implant after conception. Thus, far more embryos are lost due to chance than are proposed to be used for embryonic stem cell research or treatments.

Also, when harvesting the stem cells, consent from the involved parties is required. If all parties agree to it, why not? It is for the greater good of everyone. The stem cells can be used for research to cure people who are in need of these cells, people who are already on the verge of dying.

ES cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease due to its special property of being able to replicate infinitely. Diseases that could potentially be treated by these stem cells include a number of blood and immune-system related genetic diseases, cancers, and disorders; juvenile diabetes; Parkinson's; blindness and spinal cord injuries.

With all the above reasons, I believe that embryonic stem cell research is sustainable.

In this debate...

I learnt about the Lincoln-Douglas Format.

1. The Affirmative (almost always) reads a pre-written case

2. The Negative asks the Affirmative questions.

3. The Negative (almost always) reads a pre-written case and (almost always) moves on to address the Affirmative's case.

4. The Affirmative asks the Negative questions.

5. The Affirmative addresses both his/her opponent's case and his/her own. This speech is considered by many debaters to be the most difficult.

6. The Negative addresses the arguments of the previous speech and summarizes the round for the judge.

7. The Affirmative addresses the arguments of the previous speech and summarizes the round for the judge.