Should the Parents Maintanence Act be abolished?

Parent Maintenance Act definition:

The Act provides for Singapore residents aged 60 years old and above, who are unable to subsist on their own, to claim maintenance from their children who are capable of supporting him but are not doing so. Parents can sue their children for maintenance, in the form of monthly allowances or a lump-sum payment. The Act also establishes the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents to decide on applications made under the Act.

Should not be abolished because...

I agree with the bill because I feel that while the number of abandoned parents was small, it is a social safeguard against rise in the aging population and against a possible trend of young Singaporeans with the mindset that individuals should be allowed to do as they pleased.

Should be abolished because...

I disagree with the Bill because it would substitute moral obligation with legal duty of a child, and this might lead to widened relationship gaps between the children and parents. Filial Piety cannot be imposed upon children by law, and some parents refuse to use this bill as they do not want to bring their children to court. I also felt that in Asian values, children are committed to taking care of their parents and there was no necessity for legislation.

From the perspective of the child, home prices are rising, and medical costs as well as the general cost of living going up all the time, and many are already struggling to cope with this. Home price index are expected to increase by 8% for 2011 alone, and Singapore's cost of living is already the 11th highest in Asia. The burden of these cost already fall on the children, and this bill should be abolished as it is the government who should be supporting the needy elderly.

Furthermore, the elderly have worked hard towards building the Singapore we have today. Instead of shirking its responsibility towards the elderly and resorting to the law to get their children to toe the line, the Government should share a large part of the burden for elderly care. This is because the elderly have paid taxes all their lives and they have done their part in raising the next generation. Moreover, Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world. According to CIA World Factbook measured by GDP per capita, Singapore ranks 6th in the world, with a GDP of $48,900. The government has the resources to take care of the elderly, and it is only right that our Government help take care of them in old age through well-thought out subsidies and welfare programmes as the elderly did contribute to Singapore's welfare.

In my opinion, instead of trying to find ways to tackle the root of the poor treatment of the elderly, the Government chooses to further add to the strain of the problem for the child, therefore I feel that the government should abolish this act, as the children should not be the one supporting their parents.

Conclusion

I would not say that I take a very strong stand on this matter, but I would like to say they are tend to side the abolishment of the act. In my opinion, the parents maintenance act is unnesscerily due to the many cons and loopholes to this policy. Therefore, if I were asked to say my opinion, I would say take it away.

How do I view different sorts of newspaper articles?

How has learning about newsworthiness and types of news articles (straight news articles and feature articles in different sections of the newspaper) affected the way you read newspapers?

Disclaimer : The articles used below are just for examples, and nothing else. Please do not read this post if you are offended by the articles.

What is a straight news article?

A straight news article is usually found in broadsheet newspapers. It is news that has much less scandal and gossip, and usually has much less sensational headlines. They are serious in tone, and the articles are objective, strictly for the reader to know more about what is happening in the world. They tends to have less pictures but longer and better written articles, with dense information packed in a single article.

What is a featured article?

A featured article is usually found in tabloid newspapers. Tabloids usually deal with news that include sleaze, corruption, sex scandals and other things that their traditionally working and new middle class readership apparently enjoyed. A Featured article is written with the main aim to entertain, and to a certain extent, inform the reader. It does contain some elements of the short story but it is written with a lead to get the reader's attention and then uses conversational tone to present the reader with information to evoke an emotional response. These type of articles normally contains more pictures and sentences are less dense with less information.

(See more in my previous post at http://nichtey.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-prompt-newspapers.html)

How has this knowledge of the two sections affect the way I read newspaper?



(Above) Article posted in the new paper












Just recently, an article was published pertaining to the issue of "Only ACS(I) Boys are worth Dating". To me, this a quite a good example of a featured article.

Before I had the prior knowledge of what constitutes a featured article, or any other article for that matter, I would believe it for word for word. However, ever since I have been given the knowledge of what a featured article aims to do, and how it gets its information from, together with blowing it up with a sensational tone, I have became more discreet and filtered out information which I feel is inappropriate. I no longer believe the article whole heartedly, and usually if I want to confirm a fact, I would check back with other sources, including the straights news article, which is more serious in tone. For articles which I find is untrue, or overly blown up, I would just scan through the text with a pinch of salt.




(Above) Article in the Straits Times
















Not too long ago, an article was published in The Straits Times that Lim Hwee Hua will not contest next election. I find this a good straight news article.

Since young, I have always noticed much statistics in this type of articles that are used to back up their claim. For example, they usually consider the whole event from more than one person's perspective. Now that I know that these types of newspaper articles have the aim of providing accurate information to readers, I will start taking most things that is mentioned in strait news articles to be true. I can be assured of this because this is what a strait news article suppose to present : relevant facts and figures. Nonetheless, if I read any suspicious articles, I can still check back with other more reliable sources.

The Maycomb Tribune

This week, my teacher asked me to do a straight news article. I have written two regarding To Kill A Mockingbird on Bob Ewell's attack and Mrs Dubose Demise. I have linked the published work here, for your reading pleasure. Enjoy~

http://www.scribd.com/doc/54270406/The-Maycomb-Tribune

http://www.scribd.com/doc/54324765/The-Maycomb-Tribune-Article-Mrs-Dubose

Task 2: Diary entry

Imagine you are a character living through one of the 20th century Wars. You can be either a civilian or a soldier. (Consider the age, gender, social class, occupation etc of the character.) Write a diary entry from the perspective of this person. 

A day in the life of the lost war

Dear Diary,

World War 2 had erupted for some time now, and since then our country has been suffering consecutive defeats. Yesterday, France  surrendered.

Now, these arrogant German soldiers are pillaging and ransacking our homes like it is nobody's business. Life is tough, danger is abundant, and I just had a narrow shave yesterday......

It was morning. I was at home, preparing a meal for my family in our newly bought flat. The announcement of France's defeat blasted through the radios. Victorious songs in the name of Hitler was played relentlessly.

This was just like a nightmare come true. Could France really have lost to Germany? Weren't we promised that France would crush the pathetic German army?

 Just then, a truck cluttered noisily to my flat and screeched to a halt. Fear engulfed me, what could they possibly want? An eerie silence descended onto the once lively and cheerful flat. All I could here were shouts and commands from the commanders in their gibberish language. German soldiers started alighting from the truck, and in no time, the whole flat was crawling with these pesky insects.     

"Seize them! " shouted one of the commanders.

Finally, I understood something they said, but this was just more bad news. Just then, a blood piercing scream broke the silence in the room.

They were in the flat beside us. Rampant knocking on our door soon followed.  Having no choice, I opened it.

Books, cupboards, shelves and drawers were not spared. Not a stone was left unturned. Worst of all, they had taken my priceless, antique music score which I had treasured so much. Before they left, my mother and I were not spared. We were taken away from our homes.

We were separated, and I was taken to this warehouse, filled with rusty oil barrels, cobwebs and termite infested wooden tables. They tied me to a chair blindfolded me, then asked me to wait. Death seemed inevitable and all I could do was pray for the best.

Time seemed to move so slowly. A minute seemed like eternity. Flashbacks of what I did in the past seemed to whiz pass my brain. I remembered the time when I first picked up my instrument. I remembered the first time I had met her. I remembered the smiles on her when she sat through my first concert. Memories of happiness and joy soon seemed to drift me further and further from this world. A crash suddenly brought me back to the world.

Just then, the smell of buttered escargots drifted to me. Could this be a dream? Escargots is my most favourite food. I opened my mouth, and took a huge bite, but ended up biting my own tongue. Darn, that fragrance was unbearable. How long have I been tied here already?

The dream before the nightmare, I told myself. Footsteps clicked.

My blindfold was taken off. I looked up and to my amazement, a German soldier was actually smiling at me. "Release him!" he ordered.

I found out that it was actually my old friend at the national university. Relief seemed to set itself upon me. I was saved.

It was already night. I chatted with him as him settled a plate of escargots on the table. I told him about the abduction of my mother, but soon found out that she was now safely at home. This was really a blessing in disguise!

It's getting late, that's all for today.

Regards,

Nicholas

Online Lesson (Term 2, Week 5): A personal response to War

Story behind the picture:


A few moments ago, we were ambushed, and my commander was hurt. "Quick," I cried, "bring him to safety, let us run for our lives." I looked up and saw a bullet skim pass my face. Behind us, a solid wooden kind of barricade stood. When we were safely behind the line of fire, I could finally look at my commander's wound 


Task 1:


Select one of the photos / images and write a descriptive paragraph on it. Engage your 5 senses -- this means you should describe not only what is seen, but what is heard, smelt, tasted and felt. Use literary devices (sound, imagery, diction) to bring the scene to life.


The powerful legs that carried him through battle lay stretched before him, his shrieks of pain filled my ears. I looked at him, sorrow and grief engulfing me. Although we survived, a bullet had ripped through his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. In the distance, bullets cracked, and impending doom was certain to us. The stench of rotting flesh and dried blood soon overwhelmed us. The world was at its end. The seas had dried, the sun has faded, and the night was approaching. We had no medical treatment nor equipment, we had no way of getting out of this predicament.

Blog prompt: Essay - no.22

Celebrities are now more important than parents and teachers in guiding people's ambition - and this is a bad situation. What do you think?


People are treating their famous role models as "pseudo friends", a research found. However, when hero worship turned into obsession, fans could be left feeling isolated and lacking in social skills, the psychologists concluded. The ambitions of a person's are getting more influenced from celebrities, , and the influence of parents and teachers in guiding people's ambition is getting weaker.

Parents are having less and less control of their children. With both parents working, there is less time to spend with their children. Their children never gets a one-on-one time with each parent every day, so they do not know how much they are loved and valued as an individual. They are never taught the values they require. As such, they turn to other people for guidance, and slowly but surely, their ambition will be influenced by the person they take as a role model.

Teachers do not have a stake in their student's lives. Teachers are paid to teach, and to help develop the child academically. They have little influence over the child as the teacher never really makes individual sessions with each child. Teachers more often than not, teach things that are exam-oriented. Therefore the child's holistic development of values are not instilled by the teachers. As teachers get more and more distant from the child, their growth and ambitions are therefore not affected by the teacher.

People are getting more and more attracted to celebrities. Dr John Maltby, of the University of Leicester, said: "Psychological theory suggests that people can make attachments to a number of different people as well as their parents." Since people do not get enough attention from parents or teachers, they have to turn to someone else. Therefore, people turn to celebrities. People find celebrities attractive because everyone normally compliments them and they are exposed and shown so much on the media. These celebrities affect the way people think and their ambitions.

Imitation of celebrities are abundant. People grow up with the ambition to be and live like a celebrity that they admire. Celebrities influence fans to be destructively thin or put harmful substances in their bodies. For example, Lady Gaga's way of dressing, the lyrics she sings, is having a negative impact on people's ambition, and people who admire her picks up all her bad habits. Although Lady Gaga has never made her appearance in China, there are several celebrity followers here. For example Chinese actress Zhao Wei shoots a photo spread featuring Lady Gaga's hairstyle. The calamity of having mindless imitators comes to light when they join the workforce. They would not be well liked and might get fired if they behave with such habits.

Celebrities are now more important than parents and teachers in guiding people's ambition, and therefore they should now really think of really being a role model since they are so highly sought after.

Blog prompt: Newspapers

What is the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers? Does one always deal with more respectable news / produce more professional journalism than the other? Are there in-between types of newspapers?

Last Thursday, we were asked to bring our own newspapers. During Language arts that day, our teacher asked us what was the difference between a broadsheet newspaper and a tabloid sized newspaper.

What is a tabloid and broadsheet newspaper?

Tabloid

A tabloid newspaper is slightly larger than drawing paper, an example would be the Newpaper. Tabloids usually deal with news that include sleaze, corruption, sex scandals and other things that their traditionally working and new middle class readership apparently enjoyed. Tabloids usually use a sensational tone, and usually try to blow up the matter for the sake of attracting the reader's attention. Tabloids normally contains more pictures and sentences are less dense with less information.

Broadsheet

A broadsheet newspaper is much larger than its distant cousin of a tabloid. An example would be the Straits Times. Broadsheets usually deal with news that has much less scandal and gossip, and it usually has much less sensational headlines. Broadsheets are serious in tone, and the articles are objective, strictly for the reader to know more about what is happening in the world. Broadsheets tends to have less pictures but longer and better written articles, with dense information packed in a single article.

In-between Newspapers

Berliner, or "midi", is a newspaper format with pages normally measuring about 470 × 315 mm (18.5 × 12.4 in). The Berliner format is slightly taller and marginally wider than the tabloid/compact format; but is both narrower and shorter than the broadsheet format. An example would be Guardian. Berliner newspapers lean more to tabloids, but information is more dense in Berliner formatted newspapers. The tone is also somewhat in between that of Tabloids and Broadsheets.