Today, was the day, that the day, said that the day would be good, as predicted. Finals sound like a word to be taken into account, especially when it comes to your CCA. The stadium was packed and filled with students swarming all around the place. Hwa Chong students were visibly seen with their uniform so "neatly" tucked in, and them being clustered into a group. I was one of them, as I was a reserve for the first team, or should I say, Reserve's reserve's reserve's reserve. Yes, that is my position and I am proud to be there.
I always wished to run in an atmosphere full of students cheering hard and the atmosphere was present today. However, I lack the speed and technique to be fit running for the school as the Secondary Twos were extraordinary! Although we did not get first for our relays events, eventually, we got 1st for the overall points.
The whole Hwa Chong Track and Field team was invited to the field. There was a gut feeling that something good will happen. And it did. The B boys won 1st too!!! Having the experience of standing still and singing the school song proudly in front of the audience was extremely valuable to me. Deep inside my heart, a sense of pride stood like the Tan Kah Kee statue in school, high and mighty, proud of myself, Jack Tan and most importantly, proud of my school, Hwa Chong Institution.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Track and Field Competition 2010
Hey! I just realised that I have never talked to you about my CCA competitions. The 51st Annual National Track and Field Competition have already began. I took the 400m singles event. If you are my classmate, I guess you know that I did not qualify. Of course I was disappointed when I saw the results but the comfort was I missed the qualifying mark by 2 seconds only. I am still a Secondary 1 student and I am racing with the Secondary 2 students. I still have another year to catch up with the timing and I am confident that I can pass the qualifying mark next year. Just to let you know, my cousin is also in Track and Field but she is in a different division from mine. She is in Hwa Chong Junior College and she managed to ace her events (If I am not wrong). From that, I realised that it takes time to adapt to your CCA requirements and ace it. I am sure I can do it next year and for all who are reading my post now, thanks!
400m is a very tiring event, well in my opinion, it is. Well, I am slow in 100m, medium at 200m, even worse at steeplechase and I like Bobby. Bobby is my friend, BEST friend. To avoid any confusion, the person I am referring to is not in my class, so, not you Zihan, or Yuxiang, or David. I am referring to the guy from 1A2, I knew him when I was primary three, when I was looking like this! (Above there)
One very day, Bobby was running the corridoor, chasing his friend. At first, Bobby ran past me, then Bobby's friend ran past me, at first I thought they were two same people, then I wondered, how can that guy (I did not know him yet) run so fast that I see a split image of him? Finally, I found out the truth from him and that was what actually started our friendship.
English Ace Assignment (Part 1)
Child Labour in India
India, what a huge country compared to Singapore, but it pales in comparison when the topic entitled "Economy" is brought up. It is internationally agreed that the economy of a country plays an inportant role in terms of determining the stability of a country. Indian has vast area of land, many people and needless to say, many geniuses. Returning to the economy, it is always pulled in when the topic "Child Labour" is mentioned. Is the reason for child labour the poor economy of India? Is this the inexplicable truth or are there many other hidden reasons which lies beneath the dense outlook of the this problem, which might bring us straight to the crux of the problem to solve it. To me, taking the very first step is to look at things in different viewpoints, the government of India's viewpoint and the viewpoint of the World Human Rights Organisation.
Government of India's viewpoint
In Northen India, the exploitation of little children for labour is an accepted practive and perceived by the locals a necessity to alleviate poverty. Even if the government feels that this practive is unacceptable, it has not other choice but to accept it. The main reason is the lack of innovative solution to this problem - poor economy. They cannot come up with revolutionary ideas which would help the locals change their perception so they are forced to use this mean of improving India's economy.
If I were the India's government...
We are trying our best to alleviate the problem of child labour by invoking a law that makes the employment of children between 14 illigal, except in family owned enterprise. We are trapped in a situation where we have to choose between improving the coiuntry's economy or protecting the children of the country.
Verdict --- Give us a solution or banning child labour will be a difficult task.
World Human Rights Organisation's viewpoint
They feel that the situation of child labour is desperate. The children work for eight hours at a stretch with only a small break for meals. The meals are also frugal and the children are ill nourished. They do not have education and are ill treated. Serious actions should be done to this problem. We must put greater emphasis on health and safety issues regarding the children working. In order to prevent risking the children's safety, we must ban child labour. Children are often exploited and deprived of their rights in India, and until further measures are taken, many Indian children will continue to be working in danger.
Verdict --- Ban child labour to prevent the children from being in danger.
My viewpoints
I feel that child labour is of course something which everyone wants banned but major actions are not taking palce. Coming back to my very first point, there are abundant geniuses in India. Instead of implementing rules which are easy to break, India should gather all manpower to think of a solution. As I have said, there are many more geniuses in India than in Singapore, but Singapore can still continue to upgrade itself, even without vast spaces of land. I think that the major changes that should be made are - changing the mindset of the people living in villiages, changing their way of life in terms of child labour and frequent checks on the areas of suspected child labour. Indeed, child labour will help the economy grow, but in turn, the children's education is affected badly. In addition to that, the change of the state of economy is insignificant. On the other hand, if the children are not given the chance to study, the undeveloped child geniuses may not be groomed well and the country will have less leaders. The future of the country is bleack as there will be less future leaders.
Verdict --- Ban child labour and think of the future.
Sources --- www.indianchild.com/child-labour-india.htm
www.childlabor.in/child-labour-in-india.htm
India, what a huge country compared to Singapore, but it pales in comparison when the topic entitled "Economy" is brought up. It is internationally agreed that the economy of a country plays an inportant role in terms of determining the stability of a country. Indian has vast area of land, many people and needless to say, many geniuses. Returning to the economy, it is always pulled in when the topic "Child Labour" is mentioned. Is the reason for child labour the poor economy of India? Is this the inexplicable truth or are there many other hidden reasons which lies beneath the dense outlook of the this problem, which might bring us straight to the crux of the problem to solve it. To me, taking the very first step is to look at things in different viewpoints, the government of India's viewpoint and the viewpoint of the World Human Rights Organisation.
Government of India's viewpoint
In Northen India, the exploitation of little children for labour is an accepted practive and perceived by the locals a necessity to alleviate poverty. Even if the government feels that this practive is unacceptable, it has not other choice but to accept it. The main reason is the lack of innovative solution to this problem - poor economy. They cannot come up with revolutionary ideas which would help the locals change their perception so they are forced to use this mean of improving India's economy.
If I were the India's government...
We are trying our best to alleviate the problem of child labour by invoking a law that makes the employment of children between 14 illigal, except in family owned enterprise. We are trapped in a situation where we have to choose between improving the coiuntry's economy or protecting the children of the country.
Verdict --- Give us a solution or banning child labour will be a difficult task.
World Human Rights Organisation's viewpoint
They feel that the situation of child labour is desperate. The children work for eight hours at a stretch with only a small break for meals. The meals are also frugal and the children are ill nourished. They do not have education and are ill treated. Serious actions should be done to this problem. We must put greater emphasis on health and safety issues regarding the children working. In order to prevent risking the children's safety, we must ban child labour. Children are often exploited and deprived of their rights in India, and until further measures are taken, many Indian children will continue to be working in danger.
Verdict --- Ban child labour to prevent the children from being in danger.
My viewpoints
I feel that child labour is of course something which everyone wants banned but major actions are not taking palce. Coming back to my very first point, there are abundant geniuses in India. Instead of implementing rules which are easy to break, India should gather all manpower to think of a solution. As I have said, there are many more geniuses in India than in Singapore, but Singapore can still continue to upgrade itself, even without vast spaces of land. I think that the major changes that should be made are - changing the mindset of the people living in villiages, changing their way of life in terms of child labour and frequent checks on the areas of suspected child labour. Indeed, child labour will help the economy grow, but in turn, the children's education is affected badly. In addition to that, the change of the state of economy is insignificant. On the other hand, if the children are not given the chance to study, the undeveloped child geniuses may not be groomed well and the country will have less leaders. The future of the country is bleack as there will be less future leaders.
Verdict --- Ban child labour and think of the future.
Sources --- www.indianchild.com/child-labour-india.htm
www.childlabor.in/child-labour-in-india.htm
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