7. Parental role vs. Teacher role in Education

Que Sera Sera, whatever will be will be,

the future not us to see...Que Sera..Sera... but your education counts!

The debate surrounding the roles of teachers and parents is one of the most charged in education. At one time, teachers took all the blame if the students did not do well in their studies while at another time; parents were accused of neglecting their roles as educators and expecting teachers to do all the work. So, who actually has a more pivotal role in ensuring student is successful in his studies?

There are two camps of thought to this question. One which agrees that parents plays a more important role while another strongly believes than teachers are the ones who will determine how good students are in their studies. The former argues that parental role is very important in the early development of children’s education. This is not surprising as early and consistent parental involvement in a child’s education such as instilling reading habits, interpersonal communication skills, identifying their child’s learning pattern and encouraging them to ask questions will expose them to good learning habits and liking for knowledge. Those who want more parent involvement strongly believe that parents should not just be merely the field trip helper or the lunch lady and argues parents have to take more interest in their children’s education. Parents need to be asked about how their child learns best. They need to share their career expertise with the children. Today's educators need to remember that parents are the child's first and foremost teacher; parents, too, are experts, and teachers should learn from them. It is interesting to note that academic achievement and parental involvement are strongly linked in the research. Children who come from loving and caring families who provide them moral support are more likely to be successful.

The opposing camp justifies that although parents do play a role at a early stage, students will have to depend more on their teachers when they pursue their education at primary, secondary and tertiary level. As students spend a lot of time in school compare to their pre-school days, a teacher has to shoulder the responsibility of educating the children especially because nowadays is common to have both parents working and have less time to be with their children even at home. The opposition argues that teachers are also well-trained to educate children unlike parents and have more resources at school. Moreover, most teachers are parents as well so they have the best of both worlds. Another prove that teachers are important in determining a student’s academic achievement is that good teachers are always highly sought after and parents would usually sent their children to a school or university where the educators are very experience and has produce many successful students. Although computers and other multimedia learning devices has been introduced from time to time, the demand for quality teachers has not drop and many people prefer sending their children to school than home schooling their children themselves.

As a conclusion, teachers play a more significant role than parents in education but the role of parents cannot be overlooked. Instead of debating whose role is more important it is wiser to find a common ground where both sides can work together to improve the quality of education with this changing times. Undeniably, both teacher’s and parent’s role complement each other as we need both hands to clap or give a round of applause.

6. Water resources

Water is one of three essential components to sustain life. The earth’s surface is two thirds water but only about 1-2% of the water is fresh water, out of which two thirds is frozen as ice in glaciers and polar caps. This leaves about 0.007% of water available for human use. Sources of freshwater include surface water such as rivers, wetlands and lakes, sub-surface water or groundwater stored in aquifers below water tables, frozen icebergs and through desalination. Although fresh water is a renewable resource, but the steady supply of water is decreasing because as the world population continue to rise at an unprecedented rate, the demand for water surpasses its sustainability and many more areas will experience imbalance in the near future.

About 69% of freshwater is used up for irrigation in agriculture. Irrigation is needed to increase crop yield especially during the drought and in some areas irrigation is necessary to grow any crop at all. Water is also used in the industrial sector to cool power plants, generate electricity, in chemical processes and as a solvent. The portion of industrial water usage varies but is much less than agriculture. Apart from that, water is also used for household purposes like drinking, cooking, washing, gardening and so forth. However most of the water used is return back to surface water sources and therefore is less consumptive compared to industrial and agricultural activities. A small portion water is also used for recreation like in swimming pools and water sports like sailing, boating and angling but such use is not consumptive. On the other hand, when water is used for a golf course, it can become the greatest water usage in a region. It has been estimated that a single average mid-western US golf course is equivalent to a population of 50,000 residents in water usage!

Freshwater pollution is a major problem since it is too easy to pollute rivers and lakes with pesticides, industrial waste and sewage. In poor and developing countries, the addition of sewage waste to sources of drinkable water lead to many diseases and deaths. In China, the United Nations reported that more than 78% of the people in China drink contaminated water supplies. The depletion of fresh water supplies is also due to climate change which affects the hydrologic cycle causing frequent droughts and flood. Apart from that, the draining of wetlands and overuse of aquifers by humans also aggravates the situation. Although humankind has made enormous effort to control the supply of freshwater by building huge dams, it results shrinking rivers and lakes, falling water tables and loss of wildlife.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a international discussion to be held between countries and environmental organizations to identify and carry out drastic steps that must be taken to counter the depletion of freshwater resources before it becomes too late. Hopefully, the nations would not have to go to war against each other just to secure water supplies in the future as predicted in fiction books.

Different Aspects Of Culture

One of the things that make us, people special is that although we are the same species but we are different from each other because of our diverse cultures. Culture has been call “the way of life for an entire society.” As such, in includes manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, arts and norms of behaviour such as law and morality. (Quoted from wikipedia.) So, I am going to write about some different cultures, some which can be found in Malaysia’s multicultural society (or more specifically from Sarawak) and also those overseas.

Firstly, I will start with the Chinese culture. There are many ethnic groups in the Chinese community. Most of the traditional cultural identity can be distinguished from the family name. In Sarawak, most of the Chinese are from the Foochow (Fuzhou) Chinese especially at Sibu which originated from eastern part of the Fujian Province. Our dialect is Foochowhua. Although there are various ethnic groups in the Chinese community, we all share a standard Mandarin language, strong family values, respect to our elders and celebrations like Chinese New Year (also known as the Spring Festival and Lunar New Year) which begins on first day in the first lunar month in the Chinese Calender and ends on the 15th day, called the Lantern Festival and many others including the Mooncake Festival and Dumpling Festival. In all the occasions, it is a must that all the family members will come from afar to sit together on the same table or under the same roof for a family reunion dinner. The Chinese community also has many superstitions and traditional beliefs that must be observed during festivals such as no sweeping during first day of Chinese New Year. The color red is liberally used in all decorations. “Ang pows” are given to juniors and children by the married and elders.

Chinese arts include Chinese Folk Art, lyrical, visual art, Chinese music, performance art and architecture. Famous Folk Arts include Chinese Paper Cutting (created since Cai Lun invented paper!), Chinese Paper Folding, Glove Puppetry, Chinese Shadow Theatre and knots. We also have performance arts like the Chinese Opera, Dragon Dance and Lion Dance whereas Visual arts include Chinese ceramic pottery, Chinese ink painting and beautiful Chinese calligraphy. Traditional Chinese music instruments include silk string instruments like Guqin, Se, Suzheng, Pipa and Konghou which are to be plucked and Erhu, Jinghu, Banhu and Zhonghu which are bowed. Instruments made also made from bamboo which are mainly woodwind instruments like Dizi, Ziao, Panxiao, Chi and Bawu.

In Sarawak, the Iban are the native people. The Iban were traditionally animst, however, the majority are now Christian, and many continue to observe both Christian and traditional ceremonies, particularly at marriage or festival times. Significant festivals include the rice harvesting festival Gawai Dayak, the main festival for the Ibans. Other minor but significant Iban festivals incluide the bird festival Gawai Burong and the spirit festival Gawai Antu. The Gawai Dayak festival is celebrated every year on the 1st of June, at the end of the harvest season. On this day, the Ibans get together to celebrate, often visiting each other. The Iban traditional dance, the ngajat, is performed with the accompaniment of the taboh and gendang, the name of the Ibans' traditional music. Pua kumbu, the Iban traditional cloth, would be used to decorate houses. Tuak, which is originally made of rice, is a wine, would be served to guests. Nowadays, the are various kinds of tuak such the ones made of ingredients like sugar cane, ginger and corn as an alternative to rice. The Iban have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung esembles- percussion ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drone without any accompanying melodic instrument. The typical Iban agung ensemble will include a set of engkerumungs, a tawak , a bendai and also a set of ketebung. Iban as well as the Kayan also played an instrument resembling the lute called 'Sapek'. The Sapek is the official musical intstrument for the Malaysian state of Sarawak. An Iban traditional music is called the taboh.

Another culture which I found interesting was the Japanese culture. The Japanese speak Japanese and it is also their national language. The Japanese language has always played a significant role in Japanese culture. Spoken mainly in Japan but also in some Japanese emigrant communities around the world. Japanese is written with a combination of three different types of scripts: Chinese characters Kanji, and two syllabic scripts, Hiragana and Katakana. Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time: the brush is a traditional writing tool, and the extension of that to its use as an artist's tool was probably natural. The flowing, brush-drawn Japanese language lends itself to complicated calligraphy. Ukiyo-e ( "pictures of the floating world", Ukiyo-e) is a genre of wood block prints that exemplifies the characteristics of pre-Meiji Japanese art. The widespread popularity of ukiyo-e prints lead to their recognition as a very Japanese artform, which in turn has led to significant modern mimicry of ukiyo-e stylings in advertisements, posters, and other art including manga. Another famous Japanese art is the “Ikebana” is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It has gained widespread international fame for its focus on harmony, color use, rhythm, and elegantly simple design. It is an art centered greatly on expressing the seasons, and is meant to act as a symbol to something greater than the flower itself. Many Japanese women entering into a third party marriage learn Ikebana to be a more appealing and well-rounded lady. Ikebana is widely practiced in Japan today, as well as around the world. The Japanese word kimono means "something one wears" and they are the traditional garments of Japan. Originally, the word kimono was used for all types of clothing, but eventually, it came to refer specifically to the full-length garment or "long-wear", that is still worn today on special occasions by women, men, and children. It is often known as wakufu which means "Japanese clothes". Kimono come in a variety of colors, styles, and sizes. Men mainly wear darker or more muted colors, while women tend to wear brighter colors and pastels, and often with complicated abstract or floral patterns. The summer kimono which are lighter are called yukata. Through a long culinary past, the Japanese have developed a sophisticated and refined cuisine highly sensitive to the change of seasons. Modern Japanese enjoy a variety of traditional Japanese food, including the staples of rice and miso soup, as well as many seafood dishes like sushi and sashimi.

To summarize, the different aspects of culture makes the world a more wonderful and interesting place to live in. Just like the Malaysian snack “rojak”, the more variety of things you put in, the tastier it becomes!

"I Have A Dream" (Malaysian version of Martin Luther King's famous speech

More than 50 years ago, our country was once colonised under cruel tryanny of the British invaders. Our ancestors were exiled in their own country and there was not a single drop of justice anywhere. Our children deprived of their rights for education while the whites devoured our nation's riches and left us in the darkest shadows of poverty.

But our ancestors refused to be enslaved in their own land. More than 50 years ago, people like Mat Kilau, Dato Maharajalela, Dol Said and Tok Janggut shedded their blood to fight against the invaders. It took many years of sweat and blood before, finally, 50 years ago, came a man who united all the people of our country regardless of their skin colour, language and beliefs.

50 years ago, the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, the Ibans, the Kadazans, ecetera, ecetera and ecetera came together to fight for independence, for freedom from the slavery of their own land.

50 years ago, on the 31st of August, 1957, the man who united our people, Tunku Abdul Rahman, shouted the words that will go down in history and remembered by many generations, Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Thank God we are free! We are free at last!

Fast foward 50 years later, as our country is going to achieve our 5oth year of independence, I have a dream that that our country will continue to prosper and remain strong as it always has been if not stronger!
I have a dream that the unity of our people will become an example to the world community so that they will learn to live in peace with each other.
I have a dream that one day my children, their children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy the freedom and peace I enjoyed today, that they will be able discover themselves and their potentials and find happiness in this free country.
As for myself, I have a dream that I will be able to give something back to my country which has brought many happiness to me.

May Malaysia continue to prosper!
May Malaysia's name be shouted and known at every mountain tops in the world!
May Malaysia grow stronger and achieve Vision 2020!
May Malaysia remain peaceful and the people in unity!
May the forefathers of our nation be proud of what this nation has achieve 50 years now and 50 years in the future!

4. Work, Attitudes and Beliefs, and Social Changes : Clothes and Feminism

“Aaargh….Writer’s BLOCK!”. : (
……..
(after 30 minutes...)

The world changed a lot over the past 50 years. Since the advent of information technology boom, from the telephone to the internet, different ideologies, attitudes and beliefs has spread rapidly and clashed between the East and the West. As time moves on, people begin to learn to compromise on their differences and assimilate. Therefore, it is not surprising that it will have a tremendous impact in our social lives, attitude and beliefs.

One of the most noticeable changes is the clothes teenagers wear nowadays especially Asian girls. In the olden days, girls would dress themselves thoroughly with long dresses, baju kurung, cheongsam, sari or other traditional clothing. Now, such clothing is considered not fashionable and most girls would prefer a miniskirt paired with a short t-shirt without sleeves or tight shorts and cleavage shirts to reveal as much as possible. Teenage girls are easily influenced by the clothes that their pop idols, models and celebrities wear because they think it makes them prettier and more appealing to the opposite sex. Just browse through MySpace or YouTube and you will find the sites are littered with pictures of young girls gangly frame dressed in bra-tops, miniskirt or just their undergarments in tempting positions. One of the main reasons they do so is to attract attention and feel sexy. On the other hand, boys want to look macho in front of the fairer sex, so they to also follow the latest trends like skin head and punk. Most teenager boys have the wrong perception that girls only date bad boys, so they resort to bullying, fighting their teachers and even extorting money from others to get attention and look cool.

Another wave of change is the role of women in society. In the past, the fairer sex is always expected to do the housework and taking care of the baby while the husband is the breadwinner. Women are not given rights to study, work or vote in the predominantly male society. Decades after fighting for equal rights between men and women, women are no longer looked down upon and have equal rights to education, employment and politics. Nowadays, it is a norm that the husband and wife both work to earn money for the family. Recent studies has shown that there are more females graduates than male graduates even in top universities and women now hold important roles which were once dominated by men. However, feminist still argue that more has to be done before women can have equal rights like their male counterparts especially at work. Issues such as discrimination, equal pay, equal promotion, maternal leave, sexual harassment and rape have still yet to be solved but progress is being made. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that women now more respected by men and have a more important role to play unlike the early nineteenth century.

In a broader perceptive, globalization has brought other social changes that not only may or may not conflict with the eastern values of the people in Asia but between the Western people themselves. Western society changing values on trends such as the birth control pill, voting rights for non-land holders, and the ups and downs of acceptance of homosexuality are also examples of social change. Although social changes cannot be hindered, people should learn to accept the changes but stay true to their own beliefs and be proud of their heritage.

3. Economy and Natural Resources

Mother Nature has provided humans with bountiful resources to thrive on. However, in several years time, scientist and geologist have predicted that humans may run out off critical non-renewable resources especially fossil fuel such as coal, oil and gas. To make matters worse, renewable resources such as the forest his also diminishing because they are over-harvested or consumed at a rate higher then they can replenish themselves and the standing stock eventually run out. Undeniably, the environment can fufill humans' needs but not humans' greed.

Since the advent of the industrial revolution, the worldwide energy consumption has been growing steadily and is not showing any signs of decreasing. Realising that natural resources may be depleted in the nearby future and since it is not possible to reduce energy consumption as the world population gets bigger, many developed countries have sought to find alternatives to unrenewable natural resources. By using technology and innovation, people have manage to harness the power of the sun, wind, wave, earth(geothermal) and even from biological waste( biomass). Solar power is getting very popular especially among countries in the tropics where the weather is mostly sunny all the time. Ironically, global warming is another reason why solar power is the most popular alternative for fossil fuels apart from nuclear. Portugal, one of the sunniest place in the world has built the world's largest solar powerplant capable of powering 8000 homes! However, Japan and Germany is the are the largest consumer of solar energy while Denmark the wind energy. Brazil, interestingly, invest in ethanol production from sugarcanes as a new energy resource while Mexico is trying to extract ethanol from corn.

In recent years, the depletion of natural resources is due to poor planning and management of the natural resources especially among the underdeveloped and fast-developing countries. A nation's amount of resources will usually determine the nation's wealth and status in the world economy system and indirectly its political influence. For example, Brunei is a country where its citizens enjoy a high income and quality life because of its oil and gas industry. However, anomalously, some countries rich with natural resources are poorer than countries which have few natural resources. Sudan and Iraq are both oil producers but their people still suffer from egregious poverty, disease, high rate of unemployment, poor education and health system. Sadly, the Sudan government failed to manage its resources efficiently and much of their wealth from the oil is not distributed evenly among its people. Most of the money goes to the oil tycoons who are mostly foreigners and foreign oil companies while the remaining money is wasted by the government to build white elephants instead of improving the critical areas such as the education system. This paradox or resource curse mainly due to volatility of revenues from the natural resource sector, and government mismanagement, or political corruption, provoked by the inflows of easy windfalls from the resource sector. In contrast, countries which may have almost no resources can have a well-developed economy such as Singapore is listed the top 18 riches countries in the world with a foreign reserve of 212 billion. Singapore has well-diversified industries including refining, processing and manufacturing industries, in addition to its function as a trade entreport and the revenue from tourism. Therefore, it is not how much resource but how to manage them to achieve a sustainable economy and environment.

As a final note, developed and industrialised nations have an indispensable role to play in assisting the poor developed countries to manage their resources and not drain them of their wealth by economic pressures. The leading nations should be proactive in attempting a sustainable development by balancing economic needs with the protection of the environment and safeguarding the natural resources so that they would not only be able to fulfill the needs of the present now but also in the indefinite future.

2. The Way People Live Together

" All for one and one for all!"

Today's world population is made up of a mixture of different kinds of people of various races, religions and customs. Not only the human race is separated by "dissimiliar" skin colour or the language they speak but also shunned by others because of social stigmas, their disabilites and financial gap between rich and the poor.

From ancient history, Greek people of different cities fought each other to gain fame and fortune to the latest international disputes between the Palestine people and the Israelites and the social discrepancies in Iraq between the Shiite and Sunni tribes after the US occupation, people just can seem to live in peace with each other. It seems unavoidable as long as people exist, there will always be war, pain and destruction as proven during World War I and World War II. However, more and more people are beginning to realise from their mistakes in the past and are trying their best to remedy the situation. After World War II, the United Nations was formed to establish and promote peace among the 193 nations in the world. Since it was founded in 1945, the United Nations has successfully solve numerous social discrepancies for people of different nations to live together harmoniously including the abolishment of aparteid in South Africa. Many nations from the West and East are willing to sit side by side on the conference table to set aside their differences and work on a road map to achieve peace in the Middle East instead on the war field.

History also has shown that although people tend to shun others who are different from them, they are still those who are willing to sacrifice everything to achieve social equality and peace among all races regardless of their social background. People like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. are great examples of such people. Martin Luther King, Jr. is regarded as one of America's greatest orators who fought and promoted equal rights and equal treatments for different races in a peaceful manner. King's most influential and well-known public address was the "I Have A Dream" speech which was delivered from the steps of Lincoln Memorial at Washington D.C. Unfortunately, all three of them were assasinated by fanatics who where either racist or radical. Their deaths only spur more people to join their cause and were important in making the world we live today.

Malaysia, for instance, is the perfect example, to show that it is not only possible but a reality that people of different skin colour, language groups, culture and beliefs can live together peacefully. Although Malaysia has yet to achieve racial integration as visioned by its government, Malaysians has the very least proven that through understanding and toleration, a strong multiracial country can exist and strive in this world of hate and racism. In Malaysia, the people not only know each other customs well but also visit and mingle with each other during the major festivals such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Gawai and Pesta Menuai. Such occasions are the time to celebrate and strenghten ties betweem the diverse ethnics in Malaysia. Everyone in Malaysia is bound to have friends from different races and do not be surprise if their best friends are from a different race!

There is still a lot to achieve before people can really live together without discrimination of any kind. In a nutshell, it is very hard to winkle out discrimination. Even if people are willing to compromise and consent living with other races, it is not anomalous there will still be people who will be shunned not because of race or religion but because they are just different or special like ex-criminals, drug addicts, mental patients, AIDS carrier and even poor people. Society tend to think such people are useless to them and are abetted by the their narrow mindness. Consequently, the drug addicts and criminals then return to their previous ways, the poor get poorer since nobody wants them and the vicious cylcle continues. Nevertheless, there are positive signs that people are changing and through campaigns and the media, the community is more aware of their plight and is willing to give them a second chance to live together again with the rest of the society, as it is human to err.

Although it seems impossible, but if everyone is to accept a paradigm shift that people can live together and lend a hand to fight racism and abhor discrimination of any sort, then a world where people can live together in harmony like in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech which he said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character " may actually come true.