ARE ZOOS EVIL? BY THIENH TINH

Midnight, a baby tiger hid in the deep forest to escape from poachers. Its mother lay dead, killed savagely by poachers. Terrified, bewildered, anger and fear showed on his eyes. Fortunately, National Zoo Forces arrived and within 6 months, the lucky tiger was thriving in his new home – the Vietnamese Zoo. Undoubtedly, most zoos have harmful effects on wild animals but life is not always bad. As with this tiger, zoos can bring a lot of good.

Certainly, zoos have their own reasons for keeping animals. The main reason is to protect animals from dwindling and extinction. Since some rare animals have been keenly hunted in recent years, the longer they are kept in zoos, the more they will flourish. Besides, several animals have forgotten either how to survive in wild or how to breed as they have lived in zoos for generations. Especially the panda in China, which through breeding in captivity, have flourished and are no longer an endangered species.

Some also say that zoos are good for education. Modern zoos have put efforts to keep animals living in the best conditions. They even provide animals their natural habitats where animals can happily roam around. Therefore, they do not lose their natural instincts. A clear example for this is the modern Singapore Zoo, which has just won a regional prize. But there are not many such kinds of zoos. In many countries, even in Singapore Zoo, people still treat animals in cruel ways. They consider animals as one of their profit making tools through various shows, acts or performances. Audiences relax themselves through watching these poor animals doing tricks like in circuses. What a shame! Such behaviors are inhuman and make the animal suffer cruelty and illness.

In my opinion, zoos look like a kind of terrible prison. There, animals are kept in small cages which are very uncomfortable. Hence, gradually, they lose their sharp natural instincts. As you know, many zoos are founded with small budget so the condition is very bad. The floor is always dirty while the cages seem ready to collapse. Therefore, animals that live in these zoos suffer from many different kinds of disease and die earlier than others in the wild.

In conclusion, animals urgently need to be protected. There is no point just debating but not taking action. So, for the sake of all living animals in the world, from now on, we should build more quality open zoos and enforce more heavy fines for making animals perform. Because through saving animals, we are saving our planet.

Hosting the Olympics brings disadvantages by Jetanat

The cheers of the audience echoed in the stadium. Soaked with sweat, the competitors tried to perform their best to bring pride and fame back to their countries. The recent Olympics has been an issue of many conversations for a long time after the event. Undoubtedly, the Youth Olympics makes the host country famous and well-known, but there is a question of whether it is beneficial for Singapore to host the event.

After hosting the Youth Olympics, Singapore will have good reputation since millions of people around the world will watch it and know more about Singapore. Consequently, Singapore will become well-known and attractive, and thus become a tourist destination. Together with international investment and advertisement sponsorship, it will lead to the rise in economy. For instance, China, after hosting the Olympics, quickly developed and become prosperous and wealthy. Nonetheless, there are still many concerns. As usual, an immense event like the Olympics will lead to national betting. Moreover, in order to win the gamble, it may lead to doping, match fixing, and even hurting the opponents. As a result, there will be a great loss in reputation, and even players might be affected. Comparing with what will be gained, the loss will be baneful.

As happened in many host countries, there will be rivalry among radio and TV stations in order to broadcast the event. Furthermore, the stations which are not offered with the rights to broadcast will be dissatisfied and, accordingly, Singapore may lose a large number of advertisement sponsors. Besides, since the competitors are young, they can easily be displeased, leading to the fight among them, or even among the audience. In the worst case, it will cause a national conflict like, for example, between Taiwan and China.

All in all, the Youth Olympics may be beneficial, but there are many serious consequences which need to be addressed. Singapore should have better security during such international events such as surveillance tvs and guards. 

An act of kindness by Jacinth Tan

Last Friday was a hot and humid day. The sun’s rays shone down on me brightly as I skipped happily to school. I was looking forward to the weekend for I would be going to a sleepover for the first time at my friend, Hui Ming’s house. As I was strolling, I heard a moaning sound. Following it, I entered an alley. Over there, I glimpsed a boy crouching near a ditch.

Curious, I went to find out what he was doing. As I inched closer, I noticed that his leg was stuck in the ditch. When his eye caught sight of me, he pleaded out for help. I dashed over and saw that his leg was stuck quite deep. Curious, I blurted, “How did your leg get stuck in the ditch anyway?” He explained that he was walking by the kerb when he slipped and his leg got stuck. While trying to get his leg out of the ditch, we chatted and soon became friends. Finally, after trying for half an hour, his leg emerged. Trying to walk, he ended up staggering instead. So I took off his shoe and saw that he had sprained his ankle.

Helping him up, I asked where he lived. With me supporting him, he told me where he lived and I helped him home. As I knocked on the door, an anxious mother hurried out and cried, “Jerry what happened to your leg?!” Helping him in, I explained what had happened to his mother. Jerry and his mother thanked me profusely. Happy that I had helped someone and made a new friend, I continued my journey to school. Yet I doubted that I would see Jerry again for I was sure he would soon forget me. When I arrived in school, I got reprimanded for being late and had to stay behind for detention.
After a long school day, Hui Ming took me to her house to prepare for the sleepover. As I was trotting along, I sensed familiar directions to her house. To my surprise, when she opened the door, I saw Jerry sitting on the sofa massaging his foot. Her brother! “What a coincidence!” I gasped.

When Jerry saw me he blushed, “Hey you’re the girl who helped me this morning!” Hui Ming looked at us with confused looks. Laughing, we explained to her what had happened. After that, we had lots of fun together during the sleepover. Later, we played games and scared one another with spooky stories. Soon, the three of us became the best of friends. After the sleepover, I skipped happily back home. I was glad I decided to help someone in need that Friday.

Write a story about how your efforts to help turned out unexpected results. By YaoCong

 Whenever I walk past Tengah Avenue, a quiet street near my house, I will remember the fateful day that I had been scammed by a bunch of my schoolmates. I can still remember that time when my eyes glinted with resentment as hot tears rolled down my cheeks.

In the family, I was an obedient and helpful boy. Furthermore, I was the apple of my mother’s eye and the pride of my family. It was because  I had done well in the school preliminary examinations and was well prepared for the upcoming O level examinations. As usual, my mother was proud of me and I never failed to make her smile.

Time flew fast - in two weeks time it would be the start of the O level examinations. Due to the upcoming examinations, I had decided to stay behind in school to revise. As I was engrossed in my revision, time flew past. Suddenly, I realized that it was already 6.20pm. Then I recalled the school gate closed at 6.30pm. Without hesitation, I quickly packed my stuff and darted for the school gate. Fortunately, I managed to get out in a nick of time.

As it was already so late, I had decided to take a shortcut home. However, I had heard rumors of people hearing strange noises in Tengah Avenue. While walking pass the eerie void deck with the flickering lights, my mind raced with wild thoughts. Out of the silence, I heard a frantic scream. My heart skipped a beat as I crept silently towards the sound. To my surprise, I saw a bunch of my school mates bullying a lower secondary student.

“You better return us the money or else …,” he threatened in a cold hard voice.

As a helpful boy, I shouted, “How much does he owe you, I will pay his debt.”

“$50 ! Hurry up or we’ll beat him till he bleeds,” the pig faced bully snorted. I darted to the nearest bank machine and withdrew $50 for him. The small boy squealed with delight and thanked me profusely. I flashed a grin and skipped home joyfully.

Soon, it was 10pm. As usual I came out of my room and watched the daily news. To my surprise, it was a report about a bunch of teenagers wearing school uniforms scamming money from people. When I saw the news, I buried my face in my hands and sighed.

 After much thought about the incident, I felt that I was too gullible and kind. However, I knew that there were people who required my help. Therefore, I hoped that I would never be scammed again.

DOES HARSH DISCIPLINE WORK? BY PISEK

With a vigorous throw of the arm, the stiff cane swiftly slashed the silent air. As the rattan touched the skin, crushing pain rushed through the boy’s body followed by an agonizing scream. The cane rose again and repeated itself, with each hit scarring the bare skin with blood. Such example of corporal punishment leads us to question whether it is appropriate to implement harsh retribution on students.

Many argue that enforcing harsh punishments help promote discipline. Accordingly, retribution in schools make students fear the consequences of their actions, thus, leading to them to be disciplined. In addition, these benefits are not only present in schools but also when students interact with other societies there will still exist the value of discipline, hence, promoting their virtuous conduct. For instance, a well-known school in Thailand “Yo-Tin” enforces such regulations and naturally students from the school excel in competition with others due to their self-discipline. Therefore, it proves that retribution is an effective way of building a firm foundation in discipline.

Another benefit of discipline is that it prepares the student for the real world. As we know, the world is a terrifying place where mistakes are rarely allowed and the penalties exceed even the worst punishment in schools. Therefore, retribution helps build a sense of responsibility and awareness in the students. Hence, bracing them to face life outside the school gates. However, this action can also produce contrary results. Through the act of retribution, students are harmed both physically and mentally.  Caning or Lashing which are found commonly in schools can inflict severe damages to the students’ body to the extent of mental trauma. Indeed, mental images of cruel punishments can result in poorer performances due to the disturbance of the students’ mind. As an illustration, it was reporter that after several caning punishments, 16-year-old Nuttawut Sakdamin, was thrown into a state of shock due to severe injuries covering is body. Certainly, these cruel act enforced on students should be carefully considered.

In conclusion, harsh punishments contribute much benefit to students. On the other hand, it also rings problems that must be addressed. Schools should not enforce punishments that will injure students in any way. Instead, schools should asses individually the discipline issues of students and attempt to rehabilitate them. 

Designer Babies by Mrs Teoh

Designer Babies by Mrs Teoh 

In the UK in 2008, a family who had seen generations of their women die of breast cancer was given the chance to change all that with a designer baby. Several embryos from the couple were genetically tested and the ones without the breast cancer gene were kept refrigerated for incubation whenever a new family member was desired. Their first designer baby was born in December 2008. 

In my opinion science has advanced so much that we are now able to determine the future of our children to give them a brighter future. Without the once inheritable diseases like Muscular Dystrophy – which Stephen Hawking suffered from - mankind can then live in an age of better health. This benefit will reduce tremendous health costs and allow the money saved to be channelled to other needs. Without debilitating diseases, there will be less suffering within families. Children who have been set free from the legacy of a fatal illness will be able to live a full life and contribute significantly to society. All in all, society benefits from such an advancement.