To Keep or Not To Keep

One of the sites that were preserved was the former Tanjong Pagar station. I agree with the preservation as when it was active, it provided many passengers a station to board a train to Malaysia if they did not have enough money for a plane ticket, which would hold memories in many people's hearts. Although I myself have not been there, I believe that preserving this place would allow the younger generation to learn about the past as well as it is a place with quite a long history behind it before it was closed down by the government, especially since a lot of young people nowadays are out of touch with Singapore history.

Why Should Singapore Not Be Complacent in Her Achievements?

After reading the five articles, I realised that other countries could overtake Singapore's achievements quite easily. Being a small country, Singapore can be quite easily taken over by major countries like China. If Singapore were to be complacent and think that her achievements are unreplicable, one day another country could overtake us, and we would not know it until it was too late.

Being complacent would also discourage other countries from developing inter-country relationships with us, as it gives them an impression that we were all high and haughty, and nobody were as good as us. This would cause Singapore to not have any country that would be willing to partner with us in terms of trade as well as general relations.

Chingay 2016: Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore.

This year, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Chingay 2016 NE Show with my fellow Year 2s. Although this was not my first time at Chingay(I had also gone to watch Chingay 2015), I think this year was especially meaningful, surrounded with people whom I know. There were a lot of performances during the parade, which were also meaningful to me at the same time.

I think that the purpose of this year's Chingay Parade is very simple: to promote the values and wisdom of the founding fathers of Singapore, like hardwork and harmony between people. This was evident throughout the parade, as people from various countries and races come together to perform different performances, even though not every contingent could make it to the NE Show. For example this contingent by the People's Association Youth Movement:

This displayed the unity of people as everyone came together to 

as well as this combined contingent by the Singapore Pools, Tote Board and Singapore Turf Club:

After doing research about the first Chingay Parade, I found out that the first Parade was simply a celebration for Chinese New Year where firecrackers would be popped so as to compensate for the ban on firecrackers earlier in 1972, as it was customary to have firecrackers during Chinese New Year. It was only given a twist when a multicultural flavour was added into the Parade from 1976. However, today Chingay is a national festival, celebrated by Singaporeans across the island as well as the world.

I think that the purpose of Chingay changed due to the cultural diversity that is prevalent in Singapore. Our population is made up of many different races, and when they also began to join the Parade, it started to stop being just a parade for Chinese New Year and became a festival that every one could enjoy. This is shown by the 

3-2-1 Reflection

3 things I found out

1. The two-child policy in Singapore lasted way shorter than the one-child policy in China, which has only ended in recent years.

2. The one-child and two-child policies in China and Singapore respectively backfired as the two countries' population were beginning to age as there were less and less youths today.

3. The one-child policy was implemented in China in 1979.

2 perceptions I have gained

1. It takes a lot of preparation for a country to implement or remove policies.

2. No policy is perfect; in order for a policy to be implemented, its benefits have to have to great positive impact on the country.

1 question I have

How did the population of China still increase so much(more than a billion people) after the implementation of the policy?

Poverty and Happiness

I think that even though Singapore is a prosperous country, we are not very happy. For example, according to Happy Planet Index, Vietnam is much happier even though its GDP was only $171,222 and Singapore's GDP was 295,744(listed in 2014) by the United Nations, as proven by the HPI. For Vietnam, it is 60.4, however Singapore is much lower, at 39.8. This shows that being rich does not equate to being happy.

Singaporeans also often complain about a lot of things in out lives, when things don't go the way we want them to, showing that Singaporeans are unhappy about a lot of things even though we are lucky to have them at all. In other less prosperous countries, we do not see nearly as much complaining from its people.

However, according to the World Happiest Report, Singapore was ranked 24th among the various countries, which then makes me wonder if Singaporeans have begun to be happier and live a happier life after all, despite having all the stress from school or work. Perhaps then our lives can change for the better.

Extra In The Ordinary

This dustbin may be ordinary, but it is extraordinary in its own way. For example, if we do not have dustbins around the school, we would not be able to readily dispose of our rubbish, and instead have to thrown it at the trash collection point which is very troublesome. We may simply walk by these things every day without taking much note of them, but they may be one of the most important things in out lives. 

Dustbins also help keep our classrooms clean as we will have a place to dump rubbish in, instead of having rubbish plied up in the classrooms and gathered when it is time to throw them at the collection point, allowing for a conducive learning environment.

This made me think about how many times we ignore little things in our lives that are very helpful in their own way. Perhaps we should start looking a little closer at small details and learn to appreciate their presence.

Lin Yan(13)

If I could, I would write this introduction using the Star Wars crawl, but well, this will do.

First, I shall introduce my group mates. They are Wan Ling Yan(19), Yang Mei Xuan(21), Wang Luqiong(20), Zhang Run Run(22) and Tang Shi Yuan(29). We are all very different people, but we have gathered together for this year's CID 2, and we will do our best for this subject.

Me, I am pretty quiet most of the time, not really the one to answer questions in class. However, if I hear people talk about things that interest me, I can chatter away, and sometimes a little too much. For example, if I hear someone talking about The Maze Runner, I would get all jittery and excited because I really love the books as well as the movie adaptations.

Star Wars was a more recent liking, after having watched The Force Awakens some time ago. I got really hooked on the whole idea and began to watch the previous six movies, and out of all seven, I still prefer the originals from 1977-1983. HAN AND LEIA ARE LIFE

I have had the fortune to be in String Ensemble, though the instrument that I play was not what I originally intended(I wanted to play the viola), and I ended up in the double bass section. It's interesting because I am still learning about it, and also because of its unique bass notes range.

I also adore the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and according to the Sorting Hat(it sorts students into different houses within the school)quiz written by her, I am in Hufflepuff. It also happens that Hufflepuff Pride Day is my birthday(March 20), so woohoo! However, I have no intentions to turn 14, but I guess that can't be helped.

Often, I wonder if I could write something that might just make me as famous as Miss Rowling herself. It could happen, maybe in a year, ten years, who knows? I'll have to work extra hard if I want to be like Miss Rowling.