Water is something needed by everyone, we cannot live without it. Without it, life cannot continue without water, but we treat water as a commodity, something we pay for, something we use trade. So why is water being treated this way, it should be as a human right, as a human right would mean having something we need, something we cannot live without, not something we should be paying for, and if we do not have the money, we do not get any. I feel that this is a very wrong way to treat something so important to us humans. And also, by treating water as a commodity, it allows it access to be determined by the market, and the pricing to be changed by those who have it. So, yes there is a large difference to treating water as a human right or commodity, because if it is a human right, then people should get it regardless of where they can pay for it, but if it is like a commodity, then if the person does not have any money, none is given to the person. So we should treat water as a human right, as without it life cannot continue. But we also have to see a point, which is if we do treat it as a human right, and water is provided in limitless amounts to people, then what if many people waste the water? And what if those people feel that since they can have a limitless amount of water without paying, then they will just let the water run, without worrying to pay more. So, we should partially treat it as a human right and a commodity, so as make sure that everyone gets water, yet no one wastes it, but still everyone will get the water they deserve to get.

Term 3 week 1 : should the giving of weekly days off to maids be legislated in Singapore?

In my opinion, no it should not be legislated. Firstly, I feel that the once a month off day for them is really too little, but once a week might be too much for them. Instead, they should change it to a twice a month full day off, and maybe two more half days off, whereby maybe in the morning, after they have finished what is necessary, they have the rest of the day off to do whatever they want to, but the holidays should be decided by the maids themselves, but cannot be taken consecutively over the days. The government, should also maybe make a ruling that if the maid wishes to return to their hometown, they should be given a week or two weeks off to go back to their hometown every year. Also, if the employer has a specific reasons for the maid to come back early, the week or two should be given. Also, I feel that there should be a yearly health check for them, to be paid by the employers. Also, I feel that in making all these rules, I feel that the number of people that the maid is caring for, or the area of the house she is in charge of should be taken into consideration, when maybe giving her the number of days off, thus making it more fair. I believe this rules will make it much more fair to both the employers, and the maids themselves, thus creating better relations. After thinking of all this, I feel that maids are also people and workers, and they should be treated equally and fairly.

Justin Chia said...
I agree with your point about how children are acting like what they see in the cinema, I feel that many youths like us are always being influenced by the media, to do wrong things like how the adults do it. I feel that there should be more censoreship in such movies, so as not to influence youths like us who do not have mature enough thinking.

February 24, 2011 7:54 AM

Justin Chia said...
I agree with your point about how confidence is really important. This is because, without confidence, you will might not have eye contact and might not be able to bring out points the way you wanted to. I also want to add on to your point that if you are reading a text, it will also help if your read about 8-10 words ahead, thus allowing you to maintain good eye contact and at the same time being able to bring out your points in a way that your listeners can understand.

Online lesson on slaves in the US years ago

What I have learnt so far in the recent LA Lessons

1. I have learnt many ways of writing a good story, for how to make a character very vivid not only in looks, but also in the way he acts, moves and his character.

2. I have also learnt how to systemically plot a story, which has its own climax and conclusion.

3. I have also learnt more ways to understand why writers write things in a certain way, using literary methods, and I have learnt how to identify them.

Thoughts about the current LA lessons.

I think the current La lessons are good as the way it is, as it is not rushing to teach us different skills and I am able to catch up with the lessons.

Thoughts about the song "where is the love"

I feel that this song really describes how many of us actually live today, people now always just care about materialistic things, like money, but do not actually show genuine care. There was also a part where the songs states that the many nations always send troops out of the country to fight terrorism, but it later states that there is actually terrorism in their own country. This shows that they do not even care to solve the ongoing problems internally and want to go out of their country to fight. This also shows that they are prejudice because they choose to attack this group of people, when even in their own country there is the problem, and the problem is as important as going overseas to fight, but they still want to place the large focus on overseas operations.
I must admit that even myself would care alot about money. I think there we should care less about money, although it is important, and show some care. Besides, care like this does not always need to use money, thus I think it never actually hurts to maybe help someone in need to the best we can, or maybe if someone bumps into you, we do not necessarily need to shout at the person even though it is not your fault. Although many people may be like this now, I still believe that there is still that sense of humanity in us.

"I want my shoes on

my feet now!" Timmy shouted

"but its just a few feet away!" Wanda, his fairy, said in a nagging tone. Timmy gave a frown and she relented and used her wand to do magic. The shoes then went on timmy's feet and he walked out of the room when his parents shouted for him to eat dinner.
When he reached to the dinner table, they gave him a large bowl of vegetable, it included spinach, carrots, tomatoes, and almost every other vegetable you could think of. Timmy then covered his mouth and his face

turned green. He then made Cosmo,his fairy, eat all the greens, who did it willingly.

"man, I hate vegetables, how good would it be if every meal is junk food. Hey! thats an idea!" He then gave the order that every meal in the town would be junk food, while wanda nagged about consequences that may arise. But he nonchalantly gave the order the second time, and poof! The second bowl of vegetables became sweets, chocolates and potato chips. Ironically, wanda became happy and crazy when she had seen all the chocolate. Cosmo then said that wanda really loves chocolate, but the sugar rush would come. But seeing Timmy and wanda enjoying the food, he also joined it. Just a few minutes later, the whole town was in a sugar rush, everyone was jumping, runing, and everyone finished their day fast.

After awhile it wared off, and everyone was tired. Soon a few days past, and everyone had grown almost 5 times heavier. Timmy had a stomach as big as a crate, and a double chin. Timmy felt sick, and kept vomiting. Soon Timmy could not take it anymore and gave an order to make everything back to the way it was. But his fairies had also become really fat, and they just did not have the energy to find their wand. Timmy then had to do something that he hated alot, he had to eat vegetables. He took a can of it out and ate it. They then found the wand.

Timmy is a lazy boy, who is irresposible, and does many things that are sometimes stupid. He also does not think about the consequences of his actions, but usually only realizes it after it has already happened, but always tries his best to fix the problem. He has two giant front teeth. He usually seems selfish, but he is actually a kind boy, as his thinking is still immature.