2011 KS Bull Issue 2

Issue two 2011 @XxpokesxX

Raffl es Institution | ksbull issue 2 | 2011 Message from the Principal In past forewords, I talked about writing simply and in grammatically correct sentences. I drew attention to rhetoric and substantiation to ensure that your argument has weight and force; and I emphasised the need to address an audience so that there is a sense of purpose to your writing. As I thought over why I would read one article and not another, the word “insight” came to my mind. In an age where there is an abundance of knowledge and content, what readers want are interesting insights into issues. Insights come about when you have processed information and integrated your own views to derive an analysis of the core of the matter. Recently, we read about the riots in London. Analysts had their views on why the riots happened. BBC referred to the impact of social media and dissatisfaction with inequality within society. I found Prime Minister David Cameron’s insights particularly pertinent. In his speech to the British Parliament, he termed the riots “criminality, pure and simple” and viewed their root cause as “culture” rather than “poverty”. He attributed the riots to signs of a moral decline in British society and a culture that “glorifi es violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities”. Not everyone agreed with him. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, for instance, felt that there was no problem with moral standards in society generally. The riots, he said, were primarily caused by a minority of disaffected and alienated young people who were outside the social mainstream and who constituted “an absolutely speci fi c problem that requires deeply specifi c solutions”. Both men obviously have different world views stemming from their own political leanings. I think the riots refl ect a disintegration of the social fabric arising from a very heterogeneous population and a school system that allowed for too much individual freedom and an ambiguity regarding values. I am speaking, of course, as an educator. What is your own understanding of this, and other issues that you write about? I would encourage you to venture to express your own insights, based on your own reading and analysis of a situation, rather than merely refl ect others’ perspectives. It will defi nitely make for a more interesting read. Lim Lai Cheng (Mrs) Principal @XxpokesxX

Raffl es Institution | ksbull issue 2 | 2011 Message from the Principal General Paper Year 6 Common Test 1 (2011) 2. ‘The government always acts in the interest of the people.’ Discuss. [Yuen Wing Yan/ 11S06S] 5. Is pragmatism an impediment to real progress in Singapore? [Lee Zhuyi/ 11S06K] 7. ‘The arts disturb while the sciences reassure.’ How true is this? [Zhang Junyu/ 11S06L] 3. ‘Terrorism is born out of oppression.’ Do you agree? [Chua Cheng Xun/ 11S03F] 4. Is pragmatism an impediment to real progress in Singapore?