2017 KS Bull Issue 2a

KS Bull 2017 Issue 2a The views expressed in each essay are purely for the ac ademic purposes of crafting a viable argumentative response. They do not necessarily re flect the personal opinions of any st udent or staff member, nor do they necessarily represent the perspective(s) of Raffles Institution. No portion of this collection may be reproduced or shared for any reason and by any means whatsoever. KiasuExamPaper.com

KS Bull 2017 | Issue 2a (Year 6)© Raffles Institution Unauthorised copying, sharing & distribution prohibited 2 CONTENTS 2017 Year 6 GP CT2 1 In times of economic hardship, is it acceptable for a government to spend on weapons and its armed forces? Jiang Zixing | 17S06A 4 2 Do you agree that fashion serves no real value? Leia Teo Wen Hui | 17S03N 8 3 To what extent can we rely on the media to be truthful in today’s world? Chloe Chia | 17S03N 12 4 “Urban living and nature cannot co-exist in modern cities today.” Do you agree? Chiow Hui Min | 17S03N 15 5 “Urban living and nature cannot co-exist in modern cities today.” Do you agree? Lee Jia Ming | 17S06E 21 6 ‘At a time when the world needs capable leadership, many politicians do not seem up to be up to the job.’ Do you agree? 25 Marcus Choo | 17S06K 7 ‘The idea that science and technology will solve our problems is a delusion.’ Discuss. 25 Cerise Lim Yin Xin | 17S03L 8 ‘The idea that science and technology will solve our problems is a delusion.’ Discuss. Clara Keng Hui Lin | 17S06E 33 9 ‘The fact that poverty still exists today is an embarrassment to mankind.’ Discuss. Clara-Ann Cheng Ling | 17S06E 36 10 ‘The fact that poverty still exists today is an embarrassment to mankind.’ Discuss. Tan Li Kang | 17S03N 39 KiasuExamPaper.com COCOCOOCOCCCCOONTTTTTTTTTTTENEEEEEEEEEE TSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTS 2020201117 YeYeYeararar 666 GGGPPP CTCTCT2 1 In timeesee of economic hardshi

KS Bull 2017 | Issue 2a (Year 6)© Raffles Institution Unauthorised copying, sharing & distribution prohibited 3 11 ‘The fact that poverty still exists today is an embarrassment to mankind.’ Discuss. Zhang Zhi | 17S06E 43 12 Paper 2 – Passage 48 13 Paper 2 – AQ Response Leia Teo Wen Hui | 17S03N 49 14 Paper 2 – AQ Response Xu Yukun | 17S06D 51 15 Paper 2 – AQ Response Gwen Tan Jing Yi | 17S06M 53 2017 Year 6 KI CT1 16 Critically assess the view that History is a set of lies agreed upon. Tan Xin Hwee | 17A13A 60 17 Critically assess the view that History is a set of lies agreed upon. Yeo Jun Wei | 17S03B 63 2017 Year 6 KI CT2 18 How much evidence do we need to justify our knowledge claims? Khin Yadanar Oo | 17A13A 63 19 ‘The researcher’s opinions and beliefs always interfere with hi s research.’ Discuss with reference to knowledge construction in History and the social sciences. 67 Khin Yadanar Oo | 17A13A 20 ‘The right to punish someone is contingent on the knowledge of what is right and wrong.” Discuss with reference to the nature and construction of ethical knowledge. 71 Yeo Jun Wei | 17S03B Editorial Team 75 KiasuExamPaper.com 11111 ‘T‘T‘T‘T‘‘T‘T‘T‘TTTThehehehehehhehehehee ffffffffffffacacaacaacacacaaaca tt ttt thhhhhhhaaaataaaaaa ppppppppppppppovovovooovovovoooovoverererreereeeereree tytyttt stitillll exi mamamamamamamamamaamammamaaankkkkkkkkkkkkiiiiniii d.dddd ’’’’’’’’ DDDiDDDDDD scuss.s. ZhZZZZZZZ anananananananananananggggggggggg ZhZhZhZhZhZhZhZhZhZhZhZhiii iiiiiii ||||||||| 11171 S006E6E

KS Bull 2017 | Issue 2a (Year 6)© Raffles Institution Unauthorised copying, sharing & distribution prohibited 4 1 2016 | Y6 | GP CT2 | Paper 1 Jiang Zixing | 17S06A In times of economic hardship, is it acceptable for a government to spend on weapons and its armed forces? “What you cannot defend, you do not own”, said Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore. While it may seem too nihilistic a view, it unfortunately reflects the painful truth of the Machiavellian realpolitik and world order today. This Catch-22 situation is further compounded by economic hardship in a country where states are often caught at the crossroads trying to strike a balance between rescuing themselves from economic hardship spending funds on weaponry and its armed forces, because given the limited funds and resources available, one of the two choices would have to be neglected in favour of the other. However, in the face of economic hardship, it is still acceptable, and in fact necessary, to spend on arms and armed forces in this cut throat volatile world today. This is in order to establish peace and security, only upon which economic hardship can be truly solved. Ultimately, a delicate balance needs to be struck between the two options to achieve long term progress and development. Pacifists would claim that in times of economic hardship, it is unacceptable for governments to spend on arms and armed forces. This is quite a valid and logical stance since it is apparent that the finite resources available should be used to ameliorate economic hardship. After all, it is the government’s fundamental duty to guarantee a quality standard of living for its people. Moreover, in the relatively peaceful world we live in today where conflicts are merely reduced to skirmishes, excessive expenditure on arms seems more irrelevant than ever. The government should therefore channel its funds and resources to invigorate the economy through a slew of financial reforms and market intervention. Ultimately, this would ensure that the state remains accountable to the electorate that had put them into power in the first place. Conversely, spending on arms and the armed forces in the advent of economic hardship would further compound the financial crisis, and several countries bear testimony to such an oversight. The Soviet Union experienced a series of famines and the depreciation of the ruble in the 1970s and 1980s. Then, Soviet citizens languished in the purgatory of economic hardship and struggled to KiasuExamPaper.com 20200161616 ||| YYY 6 6 6 || GPGPGP CCCT2T2T2 | PaPPPaPaPPaPaP pepepepeepeeeer rr rr 1 IIn ttiimes of e

KS Bull 2017 | Issue 2a (Year 6)© Raffles Institution Unauthorised copying, sharing & distribution prohibited 5 obtain basic necessities, even more so when exorbitant price tags were placed on them in the black markets. Despite the glaring problems, the Soviet government continued to fund military programmes that developed the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and nuclear stockpile, and mired itself in the cash-burning arms race, even in space, to combat the US threat in the Cold War climate. Ultimately, it trapped the Soviet government in a vicious cycle of endless expenditure on arms that it could not step down from. As a result, this decision cost millions of lives and led to resistance against the regime which ultimately collapsed in 1991. Today, North Korea treads on the same unfortunate footsteps by pouring funds into nuclear development while its citizens are reduced to eating grass and tree barks. Evidently, economic concerns far outweigh the need to spend on arms and armed forces because it compounds economic woes and blatantly disregards the livelihood of its citizens and even their sanctity of lives. This moral hazard therefore renders expenditure on arms and armed forces unacceptable during economic crisis. However, in the face of Machiavellian realpolitik today, the security of a nation must be guaranteed at all cost because it is the utmost priority to remain capable of defence so as to survive. Hence, economic hardship is merely a small problem that pales in comparison in the grand scheme of things. Ancient historian and war strategist Thucydides presciently warned centuries ago that “the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must”. This quote epitomises the politics of survival in this