Monday, May 31, 2010
Schools stress to pupils: No copying & Tokyo University to crack down on plagiarism in theses
Some people may not know what plagiarism is, not to mention the seriousness of it. The act of copying and paste a sentence or paragraph from a source written by someone is considered plagiarism. Many students do not know about it. This is the reason why they always copy and paste from a source for their project. They do not know that this is a violation of copyrights. There are a few reasons why students perform the act of plagiarism. One of the reasons could be due to laziness. Some students are lazy to rephrase the whole sentence or paragraph with their own words and just copy and paste the whole thing. Another reason is that some students are weak in English and they do not know how to change the sentence of paragraph into their own words. However, all of these are not valid reasons that students can perform the act of plagiarism. If they are weak in English, they can look up words in the dictionary or thesaurus.
There are also people who know what plagiarism is and the seriousness of it but still commit the offence. These kind of people are the ones who should be severely dealt with. Serkan Anilir's act of plagiarism could be due to him wanting to get a high pay job in Tokyo University. However, what he did was wrong. He should work hard to get himself a doctorate so that he can be a professor in Tokyo University. Serkan Anilir should not go about doing it using under hand methods.
Done by: Shirley
Opinions about plagiarism
plagiarism in theses" and "Schools stress to pupils: No copying".
Plagiarism is the act of using and passing off (the ideas or writings of another) as one's own. (Source: thefreedictionary.com)
Shock is expressed when writings thought to be the best in the cohort are found to be plagiarized. Students who do not rely on their abilities to complete their work deserve to be punished. Teachers could inculcate the good habit into young children, primary school being a good starting point. Therefore, policies should be enforced to restrict plagiarism even in primary schools. This is in reference to the article "Schools stress to pupils: No copying".
Plagiarism is similar to the breaching of Intellectual Property (IP), where people own someone else's work illegally. Both crimes belittle the effort the creator has contributed to work, and discourage others contributing too. This is still excluding staff that worked with the creator. An example is an author, staff being editor, publisher and others. In society, many forms of copying occur. Learning institutions have the responsibility of educating their students that copying is morally unacceptable and illegal.
Policies enforced in learning institutions are strict, thus reminding students not to plagiarize. One point though, is whether teachers have taught all the aspects of plagiarism yet. Some learning institutions advise students not to plagiarize, giving plagiarism a generic definition of "copying wholesale". This is not enough, tips could be given to help students avoid plagiarism too. Therefore, learning institutions may consider enhancing their 'holistic' education with more on teaching plagiarism.
Peer checking could detect plagiarism, other than relying on teachers' intuition and detection software. Some classmates know each other well, and their opinions can be used to supplement teachers' intuition.
Although plagiarism is well-justified to be avoided, there can be unavoidable similarities between works. This could be taken into consideration, even in cases where similarities can be detected. Moreover, in a society where teachers teach tens of students, students may pick up some writing traits from teachers. Although each person may think differently, similar teaching materials decrease variability in thinking. This causes content to become increasingly similar. Thus teachers should rely less on detection software, and more on judgment, to avoid detecting "fake plagiarism".
Plagiarism is a serious issue, deserving of being debated in learning institutions. Currently, it is brought up only when students do projects, theses, among others. Students have work hard to minimize plagiarism, for respect of original creators.
Reduction of plagiarism could result in a more vibrant literacy society, with new creative ideas.
[Added on 6 June 3.33pm- done by Kwee Peng]
Saturday, May 29, 2010
2 Article, Schools stress to pupils: No copying; Tokyo University to crack down on plagiarism in theses
Schools stress to pupils: No copying
I agree that students should not copy the whole paragraph from internet or textbook when doing research or projects because this would not help the students to improve on their presentation. Copying the whole paragraph is easy as it does not require the students to think of how to make it their own answers. Therefore, students would not be learning much in the project if copying of whole paragraph is carried out. Students should try to write out their own paragraph and the paragraph must be link to the evidence they found. This can eventually allow the students to score more marks when he uses evidence to support their own paragraph and not copying the whole paragraph as answer and allow them to remember citation.
To me, I think it is good that primary school started teaching students about citation and plagiarism as it would educate them so as when they step into secondary school, they will remember how serious is citation and plagiarism.
From this sentence,
“Unanimously, all institutions said they relied most on teachers' intuition to spot instances of plagiarism and to take action against the student.”
I suggest that institutions should not relied most on teachers’ intuition to spot instances of plagiarism and to take action against the student because that does not really prove plagiarism. Maybe what the students had typed is similar but however, evidence is still needed to mark the student with plagiarism. Therefore using teachers’ intuition is not quite acceptable.
Tokyo University to crack down on plagiarism in theses
To me, I support the choice of that university as they expelled Anilir from the university as the mistake Anilir does is truly unforgivable. Even if Anilir did not plagiarize, she had falsely claimed to have graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology in the United States and Istanbul Technical University in Turkey. This is seriously unforgivable. Therefore, I support that university choice of expelling Anilir.
Common point between this 2 article
Both article talks about plagiarism and both shows that people uses plagiarism to accomplish their mission. I agree that plagiarism is not a good way of doing work as it does not require the students, people to put in much effort in placing own words in their projects or work as all the paragraphs are given in the internet or textbook.
By: Winston
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
How Singapore Can Stay 'Forever Young'
How can Singapore stay 'Forever Young'
Singapore's opeing of casino in integrated resorts helps Singapore to stay 'Forever Young'. The building of casinos in Singapore will attract more tourists to visit Singapore. Companies from other countries might also be interested to invest money in Singapore. This two facts will lead into an increase in profits for Singapore. The increase in profits will boosts economic bloom in Singapore and the standard of living will increase.
Hosting world-class events like the Youth Olympics and F1 will help promote Singapore. As Singapore is a small country, it needs to promote itself by hosting world-class events so the citizens from other countries will know about the existence of Singapore.
Doing away with exams like the O levels and having longer holidays to promote self-learning is not a good option. Exams like the O levels are necessary in today's society as people have to be educated in order to get hold of a job around the world. Without these exams, people will not have qualifications. Therefore, the literacy will decrease drastically. In this case, Singapore will not be able to stay 'Forever Young'.
By Shirley.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression
I do not agree that Self-reflection may lead to creativity.
Creativity is not easy to be captured unless one is born with that talent. If creativity can be nurtured so easily, there would be no “born” creative people in this world as everyone can become creative after going through coursesThis is proven by “The researchers found no direct link between depression and creativity.”
As for depression, I agree that Self-reflection may lead to depression.
Self-reflection after solving some issues or self-reflection when a problem occurs is good but those people that think too much during self-reflection would generally lead to depression. As people think too much, they will assume a number of things. As time goes on, their assumption would deepen and it might lead to wrong thinking of things.
Therefore, I suggest those people that are doing too much of self-reflection to consult psychiatrist before the matter get too serious.
By: Winston
Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression
I do not agree that Self-reflection may lead to creativity.
Creativity is not easy to be captured unless one is born with that talent. If creativity can be nurtured so easily, there would be no “born” creative people in this world as everyone can become creative after going through coursesThis is proven by “The researchers found no direct link between depression and creativity.”
As for depression, I agree that Self-reflection may lead to depression.
Self-reflection after solving some issues or self-reflection when a problem occurs is good but those people that think too much during self-reflection would generally lead to depression. As people think too much, they will assume a number of things. As time goes on, their assumption would deepen and it might lead to wrong thinking of things.
Therefore, I suggest those people that are doing too much of self-reflection to consult psychiatrist before the matter get too serious.
By: Winston
Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression
I do not agree that Self-reflection may lead to creativity.
Creativity is not easy to be captured unless one is born with that talent. If creativity can be nurtured so easily, there would be no “born” creative people in this world as everyone can become creative after going through courses
This is proven by “The researchers found no direct link between depression and creativity”
As for depression, I agree that Self-reflection may lead to depression.
Self-reflection after solving some issues or self-reflection when a problem occurs is good but those people that think too much during self-reflection would generally lead to depression. As people think too much, they will assume a number of things. As time goes on, their assumption would deepen and it might lead to wrong thinking of things.
Therefore, I suggest those people that are doing too much of self-reflection to consult psychiatrist before the matter get too serious.
By: Winston
Having good leadership is always important for a country like Singapore. Singapore has always been successful in electing good and potential leaders and till today Singapore has been very competitive due to the good leadership practised in this country. Voting strategies practised in Singapore have proven to be very effective. Through this process of voting, capable leaders are always selected during each election. Thus i believe that if Singapore carries on with this process of electing good leaders, it will forever be able to 'stay young'.
Done by: Palwinder Singh Johal
Sunday, May 23, 2010
How S'pore can stay 'Forever Young' opinions
First, a strong culture of education and learning.
A lot of effort has been put in improving and sustaining the high standards of education in Singapore. Continuing education has been put in place too, apart from school education.
Implemented policies so far are excellent, but focus on the general well-being of staff and students of learning institutions may be compromised.
An attitude to learn and teach has to be supported with favorable circumstances such as adequate rest. Huge amounts of workload and examinations in secondary schools and higher level institutions mean that both teachers and students may feel mentally strained in their duties to teach and learn , respectively. As such, the quality of education may be higher but the mental breakdown and dropout rate rises too. Better balancing of school workload is needed to achieve a more sustainable education system.
Moreover, the education system could be enhanced with a more flexible curriculum, one that shares frequent relevance with daily life and practical situations. Singapore has been frequently accused of embracing rote learning(memorization by repetition).
Instead of teaching students straight from the textbook, teachers could offer scenarios to let students use their knowledge on (eg. The correct and polite way to ask for directions in a foreign country).
Second, a culture of seeking knowledge, innovation and ideas.
In addition to innovation and knowledge creation, observation, querying of pundits from specialized professions and risk-taking is also needed to stay young, as those are characteristics of a young person.
Observation means globally taking currently active and past case studies to examine, finding relationships and disparities, applying in the context of Singapore, and store the information for future research.
Querying of pundits from specialized professions is essential to build critical infrastructure and other industries as no nation has the most brilliant ideas for every aspect of society.
Furthermore, just plain querying may not be efficient enough, it is best that there is a committee to discuss the most critical policies to implement.
Risk-taking is a very important part of 'being young'. Singapore is well-known for being pragmatic, but aside from taking the most obvious routes to take, like creating a Research and Development (R&D) hub, Singapore could do something unprecedented to increase its prominence in the R&D industry. An example would be implementing R&D as projects in learning institutions, for their own usage.
Three, for Singapore to be a vibrant global city - a city where people want to live, work and play - it also has to be an environmentally sustainable city.
Crowding and environmental problems are indeed potentially harmful for Singapore's city development plans. A recent article Is Singapore the worst environmental offender?' on Asiaone.com explains the environmental harms that urban development has brought Singapore.
Places to improve on would be more friendly bonding activities for city people to enjoy, religious gatherings.
One key trait of Singapore being vibrant and young is that Singaporeans have to see themselves as one nation, embrace helpful foreign factors and be more happy. Thus, aside from National Education and persuasion to welcome foreign workers and settlers, rules and regulations could be made more flexible, and quality of helplines and counseling services raised.
Four, a magnet for talent
Talent can be based on various abilities, come in the form of ideas, or inspirational roles. While it's essential to bring in talent that fulfills Singapore's obvious needs of political, business and sports talents, it is important to source for people who can inspire ordinary workers to work harder.
Being 'young' means that discrimination should be removed among foreign entities and the word 'talent' be as diversified as possible. Subsidies and aid should be given to foreigners who have a need, to encourage them to work strive for Singapore's future together.
Five, a strong and forward-looking leadership.
Leadership can be enhanced at lower levels before further developing it on the national level, which has been incorporated into the education system.
What is still lacking is the mild atmosphere of the political scene. Leadership should be reinforced by not only similar and agreeing opinions but opposing ones as well. No leader is perfect, and thus leadership includes embracing various viewpoints from all sectors of the economy.
Finally, the way in which leadership is replaced by another person/ committee should not only be based off the top rung of society, but also be subject to the opinions of the minority and all parts of the society.
Being 'Forever Young' is possible, but much depends on both internal and external circumstances. One wrong step may result in catastrophes, what matters is our response to it.
By Kwee Peng
Friday, May 21, 2010
How S'pore can stay 'Forever Young'
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue Weighting
Statistic shows that Mother Tongue language has remained relatively stable over the past 10 years. In 2009, 98 per cent of the PSLE candidates passed their Mother Tongue language. Out of the 98 per cent, 13 per cent scored A-stars, 69 per cent scored A's, 11 per cent scored B's and 5 per cent scored C's. This result shows that the Mother Tongue weighting is not very high thus, it should not be reduced.
Mother Tongue may be our second language however, it is equally important as English. In today's society, being proficient in English is not enough. you also have to be preficient in your Mother Tongue language. In the business world, being able to communicate in English in not sufficient. You need to use Mother Tongue language to communicate with business partners from Chinese oriented countries like China.
Mother Tongue language is not only needed in the busniess world, but in our daily life. Older generation people like our great grandparents and grandparents whom are mostly Chinese educated, are not able to speak in English. Therefore, we are not able to communicate with them in English. In this case, Mother Tongue is essential for us to communicate with them.
Chinese, Malay and Indian culture have to be preserved for the future generations. Nowadays, Mother Tongue languages are not commonly practiced by the younger generations. If this continues on with the future generations, then in years to come, Chinese, Malay and Indian culture will be loss.
In conclusion, reducing the Mother Tongue weighting will be disadvantageous to the students in the future. If the weighting for the Mother Tongue language is reduced, students will think that Mother Tongue is not important in today's society, which is not the fact. Therefore, they will choose mot to learn Mother Tongue or to further improve on it.
Done by: Shirley
Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue Weighting
Monday, May 17, 2010
Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue Weighting
However the reason behind why many Singaporeans want the Mother Tongue weighting to be reduced is not baseless either. Reducing the subject's weighting would also help to reduce the tension and stress on students. It would give them more time to concentrate on the other subjects.
In conclusion, I personally feel that Mother Tongue has been an important part of the academic scene in Singapore and should carry on to be an important part as the subject holds a lot of importance. In the future, the students may need to communicate with people of their own origins for work or for relations and thus the subject is of great importance.
Done By: Palwinder Singh Johal
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue weighting
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
S'poreans split on Mother Tongue weighting
Firstly, decreasing the Mother Tongue weighting would encourage students floundering in their mother tongue languages to give up studying them. Many students are already taking the easy routes by taking Chinese B etc., and some in universities cannot even speak or write a decent level of Mother Tongue.
Enforcing this change in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is especially detrimental, as higher levels of education would be affected by it too. This is especially true for impressionable children.
Mother Tongue teachers would probably bear the brunt of the change. Students may be less interested to take Chinese at higher levels as weightings drop. Consequently, less Mother Tongue teachers may be needed, leading to less promotion opportunities and job chances for Mother Tongue teachers.
One core Singapore policy is multiculturalism, thus maintaining proficiency in Mother Tongue is crucial. Bilingualism would be affected too, as students can take Mother Tongue more lightly, and this could affect future language policies.
A Pandora's Box could result, affecting other academic subjects, or further degenerates Mother Tongue.
Finally, reducing Mother Tongue weighting would also affect the Chinese language adversely. The Singaporean government has been encouraging Singaporeans to increase their Chinese language proficiency for trading in China, so reducing the Chinese language weighting is detrimental for the society.
However, the opposing viewpoint that the weighting should be reduced could be considered carefully.
Most subjects in schools are taught in English, and Mother Tongue is hardly used in Tertiary Education. Mother Tongue languages require substantial time and effort to acquire a decent level of, as examinations test the knowledge of several facets of the (mostly) secondary languages.
Moreover, many students are floundering in their Mother Tongue languages, whereas they excel in other English-based subjects. Such an effect causes many excellent students to suffer in grades, begetting resentment.
Reviewing both viewpoints, I disagree reducing the Mother Tongue weighting as the harms far outweigh the benefits. Although studying Mother Tongue may be difficult, retaining it in the society is fundamental in our multicultural society. Students should learn to take on obstacles instead of taking the easy way out, like giving up when they cannot score well in Mother Tongue, and weighting encourages them to do so.
By Kwee Peng