Girls make pact to slash themselves

What has become of our society? Why are these girls using such methods to 'solve' their emotional problem?

One possible reason is that Singapore’s younger generation is under the influence westernised thinking. With Singaporeans becoming increasing open-minded, more teenagers come to the conclusion that it is okay to slash themselves since the mass media are showing it.

Also, it might be due to peer pressure. Seemingly, it appears to be ‘cool’ and ‘in’ to be part of the wrist-slashing gang. As a result, more girls under the influence come together and form wrist-slashing gangs.

Well, regarding this social issue, I would say that it is now becoming more rampant - more girls are turning to slashing themselves in order to 'solve' their problems and to feel better. I used have schoolmates who actually slash their wrist. They all have something in common - they either have a troubled family background/relationship problem or are just too stressed up in their studies. Teachers and parents of teenaged girls should pay more attention to signs of possible depression and lead this group of troubled students to seek help from the student counsellors, and before you know it, most of these girls will be on the road of recovery!

Industrialisation

• Industrialisation is a process of social and economic change whereby a human society is transformed from a pre-industrial (an economy where the amount of capital accumulated per capita is low) to an industrial state (see Pre-industrial society).
• It is a part of wider modernization process.
• This social and economic change is closely intertwined with technological innovation, particularly the development of large-scale energy production and metallurgy.
• Industrialisation is also related to some form of philosophical change, or to a different attitude in the perception of nature.
• Industrialization has spawned its own health problems. Modern stressors include noise, air, water pollution, poor nutrition, dangerous machinery, impersonal work, isolation, poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse. Health problems in industrial nations are as much caused by economic, social, political, and cultural factors as by pathogens. Industrialization has become a major medical issue world wide.
• Most pre-industrial economies had standards of living not much above subsistence, meaning that the majority of the population were focused on producing their means of survival. For example, in medieval Europe, 80% of the labor force was employed in subsistence agriculture. The countries in green are considered to be the current industrializing nations (see: Newly industrializing countries). China and India (in dark green) are special cases.

Capitalism

• Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately owned and operated for profit, and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free market. It is usually considered to involve the right of individuals and groups of individuals acting as "legal persons" or corporations to trade capital goods, labour, land and money.
  
• Theories of capitalism first developed in the context of the Industrial Revolution, and, following Karl Marx, were generally used to criticize the concept.
  
• During the Cold War, theories of capitalism continued to be developed and elaborated in order to explain, justify, or criticize the private ownership of capital; to explain the operation of capitalistic markets; and to guide the application or elimination of government regulation of property and markets.
  
• Capitalist economic practices became institutionalised in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries, although some features of capitalist organization existed in the ancient world.
• Capitalism gradually spread from Europe, particularly from Britain, across political and cultural frontiers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, capitalism provided the main, but not exclusive, means of industrialization throughout much of the world.

Views on recent ministers' pay hike

I stumbled upon an article on the cover page of ST on the Wednesday issue. That article has caught my attention - "Govt defends ministers' pay formula". Misgivings over the robustness of the private-sector benchmark for ministers' pay have festered and the government hereby are trying to dispel them. Mr Teo Chee Hean respond to the charge was "We're are not benchmarking against specific individuals. What we're benchmarking against is the typical salary that persons holding these type of jobs and holding these types of responsibilities do earn." Well, personally I do agree for the pay rise in the minister's pay. Since they are the bunch of people that are holding the huge responsibilities taking care of the well-brings of Singaporeans as well as ensuring that the country do not lose out in the global shift market.

However, taking a step back, and looking the pay of neighbouring countries’ ministers, one would realise that their minister are earning a lot lesser than what S’pore ministers are earning. In that the case, where are there so much of a commotion in the political field in our neighbouring countries? Clearly, one would see that neighbouring ministers’ income not do not come from their pay alone. Corruption is rampant. Comparing with corrupt-free Singapore, ministers’ pay now would seen as acceptable.
But is it appropriate to compare ministers’ pay to those of the private sector? Well. Ministers are part on the civil servant, working for the government. Therefore, their pay all comes from the taxpayers money. Therefore, it would be necessary to give the taxpayers a reasonable reason to actually give them the pay rise. Just by comparing it with the private sectors might not convincing. Government has to be more transparent and give her people more information regarding this issue.

Traditional Family?

The Traditional family is no longer necessary for society's effectiveness. Discuss.

Well, based on the given motion, I would like to take the opposition side of view.

Personally, I DO NOT agree that that the traditional family is no longer necessary for society's effectiveness.

So what defines a family? The family is a social institution that unites individuals into cooperative groups that oversee the bearing and raising of children. These social units are, in turn, built on kinship, a social bond, based on blood marriage, or adoption, that joins individuals into families.

While a traditional family is defined as a social institution, that consist of a married couple with children under the age of 18. [Taken from: http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/spmay98d.htm]

In today’s society, the proportion of traditional families has been has been on the decline dramatically in the intervening year and the rate of decline has recently been leveling off, according to Census Bureau officials.

[Married couples with minor children accounted for 35.7 percent of families in 1997 - -down from 50.1 percent in 1967 and 36.3 percent in 1993.

As a proportion of all households, married-couple households with children declined from 40 percent to 26 percent between 1970 and 1990.

The percentage of single-parent families in the U.S. doubled between 1970 and 1990 -- from 6 percent to 12 percent of all families and from 11 percent to 24 percent of all households.

From 1990 to 1997, the percentage of single-parent families edged up by less than 2 points.

The divorce rate per 1,000 people was 4.1 in 1995 -- down from 4.7 in 1990 and 5.0 in 1985.

Source: Joyce Howard Price, "Traditional Family Nowhere Near Extinct," Washington Times, May 28, 1998.]

So based on the statistics, more traditional families are giving way to the ‘modern’ families in today’s society.

In traditional families, where the structure of a family still exist, traditional values of the younger generation will be preserved. Parents will be able to instill these moral values throughtout the childhood of their children. Therefore, without the traditional family, children might not have such good upbringing. In the 'modern' family, where both parents are working full-time, they would probably be spending more time at work then at home. Hence, are less involved in the upbringing of their children. When their children becomes teenagers, there will be miscommunication among parents and children, as children will feel that their parents do not understand them. Crime rate will also increase as children without traditional values might do crimes. Elderly might be abandoned as they will be seen as useless group of people. Government will have to increase number of social workers and spend more in terms of healthcare expenses and elderly home. Statistics shown that children growing up broken families don't socialise well with others and those children will grow up divorcing their spouses too.

Family

Discuss the view that children always suffer when both parents work. (Nov 1988)

Taken from: http://www.pcao.org/whatis/stats.cfm

National
-Since 1990, more than 10,000 American children have died at the hands of their parents or caretakers. Four children die every day in this country from child abuse and neglect.
-In 2000, over 3 million children were reported as abused or neglected in the United States.
Eighty percent of violent juvenile and adult prisoners were raised in violent homes.
-The United States annually spends an estimated $258 million on foster care, incarceration and other societal costs because of the abuse and neglect of children. This amounts to $1,460 per family, per year. Despite these high costs, the federal government invested only $10 in prevention research for every case reported.
-Survivors of abuse are six times more likely to become abusive parents.
-One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before the age 18.
-Abused children are 25 times more likely to repeat a grade.
-Seventy-five percent of high school dropouts have a history of abuse in their families.
-Forty-five percent of abused children become adult alcoholics.

Ohio

-Ohio’s rate of child abuse and neglect ranked ninth in the nation at 17.4 victims per 1,000 children above the national average of 12.3.
-In 2002, there were more than 100,000 reported cases of child abuse and neglect in Ohio and 50,140 of these children were determined to be victims of abuse and neglect (as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
-Over a four-year period, Ohio has seen the number of children abused and neglected double from 24,998 in 1998 to the most recent 50,140 in 2002.
-Based on best available research, as many as 2,006 of the 50,140 Ohio victims of abuse and neglect will grow up to become violent criminals who would never have become so if not for the maltreatment they endured as children.
-Children’s Hospital, of Columbus, Ohio, experienced 137 inpatient admissions associated with Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) from 1998-2003.
-SBS is one of the most violent forms of child abuse and accounts for the majority of severe head injuries in children under one year of age (i.e., is the most common cause of mortality and long-term disability in infants and young children due to physical abuse).