Singapore education system Essay Example for Free

Singapore education system Essay Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would like to know the views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytechnics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications. Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would ask the Prime Minister for his views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytechnics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications. Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would ask the Prime Minister for his views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytechnics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications. Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve  the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would ask the Prime Minister for his views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytech nics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications.

A Presentation Of George Orwell And His Protest Novels :: essays research papers

Eric Arthur Blair was born on June 5, 1903, in Bengal, India. His father was not a wealthy man. He supported his family only on the salary of a civil servant. When his writing career began, his penname became George Orwell. Orwell received his formal education from Eton Academy during a period ranging from 1917 to 1921. After completion of Eton, Orwell did not continue his education; instead he joined forces with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. He served with the police until he began teaching. He was a high-ranking officer during his years on the police force. His life was poverty stricken until the mid-1930’s. He was considered to be a â€Å"combination of middle class intellectual and working class reformer† (Stewart). Orwell chose to live among tramps in England and the working class in Paris. His experience in England and Paris was the basis for his first book Down and Out in Paris in London, first published in 1933. For many years, Orwell worked as a teacher . A Clergyman’s Daughter was based on his experience as a teacher (Borman 5-6). Considered a novelist and a social critic, Orwell’s fame began in 1945 with the publication of his first protest novel, Animal Farm (Stewart).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Animal Farm is just one of Orwell’s protest novels, but disputably the best protest novel of all time. The novel is allegedly based on the Russian Revolution. Animal Farm is an allegory of the political strife in twentieth-century Europe (Brown 72). According to Orwell his inspiration for Animal Farm came from a little boy, perhaps ten years old driving a huge cart-horse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat. (Williams 339) During the Russian Revolution, leaders such as Russia’s Joseph Stalin negotiated with England but made plans secretly with other leaders and nations. In Animal Farm various animals personify or represent political leaders and factions of the Russian Revolution. In the novel Old Major represents Karl Marx, a German economist of the Russian Revolution. Joseph Stalin is portrayed, in the novel, by Napoleon. Stalin was known for negotiating with England but also leading acts of corruption with other countries. In Animal Farm Napoleon negotiates with Mr.

Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea” Essay

Hemingway’s late novel â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† lends itself readily to allegorical and religious interpretation; indeed, myriad critical texts exist wherein   â€Å"solutions† to the novel’s extensive and haunting symbolism crowd the pages until the reader begins to doubt the efficacy of any single interpretation. The complexity of Hemingway’s â€Å"fish† story demands as wide an appraisal as can be summoned by the reader and critic, forfeiting claims to any single or final statement on the novel’s specific religious connotations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Without a doubt, traditional components of Roman Catholicism (as well as ancient pagan religious imagery and themes) form a vibrant part of the novel’s theme. For example, the concepts of sin (and original sin) rise as central to the tension, suspense, and character development of the novel. Santiago, the novel’s protagonist undergoes two seemingly separate battles during the course of the novel: first against a gigantic marlin he hopes to catch while fishing alone, far at sea; the second battle he wages – against sharks who â€Å"steal† his prize – leads to a pyrrhic victory. Along the way, both external events blend with Santiago’s internal monologues, which indicate an inner, spiritual struggle, one which first intimates itself and then clearly reveals itself to be universal, rather than personal, in nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By creating a deeply sympathetic character during the first third of the novel, and extending this reader-identification through the more morally ambiguous and treacherous parts of the story, Hemingway allows for universal reader sympathy. Santiago’s portrayal is one of honor, courage, compassion, and humility. These aspects of his character align him with a state of â€Å"purity† or sinless-ness, as though his world mirrors that of the â€Å"pre-fallen† Eden. After killing the great marlin and then losing this trophy to a feeding frenzy of sharks, Santiago embodies the original sin of all men, women and, in fact, Satan Himself, as described by traditional Catholicism.   The sin, stated simply is: pride. A more complex interpretation: that Santiago by traveling far out to sea beyond where any other fisherman would go and in attempting to catch a bigger fish than any fisher man could catch alone, demonstrates Santiago’s will toward individualism and – so – a will against his hitherto modest station in life.  Ã‚   When the sharks attack, Santiago construes them as a punishment for what he has done, by venturing out â€Å"beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the first night of his fight with the marlin, Santiago starts to feel a sense of guilt for what he is doing. â€Å"I am only better than him through trickery,† he thinks, â€Å"and he meant me no harm.† Previously, Santiago believed that fishing for food was a noble act, at sea, fighting the marlin, he begins to believe differently. His self-directed comment about trickery parallels the idea of the Tree of Knowledge and original sin. Mankind’s pride in intelligence leads to senseless destruction, fueled not by need, but by vanity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Santiago’s plight brings upon intense reader-sympathy and the inner-struggle described through Santiago’s monologues helps introduce and sustain the spiritual catharsis Santiago experiences, also in the reader. One perceives that an act of vanity or pride carries deep repercussions even if it may seem trivial: a fisherman who fishes not for food but for fame  Ã‚   will wound and destroy   beauty.   At the end of the novel all that is left of the great fish is a skeleton washed away in the tide. Santiago’s sin is that he should have loved and not hunted and killed the great marlin, but in falling prey to his vanity he enacted a universal, human urge, which ultimately produced tragedy and then †¦ wisdom, rather than mere â€Å"trickery.†

Gender Roles In The importance of Being Earnest Essay

In The Importance of Being Earnest, the question of each gender’s role in society often centers on power. In the Victorian world men had greater influence than women. Men made the decisions for their families, while women worked around the house. Wilde raises interesting questions about gender roles in The Importance of Being Earnest, by putting women (like Lady Bracknell) in positions of power and by showing that men can be irresponsible and bad at Decision-making The traditional view of gender relations in the Victorian era was that men were active, manly, assertive and economically independent whilst women were assumed to be passive, pliant and dependent. I believe that Oscar Wilde does challenge these traditional roles deliberately to make humor out of these characteristics and to make fun of the conventional roles of society. The two main male characters, Jack and Algernon, cannot really be regarded as masculine, or at any rate both of them do not fit the criteria for wha t characteristics a stereotypical Victorian man would be they are both what people at that time would call ‘dandy’s’. Algy and jacks un gentlemanly behavior and trivial pursuits can be seen as comic and deliberate in making men seem less powerful and serious. Algy is also a little too concerned with clothing to come across as masculine. This can be seen when he criticizes Jack by saying that he had ‘never known anyone to put so much effort into dressing and to produce so little effect’. Algernon also says in Act two when talking to Cecily that he wouldn’t trust Jack to buy his outfits as he has ‘†no taste in neckties†. Algy is dandy, making him unmasculine and a bit of a joke in the eyes of the Victorian audience. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨ A time in the play when we see women as having more power then men is in the character lady Bracknel, she is strong and blunt even coming across as a bit intimidating we get the feel that even Algy is afraid of her as he would rather make up a fake man then tell her that â€Å" he cannot have the pleasure of dinning† with her. Another strong female character we see is Gwendolyn. She is feminine in some aspects like how se wanted the proper engagement (she makes jack proposes formally), but at the same time she can be seen as more masculine then Jack especially because she is quite assertive. Gwendolyn is also breaking stereotypes as when her  mother tells her to wait in the carriage but she defies her, were as most girls at this time would not even dare to disobey there mothers. A good example of Gwendolyn being assertive is when Jack is made to propose to her properly. Even though Gwendolyn knows exactly what he is going to ask her and she even tells him that she is going to accept him before he proposes, Gwendolyn insists on a proper proposal, which is absurd. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Gwendolyn is clearly going to be more and more like her mother as she matures we see Algy mention this when he says that a girl’s worst flaw is that â€Å"they will end up just like their mothers†. Her mother, Lady Bracknell, is probably the most masculine character in the play. She is very pompous and the most assertive of all the characters. She has the power to stop Jack from marrying Gwendolen and has the ability to boss the male characters of the play around. Lady Bracknell’s masculinity is funny because it is almost absurd. She is seen as lacking some more feminine characteristics like sympathy for example she has no sympathy for Bunbury who she claims â€Å"should just make up his mind whether he is going to live or die† .She gives Jack no condolences when he says that he had â€Å"lost† both his parents, instead she says that he was careless, and when he explains that he was found she appears to be outraged and shocked giving us the impression that she has control over the situation. Lady Bracknell has the upper hand over all the main characters in the play. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨After the examination of the female characters it can be concluded that the female characters are not really typical Victorian women than are Algernon and Jack typical Victorian men. Oscar Wilde has created characters that challenge the Victorian views of gender relations and this is what causes the play to be so funny. The characters are not what you would expect and can be seen as over exaggerated stereotypes of gender roles at the time.

Valens and the Battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis)

Valens and the Battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis) Bad intelligence gathering and the unwarranted confidence of Emperor Valens (A.D. c. 328 - A.D. 378) led to the worst Roman defeat since Hannibals victory at the Battle of Cannae. On August 9, A.D. 378, Valens was killed and his army lost to an army of Goths led by Fritigern, whom Valens had given permission only two years earlier to settle in Roman territory. Division of Rome In 364, a year after the death of Julian, the apostate emperor, Valens was made co-emperor with his brother Valentinian. They chose to split the territory, with Valentinian taking the West and Valens the East- a division that was to continue. (Three years later Valentinian conferred the rank of co-Augustus on his young son Gratian who would take over as emperor in the West in 375 when his father died with his infant half-brother, Gratian, co-emperor, but only in name.) Valentinian had had a successful military career prior to being elected emperor, but Valens, who had only joined the military in the 360s, had not. Valens Tries to Reclaim Land Lost to the Persians Since his predecessor had lost eastern territory to the Persians (5 provinces on the eastern side of the Tigris, various forts and the cities of Nisibis, Singara and Castra Maurorum), Valens set out to reclaim it, but revolts within the Eastern Empire kept him from completing his plans. One of the revolts was caused by the usurper Procopius, a relative of the last of the line of Constantine, Julian. Because of a claimed relationship with the family of the still popular Constantine, Procopius persuaded many of Valens troops to defect, but in 366, Valens defeated Procopius and sent his head to his brother Valentinian. Valens Makes a Treaty With the Goths The Tervingi Goths led by their king Athanaric had planned to attack Valens territory, but when they learned of Procopius plans, they became his allies, instead. Following his defeat of Procopius, Valens intended to attack the Goths, but was prevented, first by their flight, and then by a spring flood the next year. However, Valens persisted and defeated the Tervingi (and the Greuthungi, both Goths) in 369. They concluded a treaty quickly which allowed Valens to set to work on the still missing eastern (Persian) territory. Trouble From the Goths and Huns Unfortunately, troubles throughout the empire diverted his attention. In 374 he had deployed troops to the west and was faced with a military manpower shortage. In 375 the Huns pushed the Goths out of their homelands. The Greuthungi and Tervingi Goths appealed to Valens for a place to live. Valens, seeing this as an opportunity to increase his military, agreed to admit into Thrace those Goths who were led by their chieftain Fritigern, but not the other groups of Goths, including those led by Athanaric, who had conspired against him before. Those who were excluded followed Fritigern, anyway. Imperial troops, under the leadership of Lupicinus and Maximus, managed the immigration, but badly- and with corruption. Jordanes explains how the Roman officials took advantage of the Goths. Soon famine and want came upon them, as often happens to a people not yet well settled in a country. Their princes and the leaders who ruled them in place of kings, that is Fritigern, Alatheus and Safrac, began to lament the plight of their army and begged Lupicinus and Maximus, the Roman commanders, to open a market. But to what will not the cursed lust for gold compel men to assent? The generals, swayed by avarice, sold them at a high price not only the flesh of sheep and oxen, but even the carcasses of dogs and unclean animals, so that a slave would be bartered for a loaf of bread or ten pounds of meat.- Jordanes Driven to revolt, the Goths defeated the Roman military units in Thrace in 377. In May 378, Valens aborted his eastern mission in order to deal with the uprising of Goths (aided by Huns and Alans). Their number, Valens was assured, was no more than 10,000. [W]hen the barbarians ... arrived within fifteen miles from the station of Nike, ... the emperor, with wanton impetuosity, resolved on attacking them instantly, because those who had been sent forward to reconnoiter- what led to such a mistake is unknown- affirmed that their entire body did not exceed ten thousand men.- Ammianus Marcellinus,  The Battle of Hadrianopolis Occupation Index - Ruler By August 9, 378, Valens was outside of one of the cities named for the Roman emperor Hadrian, Adrianople. There Valens pitched his camp, built palisades and waited for Emperor Gratian (who had been fighting the Germanic Alamanni)  to arrive with the Gallic army. Meanwhile, ambassadors from the Gothic leader Fritigern arrived asking for a truce, but Valens didnt trust them, and so he sent them back. The historian Ammianus Marcellinus, the source of the only detailed version of the battle, says some Roman princes advised Valens not to wait for Gratian, because if Gratian fought Valens would have to share the glory of victory. So on that August day Valens, thinking his troops more than equal to the reported troop numbers of the Goths, led the Roman imperial army into battle. Roman and Gothic soldiers met each other in a crowded, confused, and very bloody line of battle.   Our left wing had advanced actually up to the wagons, with the intent to push on still further if they were properly supported; but they were deserted by the rest of the cavalry, and so pressed upon by the superior numbers of the enemy, that they were overwhelmed and beaten down.... And by this time such clouds of dust arose that it was scarcely possible to see the sky, which resounded with horrible cries; and in consequence, the darts, which were bearing death on every side, reached their mark, and fell with deadly effect, because no one could see them beforehand so as to guard against them.-  Ammianus Marcellinus: The Battle of Hadrianopolis Amid the fighting, an additional contingent of Gothic troops arrived, far outnumbering the distressed Roman troops. Gothic victory was assured. Death of Valens Two-thirds of the Eastern army were killed, according to Ammianus, putting an end to 16 divisions. Valens was among the casualties. While, like most of the details of the battle, the details of Valens demise are not known with any certainty, it is thought that Valens was either killed towards the end of the battle or wounded, escaped to a nearby farm, and there was burned to death by Gothic marauders. A supposed survivor brought the story to the Romans. So momentous and disastrous was the Battle of Adrianople that Ammianus Marcellinus called it the beginning of evils for the Roman empire then and thereafter. It is worth noting that this catastrophic Roman defeat occurred in the Eastern Empire. Despite this fact, and the fact that among the precipitating factors for the fall of Rome, barbarian invasions must rank very high, the fall of Rome, barely a century later, in A.D. 476, did not occur within the Eastern Empire. The next emperor in the East was Theodosius I who conducted clean up operations for 3 years before concluding a peace treaty with the Goths. See Accession of Theodosius the Great. Source: De Imperatoribus Romanis Valens(campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/Mediterranean/Adrianople.html) Map of the Battle of Adrianople (www.romanempire.net/collapse/valens.html) Valens

Johnson Surname Meaning and Origin

Johnson Surname Meaning and Origin Johnson is an English patronymic name meaning son of John (gift of God). The name John derives from the Latin Johannes, which is derived from the Hebrew Yohanan meaning Jehovah has favored. The suffix meaning son, creates several different variations of the Johnson surname. Examples: English son, Norwegian sen, German sohn, and Swedish sson. Jones  is the common Welsh version of this surname. The JOHNSON surname may also be an Anglicisation of the Gaelic surname MacSeain or MacShane. Johnson was a very popular name among Christians, given the many saints named John, including St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. Surname Origin:  English, Scottish Alternate Surname Spellings: Johnston, Jonson, Jonsen, Johanson, Johnstone, Johnsson, Johannsan, Jensen, MacShane, McShane, McSeain Fun Facts About the Johnston Surname Johnston/Johnstone combined was the 10th most frequent surname at the General Register Office of Scotland in 1995. Famous People with the Surname Johnson Andrew Johnson - Americas 17th PresidentLyndon B. Johnson - Americas 36th PresidentCaryn Elaine Johnson - AKA Whoopie Goldberg, African American ActressShawn Johnson - 2008 Olympics gymnastics gold medalist Genealogy Resources for the Surname Johnson Search Strategies for Common Last NamesUse these strategies for locating ancestors with common names like Johnson to help you research your JOHNSON ancestors online. 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? Johnson Johnston Johnstone Surname DNA ProjectJohnsons around the world are having their DNA tested in order to learn more about their family origins, and connections to other Johnson and Johnston families. History of the Johnston/Johnstone ClanThere were a number of Johns towns in Scotland but the earliest record of the surname is a John Johnstone at the end of the 12th century. Johnson Name Meaning Family HistoryAn overview of the Johnson surname meaning, plus subscription-based access to genealogical records on Johnson families around the world from Ancestry.com. FamilySearch - JOHNSON GenealogyExplore over 37 million historical records and lineage-linked family trees available for the Johnson surname, and variations such as Johnston, on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Johnson Family Genealogy ForumSearch this forum for the Johnson surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Johnson query. Theres also a separate forum for the Johnston surname. DistantCousin.com - JOHNSON Genealogy Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name Johnson. The Johnson Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Johnson surname from the website of Genealogy Today. Cant find your last name listed? Suggest a surname to be added to the Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins. - References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Technology Changes Healthcare Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Technology Changes Healthcare - Case Study Example The networked hospital TV’s apart from providing entertainment to patients also present health-related videos approved by the nurses. Moreover, patients can give the complaints and ideas through the TV interactive system. The healthcare organizations are unable to obtain the return on technology investment. The vital role played by Technology plays in healthcare organizations can go unnoticed by the management as suggested by Ogallaga (n.d). Technology in healthcare centers seems to operate a seamless supply chain despite the industry being inundated by errors that make the process slow, increasing costs, providing incorrect products to the wrong people. Technology has led to deterioration of management confidence in their healthcare organization’s capacity to support the anticipated benefit from its technological investments. This is due to inadequate IT running and communication. The healthcare organizations should adopt the execution of an enterprise wide Information Technology preparation and management strategy according to Ogallaga (n.d). This is to achieve a return on technology investment. Healthcare organizations must invest in technology that provide a return on investment and are managed by users with less cost. Additionally, healthcare institutions should support the administration by providing decision support systems that give incredible return on investment can be used without constant IT support. Similarly, in the education industry significant success brought about by technology, for instance, learners have access to wide range of information. There are also highly technological laboratory equipments used by science students. Technology has played a significant role in healthcare. This is depicted in most hospitals where use of technology has enabled networking of physicians, easy access to