(5) PRISONERS TO GET VARSITY-LEVEL COURSES

For today's Viewpoint of New Straits Times, this is my response to the excerpt with the title "Prisoners to Get Varsity-level Courses" of 3rd March, 2013. I find it very unbelievable that prisoners are even allowed to get that kind of education. 

In my opinion, this is a very good move that the government have taken. It is helping criminals to get the opportunity to help their country by redeeming themselves. It is really incredible that these prisoners are given the chance to study degree while they are still in prison. I believe that this is a very effective way to change the perception of people towards them positively.

Moreover, to give these criminals their second chance is assisting them to realize that they still have hope to live in this world as educated free men. Datuk Wahab is right when he mentioned that this "will have positive impact on both the prisoners and the country" because to teach people is to help the economy in the long run.

Furthermore, talking about the percentage of the level of repeats not being able to be reduced, it is quite a shame. It can hardly be seen for things to change immediately. Therefore, the authority needs to strengthen the system to ensure that this objective is met.

Last but not least, the fact that some of them are able to produce handicrafts can really inspire others. It is good that the government suggest that they do so as their job because being entrepreneurs is the best way to make money when people would not employ them due to their criminal record. I would recommend the public to buy their products to show their support to these unfortunate ex-criminals. This would really help them achieve greatness in their lives. 

In conclusion, I agree with allowing prisoners to study tertiary education because I believe in second chances. I hope that the government will proceed with letting these criminals get more out of life through varsity-level education. 

(4) TRUTH ABOUT MOVIES

Hollywood produces great movies, but they don’t always tell the truth even it is based on true stories. When we talk about movies, it is something that we watch for fun. The word fun here refers to something that exceeds the limit. People would love something they desire if it exceeds their expectation. Same goes to the movies here.

World changed, the technologies changed and so do people’s mind and thoughts. People in the present age desire for excessiveness, especially in terms of entertainment. In order to fulfill the people’s desire, the film makers are trying to make the movies more interesting. The true stories or the original story lines are just a basic guideline for the film makers in producing movies. They believed that by adding the plot or scenes in the movies will attract the audiences to watch them. Plus, the audiences will not watch movies that are predictable and cliches  Thus, the distinctive factors included in the movies will absolutely evoke the diversity in the movies themselves.

Second of all, anything framed in front of the camera are not always realistic. In some aspects, there must be changing or manipulation occur. In other words, all of them are just a screen acting that trying to convey messages in different ways. Look at the word 'movie' instead. It portrays everything.

(3) STEREOTYPES...

A stereotype is used to categorize a group. In certain situation, when people don’t understand the type of a person, they tend to put them into classifications, thinking that everyone who is that need to be like that, or anyone who acts like their classification is one. It is true that stereotyping is something that most people find it difficult to avoid from. In other words, stereotyping can also be defined as grouping people and simply judging them without knowing who they really are.

Undoubtedly, people tend to make first perception toward particular groups and they will stick to their stand until it is proven. This kind of attitude mostly is not pleasant to the group because most of the time, the judges or claims are negative. For example, girls are not good at sports and guys are messy and unclean. Another example is all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists and all people who live in England have bad teeth.

Stereotype sometimes focuses on several types of categories. They are culture, gender, individuals and sexual stereotype.

• ·    Gender > Women can’t do as good of a job as a man.
• ·   Culture > Punks are Mohawks, spikes, chains, menace to society, always getting in trouble.
• ·     Individuals > All teenagers are rebels.
• ·   Sexual Stereotype > Any feminine man is gay and any masculine woman is a lesbian

The downside of using stereotype to make judgement toward someone or a particular group is that we might misjudge and make incorrect statement about that particular person which might offend them. This can lose the bond between the societies itself.  The saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" demonstrates that appearance isn't enough to understand who a person really is.

(2) HOUSE HUSBAND

When we said about house husband, the first thing that would pop out of our mind is men who do all the house chores. Yes, men. Basically if we reflect back to our daily life, the people who are supposed to be responsible for the house chores and all sort of things related must be the women. But recently, America has introduced this kind of phenomena to the world and they do apply it. Surprisingly, even though our society has the kind of different perception towards this phenomenon, most of the people out there are started to follow their steps.

In my point of view, house husband is one of the best ways to strengthen the bonds between the fathers and the children. It already comes to people’s mind that, men usually would be the person who seek for job, search for money and serve their families the necessities of life which prevent them to be with their children. However, by having this kind of trend, men can divide and spend their time to share their valuable moments especially with their children. It would be a bless if a father can keep up with their children’s improvement from time to time.

Apart from that, the new world technology has brought the society to perform well and compete with one another to have stable family financial. This has force the women who supposed to stay at their home and watching over their house chores, involve in work field. Wives are fast becoming bread winners in world societies today. Women are now seen sweating and working hard round the clock just to help their families survive. Thus, men cannot only depend on women only in handling their household. By putting themselves in housewives’ shoes, they can learn new things. For instance, they can learn on how to cook, manage the household well, and sharpen their skills in home economics.

Precious moments come only once in a while. A happy family is built within the contribution of understanding and love among the family members start with the leader of the family itself. Big rewards come with big sacrifices. 

(1) MY FIRST PERCEPTION TOWARDS CRITICAL SUBJECT...

Critical Literacy…two different words but conveying the same big meaning to those who lay on their sight upon these two sacred verses.

At first when I heard this phrase, I started to feel uneasy which make my mind to non-stop thinking about it. The word ‘critical’ itself had given me the idea of the difficulties of it. In other words, it automatically set up my mind eventhough I don’t want to. I believe that I certainly cannot give a best shot towards this subject and it will be a miracle if I can do so.

Words like difficult, impossible and disappointment come out of my mind every time I think about this subject. In my opinion, it is a difficult subject as it quiet challenging because I believe that, the words, structures and organizations used in the syllabus are not really familiar with us and at higher level compared to us which it might become the killer subject for the students. I match the subject with the word ‘impossible’ because I believe that the impossibility for me to pass this subject with flying color is high. Then, when I put myself in impossible spot, there would be no chance for me to succeed in this subject. That’s when the disappointment takes place.

Despite all of the negative thinking and thoughts, there must be some ways for me to score this subject. There’s one day during Students Outstanding Performance Awards Day, I heard the emcee announced a student’s name who is my senior that receives The Best Subject Award for this Critical Literacy subject. Then I said to myself, if she can do it, why can’t I? If there’s a will there’s a way, isn’t it? It is up to us whether to change or not. Therefore, I’ll try my best to score in this subject eventhough it is not an easy things to do. Who knows?