Write about a time when in wanting to make someone happy you were forced to make a big sacrifice

I can still remember that day, when I willingly made a big sacrifice to make someone really close to me happy. Two years back, I was one of the 5 athletes chosen to go for an overseas Wushu training program in China after the stringent selection trial. We were going to China to prepare ourselves for the World Youth Wushu Championships. I had trained many months for the selection trial, and my hard work paid off. I was on cloud nine after receiving the news that I was one of the 5 athletes selected to go for intensive training and represent Singapore in the 2009 World Youth Wushu Championships.

However, on the day which we were supposed to leave for China, my uncle suddenly called my mother. After talking to him over the phone, my mother told me that my great-grandfather had cancer and was sent to the hospital. He was suffering from terminal illness and his final wish was for me, his favourite great-grandson, to visit him in hospital.

At that moment, I was in a dilemma. My great-grandfather, who had brought me up since young and took care of me, was in the hospital, suffering from a terminal illness. To fulfill my duty as a filial great-grandson, it is only right that I visit him! On the other hand, if I were to visit my great-grandfather, I would miss my chance of going to China to train with their national team and might even miss the opportunity to represent Singapore for the World Youth Wushu Championships! All my efforts would have been wasted then!

It was as if I was between the devil and the deep blue sea. I had to think seriously about this issue before making a final decision. I knew that no matter what my choice was, there would be some regret in my decision. After thinking hard on the issue, I decided to give up my chance to go for the intensive training in China and go to the hospital to accompany my great-grandfather. After all he had done for me in the past few years, and all the invaluable and unconditional love he has shown to me over these years, it is only right that I grant him his final wish. Regardless how big the sacrifice is, I must still do whatever I can to make him happy. This will be the last time I am able to do something which can show him my love and care.

After visiting my great-grandfather at the hospital and seeing him for the last time, I felt very touched. All these years, he had showered so much love on me, but I did nothing to repay his love. At last, I was finally able to grant him his last wish and make him happy just before he passed away.

Thinking back, I never regretted my decision. In fact, I was glad that I made the right choice at that time to go and visit him one last time before he passed away. It was certainly a worthy sacrifice.

School should emphasize on Character Development over Academic Excellence

School should emphasize on Character Development over Academic Excellence

I disagree that schools should emphasize on character development over academic excellence. This is because in the current society, academic excellence is more important in helping us to get a good job in future, character development should be taught at home and school teachers are specialized in helping us achieve academic excellence and not character development.

Firstly, I feel that academic excellence is more important in helping us to get good jobs in future as compared. In today's society, when we are looking for jobs, the first thing most employers look at is our past qualifications and achievements, not our character. Therefore, it is very important that schools focus on our academic excellence in order to make sure that we have higher chances of getting a good job in future. My parents and teachers always tell me that if two people were to apply for the same job, naturally the employer would choose the person who has better qualifications and achievements. This is one reason why I feel that schools should emphasize on academic excellence over character development.

The second reason why I feel that schools should emphasize on academic excellence is because the job of character development should be done at home, by the parents. Parents have the responsibility of teaching their children moral values, so that teachers can focus fully on academics in school. Nowadays, many parents are doing the job of character development at home, teaching their children principles of how to be a good person, because they hope that this will allow the school to emphasize on academic excellence rather than spending time on character development.

Lastly, school teachers are specialized in helping us achieve academic excellence and not character development. An example would be my Maths teacher, Mr Ho Ho Sing Philips. He is specialized in teaching us Maths, and not in character development. Therefore, we should allow our specialized teachers to maximize time to educate us more about their subjects, instead of having to fork out time to develop our character.

However, of course character development is also important and we cannot neglect it. Otherwise, when we go out to the society in the future, we will not be able to survive. Therefore, we should also place importance in our character development.

In conclusion, because of the above 3 reasons, I feel that schools should emphasize on academic excellence over character development.

The Ideal School

The Ideal School

No school is perfect, but all schools are trying to improve to be an even better place for their students to learn and have fun. My ideal school would be a school which has a clean and conducive environment for students to learn, has kind and caring teachers, and provide good facilities for students.

Firstly, my ideal school is a school which has a clean and conducive environment to learn. This is very important because our learning environment actually make a very big difference in the learning process. In my primary school, my classroom was always very messy and noisy. As a result, the students were unable to concentrate in class because of the chattering and the rubbish on the floor. However, after going to Hwa Chong where the classrooms are clean and quieter, the students were able to focus in class and learn better. Imagine a classroom which is dirty and there is rubbish all over the floor, there will be many insects and pests in the classroom. Students will fall sick easily and cannot learn properly. If the classrooms are too noisy, students will also be unable to concentrate in class. Therefore it is important for the school to have a clean and conducive environment for learning to take place effectively.

Secondly, my ideal school is a school which has kind and caring teachers. Caring teachers are very important, as they will take care of the welfare of the students. When the students do not understand what the teachers have taught, the teachers will do their best to explain to the students till they have finally grasped the concept. A good example of how a caring teacher would motivate us to learn better would be my Primary 2 friend, Darryl. In Primary 2, our Chinese teacher was fierce and often scolded people for not completing their homework. Darryl did not like the teacher at all and thus did badly in his End-of-year Chinese exams. However in Primary 3, we had a different Chinese teacher who was kind and caring. She did not scold people when they did not hand in their homework on time but instead gave them another chance to make up for their mistakes. She also treated us very well. This time, Darryl performed much better in his End-of-year Chinese exams.

Lastly, my ideal school is a school which provide good facilities for the students. Some examples of good facilities which an ideal school should have are computer labs, science labs, a track, and a fitness corner. I feel that the computer labs and science labs are a great aid in our learning and we can benefit alot from them. In the era, it is important that students have some IT knowledge thus a computer lab in school would be good. Science labs can allow us to carry out experiments and allow in order to have first-hand experience. A track and fitness corner would be good as students can make use of them to exercise and keep fit.

In conclusion, the ideal school would be a school which has a clean and conducive environment for students to learn, has kind and caring teachers, and provide good facilities for students.