'Should people be given the rights to end their own lives?'

Write a short response of 100-150 words, bearing in mind that you should write in standard English.

My comments on 'Whose life is more precious?'

As i was reading your comments, i was pleased by the depth of thinking shown by many of you. Some of you mentioned about the ethical aspect on the value of life while others mentioned about the impact of the king - a good king as opposed to an incompetent king. I, especially enjoyed reading the story posted by one of you that illustrated the worth of a beggar's experience as compared to the king's. Just a comment about the story: Not all kings are bad and not all beggars are good. Many of us like to champion for the underdogs. What do i mean by that? 'Championing for the underdogs' means we like to give our support to people who we think are 'victims'or being treated in a way 'unfairly'. However, to be fair, we must also bear in mind that being a king may not necessary be a blessing as a king is entrusted with heavy responsibility while a beggar lives freely. Imagine having the power and authority to run a country and to be responsible for the lives of many. A beggar is free to live his life. So whose life is more valuable? In my opinion, there is no right or wrong answer. To say that a king's life is more precious will not make you an elitist because in many aspects a king does have a much greater sphere of influence and impact than a beggar. A beggar's decision will only affect his own life and probably his family. A king's decision will affect the lives of millions. Without a king, a country will be without a leader and the consequence is grave. To say that all lives should be treated as equal is not wrong either because indeed, all lives are precious and all lives should be treated equally.

'Is the life of a King more precious than the life of a beggar?' Write a short response of 100-150 words, bearing in mind that you should write in standard English.

My comments on 'friendship will not last'.

As i pondered over the issue of lasting friendship, i recalled my old friends whom I've lost contact over the years. We did vow to keep our friendship for eternity and we did promise to meet up whenever we could. However, as time passed,a weekly phone call gradually became an annual one and a few years later, the phone calls just stopped coming. Was i upset by this phenomenon? Honestly, I wasn't as I could understand the very reason why it happened. We have all moved on with our lives and many of us are busy carving out new careers and setting up our families. We are moving to the next phase of life.

Time has become a precious commodity. Frankly, i do not believe that friendship will last without the investment of time and emotions. As we grow older, we become more discerning about who we want to spend our time with and how we would like our time to be spent. No longer would we entertain hi-bye friends as we develop our own priority list. In retrospect, during my younger days, I have always known who my real friends were and till now,we have remained fast friends. We might meet up probably once a year but we know that in times of need, we are just a phone call away and that is what friendship should be. It's not about you sharing common interest, of course that helps, friendship is about lending support and being there for the person when that person needs it. It's not judgemental and it does not pressure you into doing something you are not comfortable with. A true friend will stand by you always and help you to be a BETTER person.

Mrs Lena Low

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Friendship will not last.' Do you agree with this statement? Write a short response of 100-150 words, bearing in mind that you should write in standard English.

General Comments on 'Your best friend may not be your best working partner'.

After reading all your entries, I'v come to the realisation that most of you shared similar thoughts on the issue. Most of you have agreed with the comment and shared your personal experience. i offer my sympathy to those who have personally experienced a painful situation of having worked with your best friend and it did not work out well. In my opinion, a best friend may not be your best working partner, simply because of the fact that everyone is different and no matter how close you are to someone, this person may have a different working style from yours and this difference could give rise to conflicts under stressful working conditions. I was intrigued by a comment written by one of you which mentioned about the expectation of a friend. "Your best friend may push the job to you knowing that you have to help him/her as a friend." Do we take our best friend for granted? Is that what friendship is about? Honestly, the student who wrote this comment is very perceptive, because in life, some of us do take our friends for granted. We expect the world from them YET we give so little of ourselves. Hence, let us try to better ourselves, so that not only are we someone else's best friend, we are also someone else's best working partner.

Cheers, Mrs Lena Low

'Your best friend may not be your best working partner." Do you agree with this statement? Write a short response of 100-150 words, bearing in mind that you should write in standard English.

General comments on 'Learning can only be done on the part of the learner. No one can force the learner to learn.'

I believe that almost all of you agreed with the statement and have provided sound reasons as to why you think learning can only be done on the part of the learner. As for me, I totally agree with the comment as learning involves engaging the hearts and minds. Humans store knowledge in their mind and it is only when this body of knowledge is internalised will there be learning. I particularly like an analogy used by one of you (read through your class's comments and you will know who). In his post, he mentioned that forcing a learner to learn is like forcing a cow to drink when it is not thirsty. I would like to add on to the analogy, "even if you know that the cow is dying of thirst, all you can do is to bring the cow to the river. The cow has to save itself by drinking the water." Hence, teachers, with their vast experiences, are concerned with the learning of the students simply because of the fact that they know that some students are 'dying' due to a lack of knowledge and learning, so they try their best to provide the students with all possible resources, yet, it is up to the students to 'save' themselves.

Mrs Lena Low

'Learning can only be done on the part of the learner. No one else can force the learner to learn.

Write a short response (between 100-150 words) your opinion on the above statement. Do you agree with the statement? Why or why not.