Social Studies Haven
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Click Read More to access the lyrics of the song.
Northern Ireland: Conflict
This video shows you scenes from the height of conflict between Catholics and the Protestants. Click through to the Youtube site to look at the provenance of the video.
Do you think this video is reliable and useful in understanding who is to be blamed for the conflict in Northern Ireland?
If you read the comments you will realise that this conflict is not as simple as a clash between religion, but it is of differing loyalties.
The Protestants, who tended to be descendants from immigrants from Britain, want Northern Ireland to be part of the United Kingdom. These people we call the Unionists, who wants a union between Northern Ireland the United Kingdom.
On the other hand, we have the majority Irish Catholics, who have no sense of belonging to Britian and the United Kingdom. They identify largely with Republic of Ireland, seeing themselves as one people. Britain and United Kingdom were foreign and alien. Since they are Irish, and they want to be a part of the Republic Ireland, we call them the Loyalists.
Sri Lanka & Tamil Tigers
Although the armed conflict has ceased, look at the following videos to look at the displacement and disruption the conflict has brought to the people of Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, look at how some in Tamil Tigers believe that they are freedom fighters, that they have no choice but to take up arms.
While you look through these videos, I want you to click through to Youtube and look at the provenance of the videos. Do you think they are reliable? Do you think they are useful for you to understand what happened in Sri Lanka?
Monday, July 4, 2011
Sri Lanka
Citizenship rights
University admission
Resettlement
Sinhala Only Policy
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This is a highly probably SEQ which will ask you to evaluate the importance of 2/3/all of these factors.
Rank these factors by the most important to the least important, and come up with explanations for each of these factors and why one factor is more important than the other.
Apply this to the consequences of the Sri Lanka conflict.
Political | Armed Conflict Foreign Intervention |
Economic | Unemployment Loss of foreign investment No. of tourists dropped |
Social | Sri Lankan Tamils driven out of their homeland |
Come up with explanations for each of these factors.
Rank the consequences from most important to least important, and come up with explanations why one is more important than the other.
This would be a really good way for you to prepare fully for SEQs so that you do not need to think on the spot during exams, giving you more time to think through your SBQs. Hope these helps!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Sec 3 NA Holiday HW
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Affordable healthcare in Singapore?
Issues to think about:
- Is healthcare in Singapore affordable?
- Is Medishield and Medifund, as well as the various government subsidies really enough?
- Are community subsidies enough to tide the lower income group through tough times such as huge hospitalisation bills?
Is healthcare really affordable in Singapore?
For me I think healthcare is a fundamental human right, and no one should ever be denied of the right to the medical care. However, the related costs of it is so high in Singapore that people deny themselves treatment because they cannot afford it, and seek for more affordable alternatives.
On the flip side of the coin, a welfare state which pays for its citizens' medical bills is an inefficient one, eg. Britain's National Health Service (NHS). More to come on that.
In the meantime, ponder over the above issues.
You may also want to consider if you believe the source, and practice your inference skills. What do you think Mr Gilbert Koh is trying to say? Who is the target audience, and what does he want the target audience to do?
Feb 15, 2011
Healthcare for Singaporeans in Malaysia
In a recent post, Lucky discusses a New Paper article which talks about Singaporeans being able to use their own Medisave savings to seek medical treatment in Malaysia. Lucky writes:
If your healthcare system is not universal and becomes so expensive that citizens have to go to a developing country for treatment, it is a tragedy, not an achievement. However, if you read today's New Paper, it seems to be saying the MOH has helped Singaporeans to save money by allowing them to use their Medisave for hospitalisation in Malaysia. All of us have to thank Minister Khaw for this flexibility of being able to save money by travelling to Malaysia when we get sick.
The article doesn't ask about adequency of govt support for poorer Singaporeans when the cost of private care in Malaysia is less than half (according to New Paper) that of subsidised care in Singapore. It doesn't ask why these people have to go to Malaysia to save money when Minister Khaw can get his heart fixed for $8....so poor people pay more and rich millionaires like Khaw get cheap healthcare - there is certainly a moral issue here.
The New Paper article is filled with smiling patients who are happy to save money going to Malaysia for treatment but I believe the story in many real cases sound more like tragedies. Take Singapore singer Yue Lei case as an example[Link]. He had to sell his home and go to Mahkota Hospital for cancer treatment because healthcare in Singapore is too expensive. Singapore often boasts of having one of the highest standards of medical care in the world but when the govt wants to keep its expenditure on subsidies down by sending poorer sick Singaporeans to Malaysia, it says the standard of care in a developing country is just as good as Singapore's.
Being able to get poor Singaporeans to go to developing countries for medical care takes the pressure off the govt to do more to contain costs and ensure universality in our system. We shouldn't have allowed this ...it is a tragic development for poor Singaporeans who get sick and don't get adequate help.
I disagree with Lucky, because I think that the New Paper article did the public an excellent service, by highlighting the fact that Singaporeans can use their Medisave to seek medical treatment in Malaysia.
It is important for more Singaporeans to be aware of this, especially because the costs of healthcare in Singapore can be so high. It is useful for all of us to know that there are viable alternatives for us, just across the Causeway.
Lucky goes on harping and complaining about why isn't the Singapore government providing affordable healthcare for Singaporeans in our country. These are ridiculous assertions and the sooner you realise it, the better for you.
The government isn't here to take care of you. The government isn't here to serve Singaporeans. The government isn't here to care for the poor and the sick.
The government is just a large, unwieldy, faceless piece of machinery programmed to carry out its own political agenda; pursue its own policies; and serve its own interests. Those interests may or may not coincide with your interests. If they do, well, that's just a coincidence.
YOU need to take care of you. The sooner you understand this, the better for you. You will see the pointlessness of complaining about why the government is not providing affordable healthcare to Singaporeans. You will see the value of gathering knowledge about how to better survive on your own resources.
Knowledge such as how to go to Malaysia and get medical treatment there.
Source: http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2011/02/healthcare-for-singaporeans-in-malaysia.html
Thursday, March 3, 2011
for those of you who wandered here for your HBL
Mar 3, 2011
3 MPs offer suggestions to boost birth rate
This finding emerged from a straw poll conducted by MP Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah GRC), who argued in Parliament on Wednesday that such 'in-your-face, upfront and simple' cash incentives would go further in convincing women to have more children.
'There is a tipping point, a price,' he said. 'Just that the Government hasn't found it, or is finding the price too tough to swallow.'
Mr Mohamad was one of three MPs to offer suggestions on how to boost the abysmal birth rate during the debate on the budget for the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in Parliament on Wednesday.
The other two were Nominated MPs Viswa Sadasivan and Paulin Tay Straughan. All three argued that the current array of subsidies and tax relief under the Government's $1.6 billion 'Marriage and Parenthood Package' are insufficient in convincing Singaporeans to have more children.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who heads the National Talent and Population Division under the PMO, said that more time was needed to assess the impact of the package, last enhanced in 2008.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
3D & 3N2 Term 1 Contents Page
S/N | Date | Item |
1. | 19 Jan | Ch 2 Mindmap/Notes |
2. | 23 Jan | SEQ - Principles of Governance |
3. | 08 Feb | Sample LORMS for Principles of Governance |
4. | 08 Feb | Graded Assignment 1: SEQ on Traffic Flow |
5. | 09 Feb | Inference Worksheet on Baby Bonus Scheme |
6. | 18 Feb | Graded Assignment 2: SBQ on Fertility Rate |
7. | 01 Mar | LORMS for Graded Assignments 1 & 2 |
8. | 02 Mar | Common Test 1 |
S/N | Date | Item |
1. | 28 Jan | Mindmap on Traffic Control and Population |
2. | 08 Feb | SEQ Scaffolding on Principles of Governance |
3. | 11 Feb | Sample LORMS on Principles of Governance |
4. | 11 Feb | Graded Assignment 1: SEQ on Traffic Flow |
5. | 09 Feb | Inference Worksheet on Baby Bonus Scheme |
6. | 23 Feb | Graded Assignment 2: SBQ on Fertility Rates |
7. | 01 Mar | LORMS for Graded Assignments 1 & 2 |
8. | 02 Mar | Common Test 1 |