Homelearning Assignment

Rainbow Death
By: Hubert Wilson

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and the unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceits continue to spread.
NefariouslyAmerica led astray-
Generations untold WILL pay-
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Task One
This poem was written by Hubert Wilson, a soldier from the Vietnam War. He was from the USAF service and had prepared for months at San Antonio, Texas before being deployed to Vietnam. Wilson was greatly involved in the Vietnam War and was a Staff Sergeant of the US Air Force. After losing his mobility due to the agent orange used in the Vietnam War, he wanted to pen down his thoughts and experiences by writing poems.

In this poem, the poet had mentioned about agent orange and its aftermath. Not only agent orange was used, but other agents as seen from the poem, "Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!" These are herbicides used in the Vietnam war and these agents contain harmful substances which belong to the group called Persistent Organic Pollutants. Once such harmful substances were exposed to people, it may cause cancers, diabetes, birth defects and damaged nerves. Agent orange, which was largely used in the war has affected many vietnamese and many are still suffering the effects today. The poet of "Rainbow Death" wanted to express his opinions about the chemical warfare in the Vietnam war and how people are affected then and now through this poem. He had criticised and disapproved the utility of Agent Orange as it had harmed many innocents, children and even the unborns. Lives were lost or ruined due to the chemical warfare or rather due to war and conflicts between countries. Conflicts and arguments between countries only leads to war and leads to the innocent commoners being harmed and affected. The poem has brought out the effects of people being harmed and in general, the cruelty of war. It makes people think and reflect on the aftermath of agent orange sprays and how colourful, beautiful as a rainbow it may seem become a lethal weapon that brought deaths to many..

Task Two

1. Point of View

Hubert Wilson used a harsh tone in his poem and has expressed anger and discontent in the poem. He was an American soldier present in the Vietnam war, writing about his experiences, thoughts through this poem. The popular weapon used in the chemical warfare in the Vietnam War was Agent Orange. Americans used this poisonous gas excessively as a tool to win the war against Vietnam. However, it affected many innocents, unborns and even the poet himself. He has conveyed the message that Agent Orange was a wrong move in the war, not because it will hinder the victory of America but it had harmed millions of people. Being affected by the chemical himself, he did not agree to Agent Orange usage and even condemned it.

"Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!" showed that the agents in the Vietnam war may seem colourful and brings joy. Yes, it may look beautiful and full of hope, but that is in the point of view of some other Americans. To Wilson, he had phrased these colours sarcastically that it told the readers that it was these colours that brought thousands and millions of deaths and side effects to the Vietnamese and even American soldiers. Colour of glory and beauty to the Americans who won and colours that brought the unsightful scene of distorted babies, limbs and deaths of the Vietnamese and other American soldiers.

"expecting others to pay a high price" suggested that the use of Agent Orange had been a wrong move as it had made many innocent people suffer like himself. This is eveident that the poem was written in Wilson's point of view. "Toll on the innocent and the unborn." is also a phrase that strongly voice out on how many people and how great the impact is by Agent Orange. Because of Americans decision to use Agent Orange, people like him had to suffer immobility and even deaths. The poem was reliable as it was written by an American involved in the Vietnam War and he was writing about it and blaming America for using Agent Orange instead of supporting it since he was an American.

2. Situation and Setting

The poem's setting was an irony as it was set as a beautiful place whereby it was "decorated" by different colours from different Agents used in the Vietnam War. The different Agents gave out smokes of colours and may give one the impression on lively and glorious of the Americans. But the irony started to appear as one took a deeper look into the setting of the poem to find the unsightful scene of people dying, suffering. Behind the colours, people were suffering unnecessary pain and even unborned infants were looking into their future that will never come.

There are conflicts displayed in the poem. Firstly, there was a an outer and inner conflict. Firstly, the outer conflict is about the aftermath of excessive usage of Agent Orange in the war. The people who had been exposed to the Agent Orange were physically and mentally affected as being exposed to such Agents caused them negative side effects. The conflict was about the problems of many after being affected like having health problems and distorted babies. They had to suffer for the rest of their lives, in pain. There will be hatred and tears. People will not be happy and lives would be difficult.

The poem also displayed the emotional conflict of the poet. The pain and emotional scar he had from the war was written in the poem. He did not like the Americans to use Agent Orange on the fellow villagers and innocents in Vietnam so harshly. Considerations was not made properly and this caused many sufferings up till today.The second stanza of the poem told a lot on the effects of the Agent Orange towards the villagers. "Now thinking twice?" is a rhetorical question to humiliate the Americans then on their rashness and how much they had harmed. The poet criticized the wrong utility of Agent Orange and expressed it boldly in his poem.

3. Language/Diction

The poet used the word "potpourri" in the poem. The word actually mean that a mixture of petals of roses or other flowers with spices kept in the jar for their fragrance. This was meant to be an irony as potpourri refers to the different types of Agents used. Instead of fragrance, the Agents give out foul smell and could even bring harm to people. The word was used to show how diverse yet deadly the Americans had been in the past. The Americans had used many ways to exterminate the Vietnameses. Potpourri was meant to be a mixture of beautiful and fragrant items. But the irony was that this potpourri had killed or harmed a potpourri of people. Regardless of their doings or their age, a "mixture" of people had been involved in the exposure of Agents. Even the poet himself, an American was harmed by Agent Orange. Thus, the word was used intentionally to create this irony to emphasise on the cruelty of war and America.

The word "omnipotent" in the second stanza of the poem is used to criticise the Americans as they thought that they were the almighty and had infinite power, thus giving them the right to use any methods to obtain their goals. The poet was trying to criticise America for being too cruel in its approach to attain victory in the Vietnam War as they felt that they are invincible and had all the authorithy to use despicable means to achieve it.

The poet also used the word "Nefariously America" which is a very strong word to describe extremely wicked and villainous. The word was probably chosen to express the deep hatred towards the Americans for causing the poet to suffer from all the health problems from Agent Orange sprays. It could also be used to describe the feelings of all the Vietnameses being harmed by the poisonous gas.

4. Personal Response

I agree very much with this poet and I like this poem. It has brought his personal and many others' message on the cruelty of war and how war could harm millions of lives. He did not like war and did not like the war he was involved in. He criticised the usage of Agent Orange and disapproved "Nefariously America' disregarding people's innocent lives and wasting them. I liked the way the poem displayed the story and the title. An irony was in the title and there was some humour to humiliate the Americans. I agree with the poet that war is curel and many would be brought in, be it getting harmed or harming others. It is not beneficial to any parties in the end. It may seem reasonable to go to war with a weaker country or state, but the soldiers, people of your own country will still face casualties, deaths, emtional taumas. War, once declared, lives would be changed, and lives would end.

Moral Values and Education

This incident happened in a school. The whole incident was witnessed and related by the school's vice-principal. You may want to think about the difference between a lowly eduacated security guard and a highly educated parent. Think about how education makes a difference in moral values and does it works in inculcating social well being in today's society.

There was this boy who was admitted to the college and wanted to appeal out of the college for a better one. Of course, in order to do that, he needs important documentations and acknowledgment of his current school. Yes, he did that. But that was when the school had closed at 8.30 pm at night. The vice principal was on his way home when he noticed that there was a commotion at the guard post.

The parents of the boy, together with the boy himself, was at the guard post. The parents of the boy seemed rather educated. The parents was very rude towards the security guard, using a very rude tone and was unreasonable. Actually, the school had already closed and the security guard was kindly telling them to leave as they are not allowed in. Instead, the parents were impatient and gave uneasonable excuses to go in. At last, the guard was able to persuade them to leave. The parents and child went into the car and requested to make a U-turn in the school to leave. The guard readily agreed with a smile. He was trying to be courteous throughout. He allowed them in.

Instead, misusing the the guard's trust on them, they drove in and get off the car. They started walking around the school. This activated the school's security alarm which was linked to the police. The guard chased them and what the parents retorted back was "we were just touring around the school". The vice principal stepped out and asked about the commotion. He did not asked the parents and child to leave and helped them to prepare and approve the documents the parents needed. He also de-activated the alarm system and had no intentions of charging them with tress-passsing. However, as the vice-principal was walking out with the boy, he told him "When you leave, could you say sorry to the security guard or just a thank you. He was just doing his job. No to find any trouble with you. Thank you." The boy was silent, and not a look of remorse or embarrassment. After grabbing all the informations and documents from the principal's hand for his appeal, the parents of the child rolled their eyes at him and drove off.

Not a word of thank you. Not a word of apology. A lowly educated security guard who was just doing his job. A highly educated parent who was just expecting whatever he wanted. How did education play a part in this incident? Or did it even play a part?

EP3 allocation

This post is in response to Si Yuan's blog post about EP3 allocation system. He posted that he had a secondary 1 friend who was attending basketball training in school right when he joined our school. He was a talented player and was attending training after he went the basketball trial given that he was skillful and had no problem getting into the school basketball EP3. Most importantly, he was interested in it. However, he was not admitted to basketball despite his skills and interest. He was admitted to track and field. Which he knew about it.

I agree with Si yuan that EP3 serves much importance in our secondary school life and that it is a place for us to learn and excel through our interest. I also agree with his argument on why his friend, Jack, was not admitted into his desired EP3. Jack had all the capabilities to enter the school's basketball team. I also do not understand why the school had allocated him to track and field which he had no experence in.

EP3 is also called as co-curicular activites, wherby we stay back after curricular time to do something which we chose to and try to excel in that direction. It is where we do what we chose and like, not to do what we did not like. Same for this situation. Track and Field was not in the 6 choices of Jack and yet he was picked to join that sport due to the a weak reason given by the teachers in charge. As Si Yuan stated, the teacher said that the school's track and field C divsion is weak and needs strong sports background to improve the standards. What questions me is that is the school basketrball that good also that they did not need any strong sportsmen? In my opinion, the school picked Jack into track and field rather than basketball is because of the fact that the track and field EP3 has been a niche area in our school and that they needs to maintain the standards.

I think that that is not a rather constructive reasons to put someone's 4 years life into a time where he will not enjoy and what he call a waste of time. The school track and field could still be maitained the standards by maintain the training methods. Not by recruiting more good sportsmen who had no interest in the area. Interest is an important factor in motivating one to do something and drives him to spur on. Jack lacked that important factor towards track and field. So how is he able to devote himself to that sport which he is not used to? EP3 should be there for us to have the opportunity to do what we like and at the same time improve in that skill. Therefore, it has no purpose when it is there for one to loathe and dread going to.

Interpersonal assignment

I am going to present to you an interview I did with a friend of mine. I will be asking questions and views from him about prejudice and discrimination.

Me: What do you think is prejudice?
Friend: I think it means an unfavourable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without prior knowledge.

Me: What about discrimination? What do you think it means?
Friend: A treatment of a person or thing based on the group, class or category in which the person or thing belongs to rather than on individual merits. Because of discrimination, then will have prejudice.

Me: Can you tell me an example of discrimination?
Friend: When one tries to avoid you and makes bad remarks about you because of your face colour when he did not even know you well.

Me: Do you think discrimination will affect society growth?
Friend: Yes, definitely. Discrimination will hinder society as it will cause tension and conflicts, Resulting in undesirable results like the racial war in Singapore in the past. It has caused fights and even death. It also affects economic growth.

Me: What do you think can solve discrimination?
Friend: We can have awareness of both parties, to communicate to each other on how the person is. This can allows the opposite party to know more about you and your character and will not judge you based on hie false opinions.

Me: What do you think one will feel if he or she is discriminated?
Friend: Left-out, osctracized and lonely. Most probably feels unhappy and uneasy as one may even hurt you.

Me: What do you think about equality?
Friend: Everyone is borned equal and they can't choose their backgrounds and family. Thus, it is unfar to deprive them of any rights based on their background or social status. We should treat everyone equally without any bias.

Me: Thank you for sharing your views with me.

Multiple Intelligence

Earlier on, I took a multiple intelligence test to test on what kind learner I am. I found out that I am a kinaesthetic and interpersonal learner. I am quite surprised that I'm a kinaesthetic learner as I often thought that I learn better through lectures and lessons. However, the results has proven me wrong. As for being a interpesonal learner, it could be well predicted as I like to get social with people and communicate. But as for how it helps me learn better, I am not too sure. Therefore, I went to do a research on these learning techniques.

Being a kinaesthetic learner meant that you learn better by carrying out a physical activity than listening to a lecture or just merely watching a demonstration. Kinaesthetic learners make up 15% of the population(wow!). Kinaesthetic learners struggles to pick up things by reading or listening to things. It also helps for them to move around when learning or understanding things. They are usually good at chemistry experiments, sporting activities and acting. Well, after reading so much about Kinaesthetic learning styles, I am really surprised as I actually thought I learn better through notes and lectures. And I did not know that I'm good at sports or acting. But this test has shown the opposite. I guess I could start trying such learning styles. I could maybe excel further!

Going on, an interpersonal person meant that you have a strong social style, communicates well with people, both verbally and non-verbally. People comes to you for advice and you may enjoy helping them. You may be sensitive to their mood and understands their views. You may prefer learning in groups and class and learns better by listening to the thought of other people. You will like social activities and games involving teams like basketball, baseball or soccer. I think this is rather true as I like to get social with people at times and communicate with them. I also learns by listening to their response and I like basketball! Hence, this result is rather accurate based on what I think of myself.

Now that I've learnt more about my learning styles and what fits me best, I should start trying them out. Let's see if such learning styles realy help me best...

Home Learning

No school for two days. Monday and tuesday will be home learning for our whole school. Which meant that we need not go to school but have to stay at home to well, learn. Teachers will post online lesson packages on their web and we students will visit the web and complete assignments with the help of the online notes. Students get excited about this as they need not go to school and could spend half the day in the computer. I agree. But thinking again, is home learning a beneficial learning platform and suitable for schools to embark this approach permanently?

It do have it's benefits. Like last year's H1N1 case, schools has to stop for a week. The home learning has came into good use. A week of lesson is rather essential for teachers and students. If they miss it, I will take a long time for them to catch up and teachers has to quicken their teaching pace. The home learning will serve as a great temporary learning platform to allow students to catch up and get an idea of the topic in the syllabus. It will also help when they get back to school afetr the break. The timng of the online lessons will be more flexible and allows students to end their lessons earlier if they finish it quickly. Hence, such teaching is really helpful and allows students to cope with their work when they go back to school for lessons.

However, let's think it in another way. For example, if a school wanted to try out this home learning programme for a year, do you think it's feasible? In my opinion this will leads to some problems if such home learning activities is to be embarked for long term teaching. Basically, it will leads to failure in teaching, social problems and health problems.

Firstly, failure in teaching. It actually meant that teachers may not be able finish covering syllabus or failed to make students understand certain topics. This is because, as experienced today, the whole school internet portal was not able to accessed to due to the number of people logging on at the same time. Thus, this cannot goes on if lessons were like this everyday as there may be miscommunication or failure to convey messages. Besides, if one's system crashed or stops working, the whole learning process will be disrupted. Students may also face problems when they wanted to ask teachers question as it is not as simple as a face to face question. Even if it's a yes or no question may take some time. Thus, there are still flaws that should be eradicated.

Secondly, social problems. Students are exposed to the net all days. It will be impossible for them not to get distracted and log on to facebooks or online games. Hence, addiction in computer games may happens. Besides, it will also leads to discipline problems. The students will not be too driven to complete their work even if a date line is given since there will not be any punishment for late submissions. Even if there is, what could it be? Will it really deter students from being sloppy in their work. And how are students going to get tested? They could just go to the web and fing out all the answers. Integrity issues. Besides, students will lose contacts with friends and will lose interacting skills. Long term home learning may leads to such serious social problems. So, is it still feasible? Or there are any alternative ways to look at it?

Lastly, health problems. Staring at the computer for the day may leads to serious eye problems. Degrees of myopia may increase. It is definitely not healthy to stay in front of the monitor the w hole day. Students will not get active since there's not any period called physical education for home learning. Hence, leading to obessity or irregular diets as students may not follow the timetable for lunch or recess.

So, will long term home learning be feasible, same as the current teaching methods or even better? Please feel free to state your views.

20 More Days...

20 more days and I will be off for the Pacific-Basin band competition where all the bands in the world will come together to perfrom and compete one another for the ultimate title of gold. Yes, I will be off with my band mates to Hawaii in 20 days to compete for that title. 20 more days and we shall showcase what we have been practising for the past few months.

You ask if I am confident, I would say no. In actual fact, the whole band was not really confident if we will get the gold or even the lowest grade. We are doing three pieces for the competition, yet, we still have not fixed any of them. The secondary two students have not even touched the third piece, mach picchu, which is a very challenging piece which we did for last year's Singapore Youth Festivals. We attained a gold with honours with that piece. 20 more days and we have to fix all the competition pieces. We are wondering if we could still get the gold with that machu picchu.

There is anxiety in everyone one of us. For every practice, we have been working towards our "gold". Everyone is trying their best to show others that we could maintain standards. We are also having a concert other than the competition, performing several pop songs. We could hardly cope with all these songs in 20 days. But somehow we have to manage it. We get encouraging comments from our leaders to spur us on. Therefore, we will try our best in this 20 days to do what we could or even exceed what we could to attain the glory and honour for our school.

2o more days...Work towards it with our might and we should be able to make it. Spur on, go on, never give up and give in our best. Hawaii here we come.