Online Learning for Friday (30 April)

This is an online assignment as we are missing too many lessons due to disruptions in the timetable. The objectives are:
(1) to increase your content knowledge on the topic of Human Rights
(2) to practice SRQ skills

You have two options to choose from.

Option A
Do an online search to find out more information about one specific area of Human Rights abuse in the world. The case study has to be a current and specific one. A good place to start from would be this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/links.shtml

You will provide a useful summary (in a format of your choice) of the facts of the case study and briefly discuss what can be done to minimise, stop or prevent the abuse. Also consider the consequences of not doing anything about the situation.


Option B
Read the article on "How Democracy Dies" at http://www.newsweek.com/id/234891 and write a three-paragraph response using the format of the SRQ.

DEADLINE: 4 May (Tue) which incidentally is when the SRQ is due


A reminder of your FINAL chance to score some OP points for Term 2:
(1) post your comments to on the Term 1 Review blog post
(2) answer the questions on "Rights" and "Dignity" in the previous blog post
(3) respond to your classmate's Option A post

The window for awarding OP is closing really soon.

Questions about Human Rights

We've raised a few questions about Human Rights in today's lesson. Due to limited class time and perhaps more importantly, the need for deep rumination on the subject, let's use this space to throw up ideas and dive right into the core of the issues.

1. What is this thing called "dignity" and why is it important? Because it is a difficult question to answer (and no flippant one-liner can do the idea justice), it may be easier to begin by thinking of examples of "dignity", and non-examples of dignity (just as we had done with the concept of Justice). If the term is so hard to define, yet why do most people instinctively understand what it means? Think about it.

2. Next, we have yet to answer the question "What are rights?" Would anyone venture to define it for us? It is certainly not an easy "thing" to define because it's an abstract idea. I would suggest using the reading "An Allegory" as a starting point. Think about the "things" that the community has agreed upon and think about the nature of these "things" (I will use everyone's favourite catch-all word here) as well as the purpose of these "things". Perhaps by examining these two aspects of the "thing" itself (which is otherwise called "rights"), we can begin to arrive at a better understanding of what it is.

I hope MORE of you will use this space to explore, clarify and argue ideas and concepts. We don't have the luxury of time during class to discuss ideas at a deeper, more philosophical level. Also, there are some of you who are content with scratching the surface of things and we wouldn't dream of boring you to tears in every lesson. So, I would encourage those of you who have a geniune intellectual curiosity, who have a thirst for deeper truths and who aspire to greater things to be part of this THINKING community. Let's not merely be second-hand receivers of knowledge. Let's be creators of knowledge.

Wrapping up the Unit on Crime and Punishment

I hope you have found the "Crime and Punishment" unit enriching and dare I say, enjoyable? In today's lesson, you will write a reflection on your learning points for the unit. Think about the new knowledge and skills that you have acquired over the last eight weeks or so. You can organise the learning points into separate categories such as

(a) information about legal punishment (philosophy, case studies, arguments for and against etc.)

(b) skills (critical reading, comprehension answering techniques, summary skills, top level structure for essay, scripting for voice recording, use of VoiceThread etc.)

(c) soft skills (collaboration, effective presentation skills, note-taking etc.)

The important thing is not to provide a comprehensive list of your newfound skills and knowledge but to reflect deeply on one or two learning points. Make the learning point meaningful. You can also indicate how you would like to proceed. For instance, work on enlarging your vocabulary through reading two novels, keeping a daily journal, learning 10 new words everyday etc.



Extension activity

Having studied the underlying tenets for legal punishment and the various debates surrounding the myriad of applications from the death sentence, to corporal punishment to life imprisonment to forms of restorative justice for juvenile offenders, let's broaden our understanding of the topic a little more by thinking about a point raised in the comprehension test passage. The writer of the second passage criticised American Law for not being adequately developed to handle what he terms as "excusing conditions" which are sometimes called "mitigating circumstances", "extenuating circumstances", and specific instances may include insanity, temporary insanity etc. You are invited to do a little more research on this area and post your findings (don't cut and paste and remember to acknowledge source) using this thread.

Lastly, some countries allow women, children and the elderly to receive lighter sentences than men for the same offences committed, why is this the case? The astute among you will point out that my generalisation is applicable only to modern democracies and secular states and that this hasn't always been the case. You would be right of course! So let me invite you to answer the question posed above. You can provide evidence to explain and support to affirm the statement or offer counter examples to prove that I am indeed making a generalisation.

I look forward to reading scintillating nuggets of information and brilliant expositions on the topic. Don't disappoint me!

Please label your response as "Reflections" or "Extension".

Isaac's Essay on Juvenile Justice - Google Docs

Isaac's Essay on Juvenile Justice - Google Docs

Edmond's Essay on Juvenile Justice - Google Docs

Edmond's Essay on Juvenile Justice - Google Docs

Grouping for Online Learning

This is the grouping for the online learning. The first name in each group is the Leader and you are responsible for contacting your group members online (via MSN etc.) and for organising the group work and submissions.

Group 1: Keith (Leader), Zhong Hui, Qin Jiang, Soon Zhou, Wei Xiang, Xingyu
Group 2: Edmond (Leader), Marcus, Shi Yuan, Zi Yao, Kerry, Juncheng
Group 3: Gong Chen (Leader), Men Quan, Fangxu, Jieyang, Kaidi, Tianqi
Group 4: Zheng Xun (Leader), Caleb, Tuck Ging, Hanson, Song Ze, Han Xin
Group 5: Dominic (Leader), Wei Bo, Fan Yi, Ran Yan, Johnny, Bryan
Group 6: Benjamin (Leader), Isaac, Chan Wei, Andrew

The Voicethread presentation is posted on this blog to help you locate it. To view a larger version of it on Voicethread.com itself, click the forward arrow at the bottom right corner until you get to the last page. Then click on the top right link "Add to MyVoice page". This should take you to Voicethread.com.

Juvenile Justice Online Lesson

Food for Thought

I hope all of you are keeping pace with the lessons. It does not benefit anyone to come unprepared. You miss out on so many levels. So this being Feb, I hope everyone will try to get his act together and start afresh.

I'd like all of you to try something new. Instead of giving your views on the topic of capital punishment, let's instead direct others to think more deeply about the issue by asking the right questions. Try this for a challenge: ask a thought-provoking question about the death penalty in less than 50 words. Check grammar, punctuation and spelling.

The best question gets a (sur)prize. The bracketed bit's meant for Chan Wei.

Dead Man Walking

I hope everyone has enjoyed the movie in one way or another. I know it's pretty long and "talky" but it's made this way for a reason. The contemplative mood and slowness of pace invite the audience to think more deeply about the issues that the movie attempts to deal with. The long moments of silence, close-up shots of the key characters, as well as the evocatively unsettling soundtrack (when it makes a rare appearance) are meant to draw us into the movie rather than distance the viewer from the drama of the execution or the trauma experienced by the various parties. I think there was one distinct moment where we felt removed from the action and that was the scene where Sister Helen sat facing Mr Delacroix. The two characters were shot in profile and the camera lens slowly zoomed out, framing both of them in the living room scene. It was a long 2 or 3 second shot of "no action". What effect do you think the director wanted to create or what response is he hoping to elicit from the viewer?



Please post your response to my observations or your comments and reflections to the following questions:

1. Did Matthew Poncelet deserve to die?

2. Was justice served by his execution?


In your post, do consider the perspectives of

a) Poncelet himself, (b) Sister Helen, (c) his family (especially his mother), (d) the victims' families (slight difference in response between the two families), (e) Sister Helen's family and friends, (f) her community, (g) prison guards, warden and doctor, (h) the chaplain, (i) Mr Hilton Barber (his lawyer), (i) the media, (j) politicians, (k), the public (people outside the prison, members of the jury, etc.)

For those who wish to delve a little deeper into the issue of the morality of the death penalty, you may make references to the theories whose links I've provided in the record book.

http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15268228

http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15268228
Since we were discussing in class whether justice was served by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this article might change the way some of us felt. Do share your views.

Justice

I'm posting the generalisation about the concept of Justice for everyone's benefit - in case you didn't take it down in class.
"Justice is about restoring the balance of the moral order of things."
The expression is pretty colloquial but it encapsulates what we discussed today about compensation, punishment of the guilty, proportionality, retribution (just desserts) etc.
You could, if you like, rewrite the statement or add on to it. Are there aspects of Justice which we didn't capture?
Please go through the notes and readings.

Initial ramblings

This is a class blog set up for 4S1 students. It is a platform for you to do your reflections, post your comments and feedback about anything that goes on in English class. I'd first like to invite you to reflect on the lesson(s) on developing the concept of "Justice."

Was the task interesting, challenging, engaging? Were the conclusions satisfying?