Chinese New Year has begun and other than receiving ang bao, we can hear the usual loud shuffling of mahjong when we visit our relatives. Furthermore, other than the adults gambling, parent also allow their children to gamble, using poker cards, with small bets ranging around 10 cents to $1. As Chinese New Year is only celebrated once a year and they feel that it is alright for the children to gamble in this special occasion. However, I beg to differ as I feel that by allowing the children to gamble, the parents are sending the wrong message to the children that gambling is good and they should do it often, since they are usually the children’s role model. In major cases, students might gamble secretly in school and over time, become addicted to gambling. Therefore, I feel that before letting the children gamble, parents should warn them that they are only allowed to gamble during this special occasion and not elsewhere or else they would be severely dealt with. Although, this solution is not foolproof, it is quite effectively as the children will think twice before engaging in gambling elsewhere.

Gambling addiction is a type of impulse-control disorder. Compulsive gamblers can’t control the impulse to gamble, even when they know their gambling is hurting themselves or their loved ones. They might even steal and rob other for money to gamble. Gambling is all they can think about and all they want to do, no matter the consequences.

The consequences are:

-Strain relationship with closed ones

-Interfere with work and responsibilities at home

- Lead to financial problems

With the recent opening of the Resort world Sentosa’s casino on 14 February, it encourages more people to gamble in Singapore which might lead to more people borrowing money from loan sharks and might cause more family to be broken because their family members are compulsive gamblers. To solve the problem, the government agreed to implement safeguards to limit the negative impact of casino gambling. Singaporeans would be charged an entrance fee of S$100 per entry or a fee of S$2,000 per year if they wish to enter the casino. Casinos would also be prohibited from extending credit to Singaporeans. The police are also stepping up to loan sharks to assure the people that the opening of the casinos would not affect them greatly and Singapore is still a safe place to live and work in .

Individuals and families with gambling problems can ring the hotline 1800-X-GAMBLE or
"1800-9-426253" from 9am-6.30pm on Mondays and Fridays, 9am-9pm on Tuesdays to Thursdays, and 9am-6pm on Saturdays. The hotline is funded by Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society.

Bibliography:

http://helpguide.org/mental/gambling_addiction.htm

http://www.singaporedice.com/compulsivegambling

http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1606_2009-10-31.html

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20100209-197510.html

“Marcus what are you doing? Swim faster!” This has been often shouted to me during my CCA Waterpolo training sessions by my coach. Coach has always said that I am very lazy, refusing to swim for the ball or swim faster to catch up with my opponent. Some times I agree with what he says that I really am lazy and slacking but other times I seriously am very tired and cannot move anymore.

However, I am not here to criticize my coach but to do some soul-searching and figure out what exactly went wrong.

Personally, I feel that it is both my attitude and mindset that is the problem. My wrong mindset started when I first knew about ACSI and how strong their waterpolo team really is. Their team has a strong 30 players for C division and all of their swimming and techniques are good. As only 15 players can enter the competition, the 15 players are the best of the best. However, for HCI waterpolo team, we do not even have 15 players in Secondary 2. Only after we have included the 3 Secondary 1 DSA players do we have 15 players. Hence, just by these statistics it is clear that HCI has already lost. I know that it is a wrong mindset for athletics to have even before they started playing with their opponents, but I just can’t get this out of my mind. My wrong mindset caused my attitude to be wrong too. Since we cannot defeat ACSI, for what reason do I still train so hard? This question is always ringing in my mind. That is the reason why I don’t take my training seriously.

After much soul-searching did I realize that this should not be the way. So what if we can’t defeat ACSI? We just have to try our best in it and there would still be a chance in winning, thought the percentage is not very high. If we just give up, there will not even be a chance at all. HCI waterpolo team is a strong team and has the potential to achieve, to win, to be the champion. It does not need someone who has a negative attitude and mindset. Hence, I will try my best to change, hopefully before nationals.

Everyday when I went home from school, I would see this sign, “ Thank you for moving back. Courtesy, try a little kindness.” at the back of the bus. During the peak hours buses will be packed like sardines and most of the seat will be occupied. However, it is a common sight to see the bus driver failing his hands, urging us to move back and shouting, “ Move back please!” continually and almost unfriendly. So why does our buses need signs and drivers to remind us to move back so as to allow more people to board the bus? Isn’t it basic courtesy to move back? Are Singaporean selfish? Or they simple do not care?

Now let me do an evaluation of why people do not want to move back. From my observation, there are many reasons people do not want to move at the back of the bus.

1.They are alighting soon and it is just ridiculous to move back and forth in such a short period of time and if they did, they might cause even more discomfort to other passengers.
2.They have their friend sitting down while they are standing and want to chat with each other. Hence, they refuse to move back and would rather let other passengers do so.
3.Some passengers just like certain part of the bus better! They prefer standing in the front part of the bus and refused to move back but they try to make space for others to do so.
4.Some passengers are unaware of their surroundings. They are busy talking with friends that they did not notice that other people have moved in and that there is a big gap in between. However, once they are aware of it they will move in.

So from the examples above, you can find out that not all passengers are selfish and only care about oneself. However, it is still not an excuse to not move in and allow other passengers to board the bus. Therefore, Singaporean should try their best to exercise basic courtesy in whatever they do so as to prevent foreigners from getting the wrong impression about Singapore. Everybody has a part to play, so lets play our part TODAY…

What is the future school programme about?