Assignment 1: The Voting Situation in Afghanistan by Ling Xuan andAndrea

Summarise the voting situation of Afghanistan in this article within 100 – 150 words.

On Saturday, an estimated 7 million Afghan voters turned out to vote at the presidential and provincial elections, despite threats from the Taliban to disrupt the vote and punish all involved in the first democratic transfer of presidential power in the country's turbulent history. Afghan voters were determined to vote as they wanted to enjoy their democracy, and needed a good president who will help the people and bring positive change and improved security to Afghanistan. Afghan security forces foiled several attacks against voting centers and ensured that the vote went largely smoothly. Electoral officials hope that this election is free of the allegations of fraud that marred the last vote in 2009. Afghanistan is a nation of diverse cultures and languages, which harbors potential for ethnic divides, but campaigns have crossed ethnic lines with contenders from Uzbek, Pashtun and other ethnic groups.
Reader Response Why is there a need to establish proper and secure voting rights for all?

To citizens, voting rights are seen as a key platform in individual preference to a country's decision making process. A capable and reliable leader will be voted into power based on the majority confirmation of the chosen leader's ability. Proper and secure voting rights would definitely have positive consequences. Afghanistan's continued political instability has been deemed intolerable by the public and the public views the elections as a crucial step to improving the situation. Proper and secure voting rights would mean that every citizen, regardless of background and religion, would be offered an equal vote; a fair say in the country's management. A vote is seen as a responsibility towards one's country as well as the future generation and it gives the citizens faith in their country’s future. For the Afghans, faith is derived from having a key role in deciding the next leader of their country and the possibility of the voted leader’s decisions ending the turmoil that Afghanistan has plunged into. The Afghans have expressed that “improved security is their main concern” and they have faith that the elections was a step in the right path to solving their country’s political state. Proper and secure voting rights have indeed proved to be beneficial for a country’s growth and advancement. Notably, under then Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership, the third world nation flourished and stands as the first world metropolis that we know of today.

Assignment 4: Is Education the Cure for Poverty? (Andrea Ang + Ling Xuan 4C)

SUMMARY: Summarise the impact of education on poverty and the challenges education faces in equipping people for the new workplace.

The impact that education has on poverty can be described as the “education premium” which is the earnings boost associated with more education. Improved education lowered family poverty by almost 4 percentage points. Education also rewards it’s students with increased premiums and more incentives.

The challenge education faces in equipping people for the new workplace is that there is a need to combine general education with multidimensional job training, readiness, and a quality job search. Education also has to combine general education with training specific to both the individual and his or her local labour market work. Another challenge education faces would be the recent changes in the labour market of which meritocracy, where we can reliably count on people being fairly rewarded for their improved skills, is not celebrated. Additionally, education solely improves the quality of workers, not the quality or the quantity of jobs. The workplace of the future is still very much structured to produce lots of low-wage jobs which are the most abuundant opportunities offered to the new graduates.

READER’S RESPONSE: Do you agree with the author whether if education is only part of the answer to poverty? Write your response with reference to the arguments in the article, within 200 to 250 words.

I agree with the author that education is only part of the answer to poverty, because education itself is insufficient without other contributing factors in place. Firstly, education needs to be coupled with job trainings and searches in order to alleviate poverty. According to the article, strawn reports that when education is combined with multidimensional job training and a quality job search, the returns more than double. This shows that when specific job training is provided alongside education, individuals become better at working in their local labour markets and people are now aided with job searches to relieve their unemployment. Secondly, the extent to which education is useful would also depend on the situation of the economy. Quoted from the article, "they also need an economic context wherein they can realize the economic returns from their improved human capital". Education merely moves people closer to the poverty line, but if we want to push people significantly above it, we would need additional institutions that would reward people for their skills and hence, incentivize them to work towards economic returns for themselves. Lastly, reforms, regulations and institutions need to be enforced in order to supplement the insufficient but necessary anti poverty tool of education. According to studies, in the late 1990s, poverty fell to historic lows because of the introduction of welfare reforms and a significant expansion of work supports, like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the minimum-wage increase. This shows that education itself is not enough, but we also need regulations and concrete mechanisms to push people above the poverty line. Hence, I agree with the author's stand.

Assignment 3: The Flight from Conversation

Summarise the impact of technology on human interaction in 150 to 200 words.
We now live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. However, in the midst of our communication, we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection. We have embraced technology as we can use technology to keep one another at distances we can control and present the self we want to be. However, this very technology we embrace has now made us fear conversation. Human relationships are messy and demanding, so we have learned the habit of cleaning them up with technology and thus, moved from conversation to connection. However, we fail to notice that online connections do not substitute for conversation and forget that there is a difference between conversing and connecting. We close our eyes to the fact that online communication doesn’t work as well when it comes to understanding and knowing one another compared to actual conversation where we can attend to tone and nuance and are called upon to see things from another’s point of view. When people are alone, even for a few moments, they fidget and reach for a device. We become so busy "communicating" that we often don’t have time to talk to one another about what really matters.

Do you agree with the author and is this happening in your society? If so, how can we improve the way we interact with one another? Provide reasons for your answers in one paragraph, with reference to the arguments in the article, within 200 to 250 words.
I agree with the author and this is explicitly happening in our society. One way we can improve the way we interact with one another is by understanding the benefits of having real life interaction. As quoted from the article, conversation allows us to "tend to one another", it culminates patience and encourages the learning of "skills of self reflection." Society fails to understand that only through real life conversation can two individuals accurately understand each other on a significantly meaningful level. This is done through tone perception, facial expression and body gestures which are simply masked behind our devices when we "connect" with others. The beauty of real life interaction is undermined and disregarded by the modern day perception of "technology keeping one another at distances we can control" and it is crucial that this mindset is addressed and corrected to improve our way of interaction. Another way we can improve the way we interact with one another is by creating "sacred places" that restrict the use of digital devices. Such a method would forcibly engage all individuals in the household in active conversation and promote real life connection. The inclination to engage in real life conversation will progressively develop once the individuals personally experience the benefits of real life communication. The "anti gadget rule" will allow individuals to see the value in the little updates they are provided with and will encourage a more open and inclusive environment for the organisation.

Assignment 2: Big Data: Are We Making a Big Mistake? (Andrea + LingXuan 4C)

SUMMARY

Big data was seen as a quick, accurate, cheap to collect relative to their size and theory-free mode of arriving at a conclusion. Big data is also considered data points collected for disparate purposes and the possibility of updating it in real time is noteworthy. Big data is also seen as a gateway to better integration and analysis if data, a factor contributing to cost efficiency. However, when it comes to data, size isn't everything. Big data is closely linked to the sampling error and it's tendency to not reflect the underlying population purely by chance. Sources that provide the collated data, that then form Big Data, are biased, not representative of the population as a whole and thus unreliable. Big data also tends to be messy and to contain systematic biases. It is difficult to figure out what biases lurk inside the data. Notably, errors produced by Big Data are related to the fact that the data set is not based on the favored "N = All" theory, where the sample includes everyone. Big Data is only an illusion of a comprehensive conclusion.

READER’S RESPONSE

Big Data will continue to be useful to us by being able to solve problems and find answers using the sheer scale of data sets that now exist. For example, Google was able to track the spread of influenza across the US faster than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Google was faster because it used the digital exhaust of web searches to track the outbreak. Big Data will continue to be useful because it is cheap to collect relative to their size and can be updated in real time. As our daily lives have moved more to the Internet, life can be recorded and quantified by Big Data in a way that would have been hard to imagine in the past.
We can be better at using Big Data by ensuring that we are gaining answers from Big Data in a stable environment, without making statistical mistakes on an even larger scale.
When examining a pattern in Big Data, we need to ask whether such a pattern might have emerged by chance. Also, there must be a question about who and what is missing, especially with a large and messy pile of data. Furthermore, we need to be aware of the problem of sampling bias, where the sample in which the data was collected from is biased. Due to data sets from Big Data being so large and messy in nature, it can be hard to figure out what biases lurk inside them. Lastly, we cannot submit to the notion of “With enough data, the numbers speak for themselves " and ignore problems like sampling bias.

Local Film Industry ( Ling Xuan 4C )

The local film industry is small but growing, and there are a few challenges that local filmmakers face.
Firstly, I feel that they have to deal with the problem of the small domestic market, due to the small population of Singapore. This means that they face more difficulty in earning profits, compared to overseas filmmakers in larger domestic markets. Furthermore, the filmmakers would also have to appeal to as many Singaporeans as possible to ensure that they do not make losses, since they have a smaller audience to work with in our local film industry. Also, most local films are centered around the lives and stories of Singaporeans, so they are more relatable to us locals. For example, Ah Boys to Men which talks about the experience of National Service that all Singaporean boys would have to undergo at the age of 18. The drawback of this is that it would be hard for these local films to venture into overseas markets since the plot and emotions of the film would be less relatable to one who is not a Singaporean. Also, these local films would have to compete against the blockbuster movies that have made it big around the world.
Concerned by the above obstacles that local filmmakers have to face, I personally think that there is a need for local filmmakers to be encouraged, supported and promoted. For example, more monetary support can be given to these local filmmakers in the form of grants. This ensures that they have greater monetary capacity to venture into the local film industry with lesser chances of incurring losses.
I strongly believe that with greater support and appreciation for local productions from our population, our local filmmakers and film industry can definitely achieve greater heights in bringing across the narratives and stories that Singapore has to tell through the film medium.