critical reflection

I felt embarrassed and disappointed when I failed QET and realized that I need to put in more effort in my essay writing. In fact, I felt thankful that I could have the opportunity to write academic essay with APA referencing.  Furthermore, the lectures help me to improve my language.

The academic essay I wrote was about inequality. In some developing countries, poor development of the broadband infrastructure and the limitations in the education system are the problems that widen the gap between developed countries and developing countries. During the writing process, research was very important in order to form the basic structure of my essay, I believe this was definitely helpful for me to write other academic essays in NUS. From this English course, I have learnt the importance in content development, essay organization and grammar. Although I have met some challenges during essay writing, for example, I have difficulty in developing ideas from essay writing, as an engineering student, I usually deal with numbers instead of sentences, therefore, I am also poor in grammar. However, this course offers me a chance to write and I can learn from my mistakes.

All in all, learning, learning English is a long and tough journey. We will not be able to master English writing by just attending a course. It needs time and effort. In the future, I will spend more time reading, such as news articles and novels.

Essay-draft 2

Technology is extremely crucial in the nature of globalization as it connects people in different ways, it also speeds up the economic growth around the world. Through various technological inventions, people can spend less time to travel. Businessmen can communicate with partners through the Internet and get business done efficiently. Furthermore, consumer can get all the information or goods they require through online resources and e-Market. In the recent decades, digital technologies such as mobile phones and the online applications have been dramatically developed. All these phenomena show the dominant role of the technologies in our society. However, not all individuals can obtain beneficial equally through these advanced technologies. On the one hand, in some rural areas, the poor developments in the broadband infrastructure, and the limitation in spreading the information from the current media, which in turn caused some people do not have a chance to know and use these advanced devices. On the other hand, without using smart technology, people have less chance to learn from computers and other related skills in their early stage. As a result, it will be very hard to catch up with the people who are familiar with the advanced devices. With the present problems, inequality often occur in developing counties over the years, a gap of digital divide has been formed. To address the problems, firstly, the government can allocate funds to creative inventions or developed companies to improve the infrastructure in the rural areas. Secondly, the Ministry of Education can establish a guideline for every school, every student are allowed to choose one or more elective modules that must be related to computers and Internet study.

Firstly, government intervention is the most effective and fastest way. Due to lack of proper infrastructures, the advanced devices are not able to spread in these rural areas. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to allocate funds to creative inventions. Robertson (2013) points out a group of India students invented a Solar Conduction Dryer, they won the grand prize and received US$60,000 to help and commercialize their project. This simple and innovative technology allows the user to use solar energy to dry food thus reducing spoilage and alleviating rural poverty. “Our solar conduction dryer will act as a boon for the farmers and fishermen with poor access to electricity,” said Shital Somani with Solar Conduction Dryer (as cited in Robertson, 2013). Furthermore, infrastructure such as broadband lines is important to capture the latest information and communication through the Internet. With a funding program, people in rural areas tend to have more creative projects and better platforms to improve their living environment.

Secondly, the Ministry of Education can establish a new policy, which the students can have computers and Internet studies in school. Nevertheless, adult classes and free access to the computers are equally important for some people in these rural areas. By opening classes at various institutions in rural areas, people are able to learn advanced skills such as computer programing and Microsoft word, which will help them to get mid-level job or even a higher-level job. According to a economical research, the gap tends to narrow and competitiveness is enhanced once the population’s overall skill level improves (Wong, 2010). This program gives people a chance to become skilled, since some of the people in rural areas are lowly educated, absence of knowledge and skills will widen the gap between the skilled and unskilled people. Therefore, it is extremely important for the government to invest some classes for the people to learn new skills.

With no doubt, both solutions depend heavily on government intervention; many countries have proven the effectiveness result. With proper infrastructure, people from rural areas will be able to use advanced technology easily. With better education system, people will be able to get a better job through learning new skills. However, developing countries are not as rich as developed countries, one of the biggest challenge is funding. Today, country like Africa, the extreme poverties are still fighting against pestilence and hunger. These countries do not have money for the intervention. Hence, the problem in those developing countries can only be addressed gradually.

Reference

Anup Shah, (2013). Cause of Poverty.  

Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

Jenny Robertson, (2013). Solar Conduction Dryer Wins Grand Prize in 2013 Dell Social Innovation Challenge. Retrieved from http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/secure/2013-05-15-dell-social-innovation-challenge

CHOAKWONG (2010). Quality education the solution to wealth gap. 

Retrieved from http://ihome.cuhk.edu.hk/~b120159/Media%20Coverage/Quality_education_the_solut.pdf

Inequality

Today, people like us, relay on our smart phones, the Internet and computers every single moment; however, this does not apply to two-thirds of the people around the world. Technology is extremely crucial in the nature of globalization as it makes our work and daily activities easier. Through various technology inventions, people are able to travel aboard with shorter time. Businessmen can communicate with partners in another country through Internet anytime, anywhere. Furthermore, people can easily get all the information and goods they require by just a simple click. In the recent decades, digital technologies such as mobile phones have been developed dramatically. All these phenomena show the dominant role of the technologies in our society. However, not all individuals can obtain benefit from this technology equally. On the one hand, people who are from rural areas do not even have a chance in touch with these advance technologies; poor development and very limited information can be spread from the current media. On the other hand, children grew up without using smart technology, they have lesser chance to learn from computers and other related skill in their early age, as a result, created a steep learning curve of advance technology skills. With the present problems, inequality often raised in developing counties over the years, the gap of digital divide has been form. To address the problems, one-way is the government can allocate funds to creative inventions or developing companies to improve the infrastructure in the rural areas. The other way is to establish the technology skill education in these rural areas, thus will eventually relieve poverty gap.

Firstly, government intervention is the most effective way among the solutions. As there is lack of proper infrastructure for the advance technology to spread in these rural areas. Thus, it is necessary for the government to invest for the invention. Elga Reyes point out “ A group of people invented a Solar Conduction Dryer in India won the grand prize in 2013, they received US$60,000 in prize money to help and commercialize their project (Elga Reyes, 2013)”. This simple and innovative technology allows the user to use solar energy to dry food thus reducing spoilage and alleviating rural poverty. Furthermore, infrastructure such as broadband lines is important to capture the latest information and communication through Internet. Learning center can be established to the people from these rural areas, free access to these computers must provide. With a funding program, people in rural areas will tends to have more creative projects and better platform to improve their living environment.

Secondly, by opening classes at various institutions in rural areas, people in rural areas are able to learn advance skills such as computer programing and Microsoft word, which help them to get into the mid-level jobs or even a higher-level job. From an economic research “ the gap tends to narrow and competitiveness is enhanced once the population’s overall skill level improves.(H.K,2010)”. This program gives people a chance to become a skilled person, since most of the people in rural areas are lowly educated, absence of knowledge and skills will cause them reluctant to learn advanced skills. Therefore, it is extremely important for the government to invest class to show them how easy and interesting the computer can be used to capture information around the world.

With no doubt, both solutions depends heavily on government’s intervention, many countries have proven the successes and effectiveness. With proper infrastructures people from rural areas will be able to in touch with advance technology easily, with a better education system, people will be able to get a better job through learning new skills. However, developing country is not as rich as developed country, the biggest challenge aspect is funding. Today, most of the poverty colonies are still fighting against pestilence and hunger. These countries do not have money for the intervention. Hence, the problem in those developing countries can only be addressed gradually.

Reader response (Draft 2)

“Malaysia drops English language teaching”, reported by Max de Lotbiniere, regarded to the fact that Malaysia has phased out the use of English for teaching Science and Mathematics. English was once the medium in most schools in Malaysia; being poor in English will affect graduates competing for their work against people from other countries, such as neighboring Singapore. However, Malaysian government decided to abandon the use of English to teach math and science after eleven years of practice in 2013 and English will be taught in a separate class. One of the reasons mentioned was the dominance of the English language will undermine student’s grasp of their first language. Others, especially the parents in urban areas, felt disappointed at the government’s decision. In my opinion, the Malaysian government should review and reconsider their decision to have a better solution for both parties.

Today, in Malaysia, some families are spending large amount of effort in sending their children abroad or paying for expensive private schools to learn English, thus there is no doubt that having a strong foundation in the English language, which in turn offer them a competitive edge over their peers in this globalized world. Singapore as a very small neighboring country insists on using English as their first language. Therefore, the gaps between the rates of economical and the medical development are remarkable. However, as stated in the article, “the education authorities outside the major cities failed to find enough staff to teach in English. (Lotbiniere,2009) ” This will eventually cause gaps between urban and rural areas in Malaysia, thus people who were not getting benefits from this English teaching program will exert pressure against the government. One option could be offering a good paid teaching job for the teachers who are willing to teach in the rural areas, as a result, this will increase the probability of teachers who are willing to teach in the rural areas dramatically. However, there are more people benefit from this English teaching program, as this group of people have strong believes in that English is a critical factor for the future. This can be proved from the article, “84% out of 40,000 people agree with the post in Dr Mahathir ‘s blog, that they felt disappointment and even anger towards the government’s decision.(lotbiniere,2009)”






In conclusion, English is necessary as it plays a crucial role in allowing partners from different racial groups to communicate with one another effectively. Therefore, the abandonment of this English teaching program will eventually cause Malaysia lose out economically.