Article 2 for Blog Submission 1: Term 1

Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061201266.html

Review of Article:
This article is indeed very shocking. This article illustrates just how much humans are destroying the environment. If polar bears are turning to cannibalism just to survive now, I cannot imagine just how bad the global warming is. You may say: "Oh, this has nothing to do with me," but I know how closely related this is to me. Global warming affects every one. I live in Singapore, where temperatures are at an average of 32 degrees celsius every day. If there was to be global warming, the temperature in Singapore will be higher, maybe 35, maybe even 40 or higher. How am I to survive then? This phenomenon is more impactful than it seems. However, it seems that this article is assuming a lot of things. For example, the article has not specified whether it had been scientifically proven that the female polar bear WAS cannibalised by another male polar bear. For all we know, the carcass that they found could have been eaten by a human. Now, this may sound ridiculous, but, the article did not specify whether prints of another polar bear was found near the carcass. Also, even though there is adequate evidence provided, I do not feel that the arguments presented are very strong arguments. It seems too farfetched to be believed and other than the polar bears, there was no other evidence provided. To me, frankly, even though it is shocking, but the idea of cannibalism also sounds ridiculous. Of course, the author could have seen the carcass for himself, thus seeing something I don't. For me to understand, I need to have sufficient proof that this is true, maybe a picture of the carcass. However, no pictures were given. However, I can see that the author was trying to make me see that global warming was indeed a very big threat to the survival of endangered animals and even humans ourselves. I do realise that I have limited knowledge about this topic, I am not an expert on polar bears, nor have I been given conclusive evidence of the evidence in this article. Also, being in Singapore, a country far away from Alaska, I am skeptical about the extent of global warming and I might misunderstand the exact implications of global warming because of living in a totally different geographical location. However, from this article, I feel that I can actually use the knowledge in this article to actually educate people about the need to recycle and reuse things to reduce the effect of global warming. Also, I can use the knowledge to discuss the state of global warming with people and thus understand more about this phenomenon. Lastly, I know that I am not knowledgeable enough to discourse on this article, thus, my thinking that global warming is not very impactful should be modified to suit this particular situation by learning more about global warming and its implications on the Earth.

Article 1 for Blog Submission 1: Term 1

Here is the article I chose to review for the blog summission:

Why kids need sex education? Girl, 9, pregnant

Written By Yap Su-yin

Straits Times

Case of Primary 3 pupil cited by counsellor at youth forum amid concerns about teen pregnancy

THE Primary 3 pupil was just nine years old, but she was already six monthspregnant with a 14-year-old schoolmate’s child.The memory of the distraught parents and child sitting in her NuLife Care andCounselling Services office in Little India three years ago still sticks incounsellor Sheena Jebal’s mind.The girl could well be the youngest pregnancy case in Singapore, judging by aStraits Times check with local hospitals, youth social workers, teen sheltersand pregnancy helplines.But though her case is extremely rare, it highlights ongoing concerns aboutyouth pregnancy.Figures on the ground indicate that thousands of teens are experimentingsexually, say youth social workers and counsellors.Last year, Ms Jebal’s centre alone came across at least 30 cases of teenshaving sex. The youngest male was about 12 and the youngest female about 13.A Straits Times check with restructured hospitals here revealed that between2000 and this year, the youngest female to give birth at KK Women’s andChildren’s Hospital was 12 years old. The youngest at Singapore GeneralHospital was 14. The National University Hospital declined comment.As required by law, they were reported to the police as cases of underage sex.Ministry of Health figures for 2001 to 2005 show an average of around 1,500teen abortions every year. In 2005, the exact figure was 1,279 and in 2004, thenumber was 1,341.Nearly all the teens who aborted their babies in 2005 were between 15 and 19years old and unmarried. Slightly more than half were Chinese and a third wereMalay.The figures go to the heart of a controversy over the issue of how earlychildren should be exposed to sex education in schools.Ms Jebal cited the example of the pregnant nine-year-old during a youth forumto counter the complaints of one participant, who felt her sister in Primary 4was too young to start learning about sex.Called “Yes/No” Youth In Relationships, it was organised by RepublicPolytechnic’s Indian Cultural Group and Narpani Pearavai Youth ExecutiveCommittee last Saturday.Ms Jebal said the nine-year-old had begun to experiment with sex with aschoolmate at home when her parents, both professionals, were at work.Recounting the tense one-hour discussion she had with the family to The StraitsTimes, Ms Jebal said: “Her parents taught her how to use a sanitary napkin, butdidn’t educate her about menstruation or sex.“They felt she was too young to know at her age. There is no such thing asbeing too young to know,” said Ms Jebal.Ms Tan Bee Joo of the Singapore Children’s Society cited several areas ofconcern, including lack of adult supervision over the use of the Internet,where teens can easily access pornographic sites and “meet” strangers online.“It creates opportunities for children to chat with strangers, go on blinddates, sell their bodies for money to satisfy material wants,” she warned.Also, many parents are not giving their children the right sexual knowledge orinstilling proper moral values in them at a young age, she said.Ms Tan, who is head of the society’s Students Service Hub in Bukit Merah, said:“We have many students asking many sexuality-related questions, which manyadults would never have thought children at this age know.“Children need to be taught to take responsibility for their own actions, butthis should be accompanied by providing them with the right information.”

Review of Article:

I felt that this article carried a very deep significance. It shows why sex education is actually very important. This article has clearly shown the curiosity in humans, and how sometimes, ironically, curiosity can kill the cat. In this case, the cat was the 9-year old girl. Frankly, I was shocked when I first read the article. I realized how sex education was very important, especially in teenagers nowadays. After I read it, I felt that this article was closely related to me. As a teenager, I am also curious about this new world called "sex". Our parents have always told us that "sex is bad. Don't do it," but why? This article has illustrated the point that parents have to educate their children about sex, even when they consider their children "too young to know". From the author's perspective, it seems that sex education is necessary because if parents do not educate their children right from the beginning, their children will get curious and eventually "explore this new world", and get themselves into trouble. I see what the author is trying to get at, and I agree partly with her solution, but I question, are teenagers that obedient? Being a teenager, I know that teenagers are more rebellious nowadays, and thus I sincerely doubt that the teenagers will not experiment with sex. I also realise that this article has not given sufficient evidence to support the claim that children must be sexually educated. The statistics only showed that many teenagers had underage sex before, but there were no statistics to show how letting teenagers be sexually educated could reduce the number of underage sex cases. Also, it is assumed in this article that underage sex is bad. I realise the consequence and controversy of this statement, but it has to be proven that underage sex IS bad before the issue of sex education is discussed. However, I realise that the author was trying to make us see that to stop the potential menace called "underage sex", parents will have to educate teenagers about sex at a much younger age. Of course, the author has went through a teenage life and (I presume) sex before, thus, maybe she could see something else about sex that I could not. However, I do realize that I have to experience sex before I can realise why the term "sex" is always not talked about when children or teenagers are nearby. Of course, I know that my knowledge is limited on this topic, and I do not fully know about sex to comment, and of course, I am speaking as a teenager, so I may be prejudiced towards a teenager's view on this topic and not understand the perspective of an adult, but, I do know that from the knowledge garnered from this article, we could use this skill effectively to reduce the cases of underage sex, and also let teenagers understand the term "sex" in a more unique way.