It is not unusual of hearing millionaire sportsmen ranking endorsement contracts. Even before they could prove their worth, they get huge contracts. The value of the sportsman is less likely to be measured by perfomance than contractual. Being a sports fan, I am interested in any sports that requires running or high speed agility. The joy of playing a sport is simply irreplaceable. However, the transfer deal of players like Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo caught my attention. They are now one of the richest footballers in the world, some of their former fans called the transfer a betrayal of football for money. This led to statement like ‘ High on the top of professional sportsmen’s agenda is making money rather than playing the game.” I agree to this statement to a large extend.

In the past, sportsmen purely play sports for their interest and talent. The sportsmen are purely playing for their pleasure and passion for the sports. However, sportsmen of today have treated them as career and no longer an interest. Money seems to be dictating the games. For example, in football betting, gambling companies always tries to ensure a great profit can be made every time a game is played, therefore sometimes resorting to match fixing. There are always cases of suspicion. For example: how could a top team with in the Premier League lose to a team from the bottom of the table in a home match? The familiarity of the field is theirs but not of the opponent. This lead to suspicion of match fixing. This is where integrity of the sports is compromised and controlled by bonuses.

Secondly, the media also has a part to play in this agenda for professional sportsmen. The constant focus of the media on the players and the coaches has changed the world of sports that we know have. Now people are to know the sports stars than the sports itself. The salaries of the players seems to be bought to light by the media and it changes the concepts of future potential sportsmen as they are enticed by the money but not by the passion of the sports itself. The media seems to be focusing on the wrong idea of the sports instead of team play or the sports detail itself. For example, many sportsmen started as amateurs and seems to be influenced by the media on wealth and fame that they might gain. As an influential tool, it most of the professional sportsmen will be influenced and make their salaries their focus instead.

Last but not least, society itself has an impact on the sportsmen of today. The society being highly economic driven, people with wealth are highly respected in the society. As some of the sportsmen themselves may not be able to be educated due to the fact that they might have went to training in sports during their educational years, to prevent looked down and cast aside by the society, they are driven by the thirst of wealth instead of the passion of the sports. For example: Wayne Rooney of Manchester United Football Club may be wealthy due to a large salary pay from football, but in actual knowledge, he has not even completed his studies, thus being looked down by people around saying he is just an uneducated wealthy man.

However, there are sportsmen that really played their sports for passion instead of the money. Cyclist Lance Armstrong is one good example that why professional sportsmen should follow. Being a champion of many competitions, he actually created a foundation called the Lance Armstrong Foundation for the cancer patients. He donated all his salaries and winnings to this foundation and this foundation actually helps patient to pay for their medical fees. Women soccer also are being played by passion as it could be seen that there are no gambling companies betting after them and everyone thinks that the sports is worthless.

In conclusion, in the professional sports of today, money seems to be more important than the game itself. The situation is so bad that gambling companies are matching fixing and taking out the game itself. The sportsmen’s performance are increased for each superlative performance. The media and the society both has their respective negative impacts on the sports itself. Has money really taken out the real passion for the sports?

Tan Ming Hui
Block 461, Choa Chu Kang Avenue 4
#05-79
Singapore 123456

24 October 2009

The Principal
Bukit Panjang Government High School
7 Choa Chu Kang Avenue 4
Singapore 689809

Dear Miss Tan,

Suggestions on which Facilities to Build

I am writing this letter to suggest on the best addition to the school’s facilities. I am Tan Ming Hui from class 4M1and I am representing my classmates in giving the views on which facilities that we think that is the best addition to our current facilities. I am pleased to inform you that we have all came to the same agreement on a theatre and concert hall.

Firstly, a theatre and concert hall are much needed in the school as the Performing Arts group in our school has no place to practice as our hall is only able accommodate only a group of students at one time. Having a theatre and concert hall, allows the Perfoming Arts groups to have more places to practice and the students from different groups would need to snatch or compete with one another for space. A theatre will be perfect for the Drama club in the school to hold performances. Previously, whenever the Drama group of the school holds performance, viewers have to go to a far and expensive theatre away from school. If the theatre is built, viewers of the school will not need to journey so far to watch the performance as they can now watch the show in school. A concert hall will be put into good use by the talented musicians of  our school. Currently, the Chinese Orchestra are practicing in one of the classrooms at the lower level of the study block. Their practice may cause a noise hindrance to students or residents that maybe nearby. Having a concert hall will not just keep the noise contain but also provide a good ambiance for the musician to play. The concert hall also provides a place for music concert to be held too. Local community can also hold community events in these places to have combined events like Family Day activities, bazaars and many more.

The reason why we rejected the idea of having a multi-purpose sports hall which include an indoor swimming pool is because of the cost of maintaining. A multi-purpose sports hall is rather redundant due to the fact that the school has sufficient space for different sports activities. Our school has clearly enough space to accommodate to every student to play a sport as the fact we had our Sports day within our school this year. Although an indoor swimming pool is one that the school does not have but the cost of maintaining an indoor swimming pool is high as the water have to be cleaned constantly and professional lifeguards must be hired as well. Therefore, building a multi-purpose sports hall and indoor swimming pool are not just redundant but costly as well.

The reason the idea for a multi-media resource centre is not chosen is because it is rather inessential as our school has more than enough computers to spare with, the school itself has four computer labs, one IT resource room and the library itself has the latest digital library. Opening a Cyber cafe is definitely out of te question as it not just attracts students to come and play instead of learning but to be addicted to gaming. This could lead to a whole group of students’ results to drop as they are playing instead of studying. Instead of building a new multi-resource centre, we could use our current facilities to offer the community some IT training for young and old. Therefore, it is not necessary to build a new multi-resource centre.

I hope that after reading my letter, you would consider the choice that I decided on as in my opinion, it benefits not just the students but the teachers and the community as well.

Your Sincerely,
Ming Hui

Next, let me talk about the reason behind choosing the bowling event as the most appropriate remuneration. The Students’ Council has decided to organise a bowling competition among the graduating classes. As this is last time the students can be playing together as class against others, we will get to strengthen the class spirit as well as the ties between each of us. This is also link to one of our core values in our school: teamwork, as this is a inter-class competition, classmates must help one another to achieve the greatest amount of points for the class as there are attractive prizes to be won. The winner class would have a dinner of any restaurant of the class choice sponsored by the none other by the Principal himself. The highest scorer of the day will get a Creative Technology MP3 worth of $599. There are also other awards such as ‘The Best Throwing’ award, ‘The Funniest Throw’ award and many more sponsored by our dearest teachers. The Prize Presentation event would held in the Cafe where delicious food and buffet would be served there as well. To make this even more memorable, each of us will get a T Shirt that remembers this very day that the graduating classes would gather here and play bowling.

The reason why a movie and a trip to Escape Theme Park would not be as appropriate reward for the graduating class as the event itself might not be as memorable as a bowling event. Firstly, the trip to watch Transformers, would be definitely a treat to the male graduating students, however, there are female students in the batch who might not like to watch the movie itself. Watching a movie itself would allow not a chance for the bond together as usually we cannot talk during the movie as it might bother others viewing the film. For the trip to Escape Theme Park, students will tend to stick to their own clique and would not likely to others for fun. Although there are world class rides, the students will not remember this as an eventful day because they will most probably remember their times with their best friends instead of the whole graduating class. The prices of the movie tickets are much more expensive than those of bowling and the tickets of admission to the Escape Theme Park definitely cost about three to four bowling tickets. Therefore, it terms of cost and appeal, the bowling event at Marina Square wins hands down.

In conclusion, I hope that you will give me your support for choosing this reward to Marina Square for a bowling event as I am sure that it will make this a memorable and eventful day in your life. With this, I would like to thank you for your kind attention.

Crawling in my skin
Consuming all I feel
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real

There’s something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
Consuming/Confusing
This lack of self-control I fear is never-ending
Controlling/I can’t seem

To find myself again
My walls are closing in
[Without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced
That there's just too much pressure to take]
I’ve felt this way before
So insecure

Discomfort, endlessly has pulled itself upon me
Distracting/Reacting
Against my will I stand beside my own reflection
It’s haunting how I can’t seem…

Population control has always been a very controversial and ethnic issue. Whether it is seen as a good government policy or an infringement of privacy, the questions exists in every country: is population control necessary? what does population control means? Population control is the artificial altering of rate of population growth in a country.

Firstly, population control is necessary as it oversees the development of a country. The population growth rate has a direct impact on a country’s development as they are inextricably linked. For example: overpopulation is a serious impediment to development efforts. When the population growth becomes an exponential one, there would be an increasing widening gap between rich and poor, thus, creating extreme inequalities in access to and control of resources including knowledge and opportunities. All these are social mandates which improve the quality of life for a society. Population which usually being used as a resource, no longer becomes one in this case but turns into a burden. Therefore, population control is necessary as it is able to keep of the development of a country in check.

Secondly, population control is important to a country’s sustainability. In the past, vital country survival was to have as much manpower as possible, so that more people are able to work in the form. During the past which was the agriculture age where more manpower equals to more more economic development. Therefore, in the past, large families were more desirable due to its profitability but this was also due to the reasons of infant mortality was high and life expectancy was low. However, compared to the population means increasing pressure on the natural resources, tightening environmental constraints and widespread poverty. Unprecedented rate of growth can inadvertently lead to famine due to the lack of food. Food production cannot sustains its own growth, resulting in the need of population control.

However, population control infringes human rights. Whether one wants to have a large or a small one, they cannot choose as they have to conform to the government’s policies. Population control would also result in exploitation. As the people have to conform to the government’s policies, people would have to go through methods such as abortion or contraception. However, these methods of controlling birth rate are against some religious belief. For example: Catholics do not encourage abortion or contraception. Another disadvantage of population control is it could lead to the lost of innocent lives. For example, in China, the one child policy was implemented, as the number of people in China is too great, therefore it results in the government wanting the growth to slow down so as to prevent problems with sustainability. As part of China still belongs to agriculture, males are preferred over females. When a family has a child which is a girl, they would kill the baby, resulting in infanticides. These inhumane actions are the results of population control.

In conclusion, I think that population control is definitely necessary to a country as it keeps a country on its development and make sure that it is able to sustain itself. However, the presence of population control also causes problems like infringing of human rights or even exploitation that may lead to inhumane acts of infanticides.