Reading "I have A Dream" by Martin Luther King,Jr

Wow... this is the second time I am reading on "I have A Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr. Still, it leaves a big impact on me. Why do we still practise segregation and discrimination while we claim ourselves to be in a civilised society of 21st century? To segregrate and discriminate people because of thier skin colours, religions and beliefs are acts that should not appear in a civilised society!

Again, this speech reminds me that how sufferings of living beings never end in this world. Historical facts from World War I and World War II until the incidence of 9-11 show that humans never stop fighting with each other over larger pieces of lands and bigger shares of wealth. How leaders and nations have always tried very hard to overpower each other -- to prove their countries are stronger in military and more influential politically. These struggles for more power and wealth always lead the people to suffer even more!

We really do need more leaders who fights for equality and justice for all human-beings in the non-violence ways! Violence cannot solve our problems. In fact, we should not segregate and discriminate people in the first place! Like the famous line from the speech of Martin Luther's King, "All men are created equal". Nobody should try to overule the others because we are all the same under the names of Gods! When our time is up, nobody has the previlage to linger even one minute more than the others. We are all the same when deaths approach us!

Freedom Writers

It is a very touching movie. It teaches us about the real situations that we might face in the classroom. As a teacher trainee, I feel that to some extent this movie exposes me to the reality out there– how it will never be easy for the teacher to handle students from different economical, social and cultural backgrounds. All the challenges that had been faced by Mrs. G perhaps I will face it myself in the near future. The reality will not be as idealized as our imaginary. The school authorities might not be supportive; the parents are unconcerned about the education of their children, and even the students themselves are disinterested in the learning process itself.

How could I survive all these challenges? What should I do to get my students interested in the lesson? I think Mrs. G has done a pretty good job there. She is flexible and changes her method of teaching after the typical chalks and notes do not work out in her classroom. She tries her best to relate the lessons to the real life contexts of students. She tailors her lessons according to the students’ needs. To me, this is the main reason as well why there is the need for education. Lessons should enable students to put into practice what they have learnt in the classrooms. Education should give students an alternative or an opportunity to make changes in their lives. Teachers play the roles to expose these opportunities to the students. However, to change or not to change will depend on the students. At least, we as teachers should have done the best that we could. Teachers are not the perfect persons, but we could learn and grow together with the students along the way. As long as we still have the passion for teaching, there will be ways to make our lessons better, and there will be even more chances for us to express concerns to our students.

However, I do not think I will sacrifice my family because of my career. Perhaps the husband of Mrs. G has some weaknesses himself, but it is also obvious that she has neglected her family. She has some share of fault as well when the marriage fails. Imagine if she has a child? Isn’t it her responsibility as well to educate her own child? I would not do anything so extreme in my life. Yes, teaching might be a vocation to many of us. However, the teaching of Buddha teaches me about the necessity to be modest. We have to follow the middle path if we are to have genuine happiness in our lives. Nothing should be too extreme in our lives, because extreme enjoyment or extreme suffering is not good either. I strongly believe that I should find a balanced point in everything I do. I could be a dedicated teacher while still taking good care of my family. Yes, my students need me, but my elderly parents, my siblings, my future spouse and children need me as well. I have to treat them fairly and be responsible to each and every one of them. All these people are equally important in my life. My life would be sort of incomplete if I am to be without any of them.

About Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch artist. His paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive pieces. Some of Vincent van Gogh famous works include “The Potato Eaters”, “Sunflowers” and “The Starry Night”. He produced more than 2,000 works, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches, during the last ten years of his life. Most of his best-known works were produced in the final two years of his life, during which time he cut off part of his left ear following a breakdown in his relationship with Paul Gauguin. After this, he suffered of mental illness, which led to his suicide.

Vincent van Gough seemed to behave quite radically in everything that he did. Not only cutting down his left ear, Vincent behaved as feverishly as well when he was a priest in the village of Petit Wasmes. Vincent opted to live like those he preached to, sharing their hardships to the extent of sleeping on straw in a small hut at the back of the baker's house. His choice of poor living conditions did not please the church authorities, and Vincent was being dismissed for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood."

The central figure in Van Gogh's life was his brother Theo, who continually and selflessly provided financial support to Vincent. Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards. In the letter, Vincent shared with Theo about his religious belief, and his passion in drawing. They even exchanged their most inner thoughts and feelings. This means of communication enabled Vincent to express his opinions regarding what art was in his eyes. He was depressed because he cannot work while he was ill. “Art is jealous; she does not like taking second place to illness.”

Implications for Education -- by using “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park” as the literary texts

I would strongly recommend that both the novels “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park” be included as literary texts for Malaysia secondary school curriculum. How can both the novels be used to teach values in Malaysian secondary schools?

First of all, I personally feel that these two novels have given a very good exposure to students regarding the cultural and societal values of the eighteenth century. In fact, the teachers in classrooms can use both “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park” as points-of-entry to teach about values of the eighteenth century. The teachers can do in-depth study together with the students to find out what might be the historical contexts that influenced the mindsets, values, and actions of the characters. For example, these two novels present clearly that women in Jane Austen’s era could only seek financial and social security through obtaining good marriages. The role of the teachers in here is – to function as the facilitators and guide the students in finding out what are the reasons behind the behaviour of the characters. Why a marriage in the Jane Austen’s society has become an economic event?


Secondly, both “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park” are useful in exposing students to the mistreatment that women received in the eighteenth century. Students could be made aware that the society in Jane Austen’s era has imposed far more obstacles than opportunities for women to realise their personal desire for freedom, education, and even choices of life partners. From here, the teachers could ask the students to compare and contrast the values of the society and the values of both Elizabeth and Fanny. How much do both protagonists represent the values of the society? And yet, how much do both protagonists different from the ordinary women of her society? What are the roles and expectations of women at Jane Austen’s era? Teachers could encourage students to think over those questions and read more extensively to find out the possible explanations.


Thirdly, both novels “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park” also provide opportunities for students to think about what personal happiness might mean to them. Happiness may mean different things to different people. Therefore, teachers could mention to students about the importance of constructive criticism. Students should learn to respect and not criticising others’ opinions in the first place. They should learn to listen first before they give out their own opinions.


Fourthly, the societal contexts in both novels can be applied to modern world as well. The society has never changed much either in eighteenth or twenty-first centuries – how the people are still in eager pursue of more wealth and higher social status. People have lost the true understanding towards what might personal happiness mean. Worse still, the society is getting more and more materialistic in the modern world. We could never feel satisfied with the current figures in our bank accounts and we postpone our chances for genuine happiness by saying the following statements:
v I'll be happy when I make RM 100,000 a year.
v I'll be happy when I get my dream house.
v I'll be happy when I have enough money to quit my job.

However, students should be told by the teachers that happiness is not necessary associated with wealth and status. Of course money could provide us with all the basic necessities in life, but there are many others factors that contribute to ones’ personal happiness. For example, a person could feel happy when he/she is having the freedom to make choices, or a person with strong religious faiths could always feel contented in life. These values should be put into consideration as well. Therefore, students should be encouraged to think more openly and thoroughly before they make any decision in their life.


In conclusion, both novels “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park” have exposed various social issues to the students. Both novels have touched on the issues of societal expectations versus individual values and also on fates of women in the eighteenth century. Therefore, both novels would be very good texts indeed if they are to be used as teaching materials in secondary schools.

Writing the first draft of my research paper

It took me quite a long time to write out my first draft. I spent a lot of time on rereading the novels "Pride and Prejudice" and "Mansfield Park". It was a rather tedious process to find out what are all the suitable qoutations for my research paper as well.


Then, I initially had a very difficult time to give a smooth flow to my essay. I had to go through the editing processes for many times before I could arrive at a paragraph that I felt satisfied with. I had to rearrange the structure of my essay and recombine some of the sentences in order to have a coherent piece of writing. Through out the writing process, I had to compare and contrast what are the similarities and differences of these two novels.


In fact, I had done some researches to find out how the historical and societal contexts of Jane Austen's era had influenced the values and actions of the characters. What were the society's expectations towards the behaviour of the characters during that era? What were the roles of women in the eighteenth century?


In conclusion, although it took me roughly two weeks to get my first draft of my reserach paper done, I still felt that it was a worthwhile process because I had learnt up alot of things through out the process.

Fighting for more time to read my second readings of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park”

This week had not been an easy week for me. So many assignments and societal activities to be handled at the same time! Now and then were meetings and group discussions! Therefore, I really was literally fighting for more time to read my second readings of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park”.

It had never been easy for me to understand the language that Jane Austen used in the novels. Most the time, I had to read it twice before I could really understand the gist of the meaning. The compound-complex sentences used by Jane Austen were rather lengthy and complicated. The eighteen-century’s language was sometimes archaic and beyond my context of comprehension. Therefore, these situations made second readings compulsory in my case.

Indeed, I considered my accomplished task for second readings as a form of achievement!

Why do the teachers need to expose students to different types of Malaysian Festival Celebrations?

It is important for the teachers to expose students to different cultural practices and celebrations of different races. In a multi-racial country like Malaysia, unity and understanding among different races could only be achieved under the condition that the students or people in general know what are cultural values and norms of each other. If we understand the superstitions and taboos of other races, we would not offend the feelings of other races.

In fact, knowing the cultural practices of other races enable students to behave according to society’s expectations. For example, students are expected not to wear red colour or fanciful clothes while attending Chinese’s funeral rituals.

Last but not least, teaching cultural practices and celebrations enable students to be selective on what are the practices and values to be followed by them and what are not to be followed. The teachers could try to make students aware that old-fashioned / gender-biased / superstitious practices should not be continued. For example, the superstitious practice that says we should not buy books during Chinese New Year seems rather ridiculous to me.