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Saturday, March 7, 2009,8:27 AM

Straits Times E-Forum Reflection Week 5

Article: "NTU Death Fall" - 'HOME' Section (Pg B6)

Q1:
What were some indications which showed that the victim was facing problems before he committed the rash act?
Answer: There are a few indications that shows that the victim was facing problems before he committed the rash act.
The victim's friends said he began behaving strangely earlier this year. He played a computer game for hours on end, was seldom seen outside of his hostel room, and then stopped replying to their MSN messages altogether. There were several students that said he was a cheerful and jovial person. But when the final semester began in early January, something changed.
A fan of the computer game World of Warcraft, the victim suddenly threw himself into it with a vengeance, spending as much as six hours a day huddled in front of his PC. His friends said hat this was unusual because he usually stopped playing when preparing for exams for when projects were due, and he had a looming deadline of March 10 to submit the draft for his Final-Year Project (FYP).
But then, two weeks ago, he abruptly cut off all comunication with his friends. There was a Indonesian student who said that the victim 'retreated into his shell' because he was having problems coping with his FYP.
A friend of the victim said that he knew he was having problems with his FYP and that he neglected it last semester as he was too busy with the other modules, and the victim did tell him that the other modules were too heavy. The friend believed that he played games to avoid his problems.

Q2:
(a) Is it very stressful being a student in Singapore? Explain.
Answer: Yes, I think it is very stressful being a student in Singapore at times. We not only face stress in studies, but also from our family and friends.
Being a student, facing stress in school is very normal. We have a lot of subjects to handle and there are tests frequently. Parents always expect their child/children to do well in school. As a child, we would hope that we could do a good job and prove to our parents that we can do it. Hence, if we got bad results for tests/exams, we will feel very upset that we did not reach our parents’ expectations, and at the same time, they might give us a scolding. In this way, we will push ourselves harder and ended up being stress.
Some of them may have family problems at home. After returning home from school, they may still have to face the problems at home, such as parents’ argument. This causes one to feel even more frustrated and angry, which adds to their stress level.
Students usually compare their results/ grades with their friends. Thus, if their friends scored better than them, they will think why they could not do it and will want to strive to do better than them. Consequentially, students will end up being more stress.

(b) What are some problems you face as a student which adds to your stress level?
Answer: As a student, the problems I face mostly come from school. Besides having a lot of homework, tests and exams, we also have to participate in CCA and CIP. Nowadays, I have about 8 subjects to handle and understand the concepts, which is very challenging for me. I have little time at home to finish my homework and revise because of CCA and some enrichment courses.
As I am in a very competitive class where a lot of them score high marks, I have to work extra harder so as to keep up with them. With the high expectations of parents and teachers, I have to work really hard so as not to let them down. Sometimes, I really feel that I cannot cope anymore and wanted to give up. The workload is so much that makes me very stress and tired. But I know that since I choose this path where there are so many subjects, I must not give up easily.Next, teachers sometimes skip some of the steps instead of going through everything. They expect us to know everything but however, some do not know. Thus, when the question appears in test, I usually cannot do it and makes me fail the test. This makes my stress level even higher.

-DONE-

Labels: ST reflection week 5