Racism - Tanvi Singh

“How do you not celebrate Christmas?” one of them barked

“Um.. I am a Hindu, and I celebrate Diwali.” I replied with a soft and hurt voice.

Racism is still an immense issue that lingers all over the world. If we don’t fix this issue, it will continue to hurt people everyday. Many people in our community think of this, as an insignificant issue, probably because they have not experienced it. Being a victim of racism, I assure you it is an intense issue. Racism doesn’t benefit either the racist or the victim. Thus, leading to conflicts or fatal consequences. Also, it can politically destroy the country’s reputation if the leader discriminates the residents of the country .

We have all stumbled upon the outrageous idea. I am talking about Donald Trump’s idea. On BBC.com, there is a controversial article stating that Donald Trump urges Americans to ban Muslims from coming in to U.S. In his perspective, he believes that all muslims are terrorists. Fortuitously, the law has been disapproved. He was also denounced after he suggested an idea. He wanted to close some Mosques in addition to that, all muslims in the country, should be monitored.

I am a Hindu, therefore I don’t celebrate christmas. But nevertheless, I have not spoken bad about it. I was in my friends house, when the event took place.

“Tanvi, where is your Christmas tree” She wondered “ Because when I was at your house today, I didn’t see it.”

“ Oh, I don’t celebrate Christmas.” I assured, as I was fiddling with my phone.

As those words left my mouth, I simultaneously received a wave of glares and gasps. It was like they never knew that other religions existed.

“How do you not celebrate Christmas?” one of them barked

“Um.. I am a Hindu, and I celebrate Diwali.” I replied with a soft and hurt voice.

I immediately left that house, before anyone else could discriminate me because of my religion.

All over the world people are becoming a victim of racism. The issue is happening in Asia, America, Europe and all over the world. Here are a few examples. In USA, police in particular, have been held responsible for the death of a few innocent colored people, with minimal consequences. Similar to the previous fact, in India’s film industry, most of the fair female actress, get the leading role.

As, from the article on BBC.com, “ Why do US police keep killing unarmed black men?” Ms. Fridell is an Associate Professor of criminology at the University of South Florida, herself said “that she is more likely to see threat in African American, than in Caucasians”. The idea of racism was introduced to separate African Americans, from European American. The African Americans, ancestors have been involuntary enslaved and brought to U.S.

I was fortunate enough to be able to survey, an 8th grade English class. Around 55% of the class, said that they have been discriminated because of their religion/race. Most of the students have been discriminated because of their beliefs.

As, the articles come to a conclusion, I want to remind the readers that we are the reason why rasim started. We made the choice to create a racist community. Recently, racism has had a colossal comeback. Most of the educational sources, such as BBC or CNN, keep addressing this immense issue. It is awakening to see that the issue, being not touched and deteriorate day by day. Next time, before you blurt out an offensive statement, hold back for a second and think.

Singapore: How much nature have we actually lost? - Vivaan Khabya

Singapore has cut down almost all of its natural rainforests. All that remains now is a tiny 2 square kilometer area of rainforests in the center of Singapore. In the last few decades it has cut down trees and plants that were there in Urban areas and city areas as well. A UWCSEA student named Vivaan Khabya, who is aged 13 and has lived in Singapore for the past 9 years comments:

“I remember when I was younger, there was a lot of greenery around Singapore, but now a lot of greenery has been removed and replaced with buildings and roads.”

It isn’t just the rainforests that have been nearly completely eradicated. Most of Singapore’s natural sandy shores and coastal ecosystems have been lost thanks to land reclamation and land development. Another one of the ecosystems affected, are mangroves.

The percentage of the once plentiful mangroves of Singapore, have dropped faster than oil prices. An estimated 13% of Singapore used to be full of lush, beautiful mangroves, and that number has now been reduced to less than 0.5%.

Land reclamation has also caused damaged to the coral reefs of Singapore. In just the last three decades, Singapore has lost around an astonishing 65% of their live coral cover.

Most of the coastal ecosystems left in Singapore are now not complete ecosystems anymore, because they have been split apart and are now fragmented. You now might be wondering what effect this is having on the wildlife. Well, according to ww.wildsingapore.com, a new study shows that in the last two centuries Singapore has lost half of its animals species, and that a lot more a extremely likely to go extinct too. A study done by Singaporean and Australian researchers predicts that by the end of this century, south-east asia will have lost up to 42% of animal species. That is nearly another half!

The Banded Leaf Monkey and the Cream Coloured Giant Squirrel which are native to and found only in Singapore are an extreme example of animals being endangered, because they are at a point where there is no chance for their survival. Some people suspect that the cream coloured giant squirrel has already gone extinct, since in recent times there have been no sightings, so consider yourself very lucky if you ever see them in the wild because if they aren’t gone already, one day they will be.

The age of technology - Will Bruhn

For hundreds of years children have spent time playing with toys, going outside, and running around. These days kids still are playing with toys, just “different” toys. These new toys have access to the internet, social media, and thousands of games. Computers and phones have become the new normal toy for everyone.




The new generation of children have grown up with technology their whole life and think it is normal to use them constantly. A report done by Mary Meeker, an internet analyst, shows the daily time spent on technology per country. Indonesia, on top of the chart, spending on average 181 minutes on smartphones and 117 minutes on laptops, while the United States spends 151 minutes on phones and 103 minutes on laptops daily. That’s not even including time spent watching television. Aryan Goyanka, a student at UWCSEA in Singapore tells reporters he spend 2 hours every day on his phone. Imagine if this time has spent for studying, doing chores, or spending time with family. Overall, technology is a true time waster.




Many of the hours spent on technology is spent on social media. Social media allows you to connect to people all around the world without being face to face. Although it has upsides, it has quite a lot of negative effects on kids. According to the Houston Chronicle, Social networks create a false sense of connection, children think that talking online is the same as talking face to face. When in fact the connections you make online weaken your real relationships. Social media also decreases productivity. You are wasting time looking at other people’s life rather than living your own.




The next time you go on your phone or laptop, take a second to think of the other things you could be doing, the people you could be with, or think of this article. I’m not saying you can’t use technology, I’m just saying technology should be used responsibly and moderated. Now please excuse me, I’m going outside for a little bit to enjoy some fresh air.

Smartphones are distracting - Amrita Desmet

Picture this. An iphone-less student sits in a quiet circle with all her friends, who are separately on their iphones. After politely asking her friends to socialise, the iphone-less girls gets told: “Why don’t you just go on your own phone then?” She felt a disconnection bigger than the Roman Empire fall into her lap.





In recent years, studies have shown that smartphones have become an increasing distraction to teenagers. Although it is true, smartphones are a lingering distraction and teenagers may not notice this. Schools and social life are surrounded by smartphones and no teenager can escape the reality. 95% of students in my Grade 8 class have iphones, which is an example of how the world has changed so vigorously.





As a result, smartphones can be distracting in a great deal of ways. For example; Some seem to think multitasking is beneficial for completing work but it is quite the opposite. 34% of teens use their smartphones during mealtimes. Consequently, multitasking does not save time and in fact, it will probably take you longer to finish two tasks when you jump back and forth. A noticeable feature to multitasking is being on your smartphone. This all leads back to one main statement; smartphones are pulling us away from reality.





Indeed, teenagers of the most recent generation put their smartphones first in many situations. Common times that teens use their phones are on-the-go, at school, at home and during work. One young man had admitted to using his smartphone in the bathroom on multiple occasions. When recalling why, he said there was no urgent reason to bring his phone with him, he was ‘only’ on social media. Students and their devices have become virtually inseparable.





And even when we’re not on our smartphones, they are still distracting. New study shows that when your phone is in your pocket it is still a distraction. Imagine your phone beeps in the middle of class, wouldn’t you start to wonder what the beep was for? Thus, distracting you from what is more important. Just having your phone in eyesight while working can be disturbing towards your train of focus.





The most fascinating, intriguing part of this is that most teenagers and students are aware of their excessive phone usage but do nothing about it. In 2013 a survey was sent out to 145 respondents ranging in age and grades about smartphone usage. Despite these responses, 56 percent of them actually believed that they should use their smartphone less frequently.





“Smartphones have really encroached our lives, especially the recent generation. People cannot just cut off from the society and try to communicate online all the time. That is not the society we want, ” senior Yoon Lee said after seeing the responses. Yoon Lee had stated a very clear point. How can people cut off from their devices?


If you’re alarmed after reading this article, don’t be. It’s not an easy problem to solve. There are different ways you can cut down on smartphone usage. Such as, being more conscious of your surroundings and knowing when the right timings are to use your phone. And if you are like the iphone-less girl, you are on the right track to reducing device usage.

Racism in International Schools - Finn O'Donohoe

There is a Muslim boy who always gets mocked about his religion by another boy at lunch in my school. One day we were in the library and the racist boy started teasing the Muslim boy and said “Muslims suck.” Then the Muslim boy walked away, really upset. Now every lunch time he always tries to avoid the racist boy. Each time I see this happen I feel uncomfortable with his racism. I see a lot of racism on the news and even in my school. Even though I am in an International School I often see people being racist to each other and other international schools have the same problem. Children think that it's funny and that it won't offend other children when they are racist but it is actually offensive. It is surprising that there is racism in International Schools.

There is an assumption that children in international schools are not racist because they are so diverse. This is a problem in international schools around the world, not just my school. Bambi Betts, the director of the Principal’s Training Centre for International Leadership says there are misassumptions about the issue: “The most common mis-assumptions which are prevalent in international schools are: Firstly, because the school population is culturally diverse, students will not develop racist habits. Also, children do not notice differences amongst people, and therefore they are not curious about them. Thirdly, the very experience of being in a diverse setting will counteract the racist messages sent through the media, however subtle. Everyone in the school community is in agreement about the gravity of the racism. Finally, students attitudes about racism are largely a result of how their parents think”. Many of the misassumptions that Bambi Betts listed happens in my school. There are 76 different nationalities in my School. People assume that children won’t be racist if they go to an International School because it is culturally diverse. But this is wrong, some children still are racist.

Some children think that it's funny and that it won't offend other children when they are racist but it actually does offend them. In my experience a lot of children are racist, and don’t treat each other well. Middle schoolers and high schoolers do know the differences between different races and religions and can be racist. But children don’t understand how bad racism is, so they make jokes, mean comments and stereotyping others about their religion, race, and nationality. Children don’t realize how offensive and rude it is to say racist things to others even if they are joking. Most of the time at school, kids laugh at each other's cultural differences. Is this still racism? PP Wong from the Huffington Post said, “Having power over someone can be addictive, and racist jokes are a good way of asserting your authority over another race. Most racist jokes have the underlying nature of reinforcing negative stereotypes; they make other races look stupid. One of the tell tale signs if a joke is racist, is when the majority of the racial group find the joke offensive.” This explains that it is still not acceptable to laugh at racist jokes.

In conclusion, people assume that children are not racist in International Schools because of the diversity but they actually still are. Mocking others, even if it’s joking, for their religion and race is still being racist because you are offending them. Children don’t realise this. In International Schools racism is a big problem and nobody realizes it because their assumptions are wrong.

Teachers and Parents don’t understand that at school there are so many children being racist. They think that children from different nationalities and religions would get along really well. But for some children it’s not true, and they are racist to each other. Children, Parents, and Teachers need to take this problem more seriously.

Cultural Erosion - Poorvi

Globalization had taken over the world today. Cities are turning into clones of each other and the masses are converging into fake stereotypes. The cultural differences which makes society unique are close to gone. The ancient cities which carry historical value and culinary diversity are being demolished, or modified into what is being projected as superior. Traditional practices are carried with respect as rarely as a shooting star is seen among the night sky. In the midst of the advancement in technology and human evolution, people are losing, what matters the most, their identity and uniqueness which are evolved out of their traditional beliefs and culture.




A high school senior, Anusha Shivram was interviewed along the lines of this issue. This is a good example of how society can make people feel that their race, culture or language in inferior to others. This indirectly provokes the sense of inferiority in people, thus causing them to hide their beliefs or change the way they were taught to look at life. Anusha was asked if she has ever felt that her race is inferior to another, and in response she said that society indirectly says that her race is inferior. ‘’Despite claiming to be a racially equal society, the way the population is divided into different races is unjust,’’ said Anusha.

This is true since the population of Singapore is 75.9% Chinese , 12.1% Malay and 9.1% Indian. Additionally she had mentioned that despite being told so, she does not get equal opportunities. This is because languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Japanese and Korean are not taught in Singaporean local schools and student have to pay to learn them out of school.

When students study higher mother tongue, they get extra points in their board exam. However, the languages mentioned above do not have 'higher mother tongue.'’

Hence, students who study these languages do not get the extra points, and sometimes cannot get into the schools they want.

She has also talked about how some schools have a clear segregation between the major races. Schools such as Dunman High, Hwa Chong International and many many more are schools designed mainly for the Chinese. There are no other languages offered there, their school song is in Chinese and the school population is made up of mostly Chinese.

‘’If I wanted to go there, I would find it immensely uncomfortable and uninviting. Hence, where some races may have these choices open, I am deterred from them. The chinese make up the majority in my school, the teachers, themselves talk in Chinese, my classmates talk in Chinese and ask questions during class in Chinese. This is despite me being in the classroom, ‘’she added.

‘’It almost makes it seem like without learning their language, I can go nowhere in this society,’’ she says to sum it all up.



There are many causes of the loss of traditional culture, one being mother tongue. Many children in the world today can only speak english and not their mother tongue. This can cause problems if the grandparents reside in the same household. This produces a language barrier between the two generations.

Do parents in today’s day not value their mother tongue as their parents did in the past?

Will English dominate Asian households?

Many feel that this is a major loss to communities that were once bound together by language.

Another cause is the lack of cooking in modern society. For south asians, cooking and meals is a significant part of their lifestyle. However the tradition of cooking freshly everyday, eating ethnic foods and encouraging and passing on the basics of cooking into the lives of youngsters, has begun to erode.

Is the move from traditional cooking towards ‘’quick’’ food substitutes a positive change?

Culture works as a backbone in society, which provides stability and security. It is similar to red lights at intersections. Imagine if there were no red lights, there would be a lot of accidents, the streets would be in complete turmoil.

Similarly if there were no culture and traditions, society would collapse.

This generation is the first to lose more knowledge then gained, around half the languages in the world are now gone.

According to the census bureau, current population survey, of 73,001, 000 children living in the U.S, only 49,903,000 live with both their parents, which means, around 31.6% of the child population in the U.S, live with one parent. This isn’t wrong, but it definitely means something.

The divorce rate from 1901 to 1970 has increased by 700%. In 1900, in America, there were 56,000 divorces and in 1992 there were 1.2 million. Isn’t this alarming?

The average individual is becoming more and more self concerned, this is the primary reason of most divorce cases. However, parents fail to understand the negative outcomes of their actions. As a result, around 63% of youth suicides are one parent children.

Change is inevitable, but not all change is irreversible.




A grade 8 survey conducted to shine light on this issue stated that 92.3% of students said that following their traditions and culture gives them a sense of belonging. 30.8% of students said that at some point in their life, they have felt that their race is inferior to another and 22.2% said that they would change their nationality or religion if they could, this is surprisingly quite a large portion.

The loss of culture and tradition are one of the main causes of the lack of confidence and self belief in the youth population of the world today. What can we do to stop this?

Having pride in your own culture and traditions, influences others to do as well. How can we forget the culture and tradition that has brought our generation so far? How will this affect the next generation?

‘’Culture dies from suicide, not murder’’

You have the right to believe in and respect your culture and traditions, no one can force you to disrespect your culture and change your beliefs, they can merely influence you.

As mentioned earlier, change is inevitable, but don’t be a victim of the cultural cringe, where one has an internalized inferiority complex that causes them to dismiss their own culture as inferior to the culture of other countries.

One has to be associated with some culture or the other to avoid losing their identity.

Treasure the notion of a global citizen, but don’t let go of your unique culture to adopt a unified and fake one.

School and technology... - Vir Batra

When the parents of the 21st century were growing up, they had to go to the library for information that they needed, they had to search for the 1 book with the 1 piece of information that they needed. Now children have that information at their fingertips, and it’s all thanks to the internet.

The only problem now is figuring out what’s right and what's wrong. Is the access to technology helpful or an obstacle for the education for the students of today's time?

An anonymous form was sent to the students of 8-6 english class and the responses received were eye opening. 50% of students said that technology is better than just having  a textbook but the other 50% said the opposite. 56% people said that social media websites actually help the work that they do. The point is, students of the 21st century feel that the internet is really helpful for the work, but can also be very distracting.

A few days ago, one of the parents at UWC East, noticed that their child was watching a youtube video. The parent questioned his child about how he should’ve been working. Puzzled, the parent assumed the child was just getting distracted, but after the child answered his dad, the dad realised it was an educational video, teaching him a method on how to do a problem for homework.

Another parent was also confused about their child's work habits. He noticed that their child went to their room to do homework and came out in less time than it took england to lose the world cup. He noticed that the child had math homework, but didn’t even open his text book, just went on his computer and after about 1 hour he said that he had finished and he was prepared for the test he had the next day.

All though it may seem like it to parents that their children don’t actually do work on their laptop at home and just play games or watch videos online, when they have homework, it is actually quite productive and the internet does help the children.

The internet is a great resource, with diverse information that children growing up in previous era’s didn’t have access to. It can be confusing for few and natural to others and everyone needs to understand that it is bigger than Live aid in 1985.

Social Media - Frederique Pesch

It may sound dramatic but social media is taking over our lives, there is a repetitive urge to facebook, snapchat, instagram, tweet our daily lives to build a social profile, but virtual truth is that social media is stopping us from living in the moment and making us to scroll through the past.


With social media becoming so easily accessible 2.1 billion people have a social media account out of the 7.2 billion of us on earth and 72% of all internet users are now active on social media and 71% of the 72% are able to access social media by a mobile phone.In Addition facebook has over 1.4 billion users, Instagram currently has 300 million users and twitter has over 284 million users. And those are only 3 types of social media.


So why are we all so devoted to social media? To find out more I went to multiple people to ask what influences them to use social media, a prevailing answer among all was peer pressure. One girl’s story to how she became a victim to social media was particularly interesting, “as a 12yr old girl she was never interested in social media, her phone percentage was always zero and social media just wasn’t a big part of her life. Even if all the kids around her tend to use it quite a lot, she was never impacted, but coming off a flight she and her family were waiting for the luggage to arrive. Looking around she noticed everyone was on their phones, not wanting to be the odd one out she pulled out her phone and downloaded instagram. And started instagramming her daily life.”


Although in this girl’s story it was for the worse, social media does not always have to have a bad impact on people's lives. I1t is a great way to stand up for what you think is right, keep up to date with the latest news and even earn money, social media has changed the way we lead our lives.


In conclusion social media is more than just a way to express our daily lives.It is a really powerful trending media which alows people to spread news faster than ever. Social media has it’s goods and bads. But in the end social media is always going to be as addicting as chocolate, plus maybe scrolling through the past does not always need to be bad.

Racism by Zain Ahmad
Racism. It is the belief that different attributes and characteristics can be generated onto someone with a certain skin colour. In times of economical and political downturns, racism and discrimination has been used to encourage fear, hatred and conflict between one another. It has become an excuse to scandal about others, discriminating against their religion. While some people believe that racism and discrimination is a very touchy subject, as people think they can freely mutter about others without any restriction, most people believe otherwise. Others believe that words used against people can lead to very dire consequences. As the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ - Article 7 states that people are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination.


Unfortunately, now children are getting included in racism. As common as racism was in the old days, where white people would show racism towards native american black people, unfortunately due to the environment that children currently live in, racism is known and said by them. Blurting out racist jokes that affect other people. Most victims of discrimination are black, african americans and muslims. According to statistical evidence, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive 10% longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes. The truth is the world is racist. Globalissues.org says that to discriminate to others is human nature. It is human nature to feel the need to be the best and conceal your jealousy among others by discriminating. However, it is clean prejudice that people discriminate to others. Unfortunately, now children are getting included in racism. As common as racism was in the old days, where white people would show racism towards native american black people, unfortunately due to the environment that children currently live in, racism is known and said by them. Blurting out racist jokes that affect other people. Most victims of discrimination are black, african americans and muslims. According to statistical evidence, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive 10% longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes. The truth is the world is racist. Globalissues.org says that to discriminate to others is human nature. It is human nature to feel the need to be the best and conceal your jealousy among others by discriminating. However, it is clean prejudice that people discriminate to others.


Now as we all know slavery is caused by racism and discrimination and there is no topic in the history of the human race that is more repugnant than slavery. Anti-racism activist writer, Tim Wise goes on about the past, where only whites could be US citizens, slavery was held upon the African Americans as well as many treacherous things towards black people. Wise said that “approximately 50 million whites at present in this nation have benefited from their largess, said Wise, giving the typical white individual 20 times the net worth of the typical African American person, not because he is smarter, not because he has worked harder, but as the result of racial and unethical treatment.” Now as we all know slavery is caused by racism and discrimination and there is no topic in the history of the human race that is more repugnant than slavery. Anti-racism activist writer, Tim Wise goes on about the past, where only whites could be US citizens, slavery was held upon the African Americans as well as many treacherous things towards black people. Wise said that “approximately 50 million whites at present in this nation have benefited from their largess, said Wise, giving the typical white individual 20 times the net worth of the typical African American person, not because he is smarter, not because he has worked harder, but as the result of racial and unethical treatment.”


Although government groups are moldering the old history book about the low rules of racism, racism does still brew upon us. I interviewed one of Singapore’s international school; UWCSEA EAST, a bunch of 8th Grade students.. Although government groups are moldering the old history book about the low rules of racism, racism does still brew upon us. I interviewed one of Singapore’s international school; UWCSEA EAST, a bunch of 8th Grade students..


“People tell me to go back to my native land Indonesia and eat noodles. I know it is just jokes and all but it really annoys me,” Enrico Setiawan says. “People tell me to go back to my native land Indonesia and eat noodles. I know it is just jokes and all but it really annoys me,” Enrico Setiawan says.


“People tell me to go back to Japan and eat sushi. They also tell me to get bigger eyes and question my eyesight. In my personal opinion, I think it is just all fun and jokes, I really just don’t care. I laugh with them!” Kentaro Okumura says. “People tell me to go back to Japan and eat sushi. They also tell me to get bigger eyes and question my eyesight. In my personal opinion, I think it is just all fun and jokes, I really just don’t care. I laugh with them!” Kentaro Okumura says.


As you can see, people take these racist comments as jokes, although people are not aware that these choices of words could hurt people. According to a recent poll conducted by me, about 60% of the people in my class get discriminated, whether it is for their skin colour or their religion or culture. However, about 60% of the people in my class admit to racially discriminating others. This means that although we do get teased about racism, as well as being the victim, we are also the perpetrator.

As you can see, people take these racist comments as jokes, although people are not aware that these choices of words could hurt people. According to a recent poll conducted by me, about 60% of the people in my class get discriminated, whether it is for their skin colour or their religion or culture. However, about 60% of the people in my class admit to racially discriminating others. This means that although we do get teased about racism, as well as being the victim, we are also the perpetrator.

I can also say that I myself have experienced a lot of racism and discrimination such as people calling me Terrorists, constantly saying I have hidden bombs, questioning me if everything is halal etc. Honestly, I sometimes get very aggravated and bothered by these teases, however I realize that I cannot sway them to change. I sometimes add onto what people say, attempting to prove that I do not care.

I can also say that I myself have experienced a lot of racism and discrimination such as people calling me Terrorists, constantly saying I have hidden bombs, questioning me if everything is halal etc. Honestly, I sometimes get very aggravated and bothered by these teases, however I realize that I cannot sway them to change. I sometimes add onto what people say, attempting to prove that I do not care.

Kush Chavda, a 10 year old scurried down the streets of Essex, London heading towards his school ‘Chigwell’. On the 16th April 2010, he was reportedly bullied by Connor Franklin, the son of the head PE teacher in Chigwell, for being what is socially known as ‘black’. An eye witness of the name of Luke Mulholland states that Connor and his friends shoved him around, trapping him as well as teasing him. Connor Franklin is known to be the ‘psycho’ and troublemaker of the school due to earlier events including him burning down part of the school’s forest. According to Kush Chavda, he had received a phone call the previous night from an unknown user that spoke of imitations of Kush. Although many believed that the suspect is Connor. These events made Kush nervous and conscious of himself. Destroying his mental and stable mind. Racism and discrimination is a very serious issue that concerns millions across the globe, and of course here is an example of a very unfortunate event that occurred.

Kush Chavda, a 10 year old scurried down the streets of Essex, London heading towards his school ‘Chigwell’. On the 16th April 2010, he was reportedly bullied by Connor Franklin, the son of the head PE teacher in Chigwell, for being what is socially known as ‘black’. An eye witness of the name of Luke Mulholland states that Connor and his friends shoved him around, trapping him as well as teasing him. Connor Franklin is known to be the ‘psycho’ and troublemaker of the school due to earlier events including him burning down part of the school’s forest. According to Kush Chavda, he had received a phone call the previous night from an unknown user that spoke of imitations of Kush. Although many believed that the suspect is Connor. These events made Kush nervous and conscious of himself. Destroying his mental and stable mind. Racism and discrimination is a very serious issue that concerns millions across the globe, and of course here is an example of a very unfortunate event that occurred.

Overall, the world’s view on racism and discrimination is an issue that severely needs to shift. Currently, as people are the ‘prey’ of racism, the same amount of people deliver these racist abuses to one another. Although the quantity of the people who get discriminated are piling up, we all are the cause of racism as we are the perpetrator. In this world, issues concerning racism and discrimination is addressed, however we need to take this issue more seriously. Stop and think before you blurt out the next racist joke.

Overall, the world’s view on racism and discrimination is an issue that severely needs to shift. Currently, as people are the ‘prey’ of racism, the same amount of people deliver these racist abuses to one another. Although the quantity of the people who get discriminated are piling up, we all are the cause of racism as we are the perpetrator. In this world, issues concerning racism and discrimination is addressed, however we need to take this issue more seriously. Stop and think before you blurt out the next racist joke.

Sporty Girls take the stage: Busting the Stereotype - Armaan Sarao

Have you ever wondered about the question, “are boys better or are girls better”? It’s kinda like the Montagues and the Capulets over here.  Well, if you think of it, there really is no answer to that question. Why? Everyone is different! Every boy is different and every girl is different and some girls and boys have things in common. So why do we say that girls can’t play sports when we know that that’s only a stereotype? We do have girls who are extremely successful athletes like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova but why do we think that is not true.  Why do we treat the opposite gender so unfairly(talking from the boys perspective)? There was an incident where in UWCSEA in a grade 7 classroom, the teacher was going to project us our teams for sports day. In one team, where there were lots of boys and girls, one boy came up to me and said, “Dude, we have a lot of girls in our team. We are so going to lose”! This then led to our class, 7SMu, finishing in last place in sports day. Was this because the girls were discouraged or because girls didn’t try their best because they think the stereotype is true? When girls have the ability to play sports, why don’t they choose to because of the stereotype? I was able to interview girls and ask them a few questions. The questions are:

Why do they not choose to play sports(if they don’t)?

What they think about the stereotype?

Do they believe in the stereotype?

The first girl I was able to interview was a girl named Anonymous(her name will not be shared for the purpose of this article). Anonymous is not the girl who would go and play sports at all! In fact she is nowhere close to being sporty as anyone. When I interviewed her, this is what she said:

“I can’t be bothered to play sports! I have so many other better things to do like homework which is much more efficient”.

Before even asking the next question, I stopped and thought. Maybe it’s not the stereotype, maybe sports is not girls interest.  On the other hand, this goes straight back to the stereotype; girls are smarter and neater. So what is it? This got me as confused as a rubix cube but I think after a few interviews, I will be able to see the “bigger picture”.

The second person I am going to interview is a person named Ms Cindy. Ms CIndy is the school’s counsellor. Her job is to address issues about people who are facing some problems in school like cyberbullying. Here are the answers to the questions I asked:

The fear of not being of not being good at sports

No, I don’t think that’s a stereotype. Many girls play sports, there are stereotypical sporty girls and stereotypical girls, who some of do not play sports.

I was also able to interview everyone in my english class about who plays sports and who doesn’t. 11 people play sports and 6 don’t.

After looking at the answers of Ms Cindy Tisdale McPhee and from the class tally of the girls who play sports and don’t…. you can tell that every girl seems to play a sport except for a few girls who don’t play sports and are passionate about other things.

In conclusion, after looking at the results from interviews and surveys, the stereotype of girls not playing sports is a stereotype. Its fake! It is complete belloni as they say. All girls play a sport, just like boys. Girls and boys are equal and there shouldn’t be any gender gap.

Adult's use of Technology - Fabian

This issue has been occurring recently. Adults are scolding teens for being on their phones while they too use the devices. Adults stereotypically think that if teens are using their phones, they are doing something non productive. But if adults use their phones a lot, they are viewed as busy. This has been happening more and more, adults judging teens about their use of technology just because they are teens.

Picture this, a busy school day and a student is getting their phone out of their pocket. He had just turned it on when 2 teachers approached him, one of them also on their phone. As soon as the teachers saw the student, they harshly told him to put the phone away and there would be consequences if this happened again. In UWCSEA, the school where this happened, there is a rule that the students are not allowed to be on technology during break and lunchtime but the teachers are able to use technology as they please. Due to this, there's been a lot of incidents about teachers telling students to put away their phone or laptop even if they are using their technology to do school work.

This has also been happening at home. As we spoke to Fabian who happens to be a student at UWCSEA he told the story of how he was using his phone at home when his dad came home. He saw that Fabian was on his phone and immediately told him to put the phone away as the dad thought he wasn’t being being productive even though he was just researching some school work.

A survey was conducted at UWCSEA and of the people that answered the survey 95% of them said that they an adult has told them to put away their phone at least once. Of the 95% 66% said they found it unfair that adults can use their phone as much as they want while teens get scolded for using them. Most said that this happens 1-3 times a month while 4 said it happens 3-6 times and 3 people said it happens at least 6 times a month. These results show that the adults are just judging the teens while not even knowing the reason behind the person using their phone.

In conclusion, many teens are finding it unfair how parents are adults in general are judging them as soon as they use their phone for an extended period of time they put it away don't do that don't do this well we might be researching for school or catching up with friends as they're allowed to do that. Some questions still remain “Does this only happen in technology or just in general, do adults always judge teens before knowing the true intentions of behind what the teens are doing?”

School and Technology - Vir Batra

When the parents of the 21st century were growing up, they had to go to the library for information that they needed, they had to search for the 1 book with the 1 piece of information that they needed. Now children have that information at their fingertips, and it’s all thanks to the internet.

The only problem now is figuring out what’s right and what's wrong. Is the access to technology helpful or an obstacle for the education for the students of today's time?

An anonymous form was sent to the students of 8-6 english class and the responses received were eye opening. 50% of students said that technology is better than just having  a textbook but the other 50% said the opposite. 56% people said that social media websites actually help the work that they do. The point is, students of the 21st century feel that the internet is really helpful for the work, but can also be very distracting.

A few days ago, one of the parents at UWC East, noticed that their child was watching a youtube video. The parent questioned his child about how he should’ve been working. Puzzled, the parent assumed the child was just getting distracted, but after the child answered his dad, the dad realised it was an educational video, teaching him a method on how to do a problem for homework.

Another parent was also confused about their child's work habits. He noticed that their child went to their room to do homework and came out in less time than it took england to lose the world cup. He noticed that the child had math homework, but didn’t even open his text book, just went on his computer and after about 1 hour he said that he had finished and he was prepared for the test he had the next day.

All though it may seem like it to parents that their children don’t actually do work on their laptop at home and just play games or watch videos online, when they have homework, it is actually quite productive and the internet does help the children.

The internet is a great resource, with diverse information that children growing up in previous era’s didn’t have access to. It can be confusing for few and natural to others and everyone needs to understand that it is bigger than Live aid in 1985.

Teens and Stress - By Maia Clements

With many upcoming assessments at school, all due on the last couple of weeks before the holidays, her head was crammed thinking about her homework tasks. As she sat at her desk, noting and planning out her schedule for the weekend, as the list got bigger, she realised that the large amount of workload was going to take away a huge chunk of time she’d rather spend with her family. Well, she could spend some time with her family, but the stress to finish her homework tasks was unavoidable.

Stress is an obvious and serious issue concerning teenagers. So, what stresses teens in particular? Common reasons may be: school tests, the pressure to do well, confusion about oneself,  whether a teenager is still considered to be a child or at the beginning of adulthood - even sleep problems can be a reason why a teenager feels stressed.

  In a survey carried out for this article, participants were given 3 questions based on what stresses them, their average stress level and how they manage it. ¾ of the participants answered that their stress was linked to schoolwork, and the average stress level overall was 5 out of 10 (1 being controlled stress and 10 being panicked stress). This information indicates that a major cause of stress to teenagers comes from school.

What exactly is stress? You may be asking. Stress is a feeling that is created when we react to particular events. It is the body’s way of confronting a challenge and preparing to meet a tricky situation with focus, strength, stamina and alertness. But, according to research, stress isn’t only a feeling. Stress is also a chain of chemical reactions in the body which include:

• chemicals such as adrenaline start pumping
• heart rate increases
• blood vessels dilate
• breathing increases
• sweat production increases
• metabolism slows down
• muscles become tense
• reproductive hormone production decreases

If the body’s reaction is meant to improve the situation, then why can it have the adverse effect? Just the right amount of stress will push someone to their top performance. Too little stress with cause no motivation and too much stress will cause panic.

When stress reaches the panic level, the best solution is to talk with someone and discuss appropriate ways to calm down. Common practices include breathing exercises and physical activities, that can help to calm the mind. Returning to the survey, the last question asked about the management of stress, and answers included doodling, reading and eating. Although some participants didn’t have a properly formulated method, they still had a way of calming down and controlling their stress.

Stress sometimes causes us to dwell too much on problems at the moment. Even if you’re sitting at your desk, stressed about the weekend, it is best to stop worrying. Find a solution. Keep calm and carry on.

Technology: Use and Abuse - Aryan Goyanka

BBC news in the technology section of August 2014 made an interesting revelation that the average student spends at least 9 hours a day on technology, this includes, homework assignments, social media, games, communication, research, etc... Do students realise how much time is spent by them using technology?

My parents and their friends always talk about the differences in the ways of learning, between their time and the modern day times. Majority of the lessons at UWCSEA includes students being actively engaged on their laptops. From researching sites to finding credible resources to compiling their own notes; and in-between, engaging in discussions with friends; student don’t realize how time flies. A modern day student’s life is dominated by technology. Technology being user friendly enables easy access to students.

It is not surprising that a child aged three years old can turn on an iPhone. Do parents realize how they are compromising their children's mental state and health?

Televisions, computers and mobile phones can be listed out as culprits for most of the problems faced by young adults. Students who watch TV on a regular basis for long hours are more prone to insomnia. The light emitted from the TV affects melatonin levels in individuals. Melatonin is a hormone given by the pineal gland at night and under the conditions of darkness, it is known as a timing messenger signalling night time information in the body.  95% of teenagers sleep with their phone next to their bed. Having your phone next to you while sleeping is a sure recipe to lack of concentration and poor performance at school.

Lack of sleep has been connected with, ongoing depression, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a recent research from Tech Timeout.

Being able to have everything with a click of a mouse repercussions, impatience which is a natural behavioural outcome. It is ironical how the same technology has helped us make an application that can help us to manage time wisely. Procrastinator is one such application that helps students watch the time and therefore be more aware about how much time is being spent.

On Sunday the 23rd of October, the peak time of lunch gave Subway the feeling like standing all alone on the hectic wall street, while 3 boys  sitting together were seen with their phone light beaming on their poker faces; instead of interacting with each other. “ That's rude” was said by one of the cashiers to another employee just across the boys.

In an interview conducted by me, common statements included, “ Seeing young adults on their phones more than 3 hours a day has been something quite common with them”.

It is of utmost importance for students to understand the use and subtle abuse of technology. Setting time limits on overall technology use, young adults stand to manage their time well and enjoy a healthy lifestyle too.

Discrimination Against The Disabled - By Tarush Nandrajog

Our elders are said to be wise and strong as they have battled the perils of life. They have been through a lot, but have never given up and have fought on. So have the disabled. Yet they are often written off as weak and incapable. Wheelchair-bound 8th grade student Aditya Anurag has faced this harsh treatment all his life. “People often stare and make fun of me because of my physical appearance,” he reported, with frustration on his face. He strongly believes that he should not be judged by what he looks like or appears to be, but by who he is as a person. Is that not fair?

Unfortunately, this issue does not exist just among children. Discrimination towards the disabled is a problem even in the adult society. Statistical evidence tells us that able bodied applicants are almost twice as likely to get a job compared to their disabled counterparts and are more than three times as likely to receive positive feedback. This is because the company is not ready to take care of the ‘extra needs’ that come with hiring a disabled employee.

Activist writer Tiffiny Carlson says that people often ignore her and pretend she is not there because it would be too much of a hassle to try and help. The truth is that the disabled are just as cable as everyone else. It is very hard for someone with a disability to get a taxi in this modern day and age. They zip past as fast as possible not wanting to deal with the ‘extra needs’ that come with a disabled customer. In reality, anyone with a disability hailing a cab solo can most likely handle the entire process on there own.

Nonetheless, there is always two sides to a coin. There are always some that are selflessly willing to help these individuals. The government of Singapore have always been very supportive towards the disabled, which is very evident in their public transport. They do a lot to make the environment comfortable and friendly. Singapore is getting ready to host the 8th annual ASEA paralympics this december. Events like this are huge confidence boosters for people with disabilities and it helps them feel part of society. They are able to forget all of their worries and enjoy the games.

After interviewing many victims of discrimination and analysing my own observations, I have come to a conclusion that even in the  most supportive and encouraging societies - much like UWC, there will always be those who discriminate against the disabled. It is extremely unfair towards the disabled and shows how shallow our society is. Modern society looks to bring individuals down, rather than to bring the best out of everyone as a diverse and unique group of people. The disabled can never be normal or feel normal if they aren't treated that way.

Gender Inequality in the Classroom - Devon Russel

Did you know that the majority of girls don’t like playing on mixed gender sports teams at school? Because every time they play no one seems to pass to them. It’s not just sports, it’s everywhere at school. Sexism still exists very much in society today, and children are still learning it along with their lessons.

In 2012 at a little Venezuelan school, Natalie,* who now attends UWCSEA was only 10 years old when she first became a feminist. It all started with her brother’s pair of shorts, when she decided to wear them to school so she could play football in them, it was a great idea until she was stopped on her way to class by a male teacher who inquired why she wasn’t wearing a skirt. She remembers clearly that he told her to ‘change her clothes,’ and that ‘girls should not be wearing shorts.’ When she told him that she was going to play football in them, he told her that ‘girls shouldn’t play football either,’ she was furious. This was her first memorable encounter with gender discrimination.

In 8-6, a normal classroom at UWCSEA, 75% of girls have experienced gender discrimination first hand, in one case Maria,* student from grade 8 was the only girl who showed up at a swimming practice to play a game of water polo only to be told to “stay in the back, and not do anything” she responded to them by saying that she wanted to play, and they told her to “let the guys do it.” Maria* persistently tried to join in the game, but failed, as many girls do. In some cases when teams are forced to have mixed teams, there are ‘rules’ that at least one girl must be on the field at all times, or you must make ten passes to a girl per game. This is clearly just trying to get girls involved in sports, but it’s a feeble attempt to fix the problem. Many girls are put off from sports at a young age, a survey by the Women’s Sport And Fitness Foundation took a survey of 1,500 students, and only 33% of girls said they did an hours worth of exercise per week, and school sports dropout rates for girls are 6 times more than boys.

Many girls have experienced gender discrimination while doing school work, they are often seen as unreliable and given ‘easy’ tasks by their peers. In recent surveys “Girls were generally seen as better at ‘soft’ subjects,” “and boys better at sports, mathematics and computing.” Even some teachers face sexism at their workplace, “Pupils felt that male teachers are ‘more intelligent’ than female teachers” says the Global Campaign for Education (GCE.) Girls who Code is a Non Profit Organization (NGO) who want to close the gender gap in technology and engineering sectors. They focus on getting middle or high school girls to take an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or (STEM.) Why? Because 74% of middle school girls are interested in (STEM,) “but when choosing a college major just 0.4% of high school girls select computer science” say Girls who Code. Girls usually lose interest in (STEM) in high school, Danae King, a writer for The Baltimore Sun says “Experts say women are often a minority in their classes and aren't shown female role models in their field, making it appear inaccessible to them as a career.” It’s true many middle school girls at UWCSEA want more female role models in an array of fields, as they claim it gives them more opportunities for the future.

Bullying

A young boy wakes up by the ringing noise of his phone. It was 3 am, who could possibly be texting him at 3 am. It was his best friend or his ex best friend. A lot happened between them and they’ve been fighting for almost a month. Now the boy's best friend is texting him about how dumb and annoying he is, calling him names and making fun of him. The boy was facing a type of bullying by his friend, Cyberbullying.

3.2 million student are victims of bullying each year and they are suffering. Research from Finland shows that people who are bullied as kids continued to suffer as young adults. There are different types of bullying. Physical bullying which includes punching, kicking, slapping, any type of damaging actions. There is also Verbal, Cyber Bullying, and Hidden. Verbal bullying includes calling names, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist comments, or verbal abuse. Cyber bullying includes hurtful text, image or videos. Hidden bullying is designed to harm someone's social reputation or cause them humiliation. This is done by lying and spreading rumors, showing negative physical gestures, playing nasty jokes to humiliate others, mimicking unkindly, and encouraging others to socially exclude someone. 11 year old boy who studies in Chatsworth International School was facing Hidden, Cyber and Verbal bullying.

The boy and the bully used to be really good friends. After the two month Summer Holiday the bully changed and he had become someone different. After the second week of school the bully went up to the boy with an aggressive attitude and quoted

“I don’t need you anymore I have other people” and walked off.

“I couldn’t believe what he said, the ____ I knew would’ve never said that.” The boy said during his interview.

What caused him to change so much? What are the causes of bullying?

Some causes of bullying could be the person's personality. Research shows that bullies are most likely to have an aggressive personality. It is also possible that the bully is an attention seeker and he is bullying you to get attention from other people. They also might like having power over someone and controlling others or they could think bullying is cool and funny or they even could be bullying because they’re jealous of the victims. Causes of bullying could also be personal for the bullies. For example, it is most likely for a bully to be having trouble at home. It could be that their parents aren’t around them all the time and their usually alone at their homes which leads to lack of adult supervision. Also they could be feeling stressed out so they take their anger out on others.

The cause of the bullying the boy was facing was jealousy. The bully was really good at sports and was really smart. On the other hand, the boy’s lack of experience in sports was as funny as the 21 vine but his educational skills were even worst.

Then what was he jealous of?

The boy was good at socializing. This meant that he had much more friends then the bully and without him the bully was all alone. The fact that the boy was stupid and not sporty but him being sporty and smart but he still didn’t have friends made him jealous. The bully started talking behind the boys back and lying about him to his closest friends so that they would hate him. He also started to bully him verbally. The effects on that hurt the victim like getting shot with an arrow straight into the heart.

There are short term and long term effects of bullying. Short term effects of bullying are getting a lower self esteem, depression, suicidal thoughts and attempts, abnormal fears and/or worries, sleep disorders, nervous habits, frequent crying, bed wetting, poor appetites or digestive problems, school problem, and rage. Long term effects of bullying are trauma disorders, self destructive behaviour, and alcohol or substance abuse.

The effect of bullying for the boy was that he got a lower self esteem and he started to go through minor depression. Getting bullied wasn’t what made the boy depressed, it was the fact that one of his closest friends betrayed him and stole all his other friends. He was all alone for the entire time until school ended.

Results from interviewing class 8_5 from UWCSEA east show that 87% of people faced bullying. Considering that there is only 23 people in this class 87% is a lot. 47% of people in class 8_5 has bullied other people before.

Bullying is still going on in everyday life. U.S research shows that the bullying rate has been dropping since 2005. In 2013 the percentage of students aged 12-18 who reported being bullied dropped to 21.5 percent. That is a down from 31.7 percent in 2007. But bullying hasn’t stopped yet.

That was just one example of bullying but there is much more going on in the world and some are worst. Bullying is an important issue to me and it surely important to other people as well. There will still be bullying and no one can end it. But making a difference to your and your peers life is something you can do.

- Sakura