Tuesday, April 7, 2009

commentary on streaking

A group of National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduates who ran naked from one hostel to another on the campus have been expelled from the hall at which they were staying. The nine, all male sportsmen mostly in their first year, are being put through a disciplinary inquiry, the outcome of which is due at month's end. Meanwhile, they are still attending classes, though they have been barred from seeking places at the other hostels.

Before we make a comment of whether this punishment is too hard, we'd better understand why a person will streak.

Streaking is the non-sexual act of taking off one's clothes and running naked through a public place. Most people regard streaking as fun and this kind of fun can be encouraged by other people's support. The other reason may be streaking can gain more attention.Usually a person deson't want to be just a normal person. He wants to be noticed, be famous and this will satisfy his self-esteem and vanity. Some may try to achieve this by doing something abnormal or whimsical. For example, I used to shout at, make jokes on or argue with teachers about some really stupid things. Of course the teachers would critisized my facecious behaviors, but many other students' laughter was my best comfort. As for them, they even did something more crazy due to the intoxication.

Some people may hate streaking. They regard it as an uncivilized and unmoral movement. However, it's not completely right.

In what has become a tradition at the Westwood campus, thousands of students marked exams week in the dead of night by running across campus clad in nothing but their underwear. Turnout for the quarterly event, known as the Undie Run, has soared since theater major Eric Whitehead first dashed solo in his underwear through the streets of westwood west of the campus in 2002. Why can streaking be so popular? It's because it's a kind of unreplacable fun, especiall as a part of life of the university, just like the precious fun in our childhood. It is true that streaking may cause some damage or something else, but this can be avoided by streaking in a restricted area.

Thus, I think getting expulsion just because of streaking is ridiculous. They just had some fun, because one of them got the overall championship after all. Furthermore, not many people were against the streaking. A female student said that she was not against such acts, and that it was part of the fun in university. This should not be a big deal; at least the students should not be expelled.

To sum up, we should allow streaking if it is under control.

Monday, March 30, 2009

What is an exposition?

Exposition is a type of oral or written discourse that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform. The creator of an expository text can not assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior understanding of the topic that is being discussed. One important point to keep in mind for the author is to try to use words that clearly show what they are talking about rather then blatantly telling the reader what is being discussed. Since clarity requires strong organization, one of the most important mechanisms that can be used to improve our skills in exposition is to provide directions to improve the organization of the text.