MODEL ESSAYS FOR PNG HIGH SCHOOLS

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The essays below have been put together to introduce students to the issues of the nation expressed in a range of simple and complex sentences. It is wise for students to master the formats of all sentences and use these in their own writing.

Mobile phones should be banned at school.

In the last decade, the use of mobile phones has increased rapidly across the world with billions of phones and phone calls made hourly. This has made life easy for us all but provided problems for people through misuse of the mobile phone.

People have caused problems with phones that have rung in church, civil court and in schools. Passengers on aircraft are banned from having their phones turned on during flight times with the danger of interference of phones to the electronic systems of the aircraft.

Many young people have phones of their own, bought often by parents to keep contact, particularly on the way to and from school. There are dangers for boys and girls at the hands of criminals who may want to steal the phone and money or take the young person away. They may stage a hold up on the road or in a bus.

Parents worry that their child may be taken by criminals and will phone the son or daughter to check their safety. There is fear if the phone does not answer or another person takes the call. The parent may be in stress until the young person comes home. Sadly some children turn off their phone when doing something they want kept secret from parents.

Should phones be banned at school? Parents will argue that they need to keep contact with their child. They resent phones being taken away. At the same time, they know that phones will interfere with the schooling of students if much time is spent sending messages, opening pornographic sites and reviewing Facebook by the hour.

If phones are taken, these must be kept secure. The child must have the phone on leaving the school in the afternoon.

Should murderers be executed in Papua New Guinea?

Capital punishment is a practice all over the world. With regular executions in China, Japan and the United States, there are thousands carried out across the world every year.

In Moslem countries, Sharia law demands execution for certain religious crimes. In the Middle East, men and women are stoned for adultery in the manner recorded in the Bible. The government of Jordan turns a blind to the honour killing of women and girls by men in the family.

Christian countries have turned away from capital punishment with the view that legalized killing is against the will of God. Killing of people can be a terrible mistake, particularly if they are found to be innocent some years later. A pardon years after execution is no comfort to the victim and family.

This has happened in the United States. The DNA testing of crime scenes has found that some people have been wrongly punished for crimes they did not commit.

There is the sad situation in the US in which convicted criminals can remain on death row for 20 years before being executed. They have been punished twice with a life sentence ended by execution. Some will have repented and sincerely turned to God but their execution is not delayed one day.

There is the argument that capital punishment does not stop crime. People who murder others do so for various reasons ranging from rape and robbery. They do not consider being caught and sentenced to death.

Should PNG adopt capital punishment? There have been men hanged by the Australian administration for helping the Japanese during the war, particularly in Oro province.

The rising crime rate in this country has led the leaders to consider executing convicted criminals. There has been opposition from the United Nations and the churches.

Let us hope that capital punishment in Papua New Guinea is not introduced until detailed discussion is carried out by all interested groups.

Should the age of consent be lowered?

At present in Papua New Guinea, the age of consent is 18 years. That means that a young person is a child until that time and cannot give consent to sex. The ages of consent across the world have varied from nation to nation and from time to time.

Before the last century, the age of consent stood at very young ages with girls able to give consent at 13 years old. But this has changed with pressure of women’s groups who have argued that a young girl has much to do in her teenage years apart from having babies.

She needs to go to school and receive an education that takes her as high as she wants. She should be able to seek employment in a variety of occupations and professions.

The Moslem world sees the young girl as having a place only in the home. She is not to go to school nor seek employment without permission of her father and brothers. Girls are being punished by Islamist rebels in northern Nigeria. Girls have recently  been kidnapped from school.

But the Christian world sees the rights of young girls differently with the right to follow her own life. This brings its own problems even in Papua New Guinea with young girls going out to discos, drinking beer and homebrew and seeking men by mobile phones.

Hand in hand with the age of consent is the legal concept of informed consent. A small child cannot give informed consent on sex having no idea of what sex is. But a young teenager has seen much to be able to give informed consent.

There are men’s groups who seek sex with young girls and boys and search for them in internet chat rooms. They argue that a modern child has informed consent, having learned about sex at school.

But the fact remains that sexual practice is dangerous with the pandemic of HIV/AIDS ever present in the world. Children need the maturity to make their own decisions and not be pushed into sex by older persons. The age of consent should not be lowered below 18 years.

In some countries there are laws known as the Romeo and Juliet laws in which a young child under the age of consent cannot be taken to Court for sex with another child equally under the age of consent.

Should condoms be distributed at schools?

Across the world, there has been pressure for more and more sex education in schools for children of all grades. Only in the last 3 years, there was a plan for condoms to be distributed in Papua New Guinea schools.

There arose a protest from parents and church groups who stated that sex education is a matter involving the rights and responsibilities of parents. A parent has the right to decide the age a child should commence sex education. The age is right when the child asks questions.

Puberty is known to be coming to young boys and girls at earlier ages than ever before. Young girls under 10 years old are growing breasts and may be experiencing menstruation. The time is coming for the parent to support the girl with menstruation pads and answers to any questions.

The argument is that a child has years to grow and begin sex education at a later stage after they have learned the skills to be a social person with relationships with other boys and girls not focussed on sex. It should be about play, fun and games.

Sexual activity becomes an issue in later grades and should not be pushed on to young children. Does distribution of condoms means that children can have sex? in the school yard?

To distribute condoms in schools has been seen as totally wrong. It is pushing sexual awareness on to all children from elementary school. It is seen to be promoting sex for all regardless of the values of individual families.

There has been humour in the suggestion that young boys will use condoms for water fights. Girls will fill condoms with water, tie two together to hang under their uniform shirts as false breasts.