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.

 

PREPARATION FOR WRITTEN EXPRESSION EXAM GRADES 10 AND 12

In June and August 2014, the yearly written expression exams will be held in Papua New Guinea high schools for grades 10 and 12. Students are required to write on topics set. Resource material is provided.

So the task of the teacher is to give students a basis for writing essays based on social and economic issues in Papua New Guinea. The following are suggested:

Economic issues:  problems of PNG as a developing country, dependence on raw materials for export, dependence on imported products including food and technical equipment, lack of development of rural areas, lack of infrastructure including roads and bridges, unemployment, jobs for young people, crime and corruption and dependence on foreign business.

Social issues:  welfare support for families, nursing mothers, babies and children, old people, disabled, law and order against violence, violence to women and children, violence against men, education for all, low standards of literacy and numeracy, unemployment, informal business for families, health support against sicknesses such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, church and the family, healthy living, alcoholism, marijuana, homebrew, involvement of young girls with mobile phones and sorcery killing.

Role of women:  traditional role, bride price, violence against women, education for young girls, increased involvement in employment, needs of young women in family support, sex working, young women becoming involved with homebrew and marijuana, increased involvement in community affairs and need of support from men.

Sorcery killing:  increased sorcery killing, do sorcerers exist, need to blame someone for deaths, lack of education on health matters, HIV/AIDS and TB are believed to be the work of sorcerers, killing of men and women, often old men and women with no family and large land holding, killing by young unemployed men, how to stop sorcery killing.

Health:  need for healthy lifestyle, low life span particularly for PNG men, importance of exercise, clean water, vegetables, fruit, lifestyle diseases of HIV/AIDS, diabetes and heart disease, need for awareness in the home and schools, stress as a killer of people facing family and work problems, need for peace and happiness, innoculation of children against common illnesses including measles, polio and tetanus, dangers of smoking tobacco and marijuana, support for the disabled, support for the aged, decline of health centres in rural areas and need for more medical support across the nation.

Marijuana and homebrew:  young people smoke and drink, problems with brain damage from smoking marijuana, violence of dementia, marijuana grown in the highlands, a powerful variety of marijuana in PNG, dangers of legalizing the sale and smoking of marijuana, homebrew causing blindness and death with an increase in women and girls drinking homebrew and smoking marijuana.

Payback: an eye for an eye, payback not report to police, tribal conflict on payback also for accusation of sorcery, death and destruction of property including houses, vehicles and gardens and problems for police facing arrest of the suspects.

 

It is suggested that students prepare 200-300 word essays on the topics above in preparation for the Written Expression exam. The exam essays will probably include some of the issues above.


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WHAT HOPE FOR THE POSITIVE LIVING MESSAGE?

Topic 1. The reports from this time will focus on issues that may come up in the grade 10 and grade 12 written expression exams in 2014. Students are invited to read the reports and summarize the questions each in 200 words.

 

If we set down 12 reports on aspects of PNG, we may well have picked the questions on the exam paper in part or whole. Write in your own words and bring in what you already know.

 

1.  What is healthy living?

 

2.  What problems are churches facing in the modern era?

 

3.  Explain problems in the relationships between men and women.

 

4.  Explain problems some children have at school.

 

5.  Explain sorcery killing.

 

6.  What are the main problems facing the world today?

 

If you are able to write quickly and accurately on these and other topics, you will most likely pass the Written Expression Exam. Grade 10 is in June. Grade 12 is in August.

 

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We have all known about Positive Living. Nations at peace have Positive Living as their core value. So much is tied up in Positive Living. We know that we should eat fruit and vegetables daily.

We have eaten meals of vegetables and meat with fruit salad as dessert. Our ancestors knew the basics of a healthy diet which they built into a modern middle class meal.

We are coming to know the importance of clean water and note the rise of the drinking of water even in high class restaurants.

The message is that smoking is disastrous for our health. Research is showing us that passive smoking damages the arteries of those who spend long periods of time breathing the smoke of other people.

Children can suffer thickening of the arteries from the smoke of their parents. They will die in adulthood from heart problems from their childhood.

There is a slow move towards strengthening of families with a focus on the rights and responsibilities of fathers, mothers and children. Yet in the world AIDS response, we are finding activists who oppose family.

There appears to be a decline in the number of church goers in the Christian faiths of the world. BBC reports a drop in Britain of children being baptised.

This may have many causes. Activists are telling children that there is no God and that the Bible is man-made. Marriage is being promoted as protecting the ownership of women at the hands of men. Marriage is for whoever wants it, law makers are now telling their citizens.

But the world is being divided on gay and lesbian rights. The Moslem nations are hardening their stance against single-sex marriage. The issue is being clouded by the increasing incidence of sexual violence against children at the hands of paedophiles.

The strength of family is being weakened by the availability of internet and mobile phone pornography. Children are being increasingly sexually focussed with a call from paedophiles to lower the age of consent.

Already the United Nations Charter of Children’s Rights tells parents and children that children have the right of association. But by the definition, "children" are under the age of consent.

There is a problem that has arisen in several churches, particularly the Catholic church with the institutionalised abuse of children by clergy. We can never guess how long this has been going on, perhaps hundreds of years.

Papua New Guinea suffers from a mass of modern social problems with many contradictions. There is the Personal Development study from Grades 6 to 12 on personal growth within the family. Please click:


WORK PROGRAM FOR GRADE 10

Yet there is the ongoing incidence of cults in schools and the smoking of marijuana with drinking of homebrew by both boys and girls.

There was the murder of a young girl at Wild Life Reserve in Port Moresby who was involved in drinking with other school friends.

The overseas activists want to put all the blame on men and boys. But there are increasing numbers of girls in gangs on the streets. Some girls regard a good Saturday night out as having a fist fight with other girls.

We read in the media that women in the Highlands, Buka and the Papuan block in Lae making and selling homebrew. A report once referred to the role of girls selling beer and homebrew at the University of Technology.

A major problem in this country is the introduction of Universal Basic Education in which all children go on to Grade 12. Before, there were large numbers of children who dropped out of school. Now they just go on with no intention whatever to study.

They may form a large part of the groups who fight students from other schools. They intimidate the capable students and call them the equivalent of nerds.

Suddenly the leaders of the students may be violent drop-outs. The nerds just stay quiet afraid of being bashed. Study grinds to a halt while the fight leaders engage with their enemies from other schools. How can students have enemies?

There are contradictions in the family. Now men may not bash their wives. This is fair and inevitable. But there are now women who take advantage of this by bashing their husbands and complaining to the police if the men bash them back.

Foreign activists delight in the reports of men bashing their wives and molesting their daughters. They ignore that there are thousands of loving husbands and fathers in this country.

We read of sorcery killings with the constant accusation of foreign activists that it is gender based against women. This is totally false.  There are regularly media reports that men and women are being killed. The United Nations activists are trying to turn sorcery killing into a gender issue.

But the message that began with the AIDS awareness campaign in 2001 is that of Positive Living which has been deeply opposed by the foreign anti-family and anti-faith activists.

But the message remains though the care groups are afraid to use the term Positive Living in their public statements for fear of losing UN funding. Instead they talk to their people of lifestyle diseases and loving responsible families.

Foreign activists have ignored the AIDS message but focussed only on condoms, rights of women and girls with violence of men.

No mention of responsibilities of men, women and children. There is no God. God is man-made. No mention of faith. It is a creation of our ancestors. Marriage is man-made too. So adultery is OK if you want it. But I will kill you if you steal my gay boy friend.

Then on top of all that, we have the mega-cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes, tornados with droughts and famines, the result of global warming. It gets worse while the world money makers are unwilling to take a single step.

The greatest prophesy of the last century was the story of Superman. While the people of Krypton argued about the state of the planet, the father of Superman put him in a rocket and sent him away before final destruction.
 

MASTERY LEARNING LAUNCHED ON PNG TV

The fortunes of Mastery Learning have risen exponentially in 2014. Over recent years, I have been quietly promoting and using the strategy of Mastery Learning.

With the problems this nation has been facing with Outcome Based Education, I have worked to show the educational world here that a worthy backstop is the strategy of Mastery Learning.

There has been mild success with my workshops at Kila Kila Secondary School and St Peters school. There have been classes conducted over one term for grade 8 students at Boreboa and Ward Strip schools with results that pleased all concerned.

But the strategy hit the jackpot when I started talking to Norman Sike of Port Moresby Institute of Matriculation Studies and Norman Sike Institute.

I have known Norman for over 15 years but had never before brought Mastery Learning to the point at which I presented the concept to Norman as a viable classroom strategy. But now several hundred happy grade 8 students from other schools gave a new picture.

Norman wanted to know more. He is an academic, teacher and successful businessman who was about to lift Mastery Learning to the skies. Unlike me, he is a diplomat and determined to know more and pass the concept to other schools.

He wanted me to work at his school and conduct lessons in Mastery Writing. He is doing the paper work to make that possible. I was in for the shock of my life. In other schools, I had been conducting one lesson a week for each of 6 grade 8 classes.

Now I was given the pre-diploma class and required to conduct 4 lessons a week. That is over 50 lessons for the course !!  Suddenly there was a need for new study material. But Norman had the answer for that. I was given a desk in an air-conditioned office and a desk top computer.

But the pre-diploma classes were unique. There were 6 students on the first course for the new college. All were fascinated by the Mastery patterns and have absorbed all the basics of writing within 8 weeks.

We show how complex sentences are flow charts that can set out (1) sequential steps (2) parallel steps (3) cause - effect (4) effect - cause (5) past - present (6) present -past and present - future. "With" is a key connector. "While" sets out parallel actions. "Having" introduces past actions. "To" introduces future actions.

The English teacher has joined the class as a student. All this work will be hers to teach in the future. The science teacher wants to join the class next term to improve his writing skill. I am talking to him about Mastery Learning in Science and Biology. Please click:
 

BRAIN STORMING MASTERY LEARNING IN SCIENCE

MASTERY LEARNING ON BODY HEAT

 

I had run out of complex patterns with over 800 mastery exercises for grade 6 to grade 12. But there were not enough exercises for the higher grades. So I sit at my desk with the morning paper and a highlighter pen and identify all the useful patterns from news reports and letters to the editor. Please click:
 

 MASTERY PATTERNS FROM NEWSPAPERS
 

In the last two days, I had 60 new patterns on work sheets for the students. These were solved in 45 minutes over two lessons one at a time with the teacher leading. The penny has dropped for students. It seems I may be the only teacher in the nation who can sit at his desk and read the newspaper.

But Norman did not leave it at that. He plans to set up Mastery Learning in Writing as a separate course with a certificate of its own. That will mean we can conduct courses for students in grades 9-12, diploma students, teachers and workers in business and Government.

I now find myself on Norman’s presentation on EM TV House and Home. This is amazing. Suddenly Mastery Learning is becoming a household word across the TV viewing nation.

After the last show, we were inundated with phone calls. Norman gives an introduction on all the skills that students need to acquire to succeed in reading and writing. Then I come on to talk about Mastery Writing.

I regard myself as an expert in Mastery Learning. But now that is not enough. Norman’s understanding is rising quickly. He explains Mastery Learning in new ways.

He sees Mastery Learning in mathematics and relates the parallels. In that subject, the sequences of problems are arranged from simple to complex to develop one concept at a time. Norman correctly sees the same in writing skills. He has borrowed the term practice makes perfect.

He says that Mastery Learning in science is an exercise in practical knowledge first - followed by the theoretical application. Many student insights come from common sense and own observation.

A chicken fluffs its feathers at night to trap air under the feathers that is then heated by the body. Feathers insulate the body from heat loss. We put on a blanket at night for the same reason. A grade 4 student could surely explain these basics but then need to be taught about insulation.

Norman explains that we explore all the practical aspects of a science concept and work out the theory later. This is inductive learning and requires the students to make explanations in their own words.

It is a pleasure to work with Norman Sike. He has a highly professional outlook on education and business and a silly sense of humour as well. We have never argued and never will, I am sure. But we are both going to lift Mastery Learning to the skies.

 

MASTERY PATTERNS FROM NEWSPAPERS

Taken from reports in national newspapers

Pattern 364

The campaign was aimed to stop the spread of TB.

It was also aimed to educate young people of the dangers.

 

The campaign was aimed to stop the spread of TB and educate

young people of the dangers.

 

Pattern 365

 

The policeman became infamous on the social media

He caused serious injuries to his wife.

 

The policeman became infamous on the social media

having caused serious injuries to his wife.

 

Pattern 366

 

The topics covered peer education.

It included sexuality and social health.

It included relationships and family planning.

 

The topics covered peer education and included

sexuality, social health, relationships and family planning.

 

The topics covered peer education including sexuality,

social health, relationships and family planning.

 

Pattern 367

 

He said his priorities are to serve the people.

His priorities are not to deliver cash

The cash would be to buy tinned fish and rice.

 

He said his priorities are to serve the people

not to deliver cash to buy tinned fish and rice.

Pattern 368

 

Peer education is to pass information to young people.

Then they can make informed decisions about their lives.

 

Peer education is to pass information to young people so that

they can make informed decisions about their lives.

 

Peer education is to pass information to young people to enable

them to make informed decisions about their lives.

 

Pattern 369

 

I am calling on the children of Motu, Koitabu and Koiari.

I want them to mobilize.

I want them to get together.

I want them to challenge the Government.

This is for the benefit of the people.

They are now slaves in their own land.

 

I am calling on the children of Motu, Koitabu and Koiari.

to mobilize, get together and challenge the Government.

for the benefit of the people who are now slaves in their

own land. (Post Courier 30 April 2014)

 

Pattern 370

 

Huge acres of land were bought by the colonial administration.

They were bought with axes, knives and tobacco.

People from other parts of the nation are benefiting.

The Motu, Koitabu and Koiari are suffering.

 

Huge acres of land were bought by the colonial administration.

with axes, knives and tobacco with people from other parts of

the nation benefiting while the Motu, Koitabu and Koiari are suffering.

Pattern 371

 

Our great grandparents were uneducated villagers.

They had no knowledge whatever

They did not know what was happening.

 

Our great grandparents were uneducated villagers with

no knowledge whatever of what was happening.

 

Pattern 372

 

Traditional landowners must be fairly compensated.

They must be given justice.

I refer to people of Motu, Koiari and Koitabu in particular.

 

Traditional landowners must be fairly compensated

and  given justice, particularly the people of Motu, Koiari

and Koitabu.

 

Pattern 373

 

Millions of kina are spent on city roads.

The quality of maintenance is poor.

The contractors are not accountable.

 

Millions of of kina are spent on city roads

but quality of maintenance is poor and yet

contractors are not accountable.

 

Millions of of kina are spent on city roads

with quality of maintenance poor and  

contractors  not accountable.

 

Pattern 374

 

She was speaking at the graduation.

She congratulated the graduates

She told them to be committed, honest and loyal.

 

Speaking at the graduation, she congratulated the

graduates telling them to be committed, honest and loyal.

 

Speaking at the graduation, she congratulated graduates

and told them to be committed, honest and loyal.

 

Pattern 375

 

A million pilgrims were expected.

Thousands could be seen.

They were camped around the Vatican.

They were sleeping in folding chairs.

They were praying in silence.

They were singing hymns.

 

A million pilgrims were expected with

thousands seen camped around the Vatican

sleeping in folding chairs, praying in silence

and singing hymns.

 

Pattern 376

 

Polish faithful danced around the fountains.

Pilgrims attended vigils.

They were waiting for the ceremony.

It was seen to unite Catholics.

 

Polish faithful danced around the fountains

while pilgrims attended vigils waiting for the

ceremony seen to unite Catholics.

 

Pattern 377

 

His Government has expelled American diplomats.

He rebuffed a trade deal with Washington.

He accused the US of aggression.

 

His Government has expelled American diplomats,

rebuffed a trade deal with Washington and accused

the US of aggression.

 

His Government has expelled American diplomats,

rebuffed a trade deal with Washington while accusing

the US of aggression.

 

Pattern 378

 

An Egyptian court sentenced Islamist supporters.

They were sentenced to prison terms.

The terms ranged from 5 to 88 years.

 

An Egyptian court sentenced Islamist supporters.

to prison terms ranging from 5 to 88 years.

 

Pattern 379

 

The Indian premier is trailing in election polls.

He has suffered another blow.

His brother is supporting the Hindu opposition.

 

The Indian premier is trailing in election polls.

having suffered another blow with his brother

supporting the Hindu opposition.

 

Pattern 380

 

India test fired a new missile.

It was capable of destroying incoming rockets.

It had first been test fired from a naval ship.

 

India test fired a new missile capable of destroying

incoming rockets having first been test fired from a

naval ship.

Pattern 381

 

Police have hit out at people.

They have been spreading false information.

It is about the survey.

It has forced the closure of schools.

 

Police have hit out at people, spreading false

Information about the survey that has forced

the closure of schools.

 

Pattern 382

 

Purchasing the two generators was a short term solution.

The long term solution would be to expand power station capacity

Another solution would be to build a power station at Brown River.

 

Purchasing two generators was a short term solution while

the long term measure would be to expand power station capacity.

and build another at Brown River.

 

Purchasing the two generators was a short term solution with

the long term solution to expand power station capacity.

and build another at Brown River.

 

Pattern 383

 

The group is made up of police and army personnel

The Deputy Commissioner said this.

 

The group is made up of police and army personnel

according to the Deputy Commissioner.

 

Pattern 384

 

Use of cell phones has contributed to development.

There has been increased communication

Information can be passed quickly.

A research report has shown.

 

Use of cell phones has contributed to development.

with increased communication and information passed

quickly according to a research report.

 

Pattern 385

 

There has been the introduction of competition in mobile phones.

Coverage has been extended greatly.

Social welfare has been improved in isolated clans.

 

There has been the introduction of competition in mobile phones

with coverage extended greatly and social welfare improved  in

isolated clans.

 

With introduction of competition in mobile phones, coverage has

been extended greatly and social welfare improved in isolated clans.

 

Pattern 386

 

Not every location has electricity.

People walk long distances.

They get their phones charged.

 

Not every location has electricity with people walking long

distances to get their phones charged.

 

Pattern 387

 

Three types of savings products are made available.

These are made available particularly for women.

These include regular savings, dream savings and skulfi savings

 

Three types of savings products are offered made available

particularly for women and include regular savings, dream

savings and skulfi savings