The irony of a culturally diverse place

This incident happened during one of the recent afternoon lectures, which I attended three weeks ago. During the first half of the lecture, a test was given and for the second half of the lecture, it was used as an open discussion of the test question during which answers were given.

There were many who raised hands and verbally presented their queries towards certain questions and the discussion thus became spontaneous.
Then, one foreign student whom I presumed to have come from India or Sri Lanka, raised his hand and began to voice his views on a question.

As he spoke with a very strong Indian accent, many could not understand what he was trying to convey and soon, there were giggles throughout the lecture hall. The professor requested for the Indian student to repeat what he said again as I presumed she too could not understand the student’s queries completely. He tried repeating again, this time slower but his voice was drowned by the sniggers and giggles of the students in the lecture students. There were even some students who tried mimicking his strong Indian accented English and many burst out laughing upon hearing that.

The Indian student became very frustrated and slumped back to his seat, looking very hurt. The professor saw what had happened and told him to look for her after the lecture has ended and then, she continued the lecture.

I was seated at a considerable distance away from him but I could see the disappointment and how hurt he was through his body language. In my opinion, he probably felt very hurt when the students around him were laughing and making fun of his accent and no one near him tried to help by conveying his views towards the professor.

I was taken aback by how insensitive and disrespectful some of the students could be and the irony was this incident took place in a culturally diverse country where being cultural sensitive had being taught since primary school. Further more, what I am most afraid of is that these students might have caused the Indian student to be reluctant of speaking in public confidently again due to this discouraging experience.

Natural Heritage of Singapore

The issue that I would like to research on is whether NUS youths view Natural Heritage of Singapore as part of the nation's identity?

This idea dawned on me when I bypassed the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in the Science faculty. I went in to take a look and realized that it houses a large collection of plant and animal specimens, some dating back to the already extinct specimens from the time when Raffles first stood on Singapore’s shores.

It then occurred to me that while many of us probably knew about the heritage of Singapore, be it her founding history or her diverse cultural heritage but
how many of us are aware of the Natural Heritage of Singapore?

Many animal and plant species that used to dominate early Singapore and described as plentiful in a journal written by Sir Stamford Raffles, have now became rare and some are even extinct like the banded leaf monkey.
On a more optimistic note, Singapore in fact contains about 60% of the coral reef species in Southeast East Asia, despite our small size. However, the rich diversity of the coral reef species is constantly threatened by sedimentation.

Therefore, one of the objectives of this study is to highlight the rich natural heritage of Singapore and the importance of preserving it as our survival is so intricately linked to our natural environment.
Another objective is to promote natural heritage as part of the nation's identity in order to ensure more efforts are being put in to preserve the heritage, just like how much efforts were put in to preserve the cultural sites.

An attitudinal survey is thus required to find out the views of Singaporean youths on whether they will connect natural heritage as part of the nation's identity. A possible sample group could be the NUS science faculty students. This survey would thus allow us to better understand the level awareness of the natural heritage of Singapore and thus enabling us in coming up with more appropriate measures where necessary, to promote awareness of the biodiversity in Singapore which is a heritage that is richer and more diverse (quantitatively)than our cultural heritage.

(edited)

HAPPILY EVER AFTER (:

Hello everyone !!!
Thanks for all the very valuable comments.

The problem in fact between Ariel and Belinda has been resolved and they have remained the best of friends till the present day (:

In fact, Belinda felt very guilty when she told Ariel that it was difficult to be friends with her as she felt that friendship should not be measured by who has more achievements and who has less. Besides, in the long run, she is bound to meet people who are even much better than her , and thus if she is going to carry on having this mindset, she is bound to lose many friends.

Ariel, on the other hand, was glad that Belinda told her how she felt and she became more sensiive towards Belinda. She constantly encouraged Belinda to continue to pursue what she likes and reminded her that it is the process that counts, not the results.

A chinese saying " 人生得一知己，死而无憾 ".
It means that in a lifetime of a person, having found a confidante
makes this life on earth, a life without any regret.