The R.E. Contract

The R.E. Contract

Every fortnight, we have a set of tasks relating around religious 
education. This week, the theme was "God's Gifts/Taonga of Free 
Will".

Should Universities be Free to Attend?

Universities have a reason they’re expensive. Another ‘pre-uni’ school will cost you money, so why would a university be different? If universities were free, then schools would get crowded, teachers would barely get paid and students wouldn’t take it as seriously.

If universities were free, then there would not be enough space to fit all of the students. This could push schools into having a waiting list or broadening the one they already had. In the classes, the student cap will most likely be exceeded. This can put a lot of stress on the teachers, who would have to help students with  and discuss an assignment to such a large crowd. The student to teacher ratio would be vastly out of proportion compared to what it is now with universities costing money.

To add on to this, teachers wouldn’t get paid as much as they do now. When a student pays their fees, the money goes towards the government and the school, which goes towards the teachers. Only a small portion of money comes from other places. This can make teachers want to quit their job, thus making the teacher to student ratio even worse. The schools wouldn’t get as much money for learning, either. They wouldn’t be able to sell books because they would barely have enough money to buy them. Of course, they would be able to get some books.

The students in the universities would probably find the free schooling as an easy pass for education. This could make the students not value their education as it would come so easily. The students who do become something like a doctor wouldn’t get as much credit because of the fact that the amount of people who could get into the profession would vastly increase. On the other side of the spectrum, there will be a lower percent of students who graduate. This is due to students not valuing their education and dropping out of university.

So in conclusion, universities should not be free to attend because the schools would get crowded, the teachers wouldn’t get paid as much and students wouldn’t take university as seriously.

If I was Prime Minister

Our task was to create a piece of writing about if we were Prime Minister. We were to list some perks, some struggles and some thing we would do to help our country.

If I was Prime Minister

If I were Prime Minister, the first thing I would do is be surprised over the fact that I actually made it into the position. Then I would immediately tackle helping people in impoverished conditions.

People who would need help finding a job or struggling to keep up with our current economy would definitely be my first order of business. Where we are now, most of us have stable jobs, access to food and water, great homes, and education etc, but many people around the country may not have access to any of those things. To increase education, I would radically increase funding to libraries so people can have a wider selection of free books. Things like having more accessibility to food through things like the Food Bank are important, so obviously, more funding towards those sources. Making bad decisions is sometimes not  even a certain person’s fault; they could have been forced into doing so. Some bad choices make life a lot harder than it needs to be.

It would be hard to be Prime Minister. It would be difficult to leave the role of Prime Minister with the country the same as it was when you came into the role, let alone better. Helping out smaller communities while still focusing on the bigger ones is a lot to handle. Asking people how we could help in itself be challenging. If I were to promise that, finding the time to do so might be complicated to do. If the country was unhappy, I would probably give everyone a day off, run a poll to see what the communities would want.

Being Prime Minister would definitely be tiring. I really wouldn’t know what to do in that position, but giving people respect is what I know is the right thing.

What Would You Want on a Deserted Island?

What Would You Want on a Deserted Island?

We are learning to summarise and rate a text on a scale of 1 to 10.

This text interested me because we are reading a book about being stranded on a deserted island. I rate this text 6/10 because it doesn't show what you would want on an island, but it does show some basic survival skills:

Wonderopolis

So, you're on a deserted island. What could you possibly do? Well, this guide can help you.

Before we get into survival skills, we should tell you that you're not alone. Several people have been stranded and survived and/or escaped. Daniel Defoe's classic 1719 novel 'Robinson Crusoe' remains a popular story even today. The story is about a man whose struggles could give you an insight on your own situation. There was also an old TV show called 'Gilligan's Island'. The show featured the crew of the S.S Minnow and their tourist friends who became shipwrecked on an island.

If you don't think that being stranded on an island is that funny, then here are some tips for your survival.

• Look for a source of fresh water. With today's advancements in technology, you should be found within a few hours or a few days, but you can only last 3-4 days without water.
• Build a fire; creating a fire will allow you to cook food and purify water.
• Search for any edible roots, berries, and fruits. Marine life may also be able to be eaten.
• Use whatever resources you have to create a shelter
• Form a signal made out of wood or rocks for planes overhead.

How Many People are on Earth?

For this task, we were to pick out a task from:              Wonderopolis Planet Earth and summarise the text.

I chose: How Many people are on Earth?

The Earth is covered in humans. We're everywhere from the Americas to Africa to Oceania. If you wanted to know how many humans are on planet Earth, you may be surprised to hear the population of the planet is over 7 billion!

Where do all the 7 billion people live? The 10 most populated countries include China, India, U.S.A, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan. Surprisingly, China and India together account for about two and a half billion people! Today, the world's population continues to increase. This due to the fact that more babies are being born than people are dying out. Scientists believe that the population reached 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) around 1804. It did not reach 2 billion until 1927 - a period of over 120 years.  With advancements in technology, less people will be dying, which means a higher birth - death ratio. Scientists estimate that the population will reach around 11 billion around 2100.

Even though the Earth is covered 70% in water, there's plenty of room for people. Scientists estimate that if all 7 billion people stood shoulder - to - shoulder, they would only fit in a space as big as Los Angeles. If you wanted the same 7 billion people to be able to roam freely, they would only fill an area as big as Rhode Island. If space isn't the problem, then what is? The problem is the fact that the Earth may not have enough natural resources to sustain all those people. Every new person needs food, water, shelter, and much more, not to mention the waste