Academic Writing Part III

Negative Effects of Internet Addiction in Society

by Mauliya Risalaturrohmah (2111004)

           

            Internet, no doubt is one of the best inventions. It has brought people closer in many regards. Nowadays, internet has become an integral part of our daily lives. In fact, with the onset of the internet, to access the information has become easy. Emails and instant messages have made online communication possible. Moreover, it can be accessed by users of any age and condition. People in different parts of the world can collaborate over the internet. They can exchange views, share information and work together over the internet. But, these days, due to the social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, which taking over, internet is producing adverse effects on the students, especially those students studying in college. Therefore, we will describe about the negative effects of internet addiction in society.

            Firstly, internet addiction can be what causes insomnia. It is a condition where the people are unable to sleep. They keep on their laptops, mobile phones, gadgets, etc late at night. They chat with their friends or play games on the online gaming sites. These days, people also check their updates on facebook and Gmail even in the middle of nights on their mobiles. If this thing continues for a long time, insomnia may occur. In addition, insomnia for children between 8 to 18 years of age is commonly caused by internet addiction. The survey shows that over half the children interviewed said that they use the internet for over five hours a day. Boys tend to browse the internet excessively compared to girls. Then, Hong Kong teenagers who are addicted to the net could be suffering from insomnia. The first study of the impact of online addiction on insomnia and depression on Hong Kong adolescents was co-led by Professor Wong Wing-sze, an associate professor at the Department of Psychological Studies at The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) and fellow researcher Cheung Lee-man. The study, reported in the Journal of Sleep Research last year, found 17% of the teenagers surveyed were “internet addicts”. This condition is very harmful as we all know that proper sleep is a must for good health. Not only it will affect their mental growth, but their physical growth will also be very much affected by it.

            Secondly, internet becomes one of the causes of moral corruption. In fact, there are many things available on the internet that should not be in the reach of people especially students, but internet does not have any hard and fast rule for that. A juvenile can also approach the content which only a 17+ years is allowed to see. It can exist in many forms, including videos, films, pornography pictures, and even comics. Pornography pictures and videos usually depict acts of sexual intercourse, sodomy, cunnilingus, and fellatio between children and between a child and an adult (Esposito, 1998).This leads to some kinds of moral corruption among the students. The innocence and purity of the school students as well as the college students is extremely affected by such things. According to a study conducted by University of Florida, the students who use internet two to three hours on a daily basis are likely to fall a prey to sexual exploitation. With the advent of internet, exploiting small children sexually has become very easy. There are a large number of sexual predators lying there on the internet and once a student comes in contact with such people, his mind and thoughts are affected by that. In the long run, this can produce adverse effects on the mental health of the student and he is sexually exploited online. In the extreme cases, student might not be able to tell this thing to anyone.

            Thirdly, internet has an impact on cognitive development. As we know that internet supplies a lot of posted information which is lawless. It is uncontrolled and there is no way to check its reliability. In other side, many internet usages especially young children who face it by getting on the internet are that they are less able to discriminate between what it is true or untrue, and they are unable to prove the reality in the virtual world. Furthermore, whenever teacher gives assignments to students, they tend to search it on the internet and copy down the facts. But, this is not the right thing to down. Such negative influences are not only a threat for younger children but also for those in University. They face trouble in writing courses by plagiarizing research projects. At a large university in New York, the dropout rate among freshmen new comers rose dramatically as their investment in computers and internet access increased. Administrators learned that 43% of the dropouts were staying up all night on the internet (Wallace, 1999, as cited in Affosno, 1999).

            In short, there are many negative and positive arguments about the existence of internet. I agree that internet has its disadvantages. So, we need to be more careful while using it, especially the youth at present on how they are using the internet.

Academic Writing Part II

 

The smoking ban in Indonesia

by : Mauliya Risalaturrohmah (2111004)

Smoking act is a widespread phenomenon and an accepted cultural habit for a lot of Indonesian people. It has become part of most Indonesian people’s lives. Currently, Indonesia is not able to be separated from smoking because it has pierced into almost all aspects of life, such as education, tourism, economics, etc. And cigarette makers hold the extensive control in this aspect. For example, from the aspect of education, many cigarette companies bring some benefits to the nation. It has given scholarships to high achieving students as well as students who are not able to, such as, Djarum Plus and Djarum Foundation Scholarship Programs. In this case cigarette companies have shown good program which make education in Indonesia being highly developed. However, it still has some negative impact to our society. For example, in the social aspect, everyone can smoke anytime and everywhere. Even it can be done by people who are women or men, child or adult. It is not taboo. In fact, at a provincial level, 29.7% of adolescents over 10 years old are active smokers in Aceh Province. The level of cigarette smoking among smokers in Aceh (19 cigarettes per day) is also higher than the average national rate (12 cigarettes per day). Looking for this situation, the government makes good decisions and judgments for decreasing that acts. So, to develop the quality of life in this country, the government of Indonesia imposes the strict rules on smoking.

The first, it can be regarded from economic side. As we know smoking is only wasting money since the smokers have to pay a cigarette for smoking even every day. Moreover it is very dangerous for them. Their money that they use to buy the cigarette is useless. For example, when buying a cigarette, the cost of a cigarette is @ Rp 500. So, how much a pack of cigarette is, also how much they will waste their money to buy a cigarette in a week, in a year, and so on. Mostly the smokers spend cigarette a pack/day, let’s calculate how much money the smokers need to buy cigarette in a year, for instance, cigarette cost is 10.000/pack. 10.000 times 30 days means 300.000. Then 300.000 times 12 month means that they need 3.600.000. It is very fantastic number if they only used the money for buying a cigarette. Moreover the addicted smokers who spend one pack more in a day. They will use their money only for consuming it. They will spend much more money. As we all know, smoker is not only from people who have worked but also student. Students have recognized what cigarette it is. Even many students have smoked in public area and worn uniform of their school. This condition will give a negative effect for them. Besides, the cost of cigarette is expensive enough, it will make the students do anything to get it, whether their money is halal or not. For example, the student who likes smoking does not have money to buy it. Then, he will deceive his parents to ask money. He may also say to his parents that there is an assignment from his teacher that must spend money, even the most terrific thing he will steal his parents’ money, or the student will dare to ask money to the younger class in force. So, the government has to ban Indonesian people to smoke especially for the students.                                                              

The second, it can be regarded from the law side. Several constitutions in Indonesia have been issued about this. Based on the constitution no 75 year 2005, in the constitution district governments DKI Jakarta explains that for the smokers who smoke in public area will get a jail punishment for six months or pay fine as big as 50 million. We can imagine it. Because of consuming cigarette and smoking in public area people who smoke will get a punishment in jail. I think it is a relevant sanction because if our government does not apply this law, people will keep smoking wherever they like. Our societies will also continue to smoke anywhere, such as, in hospital, supermarket, book store, bars, restaurants, streets, parks, and bus stations and so on. Therefore, the strict role of smoking is really needed for this country.

The third, it can reduce the death risk of the smokers whether they are active or passive smoking.  As we know smoking can cause various health problems, even resulting in premature death or disability. Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are the major diseases caused by smoking. Smoking also increases the risk of erectile dysfunction, infertility, miscarriage, cataracts, and stroke. Passive smokers have the same risk suffering these health problems as the active ones (Brandt, 2005). A cigarette is not only made of dried tobacco leaves, but also made of other additional substances to enhance the flavor. Most of these additional substances are unsafe to be consumed. According to WHO, tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals and 60 of them are known or suspected carcinogenic substances (McKay & Eriksen, 2002, pp. 32-33). Then, tobacco smoke is an air pollutant and contains various dangerous chemical substances which intoxicated surrounding air of smokers. Inhaling the smoke increases the risk of suffering various diseases that are suffered not only by the active smokers, but also by the passive smokers. Exposure of tobacco smoke to pregnant woman impacts both mother and the unborn child, which subsequently lead to higher incidence of miscarriage, sudden infant death, low birth weight, and a reduction in head circumference at birth. People with certain health condition such as asthma are susceptible to tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke can trigger asthma attacks and worsen the condition. In Indonesia itself, ±200,000 people died of cause of smoking-related diseases every year. Smoking is responsible for a quarter of deaths in 2005 and 80% of lung and respiratory cancer cases (NACS Online, 2009). By the enforcement of smoking ban, it is hoped that the air quality in public places will get better and thus reduce the negative effect of tobacco smoking to passive smokers especially those with certain health condition.

In conclusion, smoking can kill anyone who related to it anytime. Remember that this world would be a better place without cigarettes especially in Indonesia. Hence, smoking ban in public places is needed to be implemented in Indonesia and to be imposed strictly to ensure passive smokers to live healthy. It can also protect the children and adolescents from harmful thing.

Academic Writing Part I

 

The negative indication of school competency test

by : Mauliya Risalaturrohmah (2111004)

Nowadays, school competency test becomes the necessary for students. It is an important skill that needed by the students who want to continue the study’s level. The tests show not only how well the school is doing but also how well that schools caters to the student's needs. Test scores might also be a way that they evaluate the school district. For example; If a mother or father was looking for schools for their children to attend, test scores might be a part of how they assess the school. If the test scores are bad, then they are not likely to send their children to the particular school. Therefore, most of the students have the struggle to get the good score from the test. Nevertheless, test scores only show if the students memorize the information. They only prove what they remember and cannot apply in good way. For example; when taking a vocabulary test, they only remember how to spell the word and the definition of the word and then they pass. The students will not remember how to use the word in its correct context later on. So, the score test is not a good indication of School’s competency, but it has the negative indications.

Firstly, the school competency test does not verify how competent the students are. As a student, my younger brother who studying in Senior High School in Kediri, he feels that he has been placed at an educational disadvantage as a result of social and economic factors beyond the purview of the education system. He has only been taught to select the material most likely to appear on an exam paper, do the home work, hence, if the students fail the tests, they can still have a small hope of a passing grade in the class. In this case, he thinks that its test does not allow the students to show their full potential and intellect. The test often makes the students anxious and makes them feel to be suppressed. And the teachers make the test seem as though it will be the end of the world if the students fail or do not get the good score. Moreover, when taking the test, the students are taken from their normal classes and brought into a quiet room filled with desks and made to sit in solitude which the teachers did not go over and they feel like the students will fail. It shows that the students have not been taught a single thing that can be applied to the real world, but it depends on what grade the students are. So, the students solely focus on their grades not their academic ability.

Secondly, the score test is not the way of a school competency. It is not a fair judge of a schools competency. We can determine how much the students have learned before doing it. "Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid"(Kathryn Hill). It means that just giving the test for the students on what they learned is like closing the barn door after the horse has left. It may or may not help the horses still in the barn but will not bring back the one who left. In fact, when looking at a school as a whole, we will not see individuals. Not everybody is the same level of intelligence. The students may be more knowledgeable on different subjects and no one can learn in the same environment being able to focus long enough to take a standardized test. In Ohio, almost half of the students from families with incomes below $20,000 failed the state exams, while nearly 80 percent of students from families earning more than $30,000 passed those same exams. Thus, the qualified and talented teacher with effective teaching techniques should be evaluated daily, not only focus on the student test.

In Conclusion, the indication of school competency cannot be seen by the score test. The teachers should also be evaluated daily according to how their students learn. Many people would argue that the primary function of a school is to teach the students the material based on the curriculum, and the best method of seeing how well students know this material through tests. So, teacher took achievement test to measure student performance not school performance.