Who can motivate a person to study

Motivation is an important factor in achieving academic success. Who can motivate a person to study?

The ability to get motivated to study can have a great effect on a student's study levels and grades. A motivated student will find it easier to go the extra mile to accomplish or complete a task that will assure success. The right motivation will allow the students to study with a lot more focus and concentration. Motivating a person is very helpful when they want to study because it helps prevent them from procrastinating.

One of the people who can motivate a person to study is their own parents. Parents should act as a role model to their kids as their kids are influenced by everything that they do. Parents should motivate them to study by sending them to tuition classes or make learning a fun thing for them. They can do so by having an open relationship with their kids, which creates a sense of trust between the kid and their parents. If there is no sense of trust between the kids and their parents, their parents will not be able to convince the kids what they should and should not do. Parents should also provide the necessities of studying such as a comfortable environment, sufficient amount of reference books, stationary and many more. This will make the kids more motivated as they are not studying in an uncomfortable environment. Therefore, parents play a very important role in making sure that their kids are motivated to study.

Other than that, a teacher can also motivate a person to study. A teacher's job is to educate and as an educator, they are responsible to motivate a child to study. Teachers play an important role in making sure that a student progresses in their studies. For example, a teacher can make learning into a fun game which will attract the students and motivate them to learn something. However, students should also have a passion to learn instead of having to be pushed by their teachers. If they do not have the heart to learn, they will make it hard for the teacher because the teacher will have to be constantly pushing the student into something they do not enjoy. The way that a teacher acts will also influence the students. If the teacher is always lazy, they will plant a picture in the students head that they are also allowed to do so. This will cause students to procrastinate and not motivated to study.

A person's friend is also responsible for motivating them to study. If you had a friend that is hardworking, independent and responsible, these attributes will influence a person to do the same thing. On the other hand, if you had a friend that is lazy, procrastinates and sleeps on the job, they will influence someone else to do the same thing. Therefore, we should motivate ourselves by socializing in a circle of friends that are hardworking, independent and responsible. For example, they can go to the library or cafe to study together. They can also help each other with homework when needed. If you mix with the bad circle of friends, they might influence you to do bad things such as smoking, taking drugs and so on. 

In conclusion, besides teachers, parents and friends, we can also motivate ourselves to study. Learning is an important task for the students. Being consistent and loving to study can create a lifetime of success and happiness for a person. 

Appropriate form of punishment for road bullies

Incidences of road bullying have increased tremendously in Malaysia. What do you think is the appropriate form of punishment for road bullies?

ROAD bullying was almost unheard of a decade ago. However, of late, it is beginning to be accepted as a part of our culture as we are fed with more and more cases of road bullying, each manifesting aggressiveness of various degrees. Road bullying or road rage is the extreme case of aggressive driving which often ends with serious injuries or even fatalities.
I believe it’s not an exaggeration to say that the bullies are becoming more creative in the display of their displeasure. It might seem surprising that these road bullies are mostly educated, with a decent job living a normal lifestyle. 

Road rage can have dire consequences, physical abuse and fatal accidents among them. The perpetrator as well as the victim in most cases end up with feelings ranging from insecurity to chronic depression which can be life-long. Though many are fully aware of it and the consequences of their action, road bullying is still rampant and one wonders why. Road-rage bullies can be categorised into two main groups, the first being those with zero tolerance towards other road users and are irked by the slightest mistakes made by fellow drivers and the second are those who act as masters of the road and expect everyone to tolerate and obey them without question. Both groups are equally threatening, as their displeasure is often manifested in acts of violence and at times, fatalities. Try following them a little closer and you may end up paying for the damage you never intended to cause. Try giving a stare to show your displeasure and be ready to encounter members of road rage club, armed with steering locks and a colourful vocabulary heading towards you with a specific finger raised.

What’s more shocking is people who usually appear calm and composed take an entirely different role behind the wheel. Though some argue that road rage is a medical condition with the behaviour of drivers associated with the result of intermittent explosive disorder (IED), it looks more like a psychological condition, judging from the cases we are presented with. I believe that road rage perpetrators are mere selfish individuals who are not perturbed by the nuisance they cause to the public.

A serious study needs to be carried out and analysis done to identify the causes and reasons behind road rage which in most cases are triggered by the least significant and the most absurd reason possible. In some countries, road rage is an extremely serious act. “Any person who chases another motorist or shows intimidating and/or bullying towards another road user can be charged with predatory driving, a serious offence that can leave the culprit in jail for up to five years. Offenders can also be fined and disqualified from driving, regardless of whether or not he or she intended to harm the victim physically”.

Whatever the reason, the road bully has no total rights over use of the roads and definitely has no right causing harm to others. Their actions have to be punished by law in order to ensure the safety of other users. A road bully must be punished by a jail term or fine or both. Although this punishment sounds harsh, it will act as a deterrent to other road bullies on the road. The length of the jail term will be determined by the level of aggressiveness shown by the road bully. Compulsory counseling for the road bully should also be enforced. Where the actions of the road bully do not harm any individual and appear mild, counseling can help and prevent road rage from escalating into a deeper problem. Their driving licences should be confiscated and the road bully be forced to attend driving lessons all over again in order to obtain a new licence.

Maybe it’s about time we change our perception on road rage and prevent more innocent road users from falling prey to the bullies. Let’s not be silent witnesses of tragedies. While the experts do their part in deciding whether it’s a medical or psychological condition and finds an antidote, let us do our bit by being courteous while on road and avoid being on either end of the whole issue, neither bully nor victim.

Causes of stress in Teens

Many teenagers today are stressed out because of various factors. What do you think is a major cause of stress to teenagers?

One of the causes of why many teenagers today are stressed out is because of their parents and family. This is because their parents are constantly drilling them to do well in exams and pressuring them to be the best of the best in order to get a scholarship and succeed in life. If teenagers do not do well in your examinations, they will be disappointed and blame you for not studying hard enough. If teenagers have elder brothers or sisters, they will be used as an example of a role model. You will be expected to get good grades like them and follow their path. This causes a large amount of stress because teenagers cannot achieve those high expectations although they have tried their best. 

Another cause of stress in teenagers is school pressure. Teenagers often feel stressed out about academic and extra curricular activities. Students feel the pressure to complete all the homework, assignments, projects and study for exams in a limited amount of time. In addition to gain good grades, students will participate in many different types of curricular activities such as sports, student council, clubs and many more. The additional activities will lead to teenage stress and anxiety. 

Peer pressure is also another cause of why most teenagers are stressed out. Although most teenagers have a solid group of friends, they are influenced by their peers to hang out in lieu of studying because studying are not considered "cool" to them. Their peers will influence teenagers to do things against the morals of their families such as doing drugs, smoking, excessive drinking and sexual activities. Peer pressure could be done through social media, texting, bullying and it might distract teens from studying which leads to stress.

In conclusion, parents should not put such a high expectation for their kids. Parents should also supervise the friends that their kids make in school and make sure they do not socialize with people who are a bad influence. Teenagers should also make sure that they have good time management so that they can cope with their busy schedules. 

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasa

On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan's Emperor Hirohito announced his country's unconditional surrender in WWII in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of "a new and most cruel bomb."

At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of both industrial and military significance. A number of military units were located nearby, the most important of which was the headquarters of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's Second General Army, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan, and was located in Hiroshima Castle. Hata's command consisted of some 400,000 men, most of whom were on Kyushu where an Allied invasion was correctly anticipated. Also present in Hiroshima were the headquarters of the 59th Army, the 5th Division and the 224th Division, a recently formed mobile unit. The city was defended by five batteries of 7-cm and 8-cm (2.8 and 3.1 inch) anti-aircraft guns of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division, including units from the 121st and 122nd Anti-Aircraft Regiments and the 22nd and 45th Separate Anti-Aircraft Battalions. In total, an estimated 40,000 Japanese military personnel were stationed in the city.

Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military, but it also had large stockpiles of military supplies. The city was also a communications center, a key port for shipping and an assembly area for troops. It was a beehive of war industry, manufacturing parts for planes and boats, for bombs, rifles, and handguns; children were shown how to construct and hurl gasoline bombs and the wheelchair-bound and bedridden were assembling booby traps to be planted in the beaches of Kyushu. A new slogan appeared on the walls of Hiroshima: "FORGET SELF! ALL OUT FOR YOUR COUNTRY!" It was also the second largest city in Japan after Kyoto that was still undamaged by air raids, due to the fact that it lacked the aircraft manufacturing industry that was the XXI Bomber Command's priority target. On July 3, the Joint Chiefs of Staff placed it off limits to bombers, along with Kokura, Niigata and Kyoto.

The center of the city contained several reinforced concrete buildings and lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small timber-made workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were constructed of timber with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings were also built around timber frames. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.

The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing, the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000. Residents wondered why Hiroshima had been spared destruction by firebombing. Some speculated that the city was to be saved for U.S. occupation headquarters, others thought perhaps their relatives in Hawaii and California had petitioned the U.S. government to avoid bombing Hiroshima. More realistic city officials had ordered buildings torn down to create long, straight firebreaks, beginning in 1944. Firebreaks continued to be expanded and extended up to the morning of August 6, 1945.