Task 1

One man's life should not be decided by another. We have no right to deprive others of the right to live, especially since we were not the ones who bestowed the gift of life onto them. Humans are emotional creatures whose judgement may be clouded at periods of time, a slip in judgement may lead to an accidental loss of an innocent life. In short, we have no right to play God when we are obviously limited by our inability to gather all the facts and deal with them objectively.

People should be allowed to kill if it benefits the majority of the society. For example, in the case of patients suffering from terminal illnesses or in persistent vegetative state, they should be allowed to pass away in order to minimize emotional and economical burden of family and friends, and to end their sufferings. When such people are forced to live, they drain resources that can be put into better use without being able to contribute to the society. Besides, they would not lead a meaningful life as they no longer have the will to live. Hence, for the good of the society, killing should be allowed under certain conditions.

AQ

We agree to a large extent that relying on plagiarism detection software is a feasible solution to curb academic dishonesty in our country. This is especially so in the short term where turnitin seems to be the best solution to such a problem. Turnitin is still currently the latest software used by countries all over the world and Singapore to battle plagiarism. While some may try to escape detection by buying custom made essays online, the numbers may be small due to the cost and time involved and the lack of confidence in such answers. In the short run, using technology is the only way schools can catch up with students and to ensure fairness in our grading system. Afterall, it would take some time and effort before students come up with new technology to work around such software and in the mean time, they might have an easier time just writing original essays.

However, Turnitin might not be feasible in rectifying the fundamental wrong in mindsets of many. With regards to academic dishonesty, it is usually the thought process and negative attitude towards completing assignments which directs students' actions, which leads them to plagarise and thus give rise to a need for Turnitin to be invented. Although Turnitin has prevented many cases of plagarism, it still doens't correct the root cause of plagarism. Unless we can come up with something else to change the mindsets of students and instill values which are uniform throughout society, Turnitin is not a feasible solution to eliminate academic dishonesty, as it will always be present.

Evelyn, Yihui, Emily, Yinghin, Mansi 09S03K