Writing

Conclusions
Upper Secondary
STEPS

1) Signal the end - In conclusion / In summary / All in all,

2) Repeat / Reiterate Your Thesis Statement

a) Don’t change the order
b) Try to paraphrase (change word form / change
sentence structure / synonym)
then...

3a) Sharing your final thoughts on a topic (Disc)

- Going overseas can be both a boon and a bane.
What matters really is what we do with the education
at the end of it, not so much where we study. ….
OR
3b) Recommend Solution(s)
- To minimise any problems that arise from this move to
venture abroad, students can….This will….. In the
end,....
3c) Ask a Thought-Provoking Question
- ………...Which then would be your choice? / Does it
really have to be a win-lose proposition?

OR

3d) Paint a Future Scenario

- ……..If we continue to…., ….This may or may not be
the way we want to go. Perhaps some consideration
is necessary.
3e) Call to Action

● What is it: Clearly telling your audience a role they can

play in the issue at hand.
● Usually at the end of a speech

● Make your call-to-action clear and direct.

● Have your audience act quickly.
● Lower barriers to action.
● Focus on benefits for your audience.
School has become overprotective. Do you agree?

- School → institutions of learning,

- Become → changed from the past,
- Overprotective → coddling, sheltered from certain realities
and painful truths, more than necessary/ required, going
overboard in their vigilance

Stand - Agree / Disagree

School has become overprotective. Do you agree?

Stand - Disagree

1) It is the duty of the school to ensure the safety of the those

in their charge
2) The overall climate/situation in society has changed -
advent of tech, exposure to trends and other influences
School has become overprotective. Do you agree?

Why - 1) overreact to parental comments → snorkelling

2) shielding students from the harshness of real life - by
reducing their workloads, so as to allegedly not stress them
out → unreasonable

Counter - it is the duty of the school to ensure its students

are safe and well
Rebuttal - it is necessary for schools to prepare students to
face the reality, so they cannot go overboard. have to allow
the student to find their own feet
Useful Words and Phrases

- Too much attention paid

- Security
- Shielding, shelter them from
- Going overboard
- Going to extremes
- Should find a middle ground
- Balance
- Stress / Worry / Anxiety
- Panic at the slightest transgression or sign of trouble
- Annoyed / irritated / vexed / angry / enraged / furious / livid
- Lack of trust
- Adversarial relationship / animosity
- Breeds rebellious behaviour → spoils relationship
- Similar to “Helicopter parent”
- Hide away harsh truths
- Parochial / narrow-minded
Introduction

Overprotective is defined as the penchant to coddle and shelter someone from certain
realities and painful truths. With a global pandemic, school shootings and violence raging
around the globe, there seems to be a real cause of concern for parents and schools.
They cannot be blamed for their newfound tendency to shield their charges from anything
they deem to be dangerous or unnecessary exposure. However, things seem to have
gone overboard. School has begun to overreact to parental comments and shielding
students from the harshness of real life.
1) overreact to parental comments → snorkelling

Firstly, school has started reacting disproportionately to parental comments. In modern times, parents have
started taking a more active role in their child’s education and they keep a closer eye on the activities that their
child participates in. As all humans do, they begin to make unsavoury comments and unwittingly, apply undue
pressure on school, who eventually succumb to the parents’ wishes. Receiving remarks such as “the children are
too young to learn this!” or “this activity is too dangerous for my child!” from parents forces the school to rethink its
decisions. The school forgoes certain beneficial activities, which have the potential to help the students in the long
run, just for the overbearing parents. For example, many schools around the globe, have removed the famous
literature book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, from their reading list, after facing a backlash from a few parents. They
claim that the book is too sensitive and will make their children feel uncomfortable. As a result, schools went
overboard and completely banned the book. They went way over the top and took it too far by prohibited. These
incidents of overreaction clearly exhibits their nature of overprotection. The levels to which school had sunk to in
order to appease irrational fears, without considering their true purpose of education, highlights the problem of
overprotection. Thus, school has started overreacting to parental comments.
Ll - shielding students from the harshness of real life by reducing their workloads, so as to allegedly not stress
them out → unreasonable

Secondly, school shields its students from the harshness of real life. Although they are meant to teach youth
knowledge, information and skills which will be beneficial to them in the real world, schools often steer away
from this purpose. The cruelty and brutality of humans are commonly conveniently omitted and erased, to
‘protect’ students. A case in point is the history lessons taught to students around the globe. A study
conducted in 2019 revealed that 90% of American high school seniors know nothing about Juneteenth and its
significance. They are oblivious about the reality of American slavery in the decades before the twenty first
century. In their history lessons, facts are modified and brutal truths are altered or omitted to cushion harsh
blows. Despite being done to avoid any discomfort for their students’ benefit, the school is severely affecting
their students in a negative manner. They believe that by omitting the truth, they are indeed helping their
children, when instead, their ‘helicopter-parenting’ behaviour could harm the child in the future. Sheltering
students, who will become the leaders of tomorrow, can have detrimental effects. As the future leaders, they
need to be aware and conscious of humans’ mistakes.
Detractors may argue that it is the duty of the school to ensure its students are safe and well
Rebuttal - it is necessary for schools to prepare students to face the reality, so they cannot be overprotective and have to allow the student to find their own feet

On the other hand, detractors may argue that schools are ultimately responsible for the safety and well-being of
their students when they are under their care. This is the undertaking they make when they enrol the children.
For example, they must ensure that students are aware of what to do in case of an emergency, like a fire.
These exercises prepare both students and staff for possible dangers that could arise at school premises and
are successful in ingraining into students what steps need to be taken. However, this only holds true to a certain
extent. School is certainly not able to save their charges from every danger out there. They should not try. In
fact, most schools have lost the plot. They try to prepare for every possible permutation they can and hand-hold
their students through life. For example, following the 2014-2015 haze incidents in South East Asia, schools
went to extremes and cancelled all overseas trips. They said the ceasure was temporary, but it eventually
became permanent. This kind of irrational reaction to something that is beyond anyone’s control shows up
school’s knee-jerk reactions to events. Cancelling an event for a infrequent incident like such hinders students’
education opportunities.
Conclusion 1 - Future Scenario

In conclusion, school has become overprotective. Though it is the utmost duty of the
institution to safeguard its students in every way possible when under their care, its
overreaction to parental comments or pressure, along with unnecessarily shielding its
students from the harshness of reality has resulted in an exaggerated response. If this
practice is allowed to continue, the repercussions may be dire. This is because, despite the
good intentions, these actions have the potential to backfire. Too safe an environment may
result in students not being provided with the adequate platform for success in their future
endeavours. Consequently, students may hold too many idealistic notions about their future
without a reality check and may not know how to react to dangerous situations. This
certainly defeats the purpose of an “education”.
Conclusion 2 - Thought Provoking Question

All in all, school has definitely become overprotective. Though it is the utmost duty of the
institution to safeguard its students in every way possible when under their care, its
overreaction to parental comments or pressure, along with unnecessarily shielding its
students from the harshness of reality has resulted in an exaggerated response. Too
sheltered an environment may result in students not being provided with the adequate
platform for success in their future endeavours. Consequently, students may hold too many
idealistic notions about their future without a reality check and may not know how to react to
dangerous situations. Is that the kind of future that school envisioned for their students?
They can only do what is within their limits. In fact, It is necessary for
schools to prepare students to face the reality of the outside world. This is
why school cannot be overprotective and cannot shield their students from
harsh realities all the time. It must allow students to stand on their own two
feet and be able to navigate through problems by themselves, without any
external help. One such area is when the students graduate and seek
employment. Job interviews are conducted individually and the interviewee
is not allowed to bring anyone along to help during the process. They have
to rely on themselves. Instead of shielding them and spoon-feeding them,
schools should adequately prepare them for real life. They need to be given
a opportunity to be independent.