The Giver (Ending)

By Tin Chan (Age 9, ISF Academy)

Editor's Note: This story continues the ending of Lois Lowry's The Giver. 

Jonas and Gabriel went through the rough storm. Snow hit against their faces. Patches of white formed on their faces. Jonas protected Gabriel from the snow by covering his face from the snow.

Although the snow was very cold, Jonas somehow felt very warm. Soon he heard music and the sled was slowing down. The snowstorm became smaller and smaller. Gabe started to laugh and soon, Jonas felt himself filled with joy.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Suddenly, Jonas felt himself standing on a patch of grass with Gabriel in his hands. He looked around. It was a nice community. There were houses that surrounded him. Jonas stared into the distance and saw a few buildings. He thought, "This might be Elsewhere." He felt an impatient tug on his clothes and saw that there was his mom coming toward him slowly, with her hands in front of her body, like a zombie.

Jonas quickly ran away, aware that this could be something bad. Bang! He saw his mom change into a zombie and suddenly, he found himself surrounded by zombies. He felt himself being sucked up into the air with a great tremendous force. And then...

He found himself without Gabe in his hands, standing in an office. There was a person in front of Jonas. He wore a green hat and a green suit. He was eating some sunflower seeds from a burlap sack and smoking at the same time. He had wrinkles on his forehead and a grayish white mustache.

"Hi. My name is Mr. Sir. And you are standing in front of the government of Elsewhere. Elsewhere is a camp for brats who escape from their own communities. The people who do it shall be punished. You will have to - "

"Where's my friend?" Jonas blurted out.

"Ah, you mean that small boy of yours?" Mr. Sir flashed him an evil grin. "He's in the factory, being reduced to tiny bits for tonight's meal."

Jonas, filled with anger, tried to run away from Mr. Sir by the only door out from the office. Suddenly, a bottomless hole formed from under him, and Jonas fell into it, screaming for Gabriel. He heard Mr. Sir laugh. His horrible, evil laugh.

The Lonely Tiger

By Lily (Age 6, German Swiss International School)

One day, there was a Tiger and a Wolf. The Tiger was best friends with the Wolf. One day, he had to go to a family reunion of cats. Big cats, small cats, and other cats would go. The next day, he said bye to the Wolf. He took his bag and set off. The cats' reunion was on Acorn Road, Number 123. At the family reunion, he saw a Lion. In his mind, he compared the Wolf to the Lion. He wondered how cool the Lion was. So he walked up to the Lion and said, "Wanna play ball?"

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

"Sure," said the Lion. So they played ball. After he was done playing ball with him, the Tiger went home. He saw Wolf playing outside.

"Hi," said the Wolf, but the Tiger did not answer back. "Hi," said the Wolf, but the Tiger still did not answer. After a couple of minutes, he answered.

"At the family reunion, I met this awesome lion and he is more awesome than you! You are useless, you are lazy, and you can't do anything!" The Wolf felt hurt. He walked home.

The next day, the Tiger saw the Lion with his pride. He said, "Do you want to play ball?"

"No way, I am with my pride!"

The Tiger was sad, so he went to the Wolf's house. He saw the wolves were eating a sheep.

"Do you want to play?"

"No!" said the Wolf, and continued eating. The Tiger was alone. He was mean to his first friend and his second friend was mean to him. Then he was left alone.

The Story of Billy Frankilson

By Samantha (Age 10, German Swiss International School)

This story takes place in 1972. There was a boy named Billy Frankilson. Billy had a family but the whole family was homeless. They were kicked out of their house by the government because they couldn't pay the rent. His dad was an exterminator and his mom did domestic work. The Frankilsons secretly lived in an old farm house. There was everything in that farm house. They had beds, water, and electricity, and because the government forgot to close the house for sale, the Frankilson family took the house. The only thing that they didn't have was money and nice clothes. They got food from the chickens they had, and from the plants and vegetables.

Billy was 17, about to graduate from West Mitford High. He was very smart, handsome, and popular in school. He had a girlfriend named Amelia Emart. Amelia thought that Billy was perfect. The only problem was that he went to a very rich school and if anyone found out that he lived in an old farm house, he would lose everything. So the only way to keep on going with life was to not invite his parents to the graduation. A week before graduation night, Billy told his parents that graduation was only for the kids.

He went to school and found out that he had won the German, Math, and English awards!! He had to give a speech and dedicate these awards to his parents. He felt guilty after lying to his parents. He had to do something.

The night of graduation came. During his speech he was going to tell the school his secret. His name was announced so he could come give his speech. He began stuttering on stage and he ran off crying. He was so sad. He ran backstage, and ran into his parents wearing nice clothes! Mrs. Frankilson was wearing high heels. Mr. Frankilson was wearing a suit. Billy was very confused. Supposedly Billy's parents had been saving up money to wear nice clothes to his graduation night. Billy hugged his parents and ran back on stage to finish his speech.

"I would like to tell you a secret that might change your lives. My name is Billy Frankilson, and I am an only child. I live in an old farm house because the government kicked us out of our old house. I am now here making this speech for my mom and dad. What I learned in my life was that you do not have to be rich to love. Blindly I was looking for what I did not have and I didn't see what I already had: wonderful parents, a girlfriend, great friends, and an education. Congratulations, fellow graduates! You graduated!"

The Race

By Jennifer (Age 10, Hong Kong International School)

"Hey there, Catherine!" said Molly as she hurried to Catherine.

"Oh hi Molly!" said Catherine as she ran toward her friend. Suddenly, she felt cold. It started off from the shoulders, all the way down to her legs. It felt like a whole minute to Catherine, but it only took half a second in real life. Catherine felt like drinking a cup of hot chocolate, though it was summer, and they were outside in the hot sun. She felt herself tilting left, then everything turned black.

****

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

"Catherine! Catherine! Wake up!" said a voice as Catherine opened her eyes and was blinded by the lights. "Are you okay?" It was Catherine's nurse, Mrs. Ralph.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Catherine, as she sat up from the sofa.

"What happened, Catherine?"

"Well, I was running, when all of a sudden I felt cold, from my shoulders to my feet, then I started to tilt, and everything turned black," she felt a sting on her forehead. "Ouch!" Catherine cried aloud, as she felt the bandage.

"You scraped your head," said Mrs. Ralph, as she gave Catherine a cup of water. "Now, where were you when this happened?"

"I was outside on the playground."

Mrs. Ralph got up from her seat and walked to her desk. She typed a few things and gasped. "Catherine, I want you to run from the couch to me." Catherine got up, and started to jog forward. It wasn't long before she had the same feeling again and fainted. "Catherine! You have a disease called myotonia congenita!"

"What is that?" asked Catherine as she got up from the couch again. Her head was throbbing, and she couldn't think correctly.

"Well, that means whenever you run, your muscles freeze up, and what that happens, you faint," explained Mrs. Ralph. "I must go inform your parents. You need to go home."

****

A few hours later, Catherine was home in front of a lot of worried faces. "Catherine, how could this happen?" said her mom. "Why didn't we know?" asked her dad. "Why has it never happened before?" asked her helper.

"I don't know," was the reply to all the questions.

"You will never be able to run again," said her mom.

"But the marathon of the year is coming up!"

"I know, but how will you win?" asked her mom. There was no reply.

****

The next day at school, everyone was buzzing about the news. "I heard that she will never be able to run again!" said a girl. "But the marathon is coming up!" said another.

"How will I win?" thought Catherine. "How will I win?" 

There was no chance she would win anyway. She was the slowest runner, and she would definitely be the slowest if she had this disease. From that day on she walked, hopped, and crawled, but she never skipped, galloped, or ran. 

On the day of the competition, it was raining, but everyone wanted the competition to go on. The rain was like an obstacle. When everyone got to their position on the track, there were many gasps when they saw the worst runner in the world. 

"How will I win?" thought Catherine. "How will I win?" 

Suddenly, the gun shot, and everyone started to run. As Catherine zoomed forward, she fainted, and woke up again. The others were halfway through the race already. Suddenly, a runner tripped and bumped into another runner, who also fell. Another slipped from the rain and three more did too. And because they slipped, they had no control of their direction, and crashed into five other people. There were hundreds of gasps, as the runners lay there motionless. Catherine walked forward. It took her a long time, but it was worth it. She had won. 

****

At school, everyone treated her even better. They complimented her, and were astonished that she had won. "Great job!" said Molly.

"Thanks," said Catherine. "I am actually proud of my disease, or I would have ended up in the hospital like the other players." 

"How will I win?" thought Catherine. "With my disease."

My Sister's Lessons

By Erica (Age 14, St. Paul's)

When I turned seven, I began pestering my parents for an addition to our family. One minute I would whine for a Labrador, the next moment a cat, and sometimes I would even ask for a lizard or a rat. However, the patronizing replies were the same every time: Dad’s allergic to dogs, Mom hates cats, and over my dead body am I going to allow a lizard in my home. Period. Since my helper wouldn’t play with me, I had to resort to talking to my stuffed animals and myself when I got bored. The problem was, I wanted company. I wanted somebody to share my toys with, to read stories with and to play dress up with. So when my parents asked whether I wanted a sibling, I said yes quickly without much consideration. At age seven, responsibility was a vague concept to me and the idea of having a sibling simply meant having a playmate. However, little did I know that this ‘yes’ brought me a lifetime of love and annoy.

Originally, I was given the honor of naming my sister. However, after too many failed attempts and disapproving sighs from mom and dad over the weird names that I had chosen, they decided to call her Bernice. I was in charge of name-calling, but that’s another story. The name Bernice can be dated back to the time of 40 AD. She was the daughter of a man who was killed by an angel and was the mistress of numerous kings. That’s a pretty weird origin for your child’s name. However, it also means victorious in Greek, which is the most puzzling part. The only things that my sister ever wins are arguments and fights with me. And that’s because I purposely let her win. She taught me how to hold my tongue and swallow the sharp words I was about to blurt out. She taught me how to forgive and to ask for forgiveness.

Another thing that my sister taught me was sharing. Not only sharing toys and the TV, but sharing mom and dad. After spending half of my childhood basking in the love and full attention of my parents, there was suddenly someone else whom they love dearly. There was this person that they will dedicate as much love to as they did to me and obviously I was jealous. I didn’t like the idea that there will always be somebody else on their minds and in their hearts. For a few weeks, I would constantly glare at my sister with burning hatred and loathing. However, I soon realized that this was ridiculous. Of course I would have to share my parents with her and in fact, if they don’t even love her, I should be scared. I soon realized that I didn’t have to share my parents' love with my sister; their heart simply grew bigger to contain the both of us.

My sister also possesses the uncanny ability to make me feel guilty even when she was the misbehaved one. Every time after a fight, when I see her teary eyes and hear her pitiful sobs, I just simply had to forgive her. If you can stare into those eyes without melting, there's something wrong with you. The way she sees the world is just so simple. A butterfly or a bird can make her happy for the whole day while we’re blindly chasing fame and fortune. The world is such a beautiful place through a child’s eyes.

While I’m not ready to burn all of my Justin Bieber posters and CDs just to show my love for my sister, she really changed my life. She taught me how to love, to share love, and to be loved. She can explain problems that take me ages to solve with that simple mind of hers. Some day I’ll throw away all my Bieber stuff if she wants me to; but right now, she has to put up with a crazy sister who randomly dances to 'Baby'. But when you come to think of it, that's not actually a bad thing.

Is my school overpriced?

By Chris, age 15, CDNIS


Education's worth is not measured by the amount of money or resources one spends but by whether one decides to take the initiative to make full use of learning. Hong Kong is a city where students attend schools and receive education at different standards. A lot of times, what education one receives is based on their social status and the amount of resources one's family has. Teenagers at the same age can receive government funded education for free, but they also have the choice to pay more than $10,000 each month to receive "prestigious" education from international schools. Is spending all this money on education really worth it? Is it unfair for children to receive education with such a huge gap? Money will not buy you a quality education, but the student has the choice to make it worthy of its cost.

Having sent me to both local and international schools in Hong Kong, my parents had to make a drastic change in funding education for my brother and me. Looking back to my childhood, I felt like I was dumping my parents' precious money and resources into the deep ocean. Truth by said, I did not make good use of my education. Did it matter how much money you spend on education? One can pay $1000 to attend a school but daydream every day in class and waste the money. However, one can pay $8000 for a prestigious education and make great use of the learning. Which one is worth it? This comparison is not necessarily stating that local students are less favored than international students. This comparison proves that education's worth is in the hands of the students.

Don't get me wrong. Both the schools I attended had bright students with respected grades but there were also students who did not have the passion for learning. The bottom line is, parents should not be convinced that paying more means better grades and better students. Paying more for international school education is sending your child to learn in a unique environment with more freedom and choices which are elements unmatched in local schools. Do I think that my school (CDNIS) is worth it? Yes, if I take the initiative to make the best out of my learning. I think my parents made the right choice to send me to an international school. The education and experience you acquire from school are priceless. One needs to be a risk-taking, reflective student to really let the learning make an influence.

It does not matter which school you go to or how much money you pay for education, the "heart" you are willing to give to learning is the most vital element.

A serious problem which exists in the society of Hong Kong is the huge gap between the rich and the poor. Education in Hong Kong is often regarded as an "unfair arena" where talented young students are left out and cut off because their family cannot afford their education to continue beyond high school. Being big fans of the free market, the Hong Kong government is blindly convinced that the education industry should also work under this policy. What is the free market? Within the free market, the stronger ones will eliminate the weaker ones, but if one has perseverance and determination, one could also become a stronger contestant. However, in a society like Hong Kong, where there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor, young talented students who do not have enough resources are often left out because they don't even have the chance to become strong competitors. If we are putting all the teenagers in Hong Kong in a 100 meter sprint, there would be kids who are 200 meters ahead an there would be kids who don't even get to race. The government needs to spend a lot more resources on government funded schools to assist kids who deserve a better education and can close the gap between the rich and poor.

Education is a chance which students and teenagers have to treasure and make full use of. Education's worth is not measured by the money spent but by the determination and initiative one spends on learning. The Hong Kong government needs to assist students in order for them to have a goal to chase. If they are left out a such a young age, it will be a huge loss for our society. Work hard and make the impossible happen.

Three Cups of Tea: A Defense

By Albert (Age 13, Canadian International School)

Editor's note: Read a response from a student who believes Greg Mortenson should face the consequences for purposefully deceiving the public. 

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Three Cups of Tea is a book by Greg Mortenson. It was published in 2006 and it is an apparently true life story about Mortenson getting lost on K2, the second highest peak in the world, and eventually stumbling across a tiny village named Korphe. There the villagers nursed him back to health and he vowed to return to build schools there. Since then he has built over 150 schools in Pakistan and nearby Afghanistan. Despite this book being a bestseller for over five years, recently, there has been a lot of criticism. Author and climber Jon Krakauer discovered some parts of Mortenson's memoir were made up and that he used the money from the organization for his personal use. However, I believe that Mortenson's achievements far outweigh allegations made by Krakauer.

The first reason why I believe Mortenson's achievements outweigh the mistakes is that the mistakes in my opinion aren't that serious. There is only one big issue with what he is doing right now, which is that he is using money from the charity for himself. All the other mistakes, such as building schools on peaceful grounds in Afghanistan while he claimed he was building in dangerous zones, are just exaggerations made by Mortenson. The false stories he tells don't really have a huge impact on the work he does. As for the big offense, no one can really be sure if Mortenson does keep the money for himself. Also, the main point is that he has done the work and has helped the children, not if the money used was less than it should have been.

The next reason is that many other famous people who have helped change the world have also done things that weren't right. Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to building orphanages, schools, and clinics for the poor, was criticized for accepting questionable donations from dictators and criminals. She was also critized for the deplorable conditions of her clinics. Martin Luther King Jr. plagiarized parts of his Ph.D. thesis, but that doesn't even come close to overshadowing the achievement he had leading the civil rights movement. Some believe that Gandhi may have had relationships despite his vow of celibacy, but does that affect or overshadow his achievements such as making India an independent country? No. So why should it be any different for Greg Mortenson? His achievements far outweigh the mistakes he made.

On the other hand, some feel strongly about Mortenson deceiving people with made up tales in his book, but the main point is that the money goes to charity. Some also feel strongly about Mortenson using more money for himself than he should, but it is more important that the rest of the money is helping build schools in rural and dangerous parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In conclusion, despite the many mistakes that Greg Mortenson made such as making up parts of the book and using more company money than he should have, his achievements such as building over 150 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, raising money for charity, and inspiring many far outweigh his mistakes.

Three Cups of Deceit

By Jamie (Age 13, Renaissance College)

Editor's note: Read a response from a student who believes Greg Mortenson's accomplishments far outweigh Jon Krakauer's allegations. 

Three Cups of Tea is about how Greg Mortenson, failing to climb K2, got separated from his teammates and found his way to Korphe, a Pakistani village. The villagers healed the weak Mr. Mortenson and in return he promised to build a school, which happened one year later. He made his adventures into the book Three Cups of Tea and it became a New York Times bestseller. He also founded a non-profit organization called Central Asia Institute. The money earned from his book and donations from readers who were touched by his story was used to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, it was revealed that some facts in Three Cups of Tea were false, made up, and this accusation was confirmed by Jon Krakauer, the author of Three Cups of Deceit. 

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

I think that Greg Mortenson purposefully deceived the public with his book and he should be prepared for the consequences. Since a lot of people bought his book and gave donations to Central Asia Institute, a lot of people would be mad and furious since all their money has been given to a deceitful organization. Even though he has been using the money from CAI's funds to build schools, it has been found by Jon Krakauer that the building of the schools have only used up 41% of the funding donations. Advertising and promotional activities for Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute have used up the rest of the funds.

All of these allegations have been gathered up and written into a book called Three Cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer. There have been serious accusations. Although over 170 schools have been built by the Central Asia Institute in Pakistan and Afghanistan, many have been reported to be left empty and unused. Also, in these schools, there has been no attempt to hire teachers and buy supplies for the students, which makes the school an empty shell. It has also been found that the proceeds from book sales do not go to the Central Asia Institute, but instead to Greg Mortenson.

All these allegations are enough to outweigh Greg Mortenson's accomplishments in Central Asia. As the Chinese saying says, "A bad person is still a bad person, no matter what they do to change the fact." Whatever good deeds such as building schools that Greg Mortenson has done, he cannot change the fact that he has written a book with false facts, deceived millions of people into donating to his "non-profit organization", and used the money himself for his personal use. So, I think that although Greg Mortenson is a person who has done good deeds, he still has flaws and is not one to be believed in.