Appearance-Based Discrimination is Wrong

        

Avantika M., 11, Island School

         Recently in South Korea, a survey showed that 42.4% of job-seekers have not been hired because of their looks, making them discriminated based on appearance. This is a problem; for example, if two people apply for a job, and one is smart but not so good looking and the other one is beautiful but not very smart, the job would go to the superficial airhead princess instead of the smart hardworking deserving person. Looks-based discrimination should be illegal all around the world. Nobody should have to suffer this and face poverty because someone prettier got the job.

        This is completely wrong because say a person gives a resume to a bank and he is a straight A+ student, has lots of credits, and overall is a good human being but then a prettier person comes and this person is an average D student, has no credits but is gorgeous. Is it fair to give the prettier one the job? No, it is totally stupid and rubbish. There are a few things that make up a good businessperson: intelligence, the ability to use teamwork, diligence, and a hardworking attitude. A person’s looks should not be depriving them from getting a good job.

        On the other hand, lots of people do business face to face; in fact, job interviews are face to face, so if the person were ugly it would be disturbing to work with him. Imagine constantly having to work with someone ugly compared to someone pretty. The person will try to avoid working if his or her partner is ugly and will actually want to work with a prettier person.

        However, if companies only hired people according to their looks, then the work would not be getting done and it would just pile up. “Studies indicate that, in general, beautiful people are paid more than their plainer-looking counterparts.” This means that pretty people are getting paid more than the actual people doing all the work. And looks should not affect anything if they have good ideas and are a benefit to a company.

        Going back many years when there was discrimination against black people, it has taken people a very long time to get over that. Now people have moved on and accepted everyone for who they are, not depending on their looks. But why has the world taken a step back when people should be walking forward? Again, we are discriminating against people according to their looks. This has gone too far if it is being compared to racial discrimination. This is very antediluvian, it has been stopped n the past, and it can be stopped again.

        42.4% of people have not been hired due to their looks in South Korea. The problem is that the prettier person gets the job and not the smarter person with the correct values on how to work. This needs to stop immediately or at least as soon as possible because smart people should not have to suffer from poverty due to their looks.

The Freezing Twister in Old England

Valerie P., 12, HKUGA College


     Lynn Benicia was a 14-year-old who lived in England in 1677. She often went to hunt with her father during Sundays and, occasionally, Wednesdays. She was the best swimmer and fisher in her village and a skilled archer as well. When there was trouble, Lynn was a person the whole village could rely on. When her father passed away, he left her a laurel wreath he made in the woods, causing Lynn to burst into tears. One day in winter, Lynn was hunting with her usual kit when an unusual sound came creeping towards her. She recognized the sound. It was the same sound that destroyed her village 10 years ago. It was a tornado, larger than she had ever seen.
     Lynn ran for her life, scooping up random little animals on the way, shouting for the villagers to go down to the cellar. The sound was terrifying, haunting Lynn about what happened 10 years ago. Trees whistled sharply in the air as if the god of wind was orchestrating a death march upon the village, striking terror and recalling the frightful memory that is believed to be buried underground. Lynn took the animals to her mother, and then scooted the weeping children into a cellar nearby as the tornado confronted her.
     The tornado broke trees, sucked houses in and, of course, created gales of wind towards Lynn making her lose balance. The tornado was at least a meter wide, and as high as the visible sky. The tornado was gunmetal grey with a hint of snow within. Wisps of water vapor swirled around it as if a river was sucked in (Lynn wondered if the river near the village was really sucked in).
     She shuddered, as she realized that a few animals in the forest were escaping from the tornado’s wrath. She then took a deep breath, and charged towards the tornado after blinking back a silvery tear.
     The animals were pushed towards the village in her friend’s arms while he was staring at her, unable to do anything at all. She touched three fingers to her lips then stretched them towards these survivors as She was hurled in thin air.
     She closed my eyes as she felt the cold air swirling around her. Those sharp blows of wind felt like shrieks of laughter… No, they didn’t sound like laughter, they sounded like prayers. And the loudest one of all was her father’s voice. She heard him pray about her mother, about Laura, about the village elder, Woodring, about the healer, about the fishermen, about the farmers… about her.
Lynn closed her eyes. Her father saved her precious life.

No More Shark's Fin Soup

Jessica L., 10, F.I.S.

Shark’s fin soup is a dish that goes back many years in China. Lots of people eat it because it is an old tradition, but it harms the shark species and affects the species which are linked to sharks. People cut off shark fins and throw the animals back into the sea to die. This practice is killing millions of sharks because the dish is very popular in China. The Hong Kong government should ban shark’s fin soup because all animals should be treated equally, sharks are already endangered, and tradition should not be a priority.

Humans are actually animals, evolved from apes. We are animals, except that we have developed more than sharks. Why do we have to push the other species around us to the brink of extinction? People might say, “But we are the best species and we have the right to stomp sharks out.” Just because we are the best does not mean that we have the right to stomp others out. As executive Chinese chef Ip Kwok-fai says, “It is not hard to create alternatives to shark’s fin soup.” Alternatives might just be made out of something simple and good.

If sharks are endangered, why do we still harm them? We are being selfish and cruel to this species by killing them for food when there are thousands of equally good-tasting alternatives. Some people might wonder, “Well, lots of species are endangered. Why should I be caring particularly for sharks?” The truth is that we need to care for all of these endangered species. We cannot just care for one. “Shark’s fin-free supporters are a minority in Hong Kong,” says Toby Kwan, marketing manager of the LH group. However, we can change that if we stop eating shark’s fin soup.

Tradition is important, and that is true. But is it as important as having a species disappear before one’s eyes? Young couples these days only order shark’s fin soup to not be embarrassed in front of their parents. “I need to impress my parents,” people might say. But wouldn’t their parents be more proud if they supported part of a movement to save a species? “Actually, they ended up being very supportive,” says corporate banker Arthur Chan Yat-long, who asked his parents about not having shark’s fin soup at his wedding.

Lots of species are endangered, partly because of us humans. We have killed other species that are endangered for fun. If we lose these species, the world will not be the same. There will be no sharks patrolling the sea, no giant pandas at safaris. It should be our job, as the greatest species, to tend to these smaller species. We have our own part to play.