Online lesson 12

Step 2:

The common theme among the scrolls in the caskets are that the scrolls represented what is hidden under a glorious surface can be different from the outer covering, and all the scrolls were of exact opposite that of the caskets. The gold box represented the most glorious surface, which indicates how valuable it is. However, inside the casket, is a picture of a skull that is worthless. Prince Morocco did not put in a deep thought, thinking that Portia is a gem and hence her portrait must be in the gold casket. It was also his greedy thoughts that had influenced him to choose the gold casket what thought to be most valuable. Then, the silver casket was chose by Aragon. The silver should have indicated the wisdom of the person who chose it. For Aragon, he thought that he was wise to choose the silver casket, and that he was of a higher class, and hence will not want what “many men want” and he does not think that Portia is good enough for him risk all he has. As a result, inside the silver casket, was a fool holding a scroll. It had named the chooser’s foolishness. Lastly, for the lead casket, was chosen by Bassanio. Bassanio was not fooled by the appearance of the gold casket, nor was he too arrogant and chose the silver casket. However, he chose the lead casket that looked extremely common. However, what led him to the answer was that he thought that Portia deserved him to risk all he has, and was able to understand that all that glitters is not gold.

Step 3:

Every day I am making decisions such as what to eat, what to wear and so on. However, until the last year have I met my toughest decision of my life. I received my Primary Six leaving examination result, and my result was acceptable. However, I was stuck in a situation that my aggregate score just met the cut-off point for my dream school. Hence, it was a tough decision that has to be made, should I take the risk in putting my dream school as my first choice? Or should I choose another “IP” school in which my aggregate score can allow me to safely get in?

I approached many people to seek for more suggestions, including my teacher, parents and friends. There are both pros and cons of the respective schools that had made my decision even harder. To get in my dream school, I will have to take the risk of not getting into it and end up in a neighborhood school. Moreover, the school is located very far away from my home, and I will spend a lot time travelling if I were to enter the school. However, the school provides a more conducive environment to study and it would give me a brighter prospect. As for the other school, I will not have to take any risk. The school was also quite near my home. However, the school may require me to take the ‘O’ level examination and does not provide a balanced learning.

If my aggregate score was any higher, I would have chosen my dream school without any doubt. However, now that such situation occurred, the cons of my dream school were and the pros of the other school were highlighted.

Finally, my cousin gave me a great way to make my decision. I decided to face this logically. I asked myself several questions: “Is the risk worth it?”, “Would I regret not making the choice?”, “Would I be happy studying in the school” and such. As a result, I decided to choose my dream school as the first choice. The reason being, I feel that it is worth taking the risk, even if I do not get into the school, I can still work hard in a neighborhood school. It was indeed a rare opportunity for me. Hence, what I would have to do now is to await the result and hope for the best…