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Don't trust dishonest ads

Misleading sales practices are all around us these days. Advertisements promise us everlasting beauty and other miracles. I think it is a kind of commercial fraud.

Dishonest sales practices will cause consumers to make wrong decisions and spend their money on useless or unnecessary products. They mislead us into seeing ourselves as overweight or unattractive. Models are then shown in 'Before' and 'After' photographs following radical transformation after using a product. People should know that many of these pictures have been touched up and manipulated.

We should not trust advertisements blindly. We should think twice before buying fishy products and see if we need them in the first place.

Ho Hiu-tak, Pooi To Middle School

Rewards are the way to go in schools

Traditional schools often use punishment to discipline students. I believe that punishment is an ineffective way to deal with misbehaving students.

I read in the newspaper that the principal of Ma On Shan Secondary School uses a different method for making them behave: reward.

She holds film-making and football classes, but only students who perform well in class can attend.

An increasing number of students are doing better in order to have the chance to join.

I think this idea works on Hong Kong students because many of them are very active. They think school is a boring place where the only thing you can do is just study.

The reward programme offers them a chance to engage in fun activities.

Phebe Chan Tsz-yan, CNEC Christian College

Food incentives are a great idea

I support the idea that schools reward good students with food benefits.

Some people may argue that it encourages materialism and misleads students into thinking that there should always be a reward for their hard work. I disagree.

Some students come from families living on welfare. It is appropriate to reward them with food so as to encourage them to study even harder.

Children need good nutrition to grow healthily.

Some underprivileged families cannot even provide their children with enough rice, let alone fruit, milk and meat. Schools can help make students' diet more diverse and healthy.

Generally, teachers give stationery and books to students who do well in school. Why didn't anyone criticise them for encouraging materialism? Food can also be a reward.

I think it is a brilliant and practical measure.

Kelly Tsang, Hang Seng School of Commerce

Governments must be honest

I think WikiLeaks is an important public service. It makes secret information available to the public. Governments often operate in a secretive and deceitful manner.

Take North Korea for example. It has been operating under a shroud of secrecy ever since its formation at the end of the second world war. Government propaganda portrays North Korea as a paradise on earth. All news is always positive.

Censorship in the country has become so blatant that even a famine causing millions of deaths is covered up.

Having full control of the media and censoring all information can ensure the stability of a country, but at what cost?

Because of all the technological advances like the Internet, it is becoming harder and harder for governments to hide the truth. Why do some countries continue to try to hide the truth?

Being honest with citizens may create discontent in a country, which can lead to protests. But censoring information will in the end lead to even worse results.

Governments should always be open. Freedom of information is important for a country to function effectively.

The revelations by WikiLeaks have embarrassed the US government. But they have served an important purpose: they highlighted the need for greater transparency by governments around the world.

Phoebe Sin Ka-man, Heep Yunn School

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