1. You have attended the first tutorial of Socio-Economic Studies. Reflect on the elective and your expectations.
Hint: You might want to consider the syllabus, the mode of assessment, lessons, (possible apprehension), etc.
For me, I was never particularly interested in politics, economics or social issues outside of Singapore. Our CSC teacher, Mdm Liu, made the point that Singaporeans, in general, are less concerned with issues concerning countries outside Singapore, with the possible exception of Malaysia.
Why is this so?
At the time, I did not think much. However, after pondering, I reflected upon my behaviour and attitude. Are our fellow Singaporeans and I only concerned with issues that directly affect our livelihoods? Well, I’d have to say to a certain extent. It is understandable to be anxious over local affairs, but I am sure that we are aware of external affairs as well. After all, there are programmes and measures put into place to ensure that Singaporeans are kept well informed: education programmes in schools, the media in the form of newspapers (online and paper), and news programmes. I also do not think it is the lack of the ability to comprehend and express an opinion on an issue, but rather it is the absence of motivation to voice an opinion, which brings me to my next point.
_________________________________________________________
My next point is regarding the syllabus of SES.
For me, the most relevant part of the syllabus is how it can help increase my CQ-Drive, the motivation to learn more about other cultures. I did not rank myself quite high in this area because I am only interested in some cultures, many of which are directly relevant to me in my daily life. I hope that SES will “spark interest” in me.
I was also astonished that one could plan out a whole course just to study the socio-economic differences between China and America for 2 semesters. Later, I noticed that we were studying specific case studies to enhance our understanding of the topic, which makes it more appealing as we would not be overwhelmed with loads of information to remember or understand, but rather pick up skills from examples.
_________________________________________________________
As for the assessment of SES, I feel that it is definitely challenging. We have to be more confident in speaking up, and do much more research on our own. Despite this, I am willing to learn from this experience as this is a topic which I will gain much useful information and skills from.
For the first tutorial, we discussed about Cultural Intelligence, and how four different modes of a Cultural Quotient (CQ) can be used to measure one's ability to adapt to different cultures, and work in a multi-cultural society. We learned about CQ from the examples provided by our classmates, and understood a little about how some cultures might be similar or different in some aspects to others.
When I went to China during the holidays for leisure and competition, I visited seven major cities, which had large differences in cuisine, language, attitudes and ways of living. The bus driver specifically told us not to point directly at objects, as it could be disrespectful to the ethnic group living in that particular area. I never knew that this single action could insult a whole group of people. Having experienced this, I would definitely learn more about the culture when I visit a foreign place in the future.
There was another point Mdm Liu mentioned during her sharing: a group of boys visited China and spoke loudly in public in Singlish. When asked by the guide why they were not speaking in Chinese instead, one student replied that he was proud to be a Singaporean and he loved Singlish. This behaviour and attitude is uncalled for, as it reflects how something one should take pride in can become a tool for being arrogant. In addition, during our English lesson the next day, Mrs Ng, in teaching about the history of English, taught us how the language was once used as a means to differentiate socio-economic classes. In the first incident, Singlish was used as an instrument to divide and segregate the Singaporean boys from the Chinese. From these two incidents, I understood the importance of CQ-Action.
There is another example I can provide. During our IH lesson today, Miss Tan gave us a handout about nations without states. One example was the Tibetans, and how China is continuing to destroy its culture. I had visited and stayed in Shangri-La during the trip, and the Tibetans live there. The bus driver, who was a Mainlander, told us that despite being kind-hearted on the outside, the Tibetans hated the Chinese, for atrocities committed against them. I have no idea about the truth of the statement made, but there is one thing I am sure of. The Chinese government had downright destroyed the Tibetan’s culture, and this is an example of cultural insensitivity, which led to the deaths of over a million people.
No comments:
Post a Comment