Reflective Journal 5: Reflect on SES. You may want to consider the curriculum, the learning process, the assessment, difficulties you faced, how you overcame them, and how might SES be applicable in time to come.
SES is a study about the social and economic makeup of the
east and the west, a world beyond the boundaries of Singapore. Mastering the
art of SES is just like installing the latest Intel core i7 processer onto your
computer; it gives you a competitive edge in today's knowledge based world.
The study of SES affects my lifestyle, my perceptions and my
personality. As a neighbour, it was interesting to find out the reasons that
account for the different behaviours of American nationals in my estate. As an ethnic Chinese, it was definitely
interesting to learn how my ancestor's motherland faired against others
socially and economically. As a Singapore citizen, it was even more interesting
how and why we adopted some of China's and America's beliefs. Somehow, the
topics taught here have a soul, and are not as abstract as other topics like
factorisation in mathematics, or kinematics in Physics. Therefore, SES has been
one of the most enjoyable and enriching subject that I experienced as I really
felt connected and engaged to it.
Next, SES exposed me to different sides of a coin, and this gave
me the knowledge for me to discriminate. By this, I mean discriminate right
from wrong, not segregate or divide something into black or white. For example,
just because SES revealed what 'Apple' company was doing to thrive, I no longer
thought that Apple was a perfect company which should be modelled after at
first. In this case, SES showed the flaw in this system and exposed my
fallacious logic. In general, it kept me well informed and helped me develop a
clearer and more holistic understanding of the world.
However, I would be fooling myself if I were to say that this
process of learning SES was easy, especially since it had such a gruelling and
intimidating mode of pedagogy. Firstly, I had to participate actively in class
discussions to be awarded marks. I was not in the habit of speaking up, as I
felt uneasy over the inferiority I would get with a wrong statement made in
such a competent class. The result was that I avoided speaking as much as I
could, and let active participants like Daniel and Nathan run the show. Besides
that, I had to run a discussion for 15 minutes, which was daunting when I had
never made a presentation more than 10 minutes, let alone an individual
presentation more than 8 minutes. I knew I would be very self conscious while I
was in the limelight, but yet, I did not know how to do well with my
presentation skills no match to some of my other classmates. On the day of my
presentation, while I was narrating out my points, my head was still whirling
with fear. What would my classmates ask? Will I be able to stand firm on my
point?
Just one term ago, I remembered mentioning in my reflective
journal: "As I am strongly influenced by the
principle of maintaining "harmony", I prefer shielding my innermost
thoughts from others, and following the dominance." To a certain extent, this still
applies to me, but I know I am changing gradually.
Evaluating
this now, I fancy this change was in part because of the "no right
or wrong answers" mentality of SES classes. Generally, I felt that this
mentality helped me build confidence in selecting a few relevant points and
expounding on them based on my own reasoning. I was willing to do this solely
because I knew that I would not be wrong as long as I made logical sense. That
said, I must also extend my acknowledgement to my friends and teacher for
giving me moral support throughout the classes. Today, I periodically force myself to speak up, to be
more confident, and to only focus on the task at hand.
Turning back our attention to the big picture, we need to
understand that every modern society is interconnected; their cultures spread
and evolve. It is imperative to note that Singapore's future depends on its
citizens interacting and communicating with culturally diverse groups of people
from other countries. I must understand that finding a bride in China wearing a
Western Wedding Dress is not unusual anymore. I must be wary about giving pork
to a Muslim. I must recognise that the knowledge of other cultures is a
pre-requisite to effective communication in whatever field I choose to be in. In
the future, I am sure that the knowledge of this study will aide me in the
workplace, when I interact with other people.
Just like a ram in a computer, SES is the key to future endeavours.
It is a subject that can never be diminished in importance.
(Words: 800)
Hi Nicholas :D
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your journal. Your use of language, as always, is beautiful, and the whole journal was fluent with each point linked to the next and your unique writing style is also very evident. I liked the use of analogy and also the personal anecdotes included, as it made the journal very relatable to.
Just like you, SES has definitely offered me with different perspectives on the various issues in society in China and America. SES has also taught us to think critically about issues and consider the various factors affecting it.
At the start of the year, my perspective of America was very biased and I felt that it was "perfect", and that was most likely influenced by the media and all the movies or television shows or videos I have been watching. SES really exposed me to another side of the world I never knew, and I honestly knew nothing about the Industrial Revolution or the Cultural Revolution or who Mao Zedong was. I think my awareness of current affairs has increased, as small an improvement as it might be, and also the history of these two superpowers.
Don't be intimidated by the class discussion! You have a loud and clear voice and also thoughts of quality, and you should be more confident about yourself and share the thoughts with the class :) From presentations to raising a point and potentially being laughed at, they should all be seen as a learning experience and should not discourage you from speaking up. I am sure all of us have seen the conscious effort you made to be more outspoken and it is a very commendable improvement!
During the first lesson, when we talked about CQ, my first impression was that we were going to learn more about cultural sensitivity and a misconception I had was that we were going to learn about the different religions too. I have no religion and my knowledge of Christians or perhaps Muslims is frankly still very poor! Just a random thought, do you think that religion is also a crucial part in understanding the cultures of countries and the various societal problems?
What are your thoughts on the shifted focus towards economics in Semester 2? Will you adapt to the new teaching style of a different teacher?
Cheers!
-Jiefeng
Dear Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading several journal entries from different people, I noticed a trend. Many people emphasised how much they learnt from SES and how much they did not know before it. However, it is quite disturbing to find out that so many students apparently do not have a basic understanding of different cultures and even Confucian values in their own Chinese culture. If you had not went through the SES course, would you still think that Apple is a perfect company? Simple logic should tell you that there is no such thing to begin with. Even without this module, if you read the news often and noticed the articles on Foxconn, you could come to the conclusion that Apple is not perfect on your own. We already know how to reason and think. The only thing SES does is force us to read these articles which we normally would not.
Thus, rather than giving new information and perspectives, I think that the more important objective of SES is to show students how little they know and how much more there is to learn. There is a limit to how far one can understand another culture without being totally immersed in it and interacting with people form another culture. No one in class can honestly say that they fully understand the culture of America and China. Furthermore, there are innumerable other cultures and different perspectives which are not covered at all. However, to accomplish all of this within the classroom is impossible. Rather than the new perspectives and information I have gained, I think the biggest boon brought by this module is showing students how little they know and trying to motivate them to take the initiative to research and understand other cultures and perspectives.
On Jiefeng's point on religion, I believe that culture encompasses religion. Religion has undoubtedly had an impact on culture throughout history, and continues to do so today. For example, The Enlightenment was also a movement to combat superstition. In the context of today's society, this can be seen from Islamic law or Confucianism, which is also seen as a religion.
On an unrelated note, why do you think it is better to be more outspoken? Is this just social conditioning? If being yourself means being quiet, why not do so?
Sincerely,
Samuel Koh