I would like to start my reflection using the Know, What and Learnt table. It is always an interesting step which motivates me to discover more about a certain topic and to understand the areas I should improve on.
Before I attended the first lesson, I was anxious and worried. I had the faintest idea of what comes ahead in this brand new module. None of my seniors had studied Socio-Economic Studies before. All I learnt from Mr Justin Lo’s brief introduction on Socio-Economic Studies was that this module is something related to Western and Eastern cultures. My first reaction was still alright. I thought this is a very common topic among youths. After all, our main aim is to learn more about Western and Eastern cultures right? I was proud and glad that I knew a little bit of these cultures. Needless to say, the two main Economic powers in the world, namely China and America, are very influential. Their values and ideologies have definitely influenced many countries worldwide, including Singapore. I have to admit that I am under the influence of Chinese cultures and values as I am being brought up in a Chinese-speaking family. Furthermore, many of my friends have also been influenced by Western ideology as well. And that is why I have quite some knowledge about the values of Chinese (e.g. 饮水思源, Confucianism) and Western people.
However, the more I thought about this module, the more anxious I become. And when the first lesson started, terror struck me. Firstly, like all other subjects, this module requires us to speak and participate actively in class and to share our viewpoints about lessons covered. Honestly, I am not confident at all with my basic knowledge of Western and Chinese cultures and speaking in class would be a challenge that I would have to overcome with much effort. Secondly, my SES teacher is a strict teacher. That’s pretty worrying, because I will have an even harder time scoring for my Oral Participation points. In the first lesson, I thought I would faint. But I remained curious and open to what come ahead for me. To me, my goal is to gain as much insights as possible from this module as I believe it is one that not many schools in Singapore offer. Somehow, I have the sense of cherishing this module and to familiarise myself with any cultures or values which I have yet to heard of. After browsing through the contents for this year, it dawned on me that this module is not merely about discussing about the usual cultures and ideologies of Western and Eastern countries. (‘Usual’ refers to all those philosophy and values I learnt from textbooks in the past) Somehow, a sense of excitement sparked in me. All the names listed in the contents were unfamiliar to me. But I have a feeling that understanding the definitions of the terms and the important lessons behind them are essential for my future when I interact with people from a different cultural background or of different beliefs and ideologies. I believe that’s my main aim in this module. It may sound cliché. But on a second thought, these opportunities are not available anywhere and I strongly believe the best time to spark off my interest towards the ability of understanding people from all walks of life would be during this module. I hope that I can put the values and ideologies I learnt in good use and apply them to my everyday life in one way or another.
I shall skip the ‘Learnt’ part because I have yet to begin on a formal lesson yet. My first lesson is called Cultural Intelligence (CQ for short). Needless to say, I have yet to hear such a term yet. I have heard of various kinds of ‘intelligences’ but never have come across a ‘cultural intelligence’. Cultures are unique practices in various social groups. Different types of people have different cultures. So what exactly is cultural intelligence? Is it to learn and acquire more cultures? I feel this is rather pointless because each social group only believe in their own particular culture. I guess it is to learn more about other cultures and perhaps understanding them. No matter what it is, I guess it must be something beneficial and essential for us to understand. It is probably an important topic to begin on before we move on to study about other cultures, values and ideologies. Culture is a very powerful tool in interactions among individuals. Accepting and knowing others’ cultures is a sign of respect for other individuals. It allows the two particular individuals to converse and interact comfortable with one another without awkwardness. Understanding one’s culture is also equivalent understanding the needs and interests of one, and thus, it would be much more convenient when you are to assign any task for him or her.
One of my principles in life is to always empathise with others and perceive situations while standing in others’ shoes. I hope that by the end of this one year module, I can fully grasp the ability to understand and to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds and whose beliefs and values differ from mine. Although this may be very common in our everyday life because we live in a multi-cultural society, I feel that there are still many who do not know how to interact or act in a suitable manner in front of a stranger who has a cultural and belief system which differs from theirs. Hence, I earnestly hope that I can gain more knowledge about unfamiliar cultures and values and also how to behave and react when we meet someone of a different cultural background by the end of the module. Perhaps when I have already acquired such knowledge, I can imagine how a Chinese and an American will react with one another if they live together in solitary. This would be rather interesting and cool. But most importantly, I would like to gain the appropriate knowledge and abilities to face such situations (which I believe would be quite frequent) in future.
Lim Yan Peng, Gary (16)
3S2
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