PRIMARY 1 EXHIBITION
When I was at the exhibition, I felt very confused at first. I was thinking of what to expect. It was my first time experiencing material to use for devising a play. It affected me in a way because many things I saw there was familiar to me. Like the school tables, the baby dolls, the ticks and crosses. On the ways there were pictures of girls from an IJ which was familiar to me because I am currently an IJ girl. I could relate to it because seeing things that are very familiar made me feel comfortable. I thought the exhibition for Primary 1 was trying to prove things that we learn like racial harmony(the cheongsam, sari and baju kurung put together.) , being active (picture of a girl in the basketball court using a skipping rope.), social studies ( the girl standing in the way of the visualization of Singapore ) and math ( girls carrying Barbie dolls but one girl has none.) These were the things that we learnt in class. It all meant that these were the things that we were taught in Primary 1. They were trying to put across what is right and what is wrong. For example, Math is good. It makes us think.
Write a note to someone in a photo.
Dear students in the class,
Why are you just sitting there? What are you doing? In the picture you look like you’re staring into space. What exactly are you doing? Who is teaching you? What are you learning? Everyone looks so bored. Are you trying to show me the perspective of students in a classroom? What are you waiting for? You could be doing something else more fun. So what is it exactly is making you behave this way?
DISCUSS A PHOTO IN DEPTH
The picture of the of the cake uniquely Singaporean struck me the most because it was made of things that made me feel at home with. Things like Durians, Gem biscuits, agar strips and rambutans. It struck me because I grew up around these things that made me a Singaporean. It also makes me feel like I could relate to this because if it were presented to foreigners, only I could recognize and decipher it. It also showed me that different things can make up something Singaporean. Like Noodles didn’t originate from Singapore but yet it has made its impact to be considered Singaporean.
SOMETHING ABOUT EDUCATION BUT NOT EXACTLY EXHIBITION
When we moved on to the Something About Education But Not Exactly exhibition, I felt shocked at the sight of school chairs and tables with a small screen embedded in the table flashing pictures repetitively. Upon sitting down, I watched a video. The first part was of two ladies called Laisarn. They were introducing to us Baby Signing. The asian Laisarn was very expressive with her signing when she was giving her talk. The Caucasian Laisarn kept nodding and just gave reassuring nods. The both of them gave me different impacts because due to their reactions. The Caucasian Laisarn made me annoyed because all she did was nod and made gestures with her hands. The Asian Laisarn made me happier because she kept enforcing signing enthusiastically. When they had to interact with a girl who has learned signing since young, it showed me the contrast between the two Laisarns. The Asian one did a lot so that the child could follow along with ease but the Caucasian Laisarn’s teaching method in a way forces the child into self learning. It showed me the two different types of learning and teaching techniques. I didn’t know what exactly to conclude from the video. Was it Asian teachers give more when it comes to teaching and Caucasian teachers don’t really care? Or was it Caucasian teachers use self learning exercises or how Asian teachers teach and lead you through? I want to know whether in the end, do Caucasians want to live with how they’ve learnt independently or how Asians live with the fact that they will forever depend on someone teaching them things.
The second video was of a mother and a child in a cheery atmosphere probably in their backyard. So while cheerful music is played in the background, the mother begins to sign the following words.
· Happy Baby
· Beautiful Girl
· School Exam
· Tuition Fee
· Child Abuse
· Social Isolation
· Discrimination
· Extra Marital Affair
· GST
· Unemployment
· Domestic Violence
· Mortgage
· Superannuation
· Stock Market
· Freedom
· Global Capitalism
· Illegal Immegration
· Post Imperial Nostalgia
· Avian Flu
· Global Warming
· Intelligence Agencies
· Humanitarian Disaster
· Relief Operation
· Radicalism
· Terrorist Attack
· Air Strike
· Ethnic Cleansing
· Rape and Murder
· Genocide Mass Grave
These words were signed to the baby while in the background, the music still played. I felt quite perplexed because normally these weren’t the words you’d normally tell/sign to your children. These words have a too cryptic of a meaning to tell children. Some of these words are quite depressing. Some of these words are too vast for children or babies to even understand but since mothers are normally nurturing their children, maybe she is preparing her child for the world. Maybe she’s letting her child know what to expect. When I looked at my table, there were vandalism on the table. My table had said Global Warming and the pictures of global warming flashing on my little screen. I soon got why were we there and what they trying to teach us. Since now lessons are presented through videos or tutorials, the first video was telling us what baby signing was all about so the second video was to show how to use the signs and what signs we could use and apply to what we have learnt. So when I looked at my table, it is what we apply in life. The pictures on the screen and vandalism on the table of global warming was what I had learnt and it shall be an impact, vandalized forever onto something I used to learn. It has created an impact that big.
EDUCATION IN SINGAPORE
I think education in Singapore is very different compared to the education in other countries. The education here is good enough because in places like Korea, education is enforced throughout their lives. Education is a constant 24 hour ordeal for them. Most of them don’t even like studying but they don’t have a choice because everyone’s too competitive. In Singapore, education only makes you compete with yourself. Education in western countries is rather bad, in my honest opinion. This is because since they don’t lead them and tell them what to do, they wouldn’t care even if you did tell them how important education is unless your message of education got through one student.
IDEALISM vs REALISM
I feel that it’s better to be a idealist because if you try your best and get something not so bad, then it’s alright because you know you’ve tried your best but if you were a realist and got something really bad in life, you only have yourself to blame but the stigma against idealist is that they get so hard up that they forget everything around them.
NATIONALISM vs GLOBALISATION
I think Globalisation is important because we all function as one earth so whatever happens to the world, we have to help each other. Not fanning out and letting people in our country would just create problems and tension between countries hence hindering possible help.
MODEL CITIZENS LETTER
Melly, why did you want to get married to Zul and get rich?
I don’t want to get rich. I wanted to live like a Singaporean. Here, they have such a simple life. I want to raise my children in a safe environment like Singapore. If I were to raise them in Indonesia, there was the probability that they will be raped, sold off and have no education because I don’t have enough money in Indonesia to support them. In actual fact, I didn’t really need Zul. I knew I could’ve been a Singapore alone but it was the fact that being a Singaporean alone scared me. I needed someone who knew Singapore and also, I loved him. As I said, I had nothing to live for. I want something to live for. Something like my own family. My own HDB. Sending my children off to school. To live in a safe environment. This was what I wanted.
No comments:
Post a Comment