Tuesday, July 11, 2006
China Studies
No, not study IN China, but study ABOUT China.
This is the second time I’m typing this entire thing again cos I have no idea what button resulted in me refreshing the page, which conveniently erased all the intellectual sentences that I exhausted my tiny brain cells to form and type! *growl*
Yes, so what about this China Studies? It’s going to be a new subject which will be offered as an ‘A’ Level subject beginning next year, 2007. (Yes, we are in year 2006 now if you haven’t realized! I’m saying this cos I always write my date as 2007 instead, or 2004! Why? I dunno, maybe you do?) The purpose of this China Studies is to develop and produce a core group of youngsters who are fluent in the ways of the Chinese, and are so in tuned with their culture that they can understand them inside-out. This will serve useful to Singapore in terms of economic and defence cooperation, whereby Singapore can develop solid relationships with the new superpower of the near future and tap on their resources, thus making Singapore relevant in the new world order. In fact this is quite pertinent to us lah… We are merely catching the new wave, before others do… before they bo-chap us… leaving us to wither and die. In the race to be the top nation in terms of wealth and prosperity, this is a prerequisite lah… forward and far-thinking, the government will argue. This is a necessity for protecting the nation’s interest and future!
So, yesterday I went for a meeting about CS (China Studies, not Counter Strike lah…) Initially I was very enthusiastic cos my impression was that it was an immersion programme in China. So of course I was very gian… But I soon learned that it was actually a regional study. Similar to those general 1101E courses we take in NUS to fulfill some requirement. In CS, we will study the history, politics, society, culture, etc about China. And above it all, we will explore GEOGRAPHY, which subjugates all the previously-mentioned aspects under it. Wahaha! Geography rocks! (And it’s not only about rocks!) Yeah, so since it falls under my area of interest, of course I was attracted!
I wonder to what extent I had made my interest known. (But I’ve already indicated my interest to my RO, mentor, etc.) Why to what extent? Cos I felt overwhelmed and outnumbered by the Econs people at the meeting yesterday! ALL of them were economists… from the 5 new teachers to the person giving the presentation to the subject head to the HOD to the VP! Gosh! And I was a mere geographical fry. So yeah, I thought they were pretty narrow-minded to some extent. But it’s fine… they did think of cross-boundary issues. Where was the other Geographer who is qualified to teach this course and the history people when I was all alone?? *sob* Hahaha!
The only thing that is holding me back is the perceived (and of course, actual) workload, because if I were to take it on, I would have to straddle both Geog and CS, atop of the normal CT duties, Project Work, CCA, committees, etc, as they are unlikely to offload me in these aspects. (A teacher’s life is hard = A teacher has no life). So do you think I should still be so garang as to follow my heart?
I view this as an opportunity… a challenge. Why? Because CS is so new, so brand new that maybe even MOE doesn’t have a clear picture of how it’s going to be carried out. So it’s actually up to the teachers on the ground to construct the teaching package and we have the freedom to do as we please in constructing the lessons and materials! And since it is so new, we blaze the trail. And I think this excites me a lot. How often do we get the chance to do something which no one else has done? (Well, other than the proposed podcast for Geography when we were in NIE…) It’s like venturing into unknown grounds, like exploring a whole new terrain. Thrilling right?!
Should I take it up or not? Will I be able to cope? Tell me what to do. Please pray for me. Pray for wisdom, pray for hope, pray for opportunities, pray for courage (to speak up in front of all the economists in the arts department!) and pray for strength? Thankeryou…
This is the second time I’m typing this entire thing again cos I have no idea what button resulted in me refreshing the page, which conveniently erased all the intellectual sentences that I exhausted my tiny brain cells to form and type! *growl*
Yes, so what about this China Studies? It’s going to be a new subject which will be offered as an ‘A’ Level subject beginning next year, 2007. (Yes, we are in year 2006 now if you haven’t realized! I’m saying this cos I always write my date as 2007 instead, or 2004! Why? I dunno, maybe you do?) The purpose of this China Studies is to develop and produce a core group of youngsters who are fluent in the ways of the Chinese, and are so in tuned with their culture that they can understand them inside-out. This will serve useful to Singapore in terms of economic and defence cooperation, whereby Singapore can develop solid relationships with the new superpower of the near future and tap on their resources, thus making Singapore relevant in the new world order. In fact this is quite pertinent to us lah… We are merely catching the new wave, before others do… before they bo-chap us… leaving us to wither and die. In the race to be the top nation in terms of wealth and prosperity, this is a prerequisite lah… forward and far-thinking, the government will argue. This is a necessity for protecting the nation’s interest and future!
So, yesterday I went for a meeting about CS (China Studies, not Counter Strike lah…) Initially I was very enthusiastic cos my impression was that it was an immersion programme in China. So of course I was very gian… But I soon learned that it was actually a regional study. Similar to those general 1101E courses we take in NUS to fulfill some requirement. In CS, we will study the history, politics, society, culture, etc about China. And above it all, we will explore GEOGRAPHY, which subjugates all the previously-mentioned aspects under it. Wahaha! Geography rocks! (And it’s not only about rocks!) Yeah, so since it falls under my area of interest, of course I was attracted!
I wonder to what extent I had made my interest known. (But I’ve already indicated my interest to my RO, mentor, etc.) Why to what extent? Cos I felt overwhelmed and outnumbered by the Econs people at the meeting yesterday! ALL of them were economists… from the 5 new teachers to the person giving the presentation to the subject head to the HOD to the VP! Gosh! And I was a mere geographical fry. So yeah, I thought they were pretty narrow-minded to some extent. But it’s fine… they did think of cross-boundary issues. Where was the other Geographer who is qualified to teach this course and the history people when I was all alone?? *sob* Hahaha!
The only thing that is holding me back is the perceived (and of course, actual) workload, because if I were to take it on, I would have to straddle both Geog and CS, atop of the normal CT duties, Project Work, CCA, committees, etc, as they are unlikely to offload me in these aspects. (A teacher’s life is hard = A teacher has no life). So do you think I should still be so garang as to follow my heart?
I view this as an opportunity… a challenge. Why? Because CS is so new, so brand new that maybe even MOE doesn’t have a clear picture of how it’s going to be carried out. So it’s actually up to the teachers on the ground to construct the teaching package and we have the freedom to do as we please in constructing the lessons and materials! And since it is so new, we blaze the trail. And I think this excites me a lot. How often do we get the chance to do something which no one else has done? (Well, other than the proposed podcast for Geography when we were in NIE…) It’s like venturing into unknown grounds, like exploring a whole new terrain. Thrilling right?!
Should I take it up or not? Will I be able to cope? Tell me what to do. Please pray for me. Pray for wisdom, pray for hope, pray for opportunities, pray for courage (to speak up in front of all the economists in the arts department!) and pray for strength? Thankeryou…
# posted by Banana Saviour @ 7:56 AM 
