aq

• What are kind of Singaporeans are there?

  • Young vs Elderly (affect ideologies, upbringing, value systems)
  • Educated vs Less educated
  • Female vs Male (affects not just biology but culture)
  • High-income vs low-income (affects not just their wealth but also their assumptions, beliefs, priorities, and worldviews)
  • Majority ethnic group vs Minority ethnic group
• What kind of society is Singapore?

  • Asian conservative
  • Ageing
  • Meritocratic
  • Multiracial
  • Educated
• What are the traits of the 21st century?

  • Competitive
  • Everchanging
  • Fast-paced
  • Globalised
  • Knowledge-based
  • Pragmatic
  • Profit-driven
  • Open
• What kind of attitudes govern decision-making in Singapore?

  • Conservative vs Progressive
  • Globalist vs Nationalist
  • Idealistic vs Pragmatic
  • Mainstream vs Non-mainstream
  • Optimistic vs Pessimistic
  • Religious vs Secular
  • Authoritarian vs Liberal
• How do we reconcile the two views?

  • Exception vs Norm
  • Majority vs Minority (On balance, A forms the majority opinion, and B is the minority)
  • Future vs Past vs Present (While sentiments of A might have been widespread in the past, in the present, B prevails)
  • Long-term vs Short-term (It will take time before A kicks in, until then, B will remain the case)
  • Ideal vs Real (Ultimately, A is theoretically true, but B is closer to reality)
  • Theory vs Practice
• Introduction (AQ format)

  • Identify the specific context (SG) and give a general characteristic of the context that is relevant to the question's focus
  • State your overall stand in response to the question (Largely applicable, largely not applicable)
• Body (AQ format) [1]

  1. Identify issues raised by authors, clearly relevant to the question requirements - using author's last name, either quote the point or directly paraphrase it - (last name) argues/asserts/proposes/posits/raises the point/advances the idea that...
  2. State your response to this argument - (last name)'s argument is applicable/not applicable
• Body (AQ format) [2]

  1. Explain why you have this response by referring to specific relevant characteristics of the context - how and why the characteristics of the context affects your response - this is because SG is (characteristic), and so...
  2. Give a real and concrete example from the context to support explanation - this can be seen in SG society when...
• Traditional culture and Singaporean way of life

  • Old National Library was to be demolished to make way for new developments, thousands of petitions to reconsider plans rose up
  • Ethnic enclaves like Little India and Arab Street still preserved on prime land around Central Business Districts
  • Loss of traditional flea markets like the closure of Sungei Buloh Flea Market
  • Limited sense of patriotism and pride for our own ethnic culture due to Western influences like HBO TV and Hallyu Wave
• The Arts, films, documentaries and entertainment

  • Homegrown TV shows and movies such as the LKY Musical depicts the life and struggles of SG's founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew
  • Increasing the accessibility of the arts to the daily lives of Singaporeans through initiatives like Poetry on the Sidewalk
  • National Arts Council launched the Silver Arts Festival to cater to the elderly
  • SOTA, SUTD, Laselle and NAFA allows Singaporeans to pursue arts at higher levels
• Workplace and economic culture

  • World Happiness Index, SG ranks 34th globally and 2nd in Asia
  • According to Global Competitiveness Index and the Ease of Doing Business Index, Singapore ranks amongst top 3 consistently
  • Dog-eat-dog mentality
  • 1 in 7 develop mental illness in their lifetime in Singapore according to Singapore Association for Mental Health
  • 'Kiasu'
  • LKY calls us 'champion grumblers' due to our complain culture
• Ageing population and societal health

  • Active ageing through community clubs around Singapore, initiatives like The Social Iron allow seniors to meaningfully use their time
  • Merdeka and Pioneer Generation packages ; Medisave/Medishield, CHAS, Sliver Support Scheme
  • Increased incidence of diabetes, addressed by PM Lee during Labour Day Speech due to increasingly healthy lifestyles
  • 4th lowest fertility rate in the world
  • National Steps Challenge, Healthy 365 app, healthier choice labels, ActiveSG
• Strict censorship by the government

  • Ranked 151st out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders
  • Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act
• Environment

  • NTUC charging $0.20 for each plastic bag used
  • Cotton On has ceased offering plastic bags to consumers
  • Low recycling rates and knowledge about recyclable materials - 40% of materials in recycling bins are non-recyclable, and 7 in 10 Singaporeans cannot differentiate between the different types of plastic to be recycled.
  • Food Unfiltered Programme rolled out by NTU students advocating the consumption of 'ugly foods' rather than throwing them away
• Class inequality & elitism

  • In 2013, a secondary 4 Raffles Institution student Ernest Low was widely criticised for his blog post entitled, 'The Ugly Truth about Neighbourhood Schools'
• Garden City

  • Corrective Work Order for those who litter in public
  • Sale of chewing gum is banned in Singapore
  • Duty rosters in primary school and Tray Return Initiative rolled out in coffee shops
  • SG dubbed a 'city in a garden' due to our impeccable levels of cleanliness and patches of greenery interspersing the city-scape, with vertical gardens like Hort Park
  • BCA's Green Mark Scheme to certify eco-friendly buildings
• Multi-racial and religious society

  • Presidential Council for Minority Rights and the Sedition Act prevents ill-treatment of individuals based on their race
  • Efforts to bridge the gap between migrants and Singaporeans, such as the Migrant Worker Poetry Writing Competition to counter the stereotype of migrant workers being uneducated
  • Reserved elections led to a walkover by former President Halimah Yacob, led to many Singaporeans expressing discontent and using #notmypresident hastag on social media
• Technology

  • Singapore ranks highly on the Global Smart Cities Index due to its digital connectivity
  • In 2019, digital defence was added as the 6th pillar of total defence
  • Singhealth was hacked and the personal health data of 160,000 people, including PM Lee's, was stolen
  • SMART city initiative through embracing cashless technology and digital banking
• World class education system

  • Singapore ranked 1st in the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment rankings (PISA) and has been consistently topping global education indices
  • SG's emphasis on rote learning has called for more application based tests in schools - 9744 H2 Biology Syllabus now allocates 48% of the paper's weightage to application of knowledge
  • Shift away from academic achievement through Edusave Character Award and EAGLES Award which recognise students for their outstanding conduct and leadership capabilities
• Gender equality

  • Ministers such as Halimah Yacob and Josephine Teo
• Conservative Asian society

  • Premarital sex, having a child out of wedlock and homosexuality is frowned upon by 7 in 10 Singaporeans
• Increasingly vocal youth

  • Our Singapore Conservations which involves citizens from various age groups, including the youth, as a means of voicing concerns
• Animal welfare

  • Cases of domestic violence against pets such as abandonment of 13 guinea pigs along Toa Payoh MRT
  • Singapore Zoo, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), Jurong Bird Park aim to protect or rehabilitate animals in need
  • Save our Street Dogs initiative was rolled by volunteers to encourage donors to fund each dog
• Crime

  • Yellow Ribbon Project aiming to give criminals a new lease of life, employment by 18 Chefs
• Creativity, Innovation and entrepreneurship

  • Stifling of innovation by rigid education system and work culture - most parents objecting to their children taking up unconventional routes in society
  • Success stories of young entrepreneurs, such as 16-years-old Remus Er who sells limited edition sports shoes
  • Rise of various startups like Boxgreen and Enterprise.sg to help budding entrepreneurs
• Politeness and etiquette

  • Singapore Kindness Movement
  • Social norm for younger Chinese Singaporeans to call and let their elders eat before them
  • Singaporeans panic-buying and hoarding groceries when Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) Orange was announced during Covid-19 Pandemic
  • Discrimination against frontline workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic
• The disabled and inclusivity

  • Ramps and lifts along overhead bridges for those in wheelchairs, bus captains given training on how to assist wheelchair users
  • Specialised schools like Pathlight School
• The elderly

  • Difficulty in bridging the generation gap in part due to the lack of knowledge on how to understand dialects
  • Rise of BeyondAge to combat ageism in the workforce
• Healthcare and technology

  • SG ranks 3rd globally for use of AI in healthcare - booming medical tourism industry
  • Selection of level of healthcare - class A, B and C (insurance by NTUC)
• Immigration

  • Discrimination against foreign workers housed in dormitories - the cramped and squalid conditions formed hotbeds for Covid-19 transmissions, leading to infection numbers spike to over 40000
  • Not in my backyard syndrome, where residents in Serangoon Gardens opposed to a foreign work dormitory being housed in the vicinity
• Religion

  • SG is a secular state, politics and religion generally do not mix
  • Multi-religious country - education of primary school students during Racial Harmony Day, social studies textbook in secondary schools teach students about beliefs of other religions
• Charity and volunteering

  • #giveyour600 campaign encouraged Singaporeans to donate their $600 Solidarity Budget payout from the government to other needy Singaporeans
  • Highly accessible opportunities such as TOUCH Community Services
• Family life, childhood, parenting

  Helicopter parenting - mollycoddling children from a young age