A new year has just come less than 3 weeks ago, I suddenly feel so lonely and new. Facing the new faces in class, new teachers teaching us, new environment of learning, new subjects to learn. One of this little NEW subject is SES (socio-economic-studies).
Last Thursday was our first SES lesson which was the introductory lesson. I have been told that it is a new topic adapted from the subject PPE taught to the BSP classes. Upon hearing that there were neither exams nor tests, I was very relieved as I thought it may be a slightly less taxing, to think I was real wrong. The other requirements are rather high, writing 800 words for a reflective journal has never been my kind of thing, let alone the 1000 we need for our term paper. I have been told that the subject SES focuses governments, economies, people and societies. However, i am the weakest at the humanities area which adds a big boulder on my shoulders. Not to mention we are not allowed to use scripts and have to memeorise more than around 500-800 words for our class presentation. Not to mention other subjects are getting harder and more in depth as well, training everyday, I am starting to wonder if i can survive sec 3...
Learning a new topic is never easy, getting good grades for it would be a step higher. However, after feel do not feel that uncomfortable with this new topic as i think that other subjects may have some form of relation to it. My impression of this topic is very much something like current affairs we have during our lower secondary years. Both subjects require us to have good knowledge about the world affairs and situations, following a engaging class discussion which everyone would give their opinions and suggestions to that particular piece of news. This subject has also very close relation with the subjects IHC as both subjects talk about social studies and about governments, people and societies. Another subject would be AAT last year, whereby we, again, engage in a class discussion to share our views of the topic given in the Socratic seminar, we are also required to write our AAT journals which would be graded according to how critically we reflect and think. Having said that, I feel that this topic isn't that bad and that new to me after all.
Actually I do believe that this subject is very important. Like current affairs or AAT, it trains and stimulates a good discussion where we can improve our interpersonal skills and boosts our self-esteem as well. Also, it encourages everyone to speak up in their own opinion and because it is a graded discussion, the quiet ones would be forced to speak up for their own good too, who knows they be a hidden gem with great potential of commutation and also good thoughts and points that is can be shared with the class. This subject also has every relevance to the world and the society, more importantly, our country. It broadens our horizon and let us become more aware of the events going on around us and how much it affects us. Through readings and references, we are also able to improve our vocabulary by reading either books or online sources, increasing our language standards to a certain extend.
What I like most about this topic is that there is NO test!! Just kidding, what I really think is important and significant of this new subject that I never came across is its “freedom”. This “freedom” that I am referring to is that we are able to say what we want, what we feel, what we think and there will never ever be a wrong answer as this subject is based on different people’s point of wheel and therefore, (unless our argument is really that nonsensical) we will never get marked wrong or marked down because of what we think and I think this is the best part of the lesson, able to freely express our thoughts on the topic given.
I believe that this new subject can really help me and also my classmates. it allows us to be well informed citizens of Singapore and also students who are keeping up with what is going on in this world and also, able to boost our self-confidence by giving speeches or starting discussions which I am very sure it would be useful in our alter life. I may face problems after a few lessons or may not like this subject but nonetheless, after the lesson introduction, I now know what to expect for Socio-Economic studies in Sec 3. I know that it will not be easy but I suppose I can survive it and if possible, excel in it the best that I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment