This week the first Socratic Seminar took place on Friday. The topic was "What it means to be Singaporean". Leader Timothy Chong started off the discussion with a summary of the given articles but apparently he had not prepared well, as I, his observer, could clearly see. Then the discussion started of with a question : "What do we possess that is Uniquely Singaporean?"
The Socratic Seminar basically covered what it means to be Singaporean as well as the unique things Singapore has. The discussion had many breaks (I am sure teachers won't be happy with this) with the TIC (teacher-in-charge) making all the questions and discussions. One of the discussions (the main one actually) was about citizenship and patriotism. The definition, as we were discussing, citizenship was an official identification of your loyalty to a certain country while patriotism is more like where one's heart belongs to. Then we also discussed about what makes someone Singaporean. Factors like work, migration and more were discussed.
The seminar left me more perplexed towards the situation - many things, as discussed, can identify one as Singaporean! It left me with questions as I reflected on the Seminar. There has to be just one thing that will identify someone as Singaporean, then why all the debate? Why does Singapore want to stand out from the rest as uniquely diverse?
The good thing about the seminar was that a few of the participants were able to voice out their ideas clearly. But then the discussion was overall unsatisfactory, the panellists unable to speak up coherently, several of them coming unprepared.
The seminar had a few connections with a given article "What it means to be a Singaporean". The discussion's main topic, about citizenship and patrionism, has some of its ideas in the above mentioned article, the writer feeling a deep sense of homeliness. As he watched the parade he felt very lucky to be a Singaporean and the felt proud of our homeland. This has some relation to the patrionism mentioned in our Seminar.
See you next week with another blog post.
Meanwhile you can view this video about how Socratic Seminars should be properly held.
No comments:
Post a Comment