Pre-University Seminar Workshop
POSTED ON: Saturday, 5 April 2014 @ 09:31 | 0 comments
laying on the bed at 11pmlistening to the pouring rain
thinking of the possible reasons why social dynamics are so complicated
today was the pre-u seminar workshop at RI
and to sum the whole day up, it was so interesting and fun!
here's some photos to remember the day
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| here's a sculpture we made, with the idea of "what Singapore means to us" it's a little weird, but well, Singaporeans are generally weird |
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| This is a poster we made regarding the sub-theme discussion that we had (see below) basically, it's about the inequality and what we can do more to be a inclusive society meaning of poster: the construction workers work so hard to help us plant the tree, but we (on the other side of the wall) only take the fruits of their labour for granted. the elderly and disabled are also marginalised because of their lack of abilities to get the fruit of labor. |
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| This is my group! We're students from 4 different institutions: NP, NJ, AJ andYJ |
Basically, the theme of this year's pre-u sem is "Our Singapore Conversation"
and this year we are supposed to share stories/ listen to stories from people from all walks of life in Singapore
My team's sub-theme under "Our Singapore Conversation" is Spirit
[refer to PM Lee's national day rally speech about Opportunities, Assurance, Trust, Purpose and Spirit]
and our question, aka our focus and our problem, is What more can Singapore do to foster a more inclusive society
It's a topic that I'm really interested in (luckily!), because I strongly believe in equality between all people. Due to the influences by tumblr, I've grown to be a more observant and sensitive person to my surroundings, and the people who are discriminated in societies
Elderly, disabled, foreigners, LGTBs, minority-races, feminist females, these are some examples of groups of people who are excluded in the ordinary society, just to name a few
of course, this is such a controversial topic to talk about, but indeed this is the reason why there's this seminar in the first place
my team, from the start when we were given our question, has been really participative and engaging
we kept throwing out ideas and stories and examples that we know of
we explained to each other the meanings of social exclusion, and how it might feel to be excluded from the society
we debated, and we gave suggestions on what more we can improve on
I've learnt a great deal from this bunch of people I've just met
so many Singapore policies that I've never heard before, the issues that Singapore still face
One example is this: even though Singapore has done a great deal to try and take care of the social isolated elderly, but the elderly are not mostly gaining any advantages. why is this so! why aren't we doing more to help these people, and what can we improve on these policies to make benefits and grants more applicable and convenient to the socially excluded groups of people in Singapore?
to be very honest, what I'm typing now might seem really boring to you
but to me, I really like to learn about all these
current affairs, policies etc.
It's so cool that so many people can come together to discuss and give ideas about our future Singapore
and i am damn honoured to be selected to be in this Pre-U Seminar, because I get to learn first-handedly about Singapore's current affairs, and i get the opportunity to interact with some of the great minds in Singapore
cause apparently, this pre-u seminar is a prestigious thing?
like for other schools, they have to get nominated for interviews, and go through trainings and interviews JUST to get selected to be in this seminar?
and apparently even from NP's BA, they had to be shortlisted to be chosen to get into this seminar?
but I totally don't get how I was chosen
I didn't get any calls, I didn't go for any interviews or anything. I just got selected and I only knew through the email!
call it fate or something, but I am so so so glad to be given this opportunity and chance to be part of Singapore's 45th Pre-University Seminar
On a side note: I am really glad to see 3 of my friends doing my Tag: I'm Worth It :)
I especially loved Yi Jia's post about Yin and Yang - how there's an equality to everything
and when there's a negative side, it follows with a positive side
if you haven't done the tag, go do it! (:
bring some positivity to your self-esteem, and influence your friends around you
be the change you want to see in this world
-[chi ling]-
