Reflection on the dominant perspective in the social studies syllabus and the textbook.

With reference to the Westheimer and Kahne article (2004), it appears that the dominant perspective reflected in the syllabus and textbook is to educate students into becoming justice-oriented citizens.

Most of the content in the textbook first encourages student inquiry through critically thinking about the importance of nation building and the major problems that can arise from various conflicts. For example, the first chapter serves to point out the factors that distinguishes a nation from a state or country, the different challenges that Singapore faced when we first gained independence and our role as citizens in all of these. This sets the groundwork for the following chapters to come, where each chapter focuses on a particular issue and the influence and impact that it can have on the lives of every individual. From here, having stimulated students into coming up with solutions for the problems mentioned, the content then invariably veer into the role of the government in the matter and the measures taken to resolve conflicts. This can be observed in the second chapter, where it immediately states the importance of good governance in overcoming these challenges, the parliamentary system of the Singapore government and examples of policies carried out to overcome certain issues.

As such, it can be deduced that the textbook content educates students into being personally responsible citizens by encouraging actions of responsible behaviour towards their community and the aims and values reflected in the syllabus have also been matched. However, the bulk of it relies on highlighting matters of injustice and stimulating understanding and analytical skills in students about the interrelations among the community, the economy and politics to improve society. These are factors that make up a justice-oriented citizen. Hence, it appears that the orientation towards developing a participatory citizen is absent as there is very little or no mention of the importance of the planning and participation in organising help for the needy and how the government works with other community based institutions.

Reflection on Citizenship

What are my beliefs about citizenship?

Citizenship is having a sense of belonging towards the country. That should then naturally result in a certain level of patriotism and the desire to play the part of a good citizen.

Before being given the opportunity to teach Social Studies, I regret that I was not as interested and informed as I should have been in current affairs, including that of Singapore's. To me, being a good citizen back then was just to abide by the laws of the state and do what is expected of me as a good person and citizen.

However, now that I have been more exposed to the concepts behind Social Studies and having read the article written by Westheimer and Kahne, I find that my beliefs in the past are more of just simply being a "personally responsible citizen" and staying comfortable where I am at - mainly uninvolved and contented.

The impact that the article left on me was rather profound. It made me think about stepping out of my comfort zone and explore options of being a more "participatory" and "justice-oriented" citizen instead. It is fundamental to be personally responsible, but upon achieving that, I believe that a good citizen should then move on to being more concerned about the government and other institutions and taking on a more actively participating role in the planning and organising of events to care for people in need. Concurrently, this should also be carried out with the desire to address root causes of societal problems through analysing and assessing the different structures of the society, economy and politics and the way they relate to one another. With that knowledge, citizens can then come up with effective strategies to challenge the injustice in society and efficiently change things for the better.

It does seem like a long and arduous journey to becoming this vision of an ideal citizen. Yet, having mentioned this, a good citizen will then already be defined by his effort and the willingness to try.