Social studies curriculum must be independent

Singapore – The Ministry of Education announced today that Social Studies will soon be a full, compulsory subject for all school students in Singapore.

This may come to mean that the grades for the subject may soon be factored into the consideration of results for major examinations in Singapore such as the PSLE and ‘O’ levels.

First introduced in the primary schools in 1981, social studies is currently taught in both the primary and secondary level in Singapore.

According to the MOE Social Studies Primary Syllabus in 1999, the purpose of social studies is to “enable pupils to understand their social world and to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to participate effectively in the society and environment in which they live.”

In the upper secondary level, social studies is largely developed in the context of National Education and is the cornerstone of citizenship education in Singapore. National Education, or NE, is an initiative launched by MOE in 1997 revolving around a set of shared values reflected in the curriculum, such as those of ‘Nation before community and society before self’, ‘consensus not conflict’, ‘racial and religious harmony’.

What are the pitfalls of making Social Studies a full, compulsory examinable subject?
Despite the curriculum’s emphasis on harmony, consensus and ’society before self’, introducing Social Studies as an full, compulsory examinable subjects may have its obvious pitfalls.

If Social Studies becomes a ‘full subject’, one will undoubtedly — and perhaps awkwardly — find a curriculum which tries to encourage consensus, selflessness and harmony entwined within an educational system that promotes competition, individual merit and self-interest. The educational sytem in Singapore is almost certainly framed around a process of testing, ranking and individual competition. Through promoting Social Studies as an examinable and ‘full’ subject, this will be surely a source of tension for the Singaporean student.

In the worst case scenario, as have happened for examinable subjects with grades factored into the results, students will embark on a process of ‘rote-learning’ and memorizing of questions and facts in order to score for the subject of Social Studies. The thought of a 16 year old student completing an ten-year series assessment book answering past examination questions on the founding fathers of Singapore and their achievements, memorizing the answers through rote-learning is one that we may have to behold in the future.

Needless to say, in a such a scenario very little critical thinking is achieved. And this certainly does not bode well for the future of Singapore, who must surely count on the capability of critical and independent thinking of her own people to deal with even greater and unprecedented challenges in time to come.

Netizens are similarly concerned about the independence of the social studies curriculum in Singapore. One netizen who writes under the moniker of ‘Rex’ mentioned of a question in a primary 3 social studies curriculum that asked for the correct answer to the “3 great qualities of MM Lee Kuan Yew”, followed by a comprehension passage of his life.

“I wonder if CSJ’s (Dr. Chee Son Juan’s) daughter is in primary school yet,” he writes. “For the sake of getting good marks, it is advisable for her to just follow the syllabus and do the right thing for the right marks.”

Social Studies — what can be done?
Shouldn’t the education ministry take a leaf out of the grading system of ‘breadth’ subjects at the University level in Singapore, whereby a ‘breadth’ module taken outside of one’s home faculty is only accorded a Pass/Fail status, and where — most importantly — grades do not matter?

One anonymous netizen has improved upon this suggestion by arguing that a higher standard for a passing grade, say 70%, should be imposed so that the Pass grade would not come too easily. Furthermore, a suggestion was made to include social work, volunteerism and other out-of-classroom activities in the computation of the subject’s final grade.

An independent panel should be established to rework the entire social studies curriculum in Singapore. For at least on a prima facie level, it is uncertain that enough room will be given to opposing or alternative viewpoints of Singapore’s history, its success and developmental challenges in the future. This is particularly so as if the curriculum is decided solely by the state’s Education Ministry.

If one stays true to the goal of the subject of Social Studies in the first place, then more independence should be accorded to the creation of its syllabus and to ultimately allow the subject to reflect in a balanced manner the ‘history’ of Singapore, and the story of our nation-state, rather than one single ‘true’ and ‘correct’ account that privileges itself over all of its other alternatives. Such a jarring dichotomy will undoubtedly hurt the critical thinking ability of our future generations and their independence of opinion. And almost certainly, Singapore’s future.