Singapore and China's youth culture

Singapore's youth culture

China's youth culture

This montage is about the representation of Singapore's youth culture and what we think about China's youth culture. The following is a brief write up of the different youth cultures, with elaborations to emphasize their similarities or differences.

SINGAPORE YOUTH CULTURE - First off, something significant that the youths of today do is definitely the usage of electronic gadgets or devices. It is hard for one to come across a youth that has never used them. The usage of electronic devices ranges widely, but the basic applications most Singaporeans would use are definitely Whatsapp (communication) and Facebook (social media). The apps we use in Singapore are mostly English based, meaning it came from the western part of the world and the languages used are mainly English. Next, most of the youths are extremely law-abiding, since Singapore's law is extremely strict and dire consequences are to be faced if one was to go against it. The youths have grown up being taught to follow the law, since the government has the ability to control each and every one in Singapore if they did wrong. Finally, it is the amount of stress we have. An average Singaporean youth, although faces a considerate amount of stress, it is measly compared to the amount of stress an average China youth faces. This reflects our country's education system and the competition rate. Although, we can always safely say that both country's youths' parents want the best for their child so that they will be able to survive in the workforce next time with a stable lifestyle.

CHINA YOUTH CULTURE (our perception) - Youths of China mostly uses electronic gadgets too, but in comparison with Singapore, the applications they use are extremely different. Their basic applications used for communication and as their form of social media is all Chinese based, mainly coming from China itself, e.g Weibo and Wechat. Since China is big with a big population, and their law is different and less strict compared to ours, most youths might do things that are perceived as illegal in Singapore, but not in China, for example the buying of cigarettes under 18 years old. There is practically no law in such a big country, if we can say that. They grow up thinking what they do is absolutely correct, as it is okay in China. Finally, they definitely face more stress than us. Most of the youth are the only child in their family, since the one child policy was only abolished recently. All hopes are placed on one child, and with the amount of people in China, competition is very high.

In a nutshell, the above concludes the differences between the youth culture of China and Singapore. One of the rare similarities between the two countries youth culture is that their parents have high expectations for their children and hope they do well.

Perspective of different people :D :

Last week, we learnt about how everyone's perspectives could be different as they could have experienced or been influenced by different factors. Today, we shall talk about the different possible perspectives about having FFR (Fast food restaurants) in historical places.

1. KFC and Starbucks

Their possible reaction and perspective:

• Yes, we would like to build an outlet at those places.

Why do they think so?

• People know KFC and Starbucks like a household name and thus, when tourists go to an attraction, they would usually rest or eat at a well-known place as they recognise those places more. Thus, they would feel that it is a good place to start an outlet as tourist will come over frequently, thus leading to profit and also expansion of their franchise. 

Conclusion

• It is beneficial.

2. Cultural Tourists

Their possible reaction and perspective

• No!

Why do they think so?

• They want to see the original historical place untouched by the western corporation.

3. Casual Tourists

Their possible reaction and perspective

• Yes!

Why do they think so?

• It is convenient as they do not need to travel far for western food.

4. Shopkeepers in those areas

Their possible reaction and perspective

• No!

Why do they think so?

• The main food outlets may compete with their business and they might lose their businesses. The main food outlets are more favoured by the teens and the children as there is both air-con and their favourite fast food and they might not go for those traditional shopkeepers. 
• The traditional shops may not be able to keep up with food outlets, causing them to not only lose customers but even struggle with earning enough money to sustain their small businesses. Once these shops close down, more heritage and historical value may be lost.
• In a nutshell --> Fast money for KFC and Starbucks, fast bankruptcy for traditional shops.

The other side of the coin.

The other side of the coin.

Conclusion

• The FFR and Starbuck outlets may be their downfall.

5. Tourism board 

Their possible reaction and perspective

• No reaction

Why do they think so?

• The main objective of the tourism board is to gain revenue via historical sites, which China has a lot of them.
• Despite losing historical value, the added facilities may boost the numbers of youths who are interested to visit those places as the youths still have a place where they are accustomed with.
• Also, tired travellers who just happened to pass by might come over as there is some modern facilities near those historical places.
• In a nutshell --> Despite losing historical value, modern facilities may boost the number of youths to come over.

Conclusion

• Lose some, gain some.

6. Heritage board

Their possible reaction and perspective

• No!

Why do they think so?

• Modernization in a traditional/historical place. Enough said.ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
• Doing so will cause the historical value to decrease.
• There may be more rubbish due to the fact that youths do not treasure those places more than the older ones.

Conclusion:

Pre-Trip Task: Researching China’s Educational System

City, Country: Suzhou, China (苏州，中国)
School: Suzhou Lida Middle (Secondary) School (苏州立达中学)


Educational Structure (Suzhou 苏州 —— part of Jiangsu 江苏 province)

It is based on the national system for public education, which includes primary schools, middle schools and universities. It is compulsory for all students to go through at least 9 years of education in China. The academic curriculum consists of Chinese, Mathematics, English, Physics, Biology, Geography, History, Ideology and Political Science, Music, Fine Arts, Physical Education, Technology, Computing etc. Some schools may also offer vocational subjects. Generally speaking, Chinese, Mathematics, and English are considered as three main subjects as they will definitely be tested in 高考. Students also need to be tested in either natural or social sciences. Most students will first spend 3 years in kindergarten from age 3-5, followed by 6 years in primary school from age 6-11. They will then undergo 3 years in junior middle school from age 12-14, afterwards they will spend 3 years in either secondary professional school, vocational high school or senior middle school, from age 15-17. Students can then choose to spend another 2 years to further their studies in secondary professional schools or spend 3 years in professional schools of higher education. They will then spend 4-5 years studying as undergraduates, after which they will spend another 2-3 years studying as Master’s Candidates. Students can then choose to either join the workforce or continue their studies for another 3 years as Doctoral Candidate.


 



 Educational Pathways: From Bottom to Top






About the School: Suzhou Lida Middle School (its History, Strengths, and Average School Days)

The school we will be visiting is Suzhou Lida Middle School (苏州立达中学). It is sister schools with our school, River Valley High School. The school was created in 1996 by Suzhou High School of Jiangsu Province for the mission of offering decent education to a growing body of junior high school students. The average school day lasts from 7.30am to 5pm,with a two hour lunch break in the middle. The school offers many excellent facilities, such as gyms, laboratories and centres of arts such as music, ballet and painting. Its dormitories, designated for students from afar, are superb in terms of both accommodation and learning. The school also features an envied team of instructors boasting, in its over 160 members faculty, 2 honoured and 45 experienced teachers. Since it’s founding, the teachers of the school have won over 77 awards across a wide range of competitions held in suzhou, jiangsu and nationwide. The school has also seen an annual publication of over 100 educational research papers. The students are extraordinary too. A good number of Lida students have been recommended to top senior high schools both at home and abroad. Senior high graduates with Lida backgrounds merit high acclaims too. In college entrance examinations, one Lida graduate ranked first in Suzhou, and two topped the rest in Jiangsu Province. Overall, 15 students with aforementioned backgrounds have been doing or have done their first degree at Tsinghua University and Beijing University; over 50 students at American universities such as Harvard, Yale, and MIT, Cambridge and Oxford in the United Kingdom, and University of Tokyo and Waseda University in Japan. To keep ahead of global moves and stay competitively in the avant-garde in administering junior high school education, Suzhou Lida Middle School is actively pursuing international exchange with schools across the world towards carrying out, through joint efforts, a broad path to lead both faculty and students to an educational undertaking par excellence.

Questions

1. What keeps the students motivated to continue learning?
2. How do they cope with the huge stress that they have? 
3. What happens when the student is unable to cope with their studies e.g.fail?

Week 6 group post

1. Cost of standard 4/5 room HDB flats: $400 000 -> $600 000

2. Current cost of a brand new Toyota Vios: $114888

3. Cheapest prices for the following:

• 10 kg packet rice: $13.90

• Cheapest 1 litre drinking mineral/distilled water $0.30

• Cheapest fresh whole chicken (refrigerated not frozen) $5.00

• 1 litre of cooking oil $3.70

Do we provide plastic bags? Yes. How are they used? Plastic bags are shopping bags used as a carrier bag to contain and carry goods, commonly used by customers when they go shopping at supermarkets.

Extra (fun!) Tips: Plastic bags are used by consumers worldwide since the 1960s! Consumers finds plastic grocery bags cost effective, easy to use, and convenient to store, especially after a trip to the supermarket! Some of our local supermarkets, such as Fairprice (NTUC) etc, charges ten cents less the overall goods' charge if the consumer were to bring recyclable cloth bags to contain their goods instead of using the supermarket's plastic bags!

Who are the cashiers and what kind of services do they provide? 

• Age：Young and Old
• Nationality: Mainly local
• Service: Accept cash / credit card transactions. Wraps all goods in plastic bags

4. School fees: $25

5. 1 litre of petrol: $1.82

6. One movie ticket on a weekend: $11

7. Average salary of a Singaporean: $3949

  

8. Unit price of water and electricity: 

• $1.17 per m3 < 40m3
• $1.40 per m3 >40m3
• 19.50 cents per kWh

 

To consolidate it all

Review and thoughts of picture exercise (Kevin Carter)

 

This is the picture we were told to pen down our personal thoughts, we were then told do do research about the picture on the Web.

    Kevin Carter took this photograph while he was in Africa on a job to take picture of the famine. The starving child was trying to reach a feeding centre when a vulture had landed near the child, waiting for the child to die of starvation so it can eat the remains of the child's body. However, there was another theory that the parents of the child had left her behind briefly so they could collect the food faster. The picture was sold to the "New York's Times" and it received overwhelming responses, with many people contacting the newspaper on whether the child had survived.

  Due to this picture, Kevin Carter had received one of the most prestigious awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography which made him famous. However, due to much criticism from the public, claiming that he did not help the child and instead, took a photo of her to build reputation, he decided to commit suicide due to depression. Another reason for his suicide was because he saw too many disheartening and gloomy moments of others in his life, like depressing environments of disasters, and the example used here, which is starvation to such a terrible extent that it becomes fatal.  

  When we first saw this photograph, we didn't understand it as we had never seen or experienced anything like this before. However, after some research, we understood and felt horrified by the photograph. In a modernized society like Singapore, it is often difficult for us to grasp the concept of famine. We always have food ready right at our doorsteps when we are hungry, unlike those people living in famine where they have to travel long distances just for a packet of rice.

  

  In regards to whether or not Kevin Carter's actions were correct, we feel that the situation was beyond his control. First, his job prevents him from interacting with the people there and his colleagues discouraged him from helping the child as she might have a contagious disease. Even if he was able to help the child, he would not be able to provide food for the rest of the people affected by famine. By taking the photograph, Kevin was shedding light on the famine, making the public aware of the event and bringing help to those affected. Thus, we do not feel that Kevin deserved as much criticism as he did from this picture. 

  After looking at this photograph, we are able to truly understand the torment of hunger. Seeing the child in such a vulnerable state and the vulture overshadowing the child struck a chord in our hearts. We should appreciate the abundance of food we have in Singapore and not take it for granted. Food insecurity is still a problem around the world, and only together can we end it.

- Extra Information: 

When he suicided, he left a suicide note which wrote this : 

 “I am depressed … without phone … money for rent … money for child support … money for debts … money!!! … I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain … of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners … I have gone to join Ken [recently deceased colleague Ken Oosterbroek] if I am that lucky.”

  The vivid memories of the killing, corpses, anger and pain were the miserable and discouraging moments he personally saw, and even though he wanted to spread to the public about the inhumane actions that were happening at the other side of the world, he was flooded with criticism for not helping the girl and using her as an object to gain fame. Thus, he fell into depression and suicided. 

Sources: 

Picture: 

(http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/)

Information: 

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter

http://paulagortazar.blogspot.sg/p/ethical-limits-in-documentary.html