CDE Journal 5

Flipping through my CDE file, as far as I know, I felt rather relieved and relaxed this year. Readings were much more interesting and relevant to energetic youths like me and teachers were less demanding, though still demanding.

What have I learnt from each of the themes discussed? What are the interesting points I have taken note during class discussions and independent research? What do I think about class discussions? How can Year 4 CDE change to suit my juniors better? This exam reflective journal, probably the last CDE journal, will be exploring all of the above questions.

Referring to the first Year 4 CDE handout given to us in Term 3 Week 1, under section namely ‘Brief Description of Module’, it says, “This module is a comparative study on the themes of feminism, youths and leadership of the two nations, namely the United States of America and China." Frankly, out of the three keywords in the statement which depict the curriculum for Year 4 CDE, I love ‘youths’ best. Reason being I am a youth myself and reason being I am not familiar with ‘feminism’ and I always believed ‘leadership’ of the US and China is too heavy and dull a topic a youth should know. Not anymore now; Year 4 CDE really encouraged me to read up on the two domains which I would definitely not spend any time on in the past. I can now say confidently that I am more interested in current affairs and hot issues related to feminism and leadership of the US and China.

Through tutorial readings and independent research which I usually do before every lesson to attain more contextual knowledge on that particular theme, I had gained a deeper understanding of every theme, from its historical development to current prevailing attitudes, mindsets and opinions to related issues and affairs and analysing its problems, benefits, phenomenon, disadvantages and symptoms. The case studies given in each theme are interesting and often call for deeper thinking and brainstorming. In each tutorial, the questions for brainstorming always allow me to make a persuasive and sensible argument of viewpoints and position based on research and judgement.

We started the curriculum with youths. I thought this topic would be one which I am most confident in, and I realised I was wrong. Honestly speaking, I had many misconceptions on Chinese and American youths before this module, and many of these ideas came from unreliable assumptions and stereotypes with no basis. Year 4 CDE first exposed me to the idea of youth apathy. Especially when my term assignment was on this theme, I got to examine specifically the political awareness of the youths in the mid-20^th century and how different elements subsequently watered down their involvement. For USA, the analysis and study of how the Presidential Elections 2008 raised political interest among the youth was very refreshing and gave me another perspective to the Obama Elections, one from the eyes of a youth. I especially love the discussion we had on the comparison between Bush and Obama, how Obama was so different from this predecessor. We talked about philosophies, background, policies, image and values, and that had been memorable. I remembered somebody from the class mention about youths having declining support for Obama. He quoted a phrase from American youths which I thought was meaningful: “He’s stepping the right direction. But we want to run.” After studying on the theme ‘youths’, I had learnt not to take one perspective as the final say. In this case, it had been pretty enjoyable looking at the perspectives of youths, which might be entirely different from the perspectives of others, say politicians, adults or even elderly.

Next, we went on to feminism. I had noticed the gradual change in women’s status in the society before the introduction done by Year 4 CDE, and I am grateful that my knowledge is further enhanced with case studies and solid examples. This theme allowed me to understand the societal norms, prejudices and political perceptions of the both the oriental and the western woman. I got to know more about the growing stature of female movement in both countries, and the greatest take-away from this module might just be the assessment of the differences in their nature. I recalled this amusing piece of information I had read online: they asked, “Are fragile male egos holding Chinese women back?” I thought of the concept which is unique and infamous in China: Face. Some men do not want their wives to surpass their own success, thus the woman restrain their ambitions to cater to some men’s ‘shallow concerns for saving face’. I had read this quote from a Western author that ‘men want their wives barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen in the 1940s’ and today, I believe those men who put their own egos ahead of being with a woman they like are a rare and dying breed in the Western countries. Progress towards equality in China, I would say, is possible, if both genders were to change their attitude: the men’s saving-face attitude and the women’s covering-men attitude. Year 4 CDE had taught us to think pragmatically and predict into the future in our own different opinions, own different stands, supporting with ideas and concepts. This is why I think Year 4 CDE is sometimes a good training tool for the brain.

The last section of the module is leadership. I am fortunate that I got to investigate the evolving nature and styles of leadership in China and the USA. I believe it would be useful and applicable in the future, when we look at both countries, when we work with counterparts from both countries, when we talk about the Chinese and the American leadership style among ourselves next time. By looking at ideologies, achievements and policies adopted by leaders of these two nations, we got to observe how the current nature of China’s politics tend to lean towards an autocratic form, whilst, the USA’s politics, despite its mangled form of orderliness, is seen as the hegemony of the democratic world. While flipping through the readings for this theme, I found a quote which I thought over it for a minute or so: “True democracy is mob rule. It is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for dinner.” I am glad that from now on, I am inspired to read up on international issues regularly. This gave me a step closer to my dream ambition. A great leap forward indeed.

During class discussions, we often transcend disciplines and touch on other subjects like history, politics, government, philosophy etc. It is always a pleasure to listen to multiple interpretations and perspectives to the many social, political and ethical problems. It had been exciting to hear classmates agree with, challenge, and even rebut viewpoints proposed. Although I had not been participating actively in class discussions, I thought it had been very fulfilling just by listening to my classmates. I must admit that much of it provoked my thinking, but sometimes because of the lack of evidence to substantiate or simply the lack of confidence in my argument, I chose not to voice out. However, every comment made by every single one of us had marked a beautiful step forward, and had moved all of us nearer to the core of each theme. And I appreciated every comment made, as it contributed to my accumulation of knowledge and perspectives on a particular topic and often made me thinking for the next ten minutes or so after a comment was made.

Change in assessment was certainly a right choice. Looking back at Year 3 CDE, it was quite a hectic job to complete a journal every week. The decrease in the number of the journals we have to write in this module is just nice and appropriate. What is new this year is probably the new section under each reflection journal, which we are all required to comment to our groupmates’ journal. I like this idea, as it could serve as a platform where engagement with groupmates’ viewpoints can be held. Every single one of us can involve ourselves in a mini-discussion online and it will do good for people who prefer to voice out online to voicing out during class. What I could suggest for CDE to do better would be to add more to the diversity of how each lesson is held. As of now, we see that every lesson is purely discussion after discussion. I believe sometimes students get bored after some time. Thus, activities like project-work, project presentations, debates, role-playing or even skits can be considered. Students could benefit from the experience itself, and also the information conveyed from each activity.

Lastly, to end this journal off, I would like to thank Mr Corr and Miss Yeo for their efforts in making Year 4 CDE an enriching and satisfactory one. Cultural Differentiation Elective has to go on; it will be beneficial to those who take it.

Time to say goodbye. Lastly, thank you, Year 4 CDE.

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