GES1028/GESS1020 Singapore Society

As its name suggests, GES1028/GESS1020 covers various aspects of Singapore Society, including areas of:

• Politics, Government and Civil Society
• Stratification and Social Class
• “Race” and Ethnicity
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Education
• Deviance and Crime
• Religion
• Media

ngl, i feel like i was having some deja-vu moments because some of the content covered were really similar to GES1041 Everyday Ethics in Singapore, bc I was just relearning the same concepts etc, meritocracy, race & ethnicity.

Grading components are as follows:

1. Tutorial Participation (20%)

I think I was really fortunate to have a really nice tutor and also a class mixed with various exchange students so it was kinda interesting to hear from various perspectives/insights outside of Singapore (even though its technically a mod that focuses on SG… haha) There wasn’t really a system where we have to raise hand to cp, and pretty much everyone were involved in small group discussions~ I wouldn’t say this was a very stressful component, but if you are taking this module, it’s best if you do some readings in preparation for the tutorial classes so you would have something to value add to the discussion.

2. Group Presentation (30%)

Starting from the second tutorial onwards, each group will prepare a 20-mins presentation based on one of the tutorial questions. Personally, I feel like this component was rather chill too, and hahahaa like I mentioned above, I already took GES1041, so some of the tutorial questions were pretty much the same/I have already gone through the readings LOL.

But aiya, I feel like this component was also very chill, there wasn’t really a strict marking guide, and we are free to explore or even go beyond the tutorial questions (with permission from the TA/prof). For my tutorial group, there wasn’t really a Q&A session too, and everyone didn’t bother to memorise their script and just read from their phones, so tbh if you are taking this module, you don’t really have to stress about this

3. Midterm Essay (25%):

I believe this was assigned before recess week, and we had around 1 month to complete the mid-term essay. This was open book, and we were basically told to reflect upon a news article. For my batch, the article was related to heteronormativity and the follow up question was regarding whether Singapore is a heteronormative society.

Tbh, there wasn’t actually a cohort feedback for the mid-term essay, but i did receive my mid-term grade and did pretty well hahaah, so maybe I can provide some tips:

• properly defining the terms in your essay. When doing the essay, assume that whoever is reading it has zero clue about the terms, such as heteronormativity, hegemonic masculinity, etc. Make sure that you define and cite relevant sources when explaining such terms in your essay.
• ensure that you cite sufficient relevant sources and go beyond the news article. I like to use Google Scholar or NUS Libraries to find other scholarly articles that can provide me with greater insights into the topic. I think this also enhances the credibility of your essay.
• Also, a mistake that I made when writing the essay was being too personal: etc, including words like “I posit” or “I reckon that Singapore is a heteronormative society etc.” It’s best to exclude such pronouns in your essay.

4. Final Essay (25%):

This was also of similar format to the mid-term essay. Though I was expecting the topic to be more relevant to Weeks 7 onwards, I was quite surprised to see that the final essay question was in fact the same as the tutorial question in Week 1. The topic and news article was on the idea of gestural politics. I did not receive any feedback/grade for the final essay (they are probably still marking the paper tbh), but the tips for mid-term essays still applies.

Overall:

Tbh, i feel like i don’t really have a lot of impression about this module? I feel like I was just cruising along week by week. Also because this module was online, and we were told that the lecture will be recorded, I got lazier and lazier every week and ended up skipping the lectures entirely. I feel like after Week 8 I stopped watching the lecture videos too (lmaoooooo, don’t be like me). At the start of the semester, I was also actively taking down notes on the readings, but towards the end of the semester, I didn’t even download/read the readings anymore :p . It also helped that there is no actual mid-terms/finals, cuz the assessments were open book, and I had like an entire month to do the essay so I didn’t really have to study for it too lol.

I think I got pretty sian because I really felt like I was learning the same thing as GES1041, but disclaimer ah, this is just my personal experience!! Maybe it would have been different if I had taken this module first opps. But regardless, because I took a similar module before, I feel like the content/tutorial questions were ezpz, I don’t think I struggled a lot in this module?? The only thing I struggled with is procrastination because I was lazy to watch the videos and get started on the essays??? (But lmaooo this feels like an universal experience xD) I will actually recommend this module due to how chill it was, but pls don’t expect too much from it, cuz the content can get really dry and sometimes boring.. But tbh, i feel like thats all GES modules lol (oof dont come after me…) If you are just looking for some modules to clear your UEs (like me), or if you just want a chill final year/sem (also me xD), you can consider taking this module!!

voez

23 April 2023