CULTURE
Singapore is a cosmopolitan society where people live harmoniously and interaction among different races are commonly seen. The pattern of Singapore stems from the inherent cultural diversity of the island. The immigrants of the past have given the place a mixture of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and European influences, all of which have intermingled. Behind the facade of a modern city, these ethnic races are still evident. The areas for the different races, which were designated to them by Sir Stamford Raffles, still remain although the bulk of Singaporeans do think of themselves as Singaporeans, regardless of race or culture. Each still bears its own unique character. The old streets of Chinatown can still be seen; the Muslim characteristics are still conspicuous in Arab Street; and Little India along Serangoon Road still has its distinct ambience. Furthermore, there are marks of the British colonial influence in the Neo-Classical buildings all around the city. Each racial group has its own distinctive religion and there are colorful festivals of special significance all year round. Although the festivals are special to certain races, it is nonetheless enjoyed by all. In Singapore, food is also readily and widely available. There are lots of cuisines to offer. We have, Chinese, Indian, Malay, Indonesian and Western, Italian, Peranakan, Spanish, French, Thai and even Fusion. It is very common to savour other culture's food and some of the food can be very intriguing. Indian food are relatively spicier, whereas Chinese food is less spicier and the Chinese enjoy seafood. Malay cooking uses coconut milk as their main ingredient, that makes their food very tasty. Source:http://www.singaporeexpats.com/about-singapore/culture-and-language.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture# XinYing. Labels: Culture
Labels: Culture, yvonne. to be contd
Labels: Culture
Labels: Culture
Week 5 Blog Summary Topic: "This house believes divorce is a social ill" Do you agree? Agree Disagree Labels: Blog Summary, Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
Negative effects of divorce done by : JIEMIN ((: Labels: Family
Labels: Blog Summary, Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
Labels: Family
1. Culture as civilisation
2. Culture as worldview
3. Culture as symbols
4. Culture as a stabilizing mechanism
5. Culture and evolutionary psychology
3 causes that change and resist culture:
1. forces at work within a society
2. contact between societies
3. changes in natural environment
Singapore Culture
there's different categories of cultures like malay culture, chinese culture or indian culture etcetera. each culture has its own developed customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group
Culture is vital because it enables its members to function one with another without the need to negotiate meaning at every moment. Culture is learned and forgotten, so despite its importance we are generally unconscious of its influence on the manner in which we perceive the world and interact within it. Culture is significant because as we work with others it both enables us and impedes us in our ability to understand and work effectively together.
Culture, here understood as the totality of what a group of people think, how they behave, and what they produce that is passed on to future generations, is what binds us together as human beings but also separates us into our different communities. In today's world, understanding both our similarities and our diversity becomes increasingly important. Through an understanding and appreciation of cultural difference, children will be better prepared to live in an ever-shrinking global community.
Done by:Wei Kiat
However how many people really know about their own culture. Singapore is a modern and developed country. Many citizens focus a lot on their knowledge and skill development. They are more concern about their future, and often forget to look at what their culture is.
In my opinion, Culture is equvilent to one race or nations beginnings. It tells us a lot on how our race 'behaviours' evolve. There is a saying:
"For without culture or holiness, which are always the gift of a very few, a man may renounce wealth or any other external thing, but he cannot renounce hatred, envy, jealousy, revenge. Culture is the sanctity of the intellect." [William Butler Yeats]
It is therefore important for everyone to know and understand his or her culture, as it is something that belong to us from the beginning. If the individual does not want to recognise what belongs to him or her it would therefore be meaningless for him or her to pursue other things.
Done by: Cindy
The new topic for blogging is Culture(General)
Please get it done before Thursday.
Thanks dearies :D
Advantages:
1. Usually after marriage, the couple will then be able to see each other 'real' self and character. They might find that they are not suitable of each other, leading to quarrels and arguements. Hence divorce might be a good choice to end the torments.
2. Divorce of one couple would make him or her a more mature being after that. This may be cause by the thinking that marrying is not one child's play and through their experience they would really think thrice before getting into another.
Disadvantages:
1. If that couple has children already, divorce would be a bad choice as this would cause a great negative impact to the child. The child/children might also learn what is 'taught' by their parents in the future. Furthermore, the parents might be after the custody of the children. This would lead to having a bad impression for the child for marriage.
2. The child/children would be brought up like single child family. This would add burden to not just the child through despises of their peers but also the parent in terms of financial part.
Hence i do not totally agree that it is a social ill as there is pros and cons.
Done by: Cindy
Agreements(approval)
-government needs to step up and do something such as implementing a new scheme of allowing singles who are above 35 year old to purchase hdb flats.
-(blameless)children will have to suffer. afterall, love from a complete(wholesome) family is indispensable(necessity)
-sending wrong impressions to others of marriage. divorce rate has never failed to make a further leap. (statistics(shown))
-in singapore, we abide to the traditional values with respect to our roots which leads to conservatism in our beliefs and perceptions, unlike other countries like america where the americans have a nonorthodox(liberal) attitude towards divorce.
disagreements (disapproval)
-at times, it's inevitable when one of the parties is physically or mentally abused.
-it's no longer meaningful and fruitful for the marriage to go on when both parties have became indifferent of each other. afterall, they're not obliged to stay on with each other perpetually, especially when things have turned sour for them and it's beyond hope and redemption.
To conclude, i agree that divorce is a social ill.
Yvonne
Agree
1. Give the future generations a wrong mindset about marriage
Children who come from broken families or who have witnessed divorce may have this mindset that getting married is useless which will eventually lead to divorce. They will grow up with this mindset and in the future there will be lesser people getting married. Thus, this will create a social ill in the near future.
2. Create a huge impact on the children's life.
When parents are going through divorce, children are the one who are very confused with what is happening in their families. At this period of time, some children tend to stray as they have a need to relieve the anger, sadness and denial in them. Therefore many turn to bad deeds such as shoplifting, glue-sniffing, vandalising etc which is, in my opinion, a social ill.
Disagree
1. Child is still able to grow up as one good citizen.
Divorce actually only matters two parties and not the society. Even though children who come from single parent family do have a higher chance of getting strayed but the role of the parent do matter. If a couple, after divorce, still continues to give the child the attention that he or she needs, the child is still able to grow up as one good citizen. After all the child is the innocent party thus, with proper care and concern he will grow up to be one good citizen.
2. Lesser cases of abused family or marriages.
For a couple with lots of disagreement with each other, there is a higher chance of getting into a fight. This will also in turn lead to abuse. Therefore with divorce, a couple can prevent the abused family rate to increase because divorce is able to resolve all the disagreement between a couple.
Thus divorce to a certain extent is a social ill.
XinYing.
I do not agree to a certain extent. Although divorce has been very common nowadays, this does not mean that it is a negative influence on the society. Divorce also has its positive effects.
Firstly, those who are divorced would developed a sense of freedom especially when they realise that there is no need to perform duties that are expected from their roles.
Secondly, after divorce, both parties do not need to quarrel over differences or issues concerning their family. This will reduce tension and stress for both of them and thus they are able to focus on other things such as their work. In addition, with less planning needed, they have more time to do other activities they want. Lastly, there will be more stable or peaceful homes. Those who have divorced are usually the ones who have disagreements with the other party and no longer have feelings for each other. With more divorces, there will be lesser family issues for family relations organisations to deal with.
However, divorce has its negative effects. I will talk about the impact of divorce on the child in the family. Divorce happens when both parties no longer have feelings for each other or even due to disagreements on a certain issue. This will in turn results in the children becoming the "middleman" of the issue. Both parties will fight for the custody of child and some may even leave the child under the care of the other party. This will cause the child to have a single-parent family, which not only means that the financial burden of the parent gets heavier but also the children will think that they are "unwanted".
Next, I will talk about the impact divorce has on the mindset of adults. With increasing divorce rates, people may feel insecure and not confident of a marriage. This will result in them thinking that marriage always fail which in turn stops them from getting married. With lesser marriages, it means that more people are missing an important part of their life. Marriage is supposed to be a formal bond between a couple who have strong feels for each other and would like to spend the rest of the lifetime with each other. In addition, they will get to experience many new happenings such as "constructing" a family, planning the future together and many more.
In conclusion, I feel that divorce is not a social ill because it does do good to the singles. However, it should also be look into seriously.
Wei Kiat
Positive effects of Divorce
The topic for this week is "This house believes divorce is a social ill," Do you agree?
Please post your response on the blog before WEDNESDAY (18th April 2007)
Thank you :D
Topic: Family, Divorce & Singlehood
1. Family
2. Reasons for Divorce
3. Reasons for more singles
4. Pros and Cons of Woman working
In this 21st century, Singapore has become a very prosperous and well- developed country. Many Singaporeans are more and more career-oriented. They might not spend quality time with their family. Most Singapore Family would only meet when there are special occasion like attending to some relatives wedding dinner, lunar new year or Christmas. By only spending such a short time with your family members, the closeness between you and your family will fade off eventually.
In my opinion, spending quality time with family is very crucial, as there is true saying, "blood is thicker than water". Family is believe to be one's support whenever he or she is down. Support in terms of financial, physical, mental and spiritual. The seniors or elders could also give good advices to the young.
Just these few years, many social problems, like student suicide cases and MRT suicide cases, are on the rise. Why do these suicide cases exist? Many interviews made by the news reporters reviewed:
-Many parents or relatives in the family were unaware of why they committed suicide.
-The deceased do not appear unusual these days.
This suicide exist because there is lack of communication between family. If those people's family initiate care and concern, they will be able to understand and advice the person at the nick of time. All these problems could be avoided. The family members will not suffer the torments of losing a family member.
Therefore i believe it is very important to spend quality time with your family. For example planning weekly family gatherings or family dinner to enhance the relationship between your family members. This makes life more purposeful and more fulfilling. Avoiding unwanted loss due to family to the maximum.
Done by: Cindy
The increasing rate of divorce has become one of the very popular topics discussed in modern days. What exactly have caused such phenomenon?
Firstly, one of the reasons could be incompatibility. Even at this new millennium, some marriages are still pre-arranged and hence, those couples have little or no chance at all to get to know each other better before they go through the wedding ceremony. This will eventually cause much unhappiness between the couple after marriage since they are not accustomed to what each other does! In the end, divorce will surely be seen as the best solution.
Secondly, I will say that communication between couples is vital too. Nowadays, more and more women are entering the workforce. As a result, the spouses have lesser time to spend with each other. Mostly, this will in turn weaken their relationship bonds and gradually, their need to depend on each other spiritually will be totally lost. As such, feelings for each other are often expected to be lost somehow as well. Once again, divorce will take place.
Lastly, different expectations between couples also affect their relationship directly, since changing roles in the family is rather common in present days. (The spouses split and share the jobs that are previously deemed as the work of the other party equally) Women are expected to look after both the family's discipline as well as work, and Men are supposed to manage not only their work, but household chores too! Due to the fact that maybe both are unable to fit the different expectations between each other, a strain in their relationships will eventually lead to a divorce as an ending.
Although there are also some other reasons for couples to divorce each other, I only emphasize on these three as I felt that they are of much more significance than the other reasons.
Done by : Wei Kiat
Family is important to each and every one of us living in this planet. It is whom we have spent our entire lifetime with. It is where we seek for shelter when we are trapped in a difficult situation, and it is also what we cared for dearly.
The existence of family is not just to make a child grow physically, but mentally as well. Family inculcates valuable moral values to its members and therefore, nurturing every single one of them into becoming a successful person- both at the personality and work aspects.
Without a family, perhaps one could have also learned the right values. However, it would be a totally different experience. By having a family, one is able to learn with the care and concern given by his or her parents, siblings or other kins. He or she will feel the warmth and hence, gain the priceless magnitude of happiness which one can never feel without a real family.
Eventually when all of us have became old grannies or old granddaddies, we will definitely recall back the times each of us had spent with our families as a child. The memories as a family will always remain even if time tickles away in a blink of our eyes.
To be exact, family roots-part of our name, are also the only one of the few things that we are able to bring along with when we lay and rest in peace one day.
DONE BY: JIEMIN((;
The singlehood rate has increased during the decade. The proportion of Singapore residents remaining single at the age group 40-44 years has increased from 11 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2000 for males and from 12 percent to 14 percent for females. There are many reasons behind why more Singaporeans are becoming single.
One of the main reasons is due to the fast moving pace of the society. Most single Singaporeans are not able to find a life partner as most of them spend hours and hours in their office, this allows them to have lesser time to go on dates and have lesser chance to make friends with the opposite sex. Even though matchmaking agency could be found everywhere, adults are either too shy or too busy with work to go for such matchmaking sessions.
Another reason is the mindset of being single. To some, being single allows oneself to be free of domestic burdens that will come along with marriage. Also, a single person only needs to answer for himself without having to consider any implications his choice might have on others. Being single, prevents one from suffering from heartaches of a relationship. As the rate of singlehood is increasing, the rate of divorce is also increasing at the same time. Some might think that it would make no sense for one to be involved in a marriage which will turn sour in the end thus many end up choosing to be single.
Therefore, in my opinion, being single allows one to enjoy freedom while marriage, to many, seems like a burden that is filled with responsibilities.
Statistics: http://fcd.ecitizen.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/9D71B486-A182-4040-ADAB-3AE408CEC8F6/0/Chpt2.pdf
Done by: Xin Ying
It has always been the man's responsibility to support the family financially as he is the head of the family. However, there is now a trend happening, which is more woman are working. This results in rise of families having both parents working.
This has some advantages and disadvantages. I will first talk about its advantages. With both parents working, this will help the family a lot in terms of finance (more income means better ability to will deal with expenses). Therefore, people will be more willing to spend on a good (positive impact on economy). Also, it allows the parents to give their children the best they can give (better education, character development, talent), no matter how expensive it is.
Next, I will talk about its disadvantages. This may cause a rise in divorce rate because there is lack of communication between the married couple (lesser time spent together due to working hours). Also, children may lose their sense of belonging as well as security to the family because they are unable to spend time and share troubles with their parents. With that, children would develop a form of thinking that their parents do not care about them and so they became more rebellious (lack guidance and seek advice from peers). Due to a lack of communication and interaction between the parents as well as the children, it results in a broken family (divorce).
In my opinion, an united family is far more important than any other things. A family is supposed to provide psychological support, economic support and sense of security for its family members. It is important because everyone needs love and care. If that is fulfilled, people will then feel meaningful and motivated to live his or her life to the fullest.
Done by: WeiKiat
In my candid opinion, family plays a very significant role in our everyday life. The members of a family will give each other a form of support and encouragement to spur one on when one's facing difficulties. The essence of it is love. Without love in a family, one will often feel apathetic or indifferent. Love from a family is undoubtedly indispensable. It makes our life wholesome and complete.
In addition, family members are for life, unlike short-term relationships. They are the ones who build a sweet abode for us, and provide us a refuge or shelter whenever we need one. Whenever we need assistance or backing, they are the ones who will be there for us and help us in different aspects during difficult situations. In addition, we can depend and help on each other whenever we are in a predicament. They are the ones who we can place reliance and trust in; who we can trust to the hilt.
By: yvonne tan