The Relationship Between Education And Identity Building ——Analysing Singapore's National Identity Through The Secondary School History Syllabus

This is a study on the construct of identity in the development of the nation state,Singapore.For this Southeast Asia island city-state that measures 50 kilometres from east to west and 27kilometres from north to south,the evolution from an indigenous 13^th century Malayan archipelago island to 19^th century British colonial trading port and struggles from Japanese war-time occupation to independent nation state in 1965 provides insights of social and political struggles and cohesion.The research on identity building will be analysed through the lens of the public lower secondary school history syllabus.An evaluation of the government's education policy making on curriculum design reveals the issues and challenges in establishing national identity and citizenship.The political and human geography of Singapore consists of a population composed primarily of three racial-nationality groups:Malays,Chinese,and Indians.From the influx of immigrants,British decolonization and national independence,Singapore has constantly faced the challenge of governing the interests of its multi-racial ethnic groups.Amongst the three major racial groups,the ethnic Chinese group continues to dominate the multi-racial population of Singapore.Achieving social compact is an implicit endeavour of most governments,especially democratically elected governments.To strike an agreeable balance for citizens to cooperate for social benefits is arguably a government's constant challenge.For Singapore to ensure a well-defined social compact across a multi-racial society requires sacrificing old identities and embracing of new identities.This study traces the development of a common citizen identity in a multi-ethnic society that posed barriers of diverse self-interests that laid roots before independence through immigration and encountered challenges in the political de-coupling from the former British colonial government.With a clearly dominant Chinese ethnic group in Singapore,events could have steered Singapore into a Chinese dominant identity than what contemporary Singapore exemplifies today,an embodiment of multi-ethnic co-existence.The historical events evidenced a turbulent journey in the development of a homogenous society that faced many barriers and risks in the past,present and future.Through the lens of the Ministry of Education's education policies that structured the history syllabus,textbooks and ethnographic research,my research evaluates the construct of national identity that enables a foundation for social compact between the state and the citizens.