The purpose of General Paper

 

At NIE, lessons on General Paper tend to focus on the broad overview of ideas, and we often ask ourselves what we felt was the purpose of teaching General Paper - why is the subject important and how can we make it meaningful? Some argue that GP is about getting students to think from different perspectives, while others claim that GP is about exposing students to unsettling and, at times, controversial ideas that are not often discussed. Personally, I think of General Paper as a process of identity formation by teaching students to have their own opinions and to defend them. In the process, they learn more about themselves, and more about the world around them.

 

 

Show the relationships between topics

 

It is fairly commonplace for General Paper to be taught in terms of "topics" like the mass media, environmentalism, and politics, just to name a few. At NIE, we looked at this approach critically and concluded that it does not promote critical thinking - the relationships between topics are often lost to the student. And so we experimented: how might GP be taught in terms of broad interdisciplinary themes, e.g. nationalism? In terms of specific issues, such as Amos Yee? Or even using a history of ideas approach?

 

 

Peeling the essay structure

 

We also looked at the recommended essay structures that are currently used in most junior colleges and secondary schools for teaching expository writing. After critiquing their limitations and effectiveness in the writing of good argumentative essays, we tried to come up with alternatives that we can use in the future as teachers. We also learnt an important lesson: never limit our students by encouraging them to adhere to templates!