What would you do if you were troubled by unfair hate comments online? Responding to hate comments in such situations, getting “cancelled” and the influencer industry are among the topics discussed by Secondary 4 students at Compassvale Secondary School, Singapore.
The lesson on cyber wellness is part of the new Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum that was rolled out to younger secondary students in 2021. It was extended to older secondary students in the following years.
“During the CCE lessons, we look at contemporary issues under different authentic scenarios (真实情况). When faced with this kind of scenario, students get to hear what their peers feel or believe in. And then they will learn from each other how to manage situations through collective discussions,” said Madam Wan Fazithahariani, a senior teacher at the school. “Teachers just facilitate discussion and bring up some interesting points or management skills that they can use. Hopefully, when they’re out there, they will be able to manage on their own.”
In a lesson, the students discussed negative comments received by an influencer. When asked how they would respond or whether they would choose to respond if they were an influencer, the class decided after some discussion that they would leave a positive comment in reply to a negative one. They then discussed their decision, how they felt about the comments, and how they would respond when their positive comment caused even more backlashes (抵制).
“It was shocking to them that even though they chose a positive comment, the backlash could be quite strong. We asked them, ‘How does that make you feel? Do you regret choosing to make a positive comment?’” said Madam Wan. “And we were pleased to note even though they received negative comments, they still decided to make a positive impact. Because they knew if they chose a negative comment, they would perpetuate (使持续) negativity among the cyber community.”
“Contrary to five years ago, students are now facing great pressure online,” Madam Wan said, adding that it was “imperative (迫切的)” to introduce these new situations because students must be able to address numerous challenges that previous generations of students did not encounter.
【小题1】What does the lesson focus on?| A．Preventing “cancel” culture at school. |
| B．Giving psychological guidance to students. |
| C．Teaching students to extend their online influence. |
| D．Helping students handle the challenges they face online. |
| A．It invites some influencers to the class. | B．It is based on various real-life situations. |
| C．It targets younger secondary students. | D．It stresses outdoor interactions among students. |
| A．They would stick to positive comments. | B．They would seek help from their teacher. |
| C．They would switch to negative comments. | D．They would turn a blind eye to the backlashes. |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Conservative. |
