YoungMuslimSg : teaching National identity in teens aLIVE

The Singapore state places a huge amount of importance on the study and acquisition of national identity through the National Education module in national schools. This emphasis on national identity, though lesser from that found in the National Education module, can also be seen in the Teens aLIVE syllabus, a centralised part-time madrasah system for students in national schools. This essay argues that the aLIVE trainers, in teaching national identity, do not just teach national identity as is; there is an interaction between their habitus, cultural capital and the syllabus that pushes them to choose which facts to highlight, and which facts to play down. We also discuss the implications of this phenomenon on the students, in hopes of building a more robust and open model of national identity.Bachelor of Art