Social media may play a part as well

NE to be infused into lessons.

Too self contained in own safety bubble.

Most students lead very sheltered lives with parents providing for them and school as a strong support. Thus, this may have an adverse effect on the will to act - looking for solutions and working collectively - as students are dependent on adults providing the solutions.

They are also very well-protected and seem to have this idea that Singapore will always thrive and what happens in other parts of the world will not affect them.

Not forgetting their SEL competencies and responsible decision making.

Last but not least - touching on current affairs to expose them to global issues. So they won't think the grass is always greener on the other side.

Due to the ever growing competitive culture, both in local domains and globalisation, students will have added stress in attaining the expectations of what is considered ‘successful’ by the previous generation. Students will feel the growing fear of missing out or losing out, as apparent from the FOMO culture that people already have, in attaining perceived success. The on-going comparisons and the advances in education, technology, work-place as shared from the news and their parents demands all contribute to the students feeling helpless and lost.

From observations of the Singaporean culture, locals tend to be rather crass approach to everyday situations, students have a tendency to mirror the behaviour of their elders. This would have the students not want to be upstanders, instead observe and avoid at any cost that would create inconvenience and discomfort.

Students should be encouraged and mirror the positive actions of teachers and adults to have them reference good and positive behavioural patterns. This could be from choice of words to showing empathy, as empathy (not only from a local perspective but a global point of view) must be central to growing a community that exercises positive citizenship. As children are impressionable too, having them exposed to positive traits and thought provoking conversations will groom them positively.

By engaging with students in conversations, it will also ensure that they will be more comfortable and open to expressing themselves and their concerns. Thus they will be able to voice their worries and thoughts, and enable them to feel valued and feel like they are able to contribute - giving them a sense of ownership. This will probably improve their sense of belonging, and invests their efforts and thoughts into accordingly.