The global citizenship classes are a vacation term subject where students go for an intensive one week of classes and then a trip overseas. This aims to provide students with a heightened awareness of what global citizenship entails and how interconnected we are.
The classes culminated with an excursion to the Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place today to have a look at the world around us...
What really stuck was the Singapore River exhibit where history was brought back to life, as if we were taken back into time... back to when it all started for Singapore as a small trading port, in particular, how banking was done in the days of yore... where old Robinson Road was (and still is, as a matter of fact) the centre of all banking... where chettiars were the "bankers" of the day, and where dollar notes and coins were of colourful paper, instead of the plastic we have now. We even got to see a promisory note from a trader to a chettiar... something that is now electronic and thus no longer tangible. All in all, a trip worth taking... where out of the books, history came alive once more...
A picture of old Robinson Road...
Notes and coins from the old British colony
Stamps used in olden days by trading firms
A promisory note given by a Chinese borrower to the Indian chettairs (money lenders)
