Speech (ONLINE LESSON #11)

My Thesis: Racial Harmony Day does not do enough to sensitize students to racial issues

Good Afternoon Mr Lundberg and fellow classmates. I am Chng Ren Kai and today I am going to discuss about Racial Harmony Day's effectiveness in sensitizing students to racial issues.
Racial Harmony Day is celebrated once annually, on the 21st July. It introduces us to other races', and supposedly allows us to understand them better. This is done so as to prevent conflicts between races, in conjunction with the racial riots on this same day, in 1964. However, I feel that Racial Harmony Day does not do enough to sensitise students to racial issues.
Racial Harmony Day is frequently celebrated in the form of concerts. These concerts are usually a dance or a musical from another race. Although these concerts allow students to be introduced to other races, ultimately, it does not aid in teaching racial issues to students. Personally, I feel that such dances may even have an adverse effect. There were a few times where I saw students mocking another races' dance, after watching the performance. This totally defeats the purpose of having concerts as the actual meaning behind the dance is not to taught to students. This is a huge factor behind why I feel Racial Harmony Day is ineffective in sensitizing students to racial issues.
Another common event which I have encountered in my Primary School and Secondary School is the presence of a multi-cultural bazaar. I do acknowledge that this bazaars allow one to understand another race, through the food or games prepared. However, I believe that this may be ineffective. This is because most students merely prepare this food and games, for the sake of doing it. They do not understand what they were preparing and the meaning behind it. A recent example was during the Racial Harmony Day 2011 bazaar. I encountered a game booth with a very interesting gameplay. When I asked how this exciting game originated, the game vendors were confused. The only thing they could tell me was that this game originated from India. This once again shows that merely doing but not understanding does not help students in being sensitive to racial issues.
From my previous two experiences, it should be evident that the current structure of Racial Harmony Day does not do much in educating students on racial issues. Now, you will ask, then what is a good Racial Harmony Day. In my opinion, a good Racial Harmony Day has to engage the student, such that they get interested. Examples are entertaining video games, quizzes with attractive prizes, activities with friends etc. This mediums would definitely attract students, and in my opinion, would sensitize students to racial issues.
Once again, I would like to reinstate my point, that the current Racial Harmony Day does not do enough in sensitizing students to racial issues. Thank You.