Consideration here is about attention and presence. When you are on your phone at the dinner table, you are signalling that the screen matters more than the people around you. When you play games loudly on public transport, you are deciding that your entertainment is more important than the comfort of strangers.

The specific people most often affected: elderly grandparents who feel ignored, younger siblings who learn screen habits by watching you, parents who want connection at mealtimes.

SBC starter: "I used to bring my phone to the dinner table every night. One evening, my grandfather asked me something and I did not hear him the first time. The look on his face made me put the phone down."

Consideration here is about future people and shared spaces. When you litter, leave a canteen table dirty, or waste food, you are not thinking about who comes next — the cleaner, the next student, or future generations who inherit the environment your choices helped shape.

Japan's osoji practice — students cleaning their own classrooms daily — is a good example of consideration built into a system. Singapore's tray return initiative at hawker centres is another. Both work because they shift the question from "someone else will deal with it" to "I am the someone."

SBC starter: "After our school's Appreciation Day for cleaners, I started thinking about how much work I had been creating for Mdm Siti without realising it."

Consideration here is about noticing who is struggling and choosing not to walk past. An elderly neighbour carrying heavy bags. A classmate who is always alone at recess. A domestic helper working past reasonable hours because no one in the household thinks to help. In each case, consideration is not a grand gesture — it is stopping when most people do not.

Volunteering connects here too. The most meaningful volunteer experiences students describe are not the ones where they did the most — they are the ones where they actually paid attention to the person in front of them.

SBC starter: "During our VIA session at the community centre, I noticed one of the elderly residents kept looking at the door. I found out later he was hoping a family member would visit."

Consideration here is about shared spaces and shared effort. The classroom belongs to everyone — which means keeping it clean is everyone's job. A classmate who always leaves early, or never does their duty roster tasks, is making a quiet choice that others feel. A student who notices a classmate struggling and offers help without being asked is making the opposite choice.

School is also where students first learn that consideration is not always comfortable — standing up for someone being left out, telling a classmate their behaviour is affecting others, or choosing not to join in when the group is being unkind. These are all forms of consideration that carry real social cost.

SBC starter: "My class has a duty roster, but there are always two or three people who quietly do more than their share because others forget. I was one of those people until I realised how unfair it was."

Consideration here is about understanding that not everyone shares your defaults. What is normal in your home may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable for someone from a different background. During festive seasons — Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali — consideration means being aware of what your classmates are observing, not just what you are celebrating.

In a multiracial society, consideration is a form of cultural intelligence. It does not require knowing everything about every culture. It requires the habit of asking: is this comfortable for everyone in the room?

SBC starter: "During Ramadan, I noticed my friend did not join us for recess snacks. I had never thought about what that month felt like from his side until then."

Consideration here is about the people behind the food. The hawker who starts at 5am. The cleaner who wipes the tables between customers. The tray return system that only works when everyone uses it. Singapore's hawker culture is a shared space — and shared spaces require shared responsibility.

SBC starter: "My father always makes us clear our trays at the hawker centre. He says it takes ten seconds and saves the cleaner ten minutes."

Consideration here is about your health choices and how they affect others. Going to school sick when you could stay home. Not wearing a mask when you have a cough on the MRT. Eating habits that affect family members who cook or care for you. The COVID years sharpened this — the idea that personal health choices are also public health choices.

SBC starter: "When I had a cold last year, my mother asked me to stay home even though I felt well enough to go to school. She said it was not just about me."

Consideration here is closest to home — literally. It is noticing the effort of people you live with and choosing not to add to their burden. A parent who comes home tired. A grandparent who feels out of place in a world that has moved past them. A domestic helper who works beyond what is reasonable because the family does not stop to ask.

The question that unlocks this topic in SBC: when was the last time I made someone at home feel seen?

SBC starter: "My grandmother lives with us but she spends most evenings alone in her room. I used to walk past without thinking. Then one day I stopped and knocked."

Consideration here is about anonymous strangers and invisible rules. On the MRT, in a lift, at a bus stop — nobody is watching and nobody will know. Public behaviour reveals what you actually believe about other people, not what you say you believe. Priority seats, queue discipline, noise on public transport — all of these are consideration tests with no examiner present.

SBC starter: "I saw a man standing in front of the priority seat on the MRT, looking at his phone, while an elderly woman stood right next to him. Nobody said anything. I kept thinking — why didn't I?"