Classicle Club · Term 3, Week 3 · General Paper Paper 1 · July 2026
The Child as Symbol
On pronatalism, population politics, and who governments decide should reproduce
“The state is not in your bedroom. But it is very much in your nursery.”
— A recurring tension in modern political philosophy
Welcome to Term 3, Week 3
Today’s lesson takes a seemingly personal subject — the decision to have children — and reveals it as one of the most contested political arenas in the modern world. Who governments want to reproduce, who they discourage, and who they have historically prevented from reproducing altogether tells you everything about how a state understands race, gender, class, and citizenship. From Singapore’s baby bonus to Xinjiang’s forced sterilisation programme, children are never simply children. They are currency, proof, and threat.
Learning Objectives
Understand pronatalism and anti-natalism as political ideologies, not just demographic policies
Analyse how states use children as symbols of national identity, ethnic continuity, and political power
Apply the concepts to case studies: Singapore, South Korea, Hungary, Xinjiang, the US border crisis
Evaluate the tension between individual reproductive autonomy and state interest
Construct nuanced GP arguments connecting this topic to gender, race, capitalism, and human rights