SINGAPORE: His father was a taxi driver, his mother a teacher. Without a scholarship, Lim Siong Guan would not have been able to go to university.
The system is meritocracy, where advancement and economic rewards are the result of talents, achievement or effort instead of one’s family background, connections or social class. In Britain, reforms in the 1860s saw exams being introduced for senior jobs in the civil service, said David Goodhart, author of the book “Head, Hand, Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21st Century”.
Funding for schools, meanwhile, was uneven. Some English-medium schools in colonial Singapore were given funding, while vernacular schools were “quite often left to the communities to fund”, said Brunero. “The method of transmission of privilege down through the generations of a family is no longer breeding and titles. Instead, it’s training,” said Markovits. “The rich out-train everybody else. They pay much more for schools. They hire tutors.”Listen: Is moving ACS out of central Singapore the start of something more?
The race starts early. With growing evidence that quality preschool education is vital to nurture a child’s learning potential, parents who can afford to are spending thousands of dollars a month.When it comes to primary school admission, “the arms race intensifies”, said Tan. Dr Jason Tan is an associate professor in policy, curriculum and leadership at the National Institute of Education.
Although he had already gained admission through Direct School Admission for sport, their aim was for him to achieve a PSLE score that would qualify for the school too. “I didn’t prepare much for my PSLE, from what I remember. I did very badly and went to the Normal stream.” Former teacher Rai Kannu also saw students affected by the academic stream they were put into. “I’ve had students tell me that, in certain classes, they feel like they’re treated in an inferior manner,” said the singer-songwriter.Other effects include the pressure felt by a broad swathe of students, and greater obsession with grades than before, said those who work with youths.
Full subject-based banding means streaming will be removed. Students can choose to take different subject levels, known as G3, G2 and G1 , which are broadly mapped from today’s Express, Normal and Normal standards respectively.Full subject-based banding means students will have greater flexibility in studying more subjects at levels that suit their interests and aptitude, according to the Ministry of Education .
Meritocracy is a social leveler n one of the most ‘sacred cow’ of our successful system. Meritocracy is not elitist. The deviation fm the meritocratic system wld breed elitism where rich n powerful mediocres run our country, companies n institutions like the America of today.
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