Exam Meritocracy

In an ST article "Meritocracy and its toll on our students" two professors highlighted the toll and the opportunity costs of the Singapore education system which places great emphasis on academic performance. Their comments are based on more than 300 submissions that business undergraduates in SMU wrote introspecting their life in and beyond the university. 

What strikes me is the impact of our national obsession with academic performance. Except for a few, all students accept the societal definition of success in sole material terms and academic performance as a means to this end. It comes with an opportunity cost. The students see their parents working diligently to support their education expecting good academic performance from them in return. Some however feel emotionally neglected wishing their parents can love or appreciate them unconditionally and not see their worth through such narrow lens. For some, the parents' relentless strive towards financial goals had caused conflicts between their parents and discord in the family. Many students also mentioned periods when they felt life was meaningless and had signs of depression, with a few finding escapes in smoking, drinking or sex. 

More disheartening is the lack of mention about the "love of learning" or inspiration drawn from their course of study. It seems that their choice of study is often guided by the goal to get a high paying job as influenced by the family rather than an excitement to pursue the field of study. I feel rather sad that almost half a century from the time I pursued my university education, the paradigm towards learning in Singapore has not changed much. Four decades ago the aim of pursuing a college education for most students was truly to relieve the parents' financial burden and for many to support younger siblings' education. Despite having moved from a third world to a first world country it is sad that the collective notion of success in Singapore remains in material terms and academic achievement remains as a measure of merit.

Someone once remarked "Despite the brilliant performance on global academic rankings, Singapore has produced proportionally fewer top-ranked scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs and business leaders. When Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was asked about this by CNN many years ago by Fareed Zakaria, he replied that Singapore was an “exam meritocracy”, compared to America which was a “talent meritocracy”. 

Why I feel sad is because I think a lot of talent in our young may be buried and repressed when they are not encouraged to find their true passion and to discover themselves. Many of my contemporary are unable to recognise a passion that we can pursue upon our retirement so as to make our life richer. I feel it is because it was either undiscovered or had been buried long ago. I do not wish this upon our young.