Gifted Education
"She signed off by writing: 'Get out of my elite uncaring face.'"
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The programme's promotion of academic elitism may pose problems for the future socio-political climate of Singapore. There are indications that the GEP serves as a programme grooming a new intellectual ruling class--the MOE states that the goal of the GEP is to "prepare [gifted youths] for responsible service and leadership to country and society." Ministry figures also indicate that four in ten GEP students go on to win top government scholarships (Davie 31), guaranteeing them high-ranking jobs in the civil service and consequently the political arena. Although the original goal of Confucian academic meritocracy was to enable social mobility, allowing talented individuals from any social class to ascend the ladder of society, the tendency of the GEP preferentially to favour children from educated, upper-middle class backgrounds has, ironically, led to a situation in which political power will be held predominantly by people coming from educated families. Consequently the GEP might be seen as a mechanism for the educated elite to perpetuate its hold on power in Singapore.
The fact that the majority of GEP students come from the so-called "elite" sector of society and have had little contact with students from poorer socio-economic backgrounds has led to general anxiety that the "ruling elite" of tomorrow would be oblivious of, and unsympathetic to, the plight of the average Singaporean. These fears have been reinforced by the recent Wee Shu Min elitism scandal, in which Wee, an ex-GEP student and daughter of a Member of Parliament, caused a public uproar by posting elitist views on her weblog. She attacked a fellow Singaporean for voicing his concerns about job security and age discrimination, describing him as a "stupid crackpot" ("Wee Shu Min Elitism Scandal") and asserting that he belongs to "the sadder class." She signed off by writing: "Get out of my elite uncaring face." These comments cast doubt on the social benefits of the GEP. For while the ultimate aim of academic meritocracy is to select the most talented and suitable candidates to lead the nation, the over-reliance on academic performance as a quantifier of "virtue" appears to have led to the formation of a smug intellectual aristocracy convinced of their social and moral superiority and thus insensitive and even disdainful towards the other sectors of society. Evidently the social divide between the ruling elite and the majority of Singaporeans potentially poses great problems for the future government of Singapore.
The Singaporean government's meritocratic approach to progress has garnered it much respect from the international community, and there is little doubt that much of Singapore's economic success can be attributed to its meritocratic practices. However, its one-dimensional approach of running a meritocratic system solely on the basis of intellectual talent has led to the undesirable state of affairs in which Singaporean society has become far from egalitarian but, rather, highly stratified. Michael Young, the British politician who coined the term "meritocracy," has said: "It is good sense to appoint individual people to jobs on their merit. It is the opposite when those who are judged to have merit of a particular kind harden into a new social class without room in it for others" ("Down with Meritocracy"). By taking a more holistic approach towards meritocracy, the Singapore government can achieve its goal of creating a more inclusive society.
Note
1 At the time of publication of Tan's commentary the cut-off point was designated at 0.5%. From 1998-2001, this number was gradually increased to the 1% of today's GEP. [Back]
Works Cited
Ang, Ien and Stratton, Jon. "Straddling East and West: Singapore's Paradoxical Search for a National Identity." Asian & Pacific Inscriptions. Melbourne: Meridian Books, 1995. 179-192.
Chua, Beng Huat. "Singaporeans Ingesting MacDonald's." Consumption in Asia: Lifestyles and Identities. Ed. Chua Beng Huat. London: Routledge, 2000. 183-199.
Davie, Sandra. "4 in 10 Gifted Pupils Win Top Scholarships." The Straits Times 12 July 1998: 31.
Gifted Education in Singapore--The First Ten Years. Singapore: Ministry of Education, 1994.
"Gifted Education Programme." Ministry of Education 29 Sep 2006. Cited 20 November 2006.
Tan, Bee Geok. "The Gifted Education Programme." Commentary September 1989: 102-107.
Tannenbaum, Abraham J. "History of Giftedness and 'Gifted Education' in World Perspective." International Handbook of Research and Development of Giftedness and Talent. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1993. 3-27.
"Wee Shu Min Elitism Scandal." Updated 17 October 2007. Cited 7 November 2007.
Young, Michael. "Down with Meritocracy." The Guardian. 29 Jun 2001. Cited 20 November 2006.
About the Writer: Xu Weizhen is a Life Sciences student with a concentration in Molecular Cell Biology. He wrote this paper for Andrew Leng’s class Questioning Evolution and Progress.[Page 1, 2, 3]
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