Results reflect privilege, not merit

In his Founder’s Day speech late last month, Raffles Institution’s (RI) principal Chan Poh Meng caused a stir when he criticised his school’s middle-class status as a hindrance to meritocracy in Singapore.

Once, only the best students were admitted based on their grades in the Primary School Leaving Examination, said Mr Chan. Today, the admission criteria at RI remains as rigorous, but the pathway to admission is no longer based on the sole efforts of the student.

Instead, RI boys come from well-to-do segments of the population. Wealthier parents have the means to give their children an academic edge through private tuition and enrichment lessons. As they also tend to have higher levels of education, they are often actively involved in their children’s academic growth.

Here lies the problem. Using academic performance as the benchmark of success breeds elitism. When children of means compete with others who lack similar advantages, their resulting scores are not entirely based on individual merit.

Yet these students are rewarded for their supposed academic excellence, which can cultivate an attitude of superiority.

Diversity as a solution

To address academic-based elitism, Mr Chan discussed ensuring socio- economic diversity in the student population.

Having more students from lower-income backgrounds in RI will certainly bring in such variety. Helping them reach the standards that qualify them for admission, however, is a challenge in itself, as many are struggling with problems beyond academics.

I see this problem firsthand at my part-time job in a tuition centre. Located at a void deck next to a neighbourhood primary school, the centre provides tuition at $10 to $15 per month, targeted at low-income families. Among the students who enroll in our programmes, we look out for students who need financial aid and readily waive their fees.

Because we avoid turning anyone away, we receive students from a variety of backgrounds — residents of one-room rental flats, as well as children whose families live in nearby condominiums.

It is apparent that the students from lower-income households tend to do poorly in their studies. Coming from homes where their parents struggle to put food on the table, financial aid is often the only means for them to stay in school.

But attending school doesn’t mean they are learning. One of my nine-year-old students is stumped by words as simple as “the” and “cat,” while others his age are writing entire compositions.

For the wealthier kids from the condominiums, the tuition is merely supplementary. For the less privileged kids, tuition is a necessity for them to grasp the bare essentials.

As I watch kids like my nine-year- old struggle in class, I get a small taste of the dilemma his teachers at school must face daily. It is difficult to slow down the entire class for his sake, so he is left behind.

To break down the income gap in top schools, there must be a targeted approach for low-income students that address issues beyond academics.

Serving with humility

Mr Chan also highlighted that engaging in community service can serve as a means of social, emotional, and spiritual growth.

While community service can help wealthier students connect with and better understand the circumstances faced by their peers in the rest of society, we must not inadvertently perpetuate the problem of elitism.

Bhas Kunju, a former RI student, wrote to socio-political blog The Online Citizen that his concern with school-initiated community service programmes was that it could backfire and reinforce the elitist mindset. Having participated in these programmes while at RI, he said the subliminal message they received was that they were superior.

“’You are better and thus you must help the rest,’ is the unfortunate message that is getting relayed over and over,” he wrote.

Thus, the importance of establishing the right attitude toward such outreach activities cannot be over-emphasised.

All things equal

Community service should not just be a checkbox in a list of school accomplishments. It should be about helping privileged students realise that they may be better off because they were born into wealthier families, and that they should not fall prey to a sense of entitlement.

Instead, they should, as Mr Chan advised, “cultivate a sense of gratitude” for what they have.

One of my Primary Two students at the tuition centre comprehends math concepts more quickly than his peers. But as he comes from a non-English speaking family, his English abilities are weak and he stumbles at problem sums. His grades do not necessarily reflect his merit, but rather his circumstances.

These students need our help, but they do not need our pity. We must keep in mind that given a level playing field, they could equal or even exceed the academic achievements of those who are better-off.

Changing mindsets

The Singapore government has implemented multiple schemes such as financial aid and affordable preschool education to help the financially disadvantaged “get on the same starting line,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam earlier this month.

But given that the current schemes attempt to cover many levels of financial need in one fell swoop, those who struggle with basic needs on top of academics should be the focus of more targeted programmes to ensure that they do not fall behind.

The standard Financial Assistance Scheme under the Ministry of Education provides subsidies for food and transport, among other necessities.

To aid these particular students, I suggest that tuition could be a similarly subsidised item.

We must reconsider our perceptions of academic excellence and actively help the lower- income groups through targeted community and volunteer services. As we uphold the importance of achieving good results in school, we must acknowledge that on top of talent and hard work, students’ economic and social circumstances play huge roles in shaping their academic lives.

And if we believe that grades should remain the highest measure of ability in meritocratic Singapore, then we all have a duty to ensure that every citizen achieves the equality of opportunity they deserve, so they can receive their fair grade.