Redditer: The Hypocrisy of Meritocracy

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The Hypocrisy of Meritocracy​

Discussion

attapkia.com

41% of students in IP and GEP schools come from households earning over $10,000 a month. In regular government schools, that figure is 7%.

60% of students in elite primary schools live in private housing. The national average is 20%.

Only 7.5% of kids from 1- to 3-room HDB flats make it into the top 20% of the PSLE cohort. This isn't a glitch. This is the system working exactly as it was built.

The DSA was supposed to give non-academic talent a shot at elite schools. Instead, only 6% of DSA admits come from lower-income families on financial assistance. Because wealthy parents figured out you can just buy the "merit" required, through expensive coaching, curated portfolios, and niche sports training most families cannot afford.

We call it meritocracy. More like parentocracy.

I wrote a longer piece unpacking all of this, but I want to be upfront: I'm not posting this to change minds. I don't expect to, and here's the honest reason why.

If you went to RI, Hwa Chong, or any of the "good" schools, you already feel defensive reading this. That defensiveness is the point. You've spent your whole life being told your success was earned, and you believe it, because believing anything else means confronting the fact that your head start was paid for, not deserved. That your parents' income did a significant chunk of the work you thought you did yourself. Most people would rather argue than sit with that.

And for those who didn't make it into the top schools, who grinded and still ended up on the outside, many of you defend this system louder than anyone. Because if the game was rigged, then all that sacrifice, your parents working double shifts, the weekends lost to tuition, meant nothing. It is easier to believe you just didn't try hard enough than to accept you were set up to lose before you even started.

That's the part that stays with me. The system isn't just defended by the winners. It's quietly kept alive by the people it has failed.

So I'll just say it plainly: meritocracy in Singapore is a con, and most of us already know it. We just keep our mouths shut because the system has convinced us that saying so out loud means admitting we lost. And nobody wants to be a loser.

Full article in the link if you want the complete breakdown.

 

[rocket]

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The Hypocrisy of Meritocracy​

Discussion

attapkia.com

41% of students in IP and GEP schools come from households earning over $10,000 a month. In regular government schools, that figure is 7%.

60% of students in elite primary schools live in private housing. The national average is 20%.

Only 7.5% of kids from 1- to 3-room HDB flats make it into the top 20% of the PSLE cohort. This isn't a glitch. This is the system working exactly as it was built.

The DSA was supposed to give non-academic talent a shot at elite schools. Instead, only 6% of DSA admits come from lower-income families on financial assistance. Because wealthy parents figured out you can just buy the "merit" required, through expensive coaching, curated portfolios, and niche sports training most families cannot afford.

We call it meritocracy. More like parentocracy.

I wrote a longer piece unpacking all of this, but I want to be upfront: I'm not posting this to change minds. I don't expect to, and here's the honest reason why.

If you went to RI, Hwa Chong, or any of the "good" schools, you already feel defensive reading this. That defensiveness is the point. You've spent your whole life being told your success was earned, and you believe it, because believing anything else means confronting the fact that your head start was paid for, not deserved. That your parents' income did a significant chunk of the work you thought you did yourself. Most people would rather argue than sit with that.

And for those who didn't make it into the top schools, who grinded and still ended up on the outside, many of you defend this system louder than anyone. Because if the game was rigged, then all that sacrifice, your parents working double shifts, the weekends lost to tuition, meant nothing. It is easier to believe you just didn't try hard enough than to accept you were set up to lose before you even started.

That's the part that stays with me. The system isn't just defended by the winners. It's quietly kept alive by the people it has failed.

So I'll just say it plainly: meritocracy in Singapore is a con, and most of us already know it. We just keep our mouths shut because the system has convinced us that saying so out loud means admitting we lost. And nobody wants to be a loser.

Full article in the link if you want the complete breakdown.

Only 7.5% of kids from 1- to 3-room HDB flats.
This group will form the next government.

 

[True Believer]

The truth is that the elites are extremely good at replicating themselves since they have affiliation to elite primary schools, are able to afford the best private tutors for their children, personally coach and provide all the other resources for their offspring to excel.

 

[True Believer]

Only 7.5% of kids from 1- to 3-room HDB flats.
This group will form the next government.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng is a prime example. He advised unemployed S'poreans to "stay calm" and maintain an open mind about job opportunities. He forgot where he came from, and is now giving motherhood advice to our local grads whom he expects to eat grass and drink water from taps while waiting for a job opening, while CECAs enjoy the good life here.