Singapore, a small nation-state, has made a mark for itself in the global arena with its remarkable success and quantum leap from Third World to First World country over a short span of less than half a century. Often, critics pinpoint the success of Singapore to its meritocratic system, where individuals are rewarded based on their talents and abilities (Mahbubani, 2015). It is an impartial system where one is guaranteed success as long as hard work is shown, but is this really the case? While meritocracy allows for social mobility in our society, it has also been notoriously known to bring with it undesired outcomes, such as a creation of an elite class. Despite this, it will be unfair to conclude that such a system should be done away with …show more content…
In Singapore’s context, such ‘talents’ are often categorised as academic excellence. Very often, academic excellence has been the benchmark and definition of success in Singapore. One is seen as successful if he or she is doing well academically and is portrayed by the media as a high achiever. Such individuals are presented with monetary awards and scholarships for their further education (Ministry of Education, 2015). This has sparked concerns regarding the overemphasis given to solely academic performance. In 2011, ex-Singapore Armed Forces overseas scholarship recipient, Phua Poh Sim, was guilty of selling classified military information to fund his financial debt (The New Paper, 2011). The overemphasis on academic excellence has demonstrated its negligence and ignorance to one’s character and values. Such a flawed meritocratic system which focuses heavily solely on academics should be abolished and …show more content…
In the economic prospect, it would be unwise to abolish the system of meritocracy as this would reduce the level of competitiveness and promote complacency in Singapore (Prakash, 2013). A competitive system would stimulate and challenge our students, pushing them beyond their limits. It will not be pragmatic to sacrifice economic progress in our country by abolishing the system of meritocracy. Thus, the benefits brought about by a meritocratic system is too vital for it to be removed. All in all, to say that meritocracy has failed Singapore and should be abolish is a myopic view. Indeed, such a system poses its own set of problems, but one must recognize that a perfect system does not exist. Meritocracy has proven to be a successful system for Singapore and should continue to be adopted by our country to ensure social mobility and economic progress. Instead of completely abolishing the system, the government should undertake different measures and consider remodeling the system to adapt to the ever changing times for the betterment of
The class system has been in place within humanity since the very birth of economic trade. It is a fact of life that others will seek self-betterment and gain power to provide for those that they love and their own personal interest. Throughout the years the implementation of a social class system has helped to differentiate the types of economic situations as nation and serve as a system to work toward the betterment of the society as a whole. However, as the world became more productive and the gaps between the higher classes and lower classes increased the efficiency of the social class system and the decisions made from the individuals within it has been called into question. Kalen Ockerman opened the channel to question if the class system is the helpful institution that benefits of all its citizens or if the lower classes are not getting the support and attention they deem necessary.
One of the factors that create an imbalance of power within a society is a person's socioeconomic status. Often people with low socioeconomic status are undervalued in society. This imbalance can cause issues with the feelings of security and confidence. Also opportunities and choices can be limited for some people, but expanded to others. People often identify with roles of different socioeconomic status groups, based on their own socioeconomic status, and this can limit creativity and the potential of groups or individuals. If the world believes that people can go from “rags to riches” in America, then there should be an opportunity for all socioeconomic groups.
In the United States, a form of Meritocracy is employed. This system recognizes and corrects the socioeconomic disadvantages (Arora). While efforts have been made to correct the problem, many still fall flat. Many schools, for example, are not equal and some are even getting worse. Lee County School District, a district that boasted no 'F' and 'D' level schools in 2010, now have three failing schools and eight 'D' levels. The number of 'A' level schools have also fallen from 60 in 2011 to 36 in 2013 (LCPS).
The purpose of Afraji Gill’s piece is to clear up the misconceptions of what society perceives success to be. Afraji Gill himself who achieved high grades throughout his high school education felt that his educators’ and societies’ definition of success was wrong. To Afraji Gill success was not high grades, receiving awards or scholarships and being on the honour roll. To him success was defined as how well you grasped the learning material and knew how to put it to use. That a grade on a piece of paper should not define your intelligence and your success. For there are people in the world who receive outstanding grades because they happened to memorize the materials for their test, but as soon as the test is over they have not properly grasped the material and knowledge covered, to put into practical use. I think that Afraji Gill’s article’s purpose is to make people aware that you should not base a person’s success on their grades but on rather how well they know the material, and that failure should not be looked upon as being unsuccessful, but instead should be acknowledged as a stepping stone in becoming
Arguments about fairness and justice have been up for debate for centuries. "What do we deserve?", a question that has many individuals raising their brows to their efforts in their pursuit to achieve their goals. If it is said that we are all placed on an equal standard why are there individuals struggling to stay afloat? In Arora’s essay, he examines three forms of economic modals of social justices that question that idea of why the prosperous or the impecunious "deserve" their position or stature in life. Out of all of Arora's economic modals that he presents the Meritocratic System is the fairest because it gives everyone a fighting chance.
Moore, “Some Principles of Stratification”, argue that social stratification is not only good for a functioning society, but is key in creating a competition for jobs
Some people believe merit pay creates competition and favoritism. They seem to think school systems will pay some teachers more than others and create a “battle” for money. In Merit Pay: Good for Teachers? By Gary Drevitch, one interviewee states, “I know it’s worked in some places, but I shudder at the idea of teachers being in competition with each other.” None of these problems will occur if school districts implement a successful, unbiased system. Another issue society presents when it comes to merit pay comprises of differentiating a “good” teacher from a “bad” teacher. School districts can easily evaluate a teacher’s ability to educate students by the work teachers put into helping students. Student’s reactions to a teacher’s class can also help evaluate teachers. More often than not, students will love a class where the teacher clearly demonstrates lessons, explain procedures, and adds elements of fun. On the other hand, students typically dislike classes where the teacher only comes in for a paycheck. This attitude is displayed by their lackadaisical teaching style. Other people argue that money should not be the reason why people go into teaching. Richard Barbieri, author of Merit Pay? argues that money is not an external motivator, but the substance of a teacher’s motivation. Financial incentives will cause employees to work harder
Without competition, industries quit moving forward and better products don’t get engineered. It is clear to me that returning our education system to one in which only the chosen few were admitted would actually cause far more damage to society than the danger the author speaks about. If someone chooses to take the necessary steps to achieve greatness, no one should be able to hinder them except themselves. Work Sited Page Henry. William A
The education system has been a controversial issue among educators. Requirements of school do not let student choose what they want to study for their future. It’s a big issue to force student study specific curriculums, which don’t help them improve, and what they like to create something. Educators choose a general system for education to all students which based on general knowledge. Intelligent or genius students have to be in that system of education, which doesn’t let them improve their creativity. Educators attempt to change that system to make it better, but their changing was not that great to be an example for the world. Also, did that change qualify education system to compete other systems or not? In some examples and reasons have been made me agree with some of points from Gatto’s and Edmunson’s and disagree them.
In the event they build a career, they are likely to be deemed unproductive and ineffective. In fact, some of their colleagues may suggest that they earned their qualifications through doubtful means. With time, the entire institution is ridiculed, and even after the situation is rectified, it is difficult to disprove its association with academic misconduct. Therefore, it is important for universities to put in place certain regulations to ensure that all students and faculty members follow the set academic codes and principles.
Many companies around the world face this historical issue of discrimination. Discrimination and favoritism affect not only the business sector but also governments. Most of the developing countries have the ruling elite who will always do anything to stay in power. Power brings in a secure way of controlling sensitive businesses and obtaining security. When it comes to business and employment, one might give preference to his or her relatives though they are not qualified. Such traits are undesirable and can consequently make an organisation fail. As at now, Samsung puts its employees as the mostvalued assets.
Education is the catalyst for success. In America, we like to think that our school system is rigorous in preparing students for college and work. Many students struggle to cope with the American curriculum, so it must be intense, right? Those who can keep up are prone to succeed in our society. If the top Americans lived in China, though, things would be different. Some of these “top” students would find themselves working for minimum wage in dead end jobs. Why? It is because America’s school system is not rigorous. In fact, we barely made it to the top thirty in academic rankings last year. So why are countries like China and Singapore beating us to the punch? The answer is simple. They care more. The schools care enough to invest in better teachers and to teach a truly rigorous curriculum. Parents care enough to enforce discipline and to participate actively in their children’s school experience, and the children care enough to listen. Together, American schools, parents, and children can improve the country’s educational ranking by investing in better teachers, enforcing discipline at home, and creating a tougher curriculum that fits our need to become a serious competitor against Asia.
In any organization, sometimes, monetary schemes doesnot get people involve to pursue work in a certain way, rather it demoralize and threatens the self-esteem of employees. According to Meyer (1975), “the basis for most of the problems with merit pay plans is that most people think their own performance is above average”. The amount may ...
We are living in a society that is pushing merit or individual success over character and this is ever present in the higher education system. If the role of higher education is to educate and shape a
Due to the dependence on non-internal markets, Singapore is more vulnerable to repercussions and actions of the global markets and as a result, the global recession had impacted unemployment rates heavily, which had resulted in a rise in unemployment. Putting that aside, Singapore is known to be among one of the highest employment ratings in the world. Another form of unemployment which is a challenge to Singapore is structural unemployment. Moving alongside Singapore’s speedily developing economy is its shift from being a labour intensive economy to a capital intensive one. This is inescapably met with the challenge of the substitutions of skills in the labour force of Singapore. For example, the recent shift into the biomedical and Research and Development (R&D) industries subject workers who can only work in the lower end of manufacturing industries tend to find themselves unemployed because the mass production work is usually outsourced to other economies that are developing. In order to solve this issue, the government of Singapore had invested a large sum in training and education, with and average of one in four citizens who were employed in 2010 to be degree holders, therefore allowing citizens of Singapore to remain relevant and