Ever-Widening Societal Gap

As a follow up to my previous entry, Philip Yeo has openly declared that he would give a scholarship to someone of a poorer background than someone better well of, if the 2 contending candidates are of equal caliber. He then went on to cite A-Star having an overall higher percentage of scholars from lower income families, as compared to PSC.

Alas, Straits Times investigated his claim, and his claim was not well substantiated.

In any case, his claims have given some of us some food for thoughts. The widening societal gap between the well off and the less well off is more pronounced now than at any point in the history of Singapore. As children from more well-off families are sent overseas for education, they have a higher probability of landing a high-salaried job (I shall follow this up in another entry).

Many deserving candidates for scholarships narrowly miss out on clinching one due to the intense competition. While some disagree with Philip Yeo and claim that its anti-meritocracy, I prefer to see it as a little injustice (to be better off students) that we see in the real world all the time. Adding on, it might be a little silly to be so fixated and rigid on the definition of “meritocracy”