SINGAPORE: In launching Forward Singapore , the year-long national discussion, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong declared that Singapore “cannot abandon” meritocracy despite its downsides, yet can make it “more open up and compassionate”.
It is hard to disagree with meritocracy as a principle that will upholds fair opportunities for all those . But it is also evident that meritocracy can, in practice, entrench privilege and inequality.
Discussions on meritocracy tend to centre on the training system and its emphasis on academic achievement. The particular lower-income and less academically inclined can become casualties in a system where the more wealthier can gain a head-start in life by means of private tuition plus enrichment classes.
Various initiatives aim to provide all children a good start , such as KidSTART and the Learning Assistance Programme, and to expand the concept of merit to lessen emphasis on grades plus consider non-academic criteria for admission to schools and tertiary institutions.
Surgery in education, nevertheless , will take time to show results. They are also not a panacea as it is difficult to eliminate advantages moms and dads can pass on for their children in both academic and non-academic domain names.
So to foster a more open up and compassionate meritocracy, we need to look beyond the education system towards the workplace and wider society, and the various roles we all play to get there.
SKILLS, COACHING AND CAREER PROGRESSION
There must be opportunities for development through one’s functioning life, or what Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has called a “continuous meritocracy”.
Demonstrable skills, as well as learning plus performance on the job, should allow each employee to go as far as they might without being constrained simply by past educational attainment. Employers can do their own part by not pigeonholing employees or even locking them into preset career growth pathways according to education and learning level or qualification.
This makes sense when we think about that jobs have got transformed dramatically and skills require continuous refreshing . According to a 2021 PwC study, about half of Singapore workers think their own job would be outdated within five yrs.