The Charade of Meritocracy

An old article found (click on the link above) after reading one of Mr Wang's old posts, but nonetheless a great read because of the investigative journalism done.



The article outlines how the government scholarship system works to the man-in-the-street's detriment. While the Govt continues to insist that the system is fair and above-board (it may well be so), statistics prove otherwise. The author, Michael D. Barr, looks at several top government scholarships, namely the President's Scholarship (the most prestigious), SAF Overseas Scholarship (commonly ranked as the second most prestigious) and concludes that if there is indeed any meritocracy in our system, then it has to be a fact that Singaporean Chinese are indeed smarter than our Malays and Indians.

Chart from: http://www.feer.com/articles1/2006/0610/free/p018.html

(I'm not sure how he uses his statistics - the very fact that Chinese are the dominant race means that you're going to see more of them amongst the elite, unless you're assuming that Chinese brains are warped and Malays and Indians are superior, but let's not debate on that, shall we? Statistics have to be interpreted with a pinch of salt, and confidence levels have to be taken into account. I shan't do my own analysis - in a large part due to my abhorrence for statistical analysis - I just want the readers to be aware of this. Anyone is free to do their own analysis and then come up with a conclusion.)

But then other lines of reasoning he uses are quite chilling. That the SAP programme was used to marginalize non-Chinese, or seen in another light, to help the Chinese remain dominant over the rest of the races. (I do not want to be seen as a radical wanting to upset the racial balance, and indeed with this, I might well be already bordering on sedition, but it's quite upsetting how the article analyses our government's actions.) I just hope that it is not true. Preserving the Chinese culture is a good thing, is it not? Of course, it could be seen in another light like what Barr did, and in totality with other policies, could be seen in a negative light.

Brings me to realize what "ignorance is bliss" means... the world is becoming a darker place - the more we know, the more we become afraid.

Is meritocracy truly dead? I can only cross my fingers and pray it is not so. And now time for more thinking, how much more information is the government keeping from us?