The facade of meritocracy

I find it amazingly funny how so many people naively think that meritocracy is this wonderful concept that eliminates all inequality and makes the world a wonderful place to live in.

Right.

The whole concept of meritocracy stems from the idea of “self”. That everything I achieved is due to me, myself and I. No help from others, no lucky break, no rich supportive parents. Just me. Convenient, isn’t it? Attributing every single success to your own inherent ability, your own hard work, your own tenacity in face of failure, your own initiativeness and creativity, your own…. And the list goes on

The classic rags-to-riches story is then used as the ultimate argument for the benefits of meritocracy. How this young boy born to a farmer dad and housewife mum in a kampong was able to rise above all odds and become the Prime Minister of the country.

Wow! We exclaim. Look at him! He was able to succeed because he was smart, hardworking and had a never-say-die attitude! Nothing to do with how his father sold his old bulldozer to raise money for his education, how his inspiring primary school teacher always gave him her old books to read because he can’t afford to buy them, how he was lucky to be talent-scouted and given a scholarship to further his studies etc, etc, etc. Absolutely nothing to do with them.

My point is, nobody can ever succeed by himself.

With this in mind, let’s look at meritocracy. Or for that matter, meritocracy in the Singapore education system.

In our supposedly meritocratic society, it is easy for the academically inclined, or on a larger perspective, the rich and powerful in the country, to attribute their success completely to their own hard work, and look down on those struggling in studies or in life and say that it is all their own fault because they are "lazy and don't want to work hard". What they fail to understand is that for a meritocratic society to truly be fair, everyone must be on the same starting point.

Unfortunately though, the world is unfair.

If anyone finds it hard to accept this, I’m sorry. Maybe you should get out of your ivory tower and have a look at the world outside. Contrary to popular belief, the most devastating thing that can happen to a person is not forgetting to do your maths tutorial. Yes, I know, you might find it hard to accept this at this point in time, but it’s actually true.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the point. Yes, the world is unfair. Everyone is born with different attributes, into different family backgrounds. I’m sorry if this discourages anyone but it’s just so much harder for a kid born into a modest family to get into a top university overseas than a child of a CEO of some MNC. To assert that anyone has the chance to succeed as long as he or she works hard is either painfully short-sighted, or just plain delusional.

Success is, unfortunately, not based solely, if at all, on how hard you work, or how intelligent you are for that matter, but on the opportunities bestowed upon you, your family background and all the myriad of external factors.

When the child of a CEO father fails a paper, his father would say: “Come on you know this is not your usual standard. Go for it again and show me what you are worth!”

When the child of a taxi driver father fails a paper, his father would say: “Never mind lar maybe you are not cut out for studying. I never used to pass my exams anyway. “

In his free time, the child of the CEO father goes for phonics lessons, piano classes while learning taekwondo. All in a day.

In his free time, the child of the taxi driver father sits in the house and play with power ranger figurines. For the whole day.

When he got older, the child of the CEO father goes for plays and musicals with his father, attending social gatherings and company functions.

When he got older, the child of the taxi driver father watches Channel 8 dramas with his family, sometimes attending the community events at the RC on the void deck.

The child of the CEO father was unable to get an undergraduate scholarship. His father sent him overseas on a parent’s scholarship anyway.

The child of the taxi driver father got a place overseas, but was unable to get an undergraduate scholarship. He settled for a place at NUS instead.

The thing is, meritocracy is only “fair” for those benefitting from it, those blessed with talent or opportunities or a good family background, those sitting comfortably at the top of this hierarchy of sorts. Who cares about the majority of people piled at the bottom of the pyramid, those paying the taxes for you to enjoy your 4 years of undergraduate studies in the USA on some government scholarship?

But hey, you would say. Don’t we often hear an occasional story about how this boy from a single-parent family from a neighbourhood secondary school was able to rise against all odds and eventually secure a scholarship to some prestigious Ivy League university? See, I told you meritocracy is wonderful. It allows these people, who would otherwise be unable to make it, to be able to rise to the top based on their own hard work and resilience!

Erm, I don’t know if you have ever heard this word before, but for your information, these people are called anomalies. Take it this way. Pit the Singapore football team against Liverpool for a 100 games and I’m sure they will win at least one. Ok maybe not. This is a lousy example, but you get my point.

The thing is, just because a few supposedly disadvantaged people were able to succeed because of this whole meritocratic thing does not mean that this system benefits all equally.

To quote from an article on the Channel News Asia web, “for the 2008 batch of PSC scholars, 47% reside in HDB housing, 27% in private non-landed property and 26% in landed property”. And to borrow an argument from theonlinecitizen.com commenting on this article, “Since more than 80 per cent of residential dwelling units are HDB flats, the proportion of scholars from private property is disproportionately high."

This exactly illustrates the point I’m making. Some people might actually find it hard to understand this, but it is about the concept of PROPORTION, people. There is a disproportionate number of scholars coming from richer families. Ok to make it simpler for you, this means, like it or not, it is easier for a student staying in private property to obtain a PSC scholarship than one living in a HDB flat.

Do not misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that scholarship boards perhaps prefer to offer the scholarship to people with better family background. I’m just saying that students from richer families typically have a better upbringing, better opportunities for learning and growth, and thus end up in a better position to vie for these scholarships because we are operating in this so-called meritocratic system.

Does anyone not see something strangely wrong with this? No? Hmm let’s see. The people who are getting sponsored for their overseas education are exactly those who don’t need it. And these people would then most likely end up the elites of society and become rich and powerful, while those at the bottom of the pyramid settle for a nine-to-five job and just live life as it is. Then they all get married and have children. And the whole cycle repeats again.

This is meritocracy for you, people. The modern day caste system masquerading as a beacon of hope for the 80% of people busy trying to pay off their housing loans.