http://sporeunderground.blogspot.com's response to the whole wee shu min scandal has got me thinking about an age old issue; scholarships and who its going to. now, plenty of my friends are scholarship holders - while some are taking it so that they can experience an overseas education that their parents cannot otherwise afford them others just want to be dedicated civil servants.
while wee shu min isn't yet a scholarship holder and probably won't be now, there are many in her mould that they have funded and will fund in the future - those born and breed not merely in relative comfort but absolute luxury who go to the best schools and gifted program etc. my friend pointed out that they are scholars because they are deserving having proven their academic capabilities, and whether they are able to afford an American or British education is irrelevant because we need them - actually he said 'they -the people- need us' - to run the country. however i would beg to differ. if the rich folks can afford to send their kids on their own income, that would free up taxpayer's money i.e scholarships for those who are both deserving and in need. doesn't that create a larger talent pool that can crusade for singaporean economic prosperity and hence greater good of the general populace?
furthermore, consider the neopotism that is quietly rampant. LKY can afford to send his kids abroad on his earnings as PM so why does hisen loong and hisen yang, and now even his grandson hongyi -PM's son- have to use taxpayer's money to pay for their overseas education? its like saying that the Bush daughters are going to college on financial aid now tell me how ridiculous that is.
the issue is not a matter of elite schools because every nation has it, even quasi-communist ones. china has Peking university 'bei da'; the UK has Oxbridge and America has its Ivy League. i went to elite schools - namely Chinese High and Raffles JC - and i can assure you that WeeShuMin who is embarassingly my direct junior and her clones are not the norm. in fact they are usually unpopular. we had a similar fella called daniel lim whose mother was/is? the MP of Boon Lay. during an interview at RJC which was aired on national radio, she was bombarded by controvesial questions which she could only attempt to circumvent. The main 'culprits' who were very bright ordinary singaporeans, one was even an indian immigrant, later went on to become deserving scholars in all senses even need. My close friends and I are ordinary Singaporeans, some slightly well off than others, but we possess none of her snobbery. Filled with hope, ambition and idealism maybe, but also aware of the suffering of others. and yes we're not geniuses we work hard, some harder than others, some hardly bothered, and complain about MOE. The only places we exhibit signs of arrogance are on the playing fields. And that is not a God given right but a right earned through blood and sweat.
personally i'd rather be blogging about RHCP's awesome song 'Apache Rose Peacock' from their 1991 album 'Blood sugar sex magik' but i guess i needed to rant. MAKE ANTHONY KIEDIS, JOHN FRUSCINATE AND FLEA MM, SM AND PM RESPECTIVELY - WE'LL HAVE GOOD MUSIC DRUGS ALCOHOL AND SEX EVERDAY. haha that was retarded. as for me, i'm proud of where i'm from and the friends i made. i'm neither a rich kid whose parents are paying a few hundred grand for an American education nor a spender of taxpayer's money but i am going abroad, funded by the nice alumni at my American college. I earned it not just by academic merit but also by the financial profile forms i had to fill out. And because i detest Singaporean systems so much i'll probably just stay in New York to write a rags to riches, well not quite, more like addidas to armani if you get what i mean, story -that i'm due a slice considering how hard life kicked me in the balls- which i'll return at a later date to share with friends and family as a pseudo foreign executive.
BENEDICT LIM IS DA MOST COMPASSIONATE SOUL. A TRUE-ER THAN TRUE FRIEND. UNLIKE WEESHUMI, WHOSE REPUTATION IS WORSE THAN LIANNE NGOI'S, YOU DESERVE WHARTON. ALL HAIL BINNY. SINGAPORE'S BORAT. HE GO TO AMERICA FOR CULTURAL LEARNINGS MAKE BENEFIT GLORIUS NATION OF SINGAPORE.
while wee shu min isn't yet a scholarship holder and probably won't be now, there are many in her mould that they have funded and will fund in the future - those born and breed not merely in relative comfort but absolute luxury who go to the best schools and gifted program etc. my friend pointed out that they are scholars because they are deserving having proven their academic capabilities, and whether they are able to afford an American or British education is irrelevant because we need them - actually he said 'they -the people- need us' - to run the country. however i would beg to differ. if the rich folks can afford to send their kids on their own income, that would free up taxpayer's money i.e scholarships for those who are both deserving and in need. doesn't that create a larger talent pool that can crusade for singaporean economic prosperity and hence greater good of the general populace?
furthermore, consider the neopotism that is quietly rampant. LKY can afford to send his kids abroad on his earnings as PM so why does hisen loong and hisen yang, and now even his grandson hongyi -PM's son- have to use taxpayer's money to pay for their overseas education? its like saying that the Bush daughters are going to college on financial aid now tell me how ridiculous that is.
the issue is not a matter of elite schools because every nation has it, even quasi-communist ones. china has Peking university 'bei da'; the UK has Oxbridge and America has its Ivy League. i went to elite schools - namely Chinese High and Raffles JC - and i can assure you that WeeShuMin who is embarassingly my direct junior and her clones are not the norm. in fact they are usually unpopular. we had a similar fella called daniel lim whose mother was/is? the MP of Boon Lay. during an interview at RJC which was aired on national radio, she was bombarded by controvesial questions which she could only attempt to circumvent. The main 'culprits' who were very bright ordinary singaporeans, one was even an indian immigrant, later went on to become deserving scholars in all senses even need. My close friends and I are ordinary Singaporeans, some slightly well off than others, but we possess none of her snobbery. Filled with hope, ambition and idealism maybe, but also aware of the suffering of others. and yes we're not geniuses we work hard, some harder than others, some hardly bothered, and complain about MOE. The only places we exhibit signs of arrogance are on the playing fields. And that is not a God given right but a right earned through blood and sweat.
personally i'd rather be blogging about RHCP's awesome song 'Apache Rose Peacock' from their 1991 album 'Blood sugar sex magik' but i guess i needed to rant. MAKE ANTHONY KIEDIS, JOHN FRUSCINATE AND FLEA MM, SM AND PM RESPECTIVELY - WE'LL HAVE GOOD MUSIC DRUGS ALCOHOL AND SEX EVERDAY. haha that was retarded. as for me, i'm proud of where i'm from and the friends i made. i'm neither a rich kid whose parents are paying a few hundred grand for an American education nor a spender of taxpayer's money but i am going abroad, funded by the nice alumni at my American college. I earned it not just by academic merit but also by the financial profile forms i had to fill out. And because i detest Singaporean systems so much i'll probably just stay in New York to write a rags to riches, well not quite, more like addidas to armani if you get what i mean, story -that i'm due a slice considering how hard life kicked me in the balls- which i'll return at a later date to share with friends and family as a pseudo foreign executive.
BENEDICT LIM IS DA MOST COMPASSIONATE SOUL. A TRUE-ER THAN TRUE FRIEND. UNLIKE WEESHUMI, WHOSE REPUTATION IS WORSE THAN LIANNE NGOI'S, YOU DESERVE WHARTON. ALL HAIL BINNY. SINGAPORE'S BORAT. HE GO TO AMERICA FOR CULTURAL LEARNINGS MAKE BENEFIT GLORIUS NATION OF SINGAPORE.
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