新加坡没有精英
星期六, 十月 21, 2006
看到新加坡某位议员的女儿有点自以为是地攻击比她年长很多的一位新加坡人的评论，我觉得她有点太想当然而了。不过那些挖出她私人照片的人也很够无聊的。
新加坡总有一撮人自以为是所谓精英，自视甚高。但说实话这个国家有能力的人不多，小国寡民，人的见识不高，而且过分斤斤计较，不够大气。而且那里的教育制度也并不鼓励独立思考；新加坡学生死记硬背的功夫世界一流，很多人以把整本书背出来去考试为荣。这大概要比中国学生狂做几千道数学物理题还要可怕吧。
精英是要有大视野的，盘算的可不是自己能够在考试中拿多少个A之类的东西。太强势的领导人，驯化出来的人民有些木讷愚钝。那一撮自以为是的“精英”们，基本上也都差不多是这一类的，以勤奋刻苦见长，可知识面太狭窄，文化熏陶不够，这跟新加坡教育当中太过注重数理化，轻视人文教育有很大关系——当然双语教育的后果是，学生们中英两种语言掌握得都不好，所以两种文化都学不好。总之，除了李光耀以外，能够让我钦佩的新加坡人基本上一个都没有（创新科技的沈望傅大概能算上一个例外，这里的一点点私心是因为他跟我可算校友）。
大概今天新加坡困局的问题之一，就是太急功近利的教育体制，培养出一批目光短浅的治国“精英”们。李光耀80年代见到邓小平时，自己说中国的人才应该更好更多，因为这里有很多都是书香门第之后，而新加坡大部分都是福建农民的后代。我想这跟祖先的血统没有太大关系；有关系的是一种文化的环境和底蕴吧。
回头再看这场争论，我真想告诉这位与我同龄的Wee Shu Min同学，不要太自以为是、得意忘形了，有太多的人在许多方面都比你强，即使你考试是全国第一，也未必就说明你有多优秀，或者你在任何一方面都比别人强。而且，一个真正的强者是会以同情心对待那些弱者，那些所谓“losers”或者“suckers”的。当然那些对她做众多攻击的人们，也应该仁慈一点对待一个18岁的teenager，特别是当她已经道歉而且关闭了自己博客的时候。
新加坡总有一撮人自以为是所谓精英，自视甚高。但说实话这个国家有能力的人不多，小国寡民，人的见识不高，而且过分斤斤计较，不够大气。而且那里的教育制度也并不鼓励独立思考；新加坡学生死记硬背的功夫世界一流，很多人以把整本书背出来去考试为荣。这大概要比中国学生狂做几千道数学物理题还要可怕吧。
精英是要有大视野的，盘算的可不是自己能够在考试中拿多少个A之类的东西。太强势的领导人，驯化出来的人民有些木讷愚钝。那一撮自以为是的“精英”们，基本上也都差不多是这一类的，以勤奋刻苦见长，可知识面太狭窄，文化熏陶不够，这跟新加坡教育当中太过注重数理化，轻视人文教育有很大关系——当然双语教育的后果是，学生们中英两种语言掌握得都不好，所以两种文化都学不好。总之，除了李光耀以外，能够让我钦佩的新加坡人基本上一个都没有（创新科技的沈望傅大概能算上一个例外，这里的一点点私心是因为他跟我可算校友）。
大概今天新加坡困局的问题之一，就是太急功近利的教育体制，培养出一批目光短浅的治国“精英”们。李光耀80年代见到邓小平时，自己说中国的人才应该更好更多，因为这里有很多都是书香门第之后，而新加坡大部分都是福建农民的后代。我想这跟祖先的血统没有太大关系；有关系的是一种文化的环境和底蕴吧。
回头再看这场争论，我真想告诉这位与我同龄的Wee Shu Min同学，不要太自以为是、得意忘形了，有太多的人在许多方面都比你强，即使你考试是全国第一，也未必就说明你有多优秀，或者你在任何一方面都比别人强。而且，一个真正的强者是会以同情心对待那些弱者，那些所谓“losers”或者“suckers”的。当然那些对她做众多攻击的人们，也应该仁慈一点对待一个18岁的teenager，特别是当她已经道歉而且关闭了自己博客的时候。
posted by Jiong
3 Comments:
Thanks for translating!
She’s not sorry. Don’t kid yourself.
It doesn’t matter whether she was ranting as she claims or whether she expected her blog to be read. She’s indicative of a certain mind-set that dominates in government and in the class that it actually serves (upper-middle and upper class).
The Gini index is an index that measures the extent to which the distribution of income within a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents perfect equality, a value of 100 perfect inequality. Sweden has a Gini index of 25, Japan 24.9 (surprise, surprise!).
Singapore has a Gini index of 42.5. (Surprise, surprise! We’re worse than Poland, 34.1; Azerbaijan 36.5; Turkmenistan, 40.8 and Tanzania 38.2)
See — http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/indicators.cfm?x=148&y=1&z=1
This girl for all her intelligence isn’t capable of understanding that she is non-neutral, self-interested party in this discussion. She and those of her ilk have a vested interest in the Gini index remaining this way. Her father’s job in a top government-linked company, the resources thrown at the GEP, at RJC, the awards she wins for excelling in narrowly-defined measures of intelligence. (See Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence - just google) Her remarks are a self-interested attack on Derek’s claim on the public purse, because she herself has claims on the public purse! (i.e. status quo conservatism in which nothing changes and the Gini index remains the same). She attacks Derek’s sense of entitlement because her own sense of entitlement is under threat by the likes of him. Why spend government money on him when you can spend it on me! (i.e. scholarships etc, followed by cushy jobs in Singapore inc.)
The most revealing thing she says is this: “it’s so sad when people like old derek lament the kind of world that singapore will be if we make it so uncertain. go be friggin communist, if uncertainty of success offends you so much”
She uses vulgarity with the term “communist” because any kind of social-democratic inclinations threatens her goodies. E.g. Sharing the pie in an equal manner, looking after the poor and the underprivileged, safety-nets.
Oh - BTW - Don’t expect to read this in the Straits Times
To benjamin:
I agree with most of what you said here. The so-called "meritocratic" system in Singapore is too exclusive, and favours the well-off and the powerful. My personal experiences have also taught me that there are a small group of Singaporeans who always think highly of themselves and hold a rather offensive belief that they "own" the nation. The whole system of government scholarships, GEP, streaming, etc. should be overhauled if not trashed completely (some have indeed been abolished recently, as I have learnt). But I would also say that the public should show more sympathy and compassion towards the girl herself; her thoughts are revealing of the views of her parents and those men in power in the country, but she is still very young and cannot be held fully responsible for what she has said.
And I would choose to believe her apology regarding her use of language. Her criticism of Derek Wee's article is also to some extent valid, if we disregard the disgustingly elitist tone that is pervasive throughout the article.
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