The unfortunate suicide of A*Star scholar Mr Lin Zhi Qiang purportedly over rejection of love by a China woman has shocked not only his family and friends who are still going to terms with his unexpected demise, but also ordinary Singaporeans from all walks of life.
A*Star stands for the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, a premier research company which is started and funded by the Singapore government in its ambition to make Singapore the research hub of Asia.
The Singapore government has a long history of awarding scholarships to the creme la crop of junior college students for them to pursue their tertiary education either overseas or at local universitites. Most of them are awarded on the basis of their academic grades in the GCE ‘A’ levels examinations though there have been a shift of late towards non-academic attributes such as creativity and leadership skills.
XXX
The present “scholar system” has done grave injustices to both the scholars themselves and those who have failed to qualify for it. To the former, the artifically cloistered environment in which they are put in deprives them of a chance to fulfill their full potential in the outside world. To the latter group, the limits placed on their career advancement does little to recognize or reward their hard work, talents and contributions.
It is time for the government to relook into its policy of giving out scholarships funded by taxpayers to the most academically gifted students regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. Only by levelling the playing field between the scholars and the non-scholars will there be real meritocracy in the state bureaucracy instead of a half-baked segmented meritocracy for the two different groups which is the reality on the ground now.
Read rest of article here:
http://wayangparty.com/2009/01/19/scholar-suicide-raises-serious-questions-about-selection-process/
A*Star stands for the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, a premier research company which is started and funded by the Singapore government in its ambition to make Singapore the research hub of Asia.
The Singapore government has a long history of awarding scholarships to the creme la crop of junior college students for them to pursue their tertiary education either overseas or at local universitites. Most of them are awarded on the basis of their academic grades in the GCE ‘A’ levels examinations though there have been a shift of late towards non-academic attributes such as creativity and leadership skills.
XXX
The present “scholar system” has done grave injustices to both the scholars themselves and those who have failed to qualify for it. To the former, the artifically cloistered environment in which they are put in deprives them of a chance to fulfill their full potential in the outside world. To the latter group, the limits placed on their career advancement does little to recognize or reward their hard work, talents and contributions.
It is time for the government to relook into its policy of giving out scholarships funded by taxpayers to the most academically gifted students regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. Only by levelling the playing field between the scholars and the non-scholars will there be real meritocracy in the state bureaucracy instead of a half-baked segmented meritocracy for the two different groups which is the reality on the ground now.
Read rest of article here:
http://wayangparty.com/2009/01/19/scholar-suicide-raises-serious-questions-about-selection-process/
