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Students of top schools worry more about elitism.
Sunday, May 20, 2007

     

The headlines of this article caught my eye as I browsed through the newspapers; I couldn't believe the irony in it. Elite students being more worried about elitism than others? I never saw it that way although I am well-aware of an unspoken stereotype system among students. That is, if you are in a reputed school, you are "better" than students from neighborhood schools. This is directly because elite students have a higher possibility of getting jobs with better prospects that would naturally lead to comparatively greater success in life. In other words, the process to a resounding career is smoother for the elite than those from the 'lower' end of the spectrum. This leads to an inferiority complex when students from the neighborhood schools compare themselves with the elite students, leading to the widely misconceived impression of elite students as "cold" and unfriendly. It seemed logical to me then, that non-elite students should be the ones worrying about elitism, especially when Singapore educational system breeds elites.
However, this survey has proven me wrong. Both elite and non-elite students feel that the main behaviour of elitism is looking down upon academically weaker students. It has been shown that students of the elite schools find that this behaviour is present among them significantly. Yet, the students from the non-elite schools do not feel that they are being looked down upon by the elites amongst them. This might be due to the different definitions of elitism between the 2 groups of students. The students from top schools regard elites as those of better academic results while those from the less reputed schools feel that elites are those who excel in sports, music or the arts.
After reading this, I feel that the students from top schools are more competitive both academically and aesthetically, where they would try ways and means to be the creme de la creme. In such competitiveness, there is no doubt that elitism would occur. However, in the case of neighbourhood schools, the stress level is lower so students would not compete as aggressively amongst themselves. Perhaps because they feel that there is no point trying so hard anymore. This is a serious negative side-effect of Singapore's education system, where there is a certain self-resignation in the students who fail to make it on the hopeful track of moving from one top school to the next.
Elitism is an unavoidable issue in developed countries, for the system is created where only the best can succeed, with more ease. It becomes a problem when elitism separates the people, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and social classes form. As much as people try to blur the lines between the classes, I find it an inevitable effect of a modern society and that given the money-driven economy, what the elite and the government can do would be to provide financial help to the other classes wherever is needed, so as not to illuminate the cracks that exist.

10:59 PM
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