Shattering
The scholarship myths
Let's shatter all of them once and for all. Blogger karpace.
Apr 22, 2006

(Littlespeck: Wished I had discovered this earlier, very worthwhile reading. First posted May 08, 2005)

I've been following the whole AcidFlask issue, and before that the CZ issue about his racist comments and.. You know what?

I'm amazed about how damned naive Singaporeans are about their government and their scholars.

It's time to shatter all the scholarship myths once and for all. Many of those who read this will have suspected or known deep down inside the truth. But let me put in black and white.

Myth 1: Scholars are smarter than everyone else
- Must be true right? After all they all have hella good results and went to damn good universities. NOT! You can get a scholarship with a measly 2 As and a B, less if you want to go to NUS. And besides all that, those damn results mean jackshit. There are many many more smart people out there. Singaporean scholars are often not anywhere near the smartest people in the universities they go to.

Myth 2: They all go to good universities
- Hah! If you call Cornell good... Let's put it into perspective, for most American and British universities the greatest attraction of having Singaporean scholars is that they are PAYING GOOD STUDENTS. You know how hard it is to get someone who can pay AND is a good student? In the US or the UK, DAMNED HARD. Many of the other really good students these guys get are too poor, and the university gives them the funding.
- Of the top 6 US universities, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Caltech have full financial aid for international students. Which means anyone in the world can apply to them, and if you get in and don't have money, the university will pick up the tab. The number of Singaporeans going to these unis every year is between 1-5.
- The lone standout in the top 6 is Stanford, where it is 3 times harder to get in on financial aid as an international student than without. The number of Singaporeans going to undergrad in Stanford is 10-20 annually.
- So Singaporeans go to good schools abroad. Brand names. But only because they can pay for it.. The Indians or PRCs at these places put the Singaporeans to shame.

Myth 3: Scholars are pure/honest/good/saintlike/entrepreneurial/better than us
- I know most people don't believe this. But deep down we all have the expectation anyway. When a scholar makes racist comments, we are shocked. We expected better.
- Let me dispel this. I know more scholars than most. In fact, I only have two kinds of friends - scholars and expats (I know, it's sad). Actually add two more, lawyers and doctors. (There, now you know where I went to school)
- Scholars are just people who did well in school, are driven to succeed, and managed to get a scholarship through anyone of the various bodies. When they interviewed, they made sure they said the right things...
- No one goes into a scholarship interview and says the wrong things.. I mean come on, gimme a break right

Interviewer: So, what do you think of the drug laws in Singapore?
Scholar-To-Be: Crazylah, ganja is God's gift to mankind. Look at Holland, best economy in Europe, but can smoke ganja legally. You should chill out man...

I had a couple of interesting scholarship interviews myself, back in the day:

National Computer Board
Me: So being Malaysian, and coming here just recently, I have this amazing perspective, because you can see what the government in Malaysia says and how the papers slant it on that side, and you can come to Singapore and see the truth in the papers here
Interviewer: That's interesting, but what will happen if you go abroad, and after getting exposed to foreign media, you find that the Singapore perspective is heavily skewed as well.
Me: Uhhhh.. No lah.. How can.. Singapore is so honest/cool/real
Man, that interviewer was mad smart.

Economic Development Board
This was back in the day when the EDB was just having its first fallout from the bond-breaking issue. They decided to have first round group interviews, followed by a 2nd round team-building team-work type exercise.
I didn't make it to the 2nd round and here is why

Group Interview:
Present: Some senior EDB Exec whose name I can't remember, 6 scholar wannabes
Atmosphere: Tense. All of us looking at each other, don't really know what's going to happen, no prior experience mah
EDB Exec: I really just want to have an open discussion, feel free to say anything you want.
(All the apple-polishers snicker knowingly)
Me: (Alright, cool!) <= Idiot!
EDB Exec: So do you really think NUS should teach humanities at all? After all these guys have little economic use. Why not teach just engineering and economics? No more humanities at all:
All the Apple Polishers: (Politely try to say something interesting, because not too sure which side the EDB guy is on. Must not take risk you know)
Me: No, I don't think that is a good idea. I think a case can be made for humanities in NUS. I definitely don't think NUS should just be an engine and econ school.
Apple-Polishers: (Staring at me in horror, oh my god, he's crazy)

(At the end of the interview)

EDB Exec: Actually I really do believe that NUS should not have a Humanities at all.

Me: Ooops (But later, man what a dumbass that guy was. Thank God I didn't get the EDB)

- I have seen fellow scholars make racist remarks, some even holding these as self-evident truths. I have seen scholars espouse Nazism and carry swastikas around. One President scholar even told me "If my sister marries a black man, I'll cut off his head and put it on a stake"
- I have seen scholars use drugs, ganja, cocaine, you name it.
- I have talked with scholars who are gay, but work in parts of government where they enforce ant-gay laws and regulations
- I have spoken with scholars who have to deal with dumbass permanent secretaries and ministers on a day-to-day basis, and find themselves shocked and disgusted at how insensitive and two-faced these guys are.
- Many scholars, especially the ones who graduated in the last ten years, are freaking liberals as all hell. They are pro-gay, pro-free-speech, pro-rule-of-law, pro-democracy
- They find themselves stifled by the organisations they work in, and most leave the civil service a little before or a little after their bonds are done.
- You notice the government does not publish figures on scholar retention rates? I would suspect that as many as 70% of scholars have left their organisations within two years of their bond ending.
- The ones that leave, paradoxically and unfortunately, are often the smartest and most creative of the bunch. The ones who stay, are often the biggest apple-polishers, who have been "promised" careers (Hurray for meritocracy, right?)
- Many of those who leave, to use Goh Chok Tong's words "quit". They leave the country, work for MNCs, go back to grad school in the West, you find them spread across the world, London, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Melbourne, Sydney. Many retain their Singapore passports though, and for that, I suspect Lee Hsien Loong is happy.

THE TRUTH: That I think Singaporeans must face is that Singapore has a government, which derives its legitimacy from being run by smart people. We are part of tradition stretching back thousands of years to China, where mandarins who passed government exams ruled by bureaucracy. Never underestimate Old Man Lee (Kuan Yew)'s understanding of what makes Chinese societies tick.

We are not a democracy where the government says "We have a right to rule you because you chose us as your representatives"

We are a mandarinate where the government says "We have the right to rule you because we passed all the exams and are smarter than you"

Hence, Singapore needs to defend the institution of scholarship, to put in on a pedestal because after all what would happen if we began to question this core pillar of our society?

http://karpace.blogspot.com/2005/05/lets-shatter-all-scholarship-myths.html