This has been a hot topic in Singapore recently.
In August of 2014, during a dialogue session with students pertaining to the necessity of a university degree in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong commented that a university degree need not be the only route to a fulfilling career for young Singaporeans.
Prime Minister Lee said: “The answer will vary with each person. It depends on your interest, depends on your aptitude, depends on whether you are an academic type or not, depends whether you want to start getting experience, and then you can build up based on that, and study, and gain further education and qualification later on.”
This sounded like a sensible advice.
However, other messages from Mr Lee’s fellow Ministers seem rather overzealous at times.
For example, in May 2013, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan commented that Singaporeans do not need to be university graduates to be successful and that what is more important is that they get good jobs after leaving school.
“If they cannot find jobs, what is the point? You own a degree, but so what? That you can’t eat it. If that cannot give you a good life, a good job, it is meaningless,” he said.
Wow. Where did that philosophy come from??
While one or two points he made are worth chewing on, but sorry Minister, I humbly disagree with your view that an education is meaningless if it does not lead to a job, good or otherwise.
I think this view is rather one dimensional at best.
It devalues the meaning of higher education to the sole purpose of economics. Society, life and learning are more just about economics.
Some of us actually pursue a course of study for passions that may not see immediate economic returns.
2014 Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Kailash Satyarthi commented: “The objective of education is basically to discover the human quality and potential of every single human being, community, and the entire world. Eventually this potential should be transmitted to the betterment of the world. Helping each other,”
I guess our government has always taken a pragmatic approach to social engineering.
What our government worries about in this case is highlighted by Minister Tan Chuan Jin, in March 2014 when he warned of a “potential graduate glut problem” in Singapore. This is a situation where countries such as China, South Korea and Taiwan are experiencing too many college graduates being produced with insufficient employment opportunities to meet the supply of graduates. I can agree that this is certainly a real problem.
And I think it is good that the government keeps the check on obsessive paper chase, not only by students themselves but their parents as well. However, one also has to ask how did we get to this situation in the first place?
On the other hand, so concerted were the messages which seek to de-emphasize the importance of a university degree in the last couple of years that many even in academia are confused.
Is our government now reversing the push for a knowledge-based economy and lifelong learning?
In came Mr Heng Swee Keat, Education Minister, who had to step forward in September 2014 to clarify that the government is not dissuading Singaporeans from getting degrees.
This assurance is certainly critical.
Our public servants must realize that their statements affect lives and especially our young ones. Some of our brightest are certainly capable of pursing a life calling in areas such as basic research. They must be encouraged to go as far as they can in pursue of higher education. And not settling merely for “just enough to make a living.” For others, a university education may not reap immediate returns but can certainly become useful in later years. There are others who have the capacity to excel but need a little push. You certainly would not want a Minister’s statement’s to become their excuse for not going as far as their talents can take them.
In a parliament session in September 2014, Chairman of the Workers’ Party and MP for Aljunied GRC, Sylvia Lim commented: “… we should be mindful that we do not inadvertently discourage individuals from pursuing higher academic qualifications just because of their starting point… Where an individual has good academic potential, he should be encouraged to pursue those goals.”
The environment changes over time and so will public policies. We certainly do not want our young to be caught stranded when a degree becomes a necessity in the future.
I like what American journalist Chris Hedges wrote: “We’ve bought into the idea that education is about training and “success”, defined monetarily, rather than learning to think critically and to challenge. We should not forget that the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers. A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, which fails to understand that the measure of a civilization is its compassion, not its speed or ability to consume, condemns itself to death.”
True education is about the development of our minds and an appreciation of the world. It is about impacting our world for the better.
Our government has narrowed education to the single purpose of getting good jobs. It’s a shallow view by any accounts that inevitably breeds materialism.
Singapore needs to move beyond such mentality to become an intellectually richer nation.
Mr Heng said something which is imperative: That while qualifications matter, “they must be the right qualifications and of the right standard for what we want to do. But not all qualifications matter — not if they do not help us build the right skills for what we want to do,”
His key words to me were: “what we want to do.”
Every one of us is born with unique talents.
If we truly want to become a great city, a one-size-fits–all educational approach will not do. Space should be provided for different talents to blossom. Otherwise, some of our talents will simply move overseas.
I propose that in guiding our children in their education journey and subsequently life pursuit, the starting point is not to ask if they should be or not be a university graduate. In fact, I would go as far as to say that we should not automatically assume that they should be a university graduates. I think this is the point our Ministers are trying to make.
So where do we start?
As parents, we need to be committed to be involved in the lives of our children and observe indications of their talents and gifts. There are many practical tools available. I wrote about one such toolkit HERE.
Once we are able to identify our children’s talents together with them, a path can then be ch
art to help develop their talents into strengths. And that path can certainly include a university degree where required.
The key, once again, is that each of our children is unique and we need help them to become who they have been wired to be. When our child is able to work towards doing what they love and what they do best every day, they become happy, fulfilled and confident individuals.
Our society becomes truly great when we have happy, fulfilled and confident citizens. At such a stage, there should be less worries about not having enough jobs for graduates.
This does not happen automatically but required the intervention and participation of schools and parents. Hence, the government’s initiative to offer better career guidance for students is definitely a step in the right direction. If done properly!
So while it is a good reminder that a university degree indeed is not everything, let’s not get overboard and say it’s meaningless if it does not lead to a good job.