IH WA2

1. What are two ways that the practice of meritocracy has impacted Singapore?

Firstly, meritocracy leads to high pressure put on students to achieve exemplary

grades so they can have better social standing and a more comfortable life in the
future. Meritocracy is the holding of power by people selected according to merit.
This means that it is often those with exemplary academic performance who get
to make powerful decisions and attain high social standing in the society. Thus
many parents place high expectations on their children and many send their
children to tuition to help them achieve better grades. According to a study
conducted by Straits Times, a whopping 70% of Singaporean parents send their
children for tuition. Singapore parents have long been described as “kiasu” –
Hokkien for “fear of losing” – from how much they worry about their children’s
grades, an attitude formed due to the stress of their child being unable to fare
well in school and ending up with a subpar quality of life in the future. However,
these expectations placed on students creates a highly competitive and tense
academic environment, where students experience lots of stress, from fear that
they will disappoint their parents if they do not do well in school, and the worry
that they may not be able to live the life they desire when they are older. Studies
have shown that long-term stress can affect the mental health of these students,
thus impacting a large number of participants in Singapore’s society. This can
affect the society’s ability to function properly as a whole.

Secondly, meritocracy creates a class divide in Singapore based on academic

merit. In secondary school, elite schools with more opportunities, better teachers
and more resources also require high grades to enter, while other schools with
less strict admission requirements usually do not have the same programmes
and opportunities offered by their more popular and respected counterparts.
Thus, many parents attempt to find the best tuition centres for their children to
get ahold of the higher quality education and opportunities offered in these elite
 schools. However, it is usually the rich and wealthy who are able to afford the
fees for higher-quality tuition centres. For example, the highly lauded and popular
tuition centre “The Learning Lab” has prices of $137.16 to $145.80 per lesson for
secondary school courses, with 12 to 14 lessons per school term. There is also a
$86.40 one-time registration fee. Even 12 lessons per term with the lowest
lesson fee, excluding the registration fee, would mean $6583.68 dollars spent per
year. Such a sum is incredibly expensive and inaccessible to a large portion of
Singaporeans, especially families with lower incomes. This creates a cycle
wherein children from classes of people with more privilege have higher chances
of affording the same opportunities as their parents, while children from families
of average incomes usually fall short behind their more privileged counterparts
and do not have the same chances to become as successful and get jobs with
high incomes. This can lead to a widening income gap between the privileged
and the less privileged as time passes, which could lead to high levels of inflation
and economic instability if the problem worsens.

2. Extracts 2 and 3 reflect the roles that citizens play in ensuring the continued
progress of a nation. Is active civic participation more important than fulfilling
responsibilities as a citizen for the continued progress of a nation?

Progress of a society is the movement towards a more refined, improved state,

where the society can sustain and improve a basic quality of living for its citizens
and communities. Progress can be achieved when citizens meet the basic
expectations of respecting and obeying the laws, maintaining social cohesion,
checking on the government, and participation in society. When these basic
expectations are met, the society becomes more peaceful and bonded, political
stability is maintained, the economy is able to prosper and the quality of living is
improved.

Active civic participation is self-reliance through going above and beyond one’s
duties as a citizen by sacrificing one’s own time, effort, finances and resources to
help improve society over time. One example in Singapore is going to blood
donation drives to donate blood to Singapore’s blood bank, which helps provide
hospitals with the blood necessary to save lives during emergencies and sustain
the lives of those with medical conditions that require blood transfusions.
Through increased blood donations from citizens, hospitals will no longer face
problems with insufficient blood in the blood banks, and the increased supply of
blood also allows for more advanced-life saving procedures to be carried out
without worrying about insufficient blood supply, thus more lives are saved. This
will then lead to a higher quality of life for the nation as the healthcare system is
able to save more lives more efficiently, due to the high supply of blood.

The basic responsibilities of a citizen is the bare minimum expected of a citizen

to fulfil one’s duties in relation to being a member of the state. One example of
fulfilling basic responsibilities as a citizen is serving National Service, which is a
mandatory conscription that male Singaporean citizens and PRs have to
undertake when they turn 18. National Service equips young men with the skills
necessary to defend Singapore against any threats at any time, as Singapore’s
small population size makes it impossible to form a regular force of sufficient size
to protect the country. National Service serves as the bedrock for Singapore’s
national security and protects the independence and sovereignty of Singapore.
Through cooperating with the government to serve National Service, young male
citizens help keep the nation more secure, allowing for a peaceful and
prosperous society where the nation is able to place greater focus and resources
on progress without having to worry about security threats.

Active civic participation and fulfilling the basic responsibilities of a citizen are
both integral for the continued progress of a nation. Active civic participation is
the act of going above and beyond one’s duties and responsibilities as a citizen
while fulfilling basic responsibilities as a citizen is the bare minimum expected of
a citizen to fulfil one’s duties in relation to being a member of state. The two
factors are complementary. For active citizenry to make an impact, the basic
responsibilities of a citizen have to be met. In the examples raised, it is a basic
responsibility as a citizen for 18-year-old Singaporeans and PRs to conscript for
National Service to maintain the security of Singapore. For the act of donating
blood to Singapore’s blood banks, an act of active citizenry, to make any impact
on Singapore’s health system, the peace and safety in Singapore needs to be
maintained by the National Servicemen. In the case where Singapore faces
external or internal threats, they will be dealt with quickly and efficiently by the
National Servicemen on duty, decreasing the number of casualties and harm
caused to society. Due to a large number of blood donations from the public, any
casualties from the incident will also be treated more efficiently as the high
amounts of donated blood at blood banks allows more treatments to be carried
out without the need to worry about insufficient blood supply. Through this, the
safety and health of the nation is protected, ensuring that nobody is left behind.
This brings about collective progress where everyone, including the public,
National Servicemen and healthcare workers, has a role to play alongside the
government in ensuring the function and improvement of the nation.