Surprised that no one bothered to write a reply to him

GROWING PAINS
Meritocracy should be more than academic In its true form, it values experience, character and ability in all senses

By Christopher Choo

ONE of Singapore's core values is meritocracy, a system in which advancement is based on individual ability or achievement.

This is shown by the increased number of bond-breakers in recent years and the stories of disgruntled scholars clamouring for greener pastures.

Unfortunately, with the overriding emphasis on academic records and co-curricular activities (CCA) before prospective scholars are granted interviews, many candidates fall through the cracks.

The problem with academic meritocracy is it is only useful to recognise a certain kind of talent. It favours students who are good at fact retention, essay writing, CCA participation and taking up leadership positions, regardless of their effectiveness in those roles.

Not surprisingly, while the system turns out students who are excellent at studies, many lack communication and organisational skills required by administrators in the civil service.

If our scholars deserved to be compared to each other based on such extreme benchmarks, the Government would be spoilt for choice when it comes to recruiting talent. But sadly, it is not.

Singapore has continually had to attract foreign talent to complement Singaporeans, which suggests there are some qualities missing in students here.

The system also fails when it comes to identifying other characteristics that lie beneath the surface of an academic record.

Qualities such as problem-solving abilities, being able to think on the spot, innovation, creativity, risk-taking and true leadership ability cannot be determined accurately by a 25-minute scholarship interview panel or a one-week leadership camp.

Academic meritocracy needs to be replaced by a more idealistic yet practical version - one that values experience, character and ability in both an academic and non-academic sense.

First, scholarship selection criteria should be modified to recognise polytechnic diploma holders and equivalent qualifications more favourably.

CCAs and other activities in which students participate should be considered on an even footing compared to academic achievement. This will allow a greater variety of students to get past the first round of screening.

Next, local universities need to be more transparent in their student admission process. Instead of merely assigning weights for project work and A-level achievement, they should consider students based on a wider variety of criteria.

While some universities have experimented by reserving a few hundred places for students with exceptional non-academic achievements, such criteria should be applied across the board to provide a platform for academic excellence to be compared directly with non-academic achievements.

Finally, an approach to re-engineer the primary school syllabus by adding more components into Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results will ensure our youngest minds learn the importance of activities outside the academic realm.

This can be done by including a CCA component in the PSLE score, and awarding bonus points for community service or activities outside of school.

The reality in life is that most things are non-examinable. Instilling in students a false belief that examinations are a sufficient indicator of success will only set them up for disappointment further down the road.

The writer is a second-year Informations Systems Management student at the Singapore Management University.