Only 47 percent of Scholars stay in HDB

While the Stratis Times chose the headline "Nearly half of PSC awards to heartlanders" (ST, July 26, 2008), I prefer to highlight the still rather big and obvious gap when you compare the proportion of heartlander scholarship holders (47.0%) to the proportion of the general heartlander population (77.8%).

As mentioned in a previous Salary.sg post, 77.8% of all residential dwelling units are HDB flats, while 14.3% are condominiums and private flats, and the remaining 6.2% are private houses, according to Singapore 2007, Statistical Highlights (link).

47.0% is a far cry from 77.8%. We all can tell.

With that in mind, let's see what Straits Times said:

"(Public Service) Commission says its figures show no discrimination based on family background..."

While I do not dispute the claim that PSC shows no discrimination, we can't simply imply that from the figures. The numbers do not prove or disprove the existence of discrimination.

The gap between 47.0% and 77.8% is too big!

That said, let's see what A*Star's ex-chief Philip Yeo said, paraphrased by ST:

"... if two applicants have equally exceptional grades, (Philip Yeo) would award a scholarship to the one from a humbler household..."

Compare that with what PSC said:

"If they are equally deserving and both meet the PSC's high standards, PSC will offer an award to both applicants."

Assuming rich kids do better, do you prefer Philip Yeo's style or PSC's?

http://www.salary.sg/2008/only-47-pe...s-stay-in-hdb/

The kids may have rich parents. But why deny them of a chance to prove themselves if they show that they are capable of performing even without parental support. Scholarship is not bursary.

The figures tell me that 53% of the the people (approx 20% of the total population)staying in private housing are more capable.

Clearly, the poor given equal opportunity is a myth.
I am not denying the rich for proving themselves that they are capable to perform without parental support. BUT they are what they are partly due to parent giving them "support" when they are in their younger days, giving them an edge. (they can afford tuition teacher,etc)

However , there are poor people making it there , but their effort is far more than the rich. I am impressed with such people, and it call for my respect.

Funny enough , there will be people refusing the see the facts , cold hard facts.

Anyway this is how the world works , and precisely the reason why all strive to make it .... cos the rich and elite will have BETTER OPPORTUNITY which the poor will only dream about it ...

True... the children of the rich (or influential) are likely to have an easier time getting into mgmt position as network is critical. You don't have to be outstanding to land a mgmt position, you just have to be average. For those without network, you have to be outstanding to get noticed and being average gets you nowhere.

It is an unspoken culture but we all know that is happening everywhere in the world.

Very true. Also one big advantage that I notice: the children of rich people are very comfortable with other rich, successful people. They can effortlessly connect, they right away recognize one another as being the same.

Not so with the middle class kids. Years of upbringing seeing one's parents behaving towards their superiors, bosses, etc., it takes real, conscious effort to train oneself to become comfortable with them.

to all prior postings, you have all spoke my mind. I'd like to extend the same argument to broader sense in a capitalist society. The theory applies to health, education, social stability. Rich are not necessarily do well in all aspects of life, but, the have far better opportunity to do so. In my opinion, there's however, a value where the rich and not-so-rich can cultivate better - FAMILY VALUES.

I feel family values is the underlying mechanism towards achieving all others. One doesn't have to be rich, or have plenty of spare times, or have an affordably a non-working parent to cultivate family values. This is almost an equal opportunity across families from all social status. The poor can have a good family values, while, the rich can have a poor family values. Cultivating family value is almost free, but, it comes with price of PRIDE and DETERMINATION which are also free.

So, of course, for the sake of better future generations - we, who live in the current society shapes the future society. Take social status aside, focus on family value and upbringging is the key for better future.

Don't worry about whether scholarship goes to those living in HDB or bangalow.

Originally Posted by quiters--

The figures tell me that 53% of the the people (approx 20% of the total population)staying in private housing are more capable.

Clearly, the poor given equal opportunity is a myth.
I am not denying the rich for proving themselves that they are capable to perform without parental support. BUT they are what they are partly due to parent giving them "support" when they are in their younger days, giving them an edge. (they can afford tuition teacher,etc)

However , there are poor people making it there , but their effort is far more than the rich. I am impressed with such people, and it call for my respect.

Funny enough , there will be people refusing the see the facts , cold hard facts.

Anyway this is how the world works , and precisely the reason why all strive to make it .... cos the rich and elite will have BETTER OPPORTUNITY which the poor will only dream about it ...

Thumbs up! I strongly agree with you. But i believe those without support and succeeded would have a better life in future.

[Husky]

Being able to find ONE kid from a poor background who eventually managed to do well and secure a scholarship later on in life doesn't prove or disprove anything. In any case, if you actually come across one, it's probably the exception rather than the norm.

I know of a kid who lost his mother at one, thereafter his father gave the boy away to his sister as he couldn't cope with the task of raising his child alone. After that, the kid stayed with his aunt and cousins who saw him as an outsider and bullied him constantly. His father still visited him occassionally but nevertheless, the kid grew up lonely.

The kid grew up rebellious and was your typical problem child from primary school all the way to lower secondary school. Then when he was 14, his father passed away too. That served as a wake up call, and he started to take life more seriously... from Sec three onwards, he studied hard... graduated in the top 10% of his cohort, made it to a top JC and later on to a local university. Eventually he graduated with a Pharmacy degree and now works as a pharmacist.

Every now and then... people would comment that he's acutally quite a smart person, why didn't he study medicine in NUS? He definitely have the makings of a good doctor...

Because he didn't do well in his early years in secondary school, he didn't qualify for triple science combi in JC and later on medicine in NUS. He didn't even bother to try applying for medicine because of the admission criteria. The other thing is, medicine is demanding course both in the academic sense and financially as well. How is he going to cope? It's a strain enough having to work part time while studying, working part time while doing medicine? One wonders, if he had that extra determination, would things have turned out differently? Maybe. The other scenario would be having our boy grow up in an "elite" family with all the support... things would definitely be different.

The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer...

Why is it so?Mentality...

The rich will want to get richer and works even harder but alot of the poor thinks that being rich is impossible to achieve, so they only strive to maintain status quo...

Monkey C Monkey Do...

kids are being influenced by parents and that's why alot of lower end of the spectrum tend to have poorer grades than the "middle & upper" classes...

This...speaking from my own experience...My parents think that it's impossible to be rich and just be a "simple" citizen earning meagre pay and not thinking of being rich except by gambling in 4D and ToTo.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer...

Why is it so?Mentality...

The rich will want to get richer and works even harder but alot of the poor thinks that being rich is impossible to achieve, so they only strive to maintain status quo...

Monkey C Monkey Do...

kids are being influenced by parents and that's why alot of lower end of the spectrum tend to have poorer grades than the "middle & upper" classes...

This...speaking from my own experience...My parents think that it's impossible to be rich and just be a "simple" citizen earning meagre pay and not thinking of being rich except by gambling in 4D and ToTo.

the rich and pro-rich also bully the poor and keep them in their place. just look at the education system today - to do well in primary school, the kid needs rich / educated parents to tackle the tests, exams, CCAs as a team (yes, it's a team effort). rich parents can pay for good enrichment and coaching. not-so-rich but educated parents can personally do the coaching. poor uneducated parents can only leave their kids alone to fend for themselves - only the truly good ones may have a chance to survive well.