Rich kids do better

As alluded to by SMA chairman Dr Wong Chiang Yin in his ST article last year, rich kids tend to speak better and hence can perform better during interviews.

What interviews do kids or teens have to go to? Do they need to look for jobs at a young age?

They do, but it's not jobs they are after. They are vying for places in the medical school (NUS), law schools (NUS & SMU), and of course, the prestigious scholarships. All these require the young applicants to go through rigorous tests and interviews.

So why do richer kids have an edge?

First, they are likely to be raised in an English-speaking environment, not with aunties speaking Singaporean pidgin or Singlish to them, but with well educated people having proper English conversations with them, thus indirectly preparing them for the future.

Second, rich kids have more time and money to "explore" the world. Their poorer counterparts have to make do with spending time helping their parents at their hawker stalls or looking after younger siblings and aged grandparents. You get the picture.

Third, rich families can afford to send their kids to "high-value" enrichment classes - think speech & drama, ballet, and music - that inadvertently groom them to be the polished professionals of tomorrow. Poor kids go to the free RC tuition classes at the void deck.

In conclusion, poorer kids have to be luckier (e.g. be born with good brains) and work much harder to be on par with the rich kids.

Well, nobody says life's fair.

http://www.salary.sg/2007/rich-kids-do-better/

A similarly trained poor kid can also excel in interviews. Money isn't everything, as what you seems.

I agree with you, Robert. But my point is: all things equal, poor kids do not have as many opportunities to excel as rich kids.

the admin seems to have something against the rich kids of sg. haha.

how about the other side of the story? so many rich kids get so out of hand. with the money and family background, they are spoilt and at the same time, empowered to do whatever the heck they want. have you ever thought that they wouldnt have the discipline as a "poor" child to attain success in life?

do you think all the rich kid's parents in the world have so much time to educate their own children properly.

the child have to find his or her own way. be it poor or rich. they have to be so called "enlightened" and motivated to be where they want to be in life. Yes, being privilledged or unprivilleged plays a part. however, your heart is the one that will bring you eventual success.

nothing against rich kids. bree, your points are valid, but poor kids get out of hand too... yada yada

Many of the rich kids I know will grow up to have children who will never be rich or blow away their inheritance simply because of their background i.e. the spoilt pampered type!

oh.. I didnt know that most of the rich family are English speaking family. maybe because I have yet to see one.

rich kids may have head-start during their younger years but somehow poorer kids with proper home dicipline will excel and overtake these kids from primary 3!eg.kids from R.O.C. make top positions for PSLE!Its all about attitude and passion towards learning which our current education system is not designed for.

Let's face it. Even without even the early advantage rich kids have, their parents can more or less buy them a "bright" future easily. e.g. sending them oversea if they fail in singapore, while those poor one has "to beg along the street" if he/she fail the local exam. And if excel is define how rich ones is, then i don't see what's wrong with saying the rich do better in both their inherited wealth and "inherited future".
As for interview, rich kids will always have the advantage; they have less stress to perform in a interview hence they are usually more confidence; they tend to see "more of the world" like most interviewer are poorer than them and the interviewer will never want to flame their parents' wrath. Imagine you are the interviewer, you saw a resume/student profile on your desk. Then a phone rang, your director/head/lead etc called telling you that you will be interviewing his son or my friend's son etc. I would guess the result is obivous

Maybe it’s more to do with the parents.
Poor parents do not know what is critical for a kid to excel in future. Rich parents do and they will groom their kids for the future.

So, poor kids have to rely more on themselves or mentors to guide them towards the right path. While rich kids have their parents to do it for them.