Saturday, June 9, 2007
Elitism in societyAs societies everywhere have found, however hard one tries, some people will do better than others, whichever way success is defined. However, having an elitist in itself does not amount to an elitist society. It is when those at the top restrict access to the basis of family, background, wealth, race, religion, etc that makes a society elitist. Elitism in society itself is an elite phenomenon. In this case, meritocracy also has its downfalls. Even though no system or institution promotes elitism, it is already built into the mentality of Singaporeans. Most of it is developed from the environment that these people live in, with parental pressure being the most influential. Brats are bred at home before turning up in school with a superior attitude towards those who do less well than them academically.
An indication of elitism in society is school profiling, which is classifying someone according to the schools that he/she has attended during an introduction.
School-profiling is a very prominent phenomenon in Singapore as Singaporeans still cling to silly stereotypes of schools long after their teenage years. Thus, they tend to discriminate against those from presumably “lousy” schools. I personally think that this is very unfair for those who are trying to apply for jobs and those who are trying to show their talents. Does that mean that if one is from a “lousy” school, one will be condemned forever? Is there no chance that this person can break off from these ugly stereotypes? Also, it does not necessarily mean that one has character or one is a good person because he comes from a good school. The reputation of the school definitely does not depict who you are. After all, even though a school might have had great influence on a student, it does not necessarily depict the person’s character.
However, even though I am from a neighbourhood school, I understand that students from top schools are far more likely than their peers to feel inferior and worry about being excluded from the elite group due to hyper competition over grades and constant competition with their peers. Because of the fact that they come from top schools, other people may avoid being their friends, causing these people to be socially excluded.
; 2:28 PM
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