Rather than redressing inequalities in society, education reinforces

them. Discuss.
Education itself is dialectical in nature. While education has the propensity to
bridge the inequalities in our society and allow the disadvantaged to climb up
the social ladder, it is internally conflicted by the fact that it maintains and
perpetuates hegemony for the elitist in our society. Although education has
been founded on the precepts of the uplifting of society as a whole, it can be
said that education has evolved into a device to protect the status of the elites.
Proponents of the argument that education is a tool to redress the inequalities in
society vehemently point to the benefits that education has brought to the
disadvantaged.
The education system in Singapore, as with most Asian
countries, is based on its Confucian progenitor in China, where passing the
imperial examinations can be seen as a way of escape; to leave the cycle of
abject poverty for many families once their child has been made an official.
Likewise, in Singapore, meritocracy has also been the foundation of our system.
Be it rich or poor, the zeal for success through dogged determination is
ultimately rewarded. Taking the Edusave Scholarship as an example, top
students from every level of the economic strata are rewarded annually for their
academic achievements. Furthermore, scholarships awarded by both the public
and private sector look beyond the economic background of individuals and
instead focus in the talents and merits of individuals. Moreover, the fact that in
most parts of the world, education remains a free and public good up to the
primary level has ensured the basic right to education as a tool for upward social
mobility has been conferred to those in the lowest rungs of the social hierarchy.
Thus, with the potential for education to allow the destitute and poverty-stricken
to leave the confines of economic inequality, it is no wonder that our education
minister quipped that education remains the sole miracle for the bottom classes
of society.
However, education too has been criticized for allowing inequalities to linger as
there still is a systemic segregation in education. In many Muslim countries
worldwide, it is evident that education is a basic right only for the males in
society while women are continually relegated to domesticity and denied of an
education. Since education is a stepping stone for greater socio-economic
freedom, the blatant denial of education for women only serves to perpetuate
their reliance on and subservience to men and is a bane to gender equality.
Furthermore, even in developed countries like Singapore, systemic segregation
exists in the form of streaming in schools, where students are separated
according to intelligence and it does not take a genius to see that those in better
streams more often than not end up in brand-name schools.
It is no wonder then that a recent government census of such "brand-name"
schools concluded that up to 70% of students have parents who are graduates.
Therefore, the precepts of meritocracy have been quashed by the fact that the
rich can afford to pay for their children's educational expenses, such as studying

in private or independent institutions and footing the high cost of tuition, which
guarantees that the rich are always a step ahead and will continue to be a step
ahead of the poor. Thus, education has no doubt been marred as it persistently
exacerbates the class divide in gender and socio-economic terms.
Furthermore, education has been tainted with corruption and it promotes
conformity in the system. The education system in China has been continually
lambasted for being the playground of the rich and powerful. Top universities
such as Tsinghua and Peking University are known for reserving places for
children of Chinese Communist Party officials, while the ordinary citizens vying
for a place have to fight with masses of people for a minority of the places left.
In addition, education has a tendency to coerce students to conform to
academic pursuits rather than provide a holistic education which targets the
strengths of the child. Those unable to perform academically have their other
achievements, such as artistic and sporting talent, rendered nought, which
dampens creativity and does not allow for those who think out of the box and
consistently challenge the system to survive in such a conformist environment.
Recently, top universities in India have set the results required to enter the
schools as perfect scores, which has led many disenfranchised and disillusioned
youths to take their own lives when they did not attain the score of 100 marks.
Therefore, it can be seen that social ills hide under the guise of education and
conformity, perfectionism and corruption only serve as a menace to bridging
inequalities.
In conclusion, education can be both a boon and a bane depending on how it is
used or abused. Education should be developmental in nature and target the
strengths of students while helping them cope with their weaknesses; it should
not impose absurd quotas or requirements. Education should be a tool that
ignites and not extinguishes creativity. Only when our education system has
matured and met these requirements can the last vestiges of inequality and
elitism be finally obliterated completely from our society.
Josiah Chow Yang,
A very competent and mature essay. Be mindful not to slip into
hyperbolic and dramatic language as you sometimes do.