Last week, a student from my school asked Mr Heng (Minister of Education) if today in Singapore, it is the rich and not the clever that succeeds. He felt that many of his friends who were more well-off attended tuition / enrichment classes outside of school. He didn't, mainly because his family didn't have so much resources. (I thought that was a very good question..)
Mr Heng's reply was that basically the government needs to ensure that there is social mobility in Singapore. Even students that come from humble background should have the chance to do well in school, obtain scholarships and get good jobs.
I do not think that it is easy for the government to regulate tuition or enrichment classes. If the parents are wealthy enough to send their kids for these classes, so be it. This is the same as pre-schools. Well-to-do parents can afford to send their kids to expensive centres that cost more than $2000 a month, whereas some send their kids to PCF.
It is true that some kids have may have a headstart because of their family background. It is also true that in this sense, life is unfair. There is really no point in lamenting about this. We just have to accept it and move on.
I think that inspiring and cultivating the right values and character in a child is more important than all those expensive classes. And this, every family can do it - be it you are wealthy or not. I have so many friends who didn't come from wealthy families and yet are doing reasonably well in life. This can be said the same for many of my students too.
After all, my opinion is that character lasts - not knowledge, mental capacity or talents.
