Elites, Elitists and Elitism

Jayw24 SG

The new definition for Elitism
Taken from: http://intelligentsingaporean.wordpress.com/wee-shu-min/

This situation doesn’t seem to be improving and why should it? We are a society which grants unchallenged respect to educated individuals with paper qualifications; we are a society who rewards the most academically gifted scholarships and special programs which grant them a deep sense of importance; and we are a society which embraced meritocracy and have bought so deeply into this “fair and equal” system. The product is a massive group of educated young citizens who feel too full of themselves.

Meritocracy
Taken from: https://geepeeland.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/

A society of elites is perfectly fine so long as they never forget their roots and give respect where respect is due; not solely based on academic excellence; but experience, efficiency, attitude and way of life. I have come across too many incidents of young graduates being disrespectful to under-educated cleaners; young graduate managers showing no respect for older, experienced technician and manual workers under them; and even blatant outbursts of elites against a world that just isn’t good enough for them (the likes of the incident in 2006).

As far as I’m concerned, being educated means nothing if one does not live by a certain principle and moral code. Respect is earned through day-to-day attitude and behaviour and not through the scholarship that you were given or awards that you have won. It is the way you treat others that will determine the kind of person you are. Many of us fall into the trap of knowing too much information thanks to Mr. Google and Mr. Wiki and become impatient in the face of ignorant elders who lack so much of the common knowledge that is so readily available to us. All this knowledge act as a ingredients to justify talking down to others who seem to know so little. Unfortunately, it is also this knowledge that empower us to adopt a snobbish attitude.

Of course, this is not addressing the entire population. Many of us still understand the value of staying grounded and showing respect where respect is due. I’m writing here as a reminder to myself and whoever reads this of the importance of re-redefining the notion of elitism into something that ONLY means a trust-worthy group of educated elites without the connotation of snobbery and disrespect. Education has empowered us and this power can be used in any way one desires. Instead of adopting the “elitist” mentality that looks down upon all academically inferior others, why not adopt the elitist mentality that stems from sharing, respecting and appreciating all others; for what others lack in knowledge, they may well outshine you in passion, motivation, experience, ability, and so on.

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troublemaker2005 SG

eletie or not as long as u r human - you fart. farting loud and mellier can be train. next time you fart don;t ust fart, try to control and thrust, hold or increase intensity, in no tim e u find that whenver you hav the feelin to fart, you can prolong, shorten, hasten its coming, cntrol it like its a second nature.

Summer hill SG

aiya this world is never fair.

some people born with legs. without arms. born blind.

some born deaf. some stillborn.

as for me, i not born with silver spoon lor. Only have plastic baby spoon.

Clivebenss SG

jiani born with a plastic spoon?

Summer hill SG

jiani born with a plastic spoon?

when my mother feed me, she used a plastic spoon

FireIce SG

this case has been stale for bery long........

Clivebenss SG

when my mother feed me, she used a plastic spoon

Oops. I thot you have a twin call plastic spoon.

troublemaker2005 SG

i worse arh, i use hand to eat from the hand. then don;t know whcih hand clean arsehole after shitting 1

Uraniumfish SG

Wah, fireice locked my thread, probably because it was turning racialist.

First of all, Singapore does not practice real meritocracy here. What defines 'merit' here anyway? Degrees? In that case, why are those philipinos and Indian nationals, with their bullshit degrees, getting jobs easily. Even though what they learn to get these degree is much less than what our poly graduates learn.

Also, the reason people seem to be obcessed with these academics is clearly cultural. Like how parents put their kids through 10 enrichment classes, tuition and others aside from school so that they can get higher rankings in school. They don't know that education is about learning, not grades. The kids that think this is the case, so we get people who think highly of themselves just because of their scores.

M the name SG

TS is still living in the 80s where he didn't know that now even a P.hd student is driving an taxi, or an NUS graduate become an Karung guni man, there are fear that Singaporean will be elbowed by FT whether they are elite or not, not to forget "urgent" issue like HDB can be so expensive that an Queentown unit can cost $1 million plus the widen of income gap etc.