The problem with privilege (P2)

Lee Kuan Yew famously said that life is a deck of cards. You do what you are good at. That's your purpose in life (quite possibly borrowing from Plato's musings on the purpose of life). But what if what you are good at is not appreciated by society? This could be someone who plays the guitar very well but who fails to join the cultural and socioeconomic upper class no matter how hard he tries - just because the market for musicians in Singapore is small and saturated. What if society puts a premium on skills and knowledge other than what you are good at? What if you do not possess aptitude for anything?

It is in this vein that we expose the problems with our meritocratic system; the iniquities in our supposedly meritocratic system. As with critical legal theory and a myriad of theories which are very vocal about the problems with the system, there is no viable alternative proposed by commentators who screech and scream at this quandary we are facing. The only other alternatives may be a class-based system like in England (no more social mobility) or a socialist system whereby the pie is shrinking and not growing. Both of which do not seem promising at all as compared to our capitalistic and quasi-meritocratic system.

If I may borrow from Margaret Thatcher, do we want big class differences, with everyone much more well-off; or do we want small class differences, with everyone floundering?

As a student or even a parent reading this, it seems that we just do what we can. We cannot change things outside of our power.

1. We work hard

2. We work smart

3. We find out what we are good at and consider whether we want to do what we are good at (ie, specialise in it)

There are numerous studies pertaining to neuroplasticity: all of us can learn and improve. Some faster than others (thus the inherent unfairness in our system - which is exacerbated by class differences in society as well as even racial privilege in Singapore (if it exists)). But whatever it is, hard work can compensate for any inaptitude or lack of intelligence - up to a certain point. And repeated and consistent and focussed hard work can also boost intelligence - again, up to a certain point.

My Mini-Experiment in Neuroplasticity

I told my students I did some IQ tests in recent weeks: thankfully, I could solve most of the questions with aplomb despite the aging process (I was also worried that I had gotten COVID asymptomatically (no positive tests and haven't fallen sick during this period) in the last 3 years; this could actually lead to cognitive decline in some and dementia in others). But I was stumped by word unscrambling. Practised more. And got to be decent at these IQ questions.

Conclusion

We do what we can. As teachers, as parents and as students. We have to leave the rest to fate. Not everything is within our locus of control.