February 10, 2024

As a young island nation, Singapore has taken pride in its meritocratic system. It sees this system as responsible for propelling its growth into an economic powerhouse. Basing people’s worth on their achievements and hard work, instead of their background and status, is one of the defining traits of meritocracy, and it continues to have roots in Singapore’s competitive education system and job market. While supporters of meritocracy purport that it improves social mobility, many have questioned the true nature of meritocracy, with arguments being made that it further embeds social inequalities instead.

In ‘Meritocracy and its discontents’ (The Business Times, February 2024), Dr Georgios Georgiou (NUS Economics) discusses the current state of meritocracy in Singapore, with reference to his observations from teaching about meritocracy in NUS. He presents various perspectives towards meritocracy, from those who advocate for its benefits, to those who criticise the model. Through exploring these perspectives, he argues that a re-evaluation of the meritocratic model is warranted, with more emphasis on eradicating the social inequalities that arise.

Dr Georgiou examines the pitfalls of the meritocratic model, outlining two main issues, the first being the social inequalities perpetuated by meritocracy. Richer people can provide more resources for their children, leading to better prospects for their education and employment. Thus, although meritocracy is intended to bypass the advantages of status, it actually exacerbates them. Nevertheless, these privileged children still need to work hard to retain their status and make full use of the advantages given to them. This leads into the second issue with meritocracy, that those with privilege end up locked in a circular chase for wealth, without having any time left to enjoy their wealth.

He also discusses his students’ perceptions of meritocracy through polls he took in lectures, with a large majority of students choosing to support meritocracy initially. However, after reviewing the challenges of the model, many students choose to rescind their support. With these challenges in mind, Dr Georgiou argues that there is much room for improvement within education systems, suggesting that measures be taken to ‘fix meritocracy’ and reduce inequalities.

Read the article here.