Die-hard narratives on education, success need to change

FROM B1 expressed regret that, had they worked harder, they might have had the choice to attend one of those "top-tier" universities.

- Dr Chew Yi Wei is a senior lecturer at SUSS' College of Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning.

While they do not represent the majority of SUSS students, the fact that this sentiment exists at all is troubling.

The same sentiment is felt about other institutes of higher learning (IHLs), where students do not feel equal to their peers from putatively "more prestigious" tertiary institutions; an inferiority complex or lack of social self-confidence due to a perceived lack of educational pedigree.

Republic Polytechnic, for example, has been labelled by students themselves as "ITE North". Such a statement, though uttered as a self-deprecating joke, reveals a double pejorative, at once suggesting the IHL to be of a lower standard, comparable to the Institute of Technical Education. I have had students from ITE who have also shared with me their insecurities. It seems like the narrative of "ITE" as a pseudonym for "It's the End", as satirically mentioned in Jack Neo's 2001 I Not Stupid, persists still in the minds of the very students who attend these institutions.

These sentiments echo a broader dilemma: many students, should they not come from what they deem the "top" or more established IHLs, fear that they don't belong to the club that traditionally defines academic achievement.

Worse, this sense of comparison and hierarchy isn't just limited to the higher education space but extends throughout Singapore's education landscape. The slogan "Every School a Good School", popularised by Mr Heng Swee Keat during his time as minister for education from 2011 to 2015, sought to redefine what it meant for a school to be "good".

However, in a society so deeply rooted in meritocracy and the pursuit of academic excellence, shifting the narrative of what makes a school "good" is no easy feat.