What was the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1966?
In 1966, China was engulfed with the fire of revolution with young Red Guards running wild all over the country attacking and arresting people, humiliating and punishing people branded as revisionists. The crime of the victims was mainly due to their intellect, the educated and worse foreign educated elites, the professors, engineers, academics, administrators, scientists, anyone with higher education was a target. It was destruction of everything related to knowledge, science and technology. It was the Road to Mediocrity when farmers and peasants were glorified. It was good to be poor. And China went back to Year Zero by the time the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976 with the death of Mao and the arrest of the Gang of Four.
Is Singapore also on the Road to Mediocrity? Is there a silent Cultural Revolution to frown upon excellence, to promote mediocrity, to encourage every student to be mediocre, be average is glory, top schools and top students should become unknown and unheard off? Do not mention about top schools and top students getting straight As. Popularise and glorify the average students as the good stuff, the way to be, be proud to be average and be ashamed if one is top of the class!
How long have the name Raffles Institution, Hwa Chong Institution been blanco from the media like it is a crime to mention them? When O level and A level results were released, not a whisper of the top students from the top schools? Why? Should these top talents be arrested, humiliated and send to work in the farms? Oops we don't have enough farm land to house them, maybe send them to neighbour countries? Send them for reeducation camps to tell them that to be good in their studies, to be top students, to be highly qualified graduates from the best schools and universities are bad, not to be seen, not to be heard. Oh, we can send all our top graduates to become cab drivers and security guards as part of their reeducation stint like the intelligentsia of China during the Cultural Revolution. Can also become hawkers to learn what it is like to do manual work and to be poor.
Singapore does not need Singaporeans as top talents. We cannot offend the parents of the average students and the pride of the average students. We must make the average students happy, their parents happy by glorifying them and shun the top students. We can import all the top talents from third world countries to fill the top positions in the industries and govt ministries. Like that all the average Singaporeans would be very happy. See, no arrogant top students and their happy parents on the main media to make the average students and their parents unhappy.
Now when did I get this idea? I came across this article in thenewpaper on 22 Jan titled, 'MOE launches pilot study to drop selection trials for CCAs'. In the article there were a couple of phrases that prompted me to think again. The first paragraph of the article reads, 'In its latest push to encourage children to pursue their interests and focus less on performance, the Ministry of Education(MOE) will look at dropping selection trials for co-curricular activities(CCAs). Another comment about the National School Games for young children, 'Last year, it tweaked the National School Games(NSG) junior division (for pupils aged nine to 11) to give children, even the less skilled, a chance to compete. Among the changes were removing individual events in some sports and rewarding participation instead of finishing first. The bold emphasis were mine.
To reward mediocrity, reward communal activities, punish individual excellence are exactly what the Cultural Revolution of China was all about. Instead of in search of excellence, this is promoting mediocrity, levelling down to please the mediocres. Is this the road forward for Singapore? Why is the MOE peddling to the cries of the parents of the average and in a way sidelining the talented and individual pursuits for excellence? Is this what we get from the millionaires, brilliant ideas that millionaires could come up with?
What is wrong with excellence? What is wrong with wanting to be the best? Is it shameful to be top students, top talents? Should not then that the media stop glorifying our universities as world top universities, stop crowing how good we are and hide under the cloaks of mediocrity?
What do you think?
17 comments:
There is no such thing as Mediocrity in Sinkieland. Under the new edu system, Every School Is a Good School, Every Students r a Genius, Everyone r Unique lah. Jus like u can't judge a fish on how to climb up a tree (Einstein said one). The so called edu smart scholars r not mention in newspapers or media not that they disappear but r kept confidential by the edu ministry ( they still keep the A*list as future selection of the Whites Regime in the elites crass & aristocracy class system).
@All,
RB is in dreamland. Sinkieland is still pure ranking & meritocracy.
Only the less important stuff like primary school sports & CCAs & mother tongue are watered down. Also got different degrees of watering down ... very unimportant things are even more watered down or dumbed down.
When it comes to scholarships, elite schools entrance, IB programs, gifted programs etc ... the System still expects international Olympiad competitions or Asean-level competitions or at least inter-school & inter-varsity competitions ... on top of the usual 10 A1s and 2 Special Papers.
And then in real life jobs & livelihoods, the S'pore system promotes ultimate competition & meritocracy & cunningness ... no dumbing down. Don't complain if you CMI. Look in the mirror & change.
WSG
PS: You don't need to be the top 1% or top 10% to succeed or do well in life. But most people here self-sabotage by ownself minusing 50% from ownself.
"Can you have a whole country where 100 per cent are graduates? I am not so sure. What you do not want is to create huge graduate unemployment. If they cannot find jobs, what is the point? You own a degree, but so what? That you can't eat it. If that cannot give you a good life, a good job, it is meaningless," said Khaw Boon Wan (ST May 05, 2013)
Meanwhile, latest official data claimed there are only 2.3 million foreigners in Singapore. More hungry CECA India nationals are still clamoring to invade the tiny city state.
Nothing good (for Singaporeans) will ever come from PAP policies.
Just vote Opposition into parliament.
And let the Opposition question and debate the fucking PAP policies.
@ RB
The guiding philosophy behind this MORONIC change emanates from the "woke" culture of western progressive liberals...think the Clintons and Obamas...the "everyone is equal crowd"....so of course you give out Participation Trophies so as not to "hurt the feelings" of LOSERS, and to diminish the sense of achievement by the winners who've trained and worked very hard to win.
I've lived for over 40 years in a society that adheres to this BULLSHIT philosophy. The irony in the west is that kids in school are subject to this uncompetitive "equality" but when it comes to PROFESSIONAL SPORT, business and finding love, romance or a life partner the competition is BRUTAL, even dirty, political and personal.
This is a bad move by MoE and the philosophy is likely to "leak" into other areas of life.
Meritocracy is a harsh and brutal system. It creates winners and losers. Not only that, it creates "winner takes all" dynamics (aka Power Law curves...long tails) Meritocracy is a REALITY CHECK and beats out any metric or manmade statistic. The effects are felt as RAW human emotion.
In a meritocracy, when you lose, you really feel it. We all did. And for the most part, it galvanized us and woke up our fucking ideas which is why many of us are "better-than-ok" now. Children need to be exposed to the psychological "trauma" of LOSING. It is most important in the development of CHARACTER. They need to learn that losing is rarely PERMANENT and that you can recover if you apply yourself, change your fucked-up attitude, make huge sacrifices and do a little better every day, but it must be consistent every fucking day.
I recently had a conversation with a long-time Brit buddy about growing up in Singapore in the 1970's. I told him how unrelenting and MERCILESS to the pressure to "succeed" was.
On the one hand you had Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong hammering people with almost daily sermons and pith, then the school system...fucking early start, sing "Majullah" and recite the bullshit "We the citizens" pledge. Then afternoons kena "ECA" (Extra Curricular Activities) and on other days have to take extra tuition for maths, science and 2nd language. He "Dragon Father" and "Tiger Mother" have their own agenda for their "trophy children"...so the girls kana ballet and music lessons, and the boys kena martial arts or extra studies (so they can become future Captains of Industry).... High-Pressure Shit, unrelenting. Then after GCE O or A levels...mother-cheebye MINDEF kidnaps ALL the male children, marches them onto 3-tonner trucks, and it is off to National Service for the next 2.5 years, and then right thru adult life as Reservists.
After NS, straight into tertiary studies, and you are EXPECTED to not only perform but to EXCEL and be the model "Asan student" doing your cuntry and your hardworking parents PROUD (since you are a trophy). Then you are expected to find yourself a good life partner, get a job with good career prospects, buy a home (at least an HDB, although a condo is much preferred), raise a family...and do the whole fucking cycle AGAIN.
And guess what? That high-pressure shit WORKED for most of us...although as one would expect, there are a few "dropouts" along the way who could not take the pressure. No problem. They can still do ok because the MAJORITY are succeeding and building an AWESOME, ROCKING society and cuntry.
The old Singapore philosophy was the driving and striving work ethic. You can make the case that it was "high pressure" and "materialistic". But bottom line: It works, and it PAYS OFF.
Meritocracy doesn't give out "participation trophies". You either win or you don't! ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ
We need real meritocracy, not cheats and fakes from third world countries to steal our jobs and still did not know what is happening. These people must be put behind bars for abandoning the Singaporeans and allowing foreigners to take over the country in the name of fake democracy.
But real democracy and capitalism must also be tempered and moderated a bit for those that could not make it for a reason or another, and the lazy and good for nothing. Some would need help but not so much that they can live comfortably and continue to waste their lives away.
The strong and talented must be rewarded. But are we rewarding them or rewarding lackeys and cronies that are anything but talented?
///mother-cheebye MINDEF kidnaps ALL the male children, marches them onto 3-tonner trucks, and it is off to National Service for the next 2.5 years, and then right thru adult life as Reservists.///
Now it's aircon buses ... and 2 yrs NSF .... and 10 cycles reservist (discount 23%) ... and IPPT no more pull ups or standing broad jump (millennial sinkies too heavy lah). LOL!!!
WSG
Real-time map from Johns Hopkins
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
As I said. Let the epidemiology tell the story. Get the numbers, then get on the right side of the trade.
One man's misery is another man's profit. In a meritocracy world, those who dare, WIN.
Super Huat! ๐ค
@Matilah
Wait for WHO to declare global crisis.
During SARS 2003, when WHO finally declared global crisis at beginning of March ... that was the point of maximum pessimism. Stockmarkets around the world hit their lowest point after 2.5 years of dotcom bust, 9/11, accounting scandals, & recession.
Stocks rebounded almost immediately after & even though stocks had another dip in mid-April to retest the lows, this 2nd dip was a higher low .... Double bottom with a higher low on 2nd retest .... Damn bullish setup.
Fyi SARS deaths were still occurring & peaked only in May .... but by then stocks had already rebounded by 10+%. Stockmarkets are predicting machines.
STI would go on to recover 45% over the next 6 months in 2003.
WSG
@ WSG
Noted. However now the news is quicker and markets panic sooner than 2003, plus all multiples are super high. I dunno. I'm waiting for things to WORSEN. I know that sounds fucked up, but that's the game we play lah.
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@ RB
>> real democracy and capitalism must also be tempered and moderated a bit for those that could not make it for a reason or another, and the lazy and good for nothing. <<
Yeah, good luck with that lah. I dunno what universe you live in, but here n the "real world" every system is in flux, has a LARGE degree of unpredictability, is subject to the emotional-driven actions of humans. For starters name me one cuntry which has a "perfect" democracy or a "perfect" capitalist meritocracy-system? There are NONE
What we have and will always have due to the nature of complex systems are varying degrees of democracy and meritocracy interacting with each other...plus a whole lot of other influences and our old friends: randomness and unpredictability. (note: you can calculate and thus hedge for randomness You cannot calculate or hedge against unpredictability. This distinction is important!)
People with the best skills and experience usually get the job...i.e. the REAL "value creators". But occasionally the opposite happens...they don't get the job and instead some incompetent RISES to a position of authority or importance, for many reasons:
1. The boss happens to like them or there is some corruption or sexual liaison going on
2. They get it by "default" for e.g. their predecessor dies or leaves suddenly
3. They are well-connected and win by pure Guanxi
4. They are just fucking LUCKY...like the way people terrible at money management winning the lottery
For the most part the Singapore social construct of "you die your business" (take care of your backside) meritocracy might sound crude and unsophisticated. But..it fucking WORKS damn fucking WELL as the evidence shows that MILLIONS OF SINGAPOREANS (including the mediocre ones) have done excellently well from it.
The MoE is simply INSANE to change it. Lee Kuan Yew made the observation that Singaporeans have gotten too soft. The MoE would do better if they heeded old Lee's astute analysis.
WSG already informed, "lau peng" like me how the SAF standards now offer more "comfort" to recruits. Fuck lah, I think that's going backward lah. No pulls ups? WTF. After BMT I could do 15 straight, maybe 20 on good day.
Many things that the PAP elites do is silent, sneaked upon the people with no details given to the populace, keeping them guessing until they find out too late: eg CECA deal with India; ASEAN Economic Community open-door workers' movement; 6.9 million, 10.0 million population targets, etc.
What else haven't been revealed?
How much reserves on paper and how much real money is left after deducting all the billions and millions lost and all the paper loss.
How much left that is real? We do not want to know the theoretical numbers on paper that is supposed to be but not to be.
Mediocrity started to be the norm the day they started recognising certificates from back lane institutions of third world countries. It became entrenched when holders of these certificates were glorified as talents and replaced qualified and experienced Singaporeans.
Wuhan Pneumococcal Corona-Virus In Japan
Japanese authorities said Tuesday a man with no recent travel to China has contracted the novel strain of coronavirus — apparently after driving tourists visiting from Wuhan, where a deadly outbreak began.
The man in his sixties from Nara in western Japan drove two groups of Wuhan tourists earlier in January and was hospitalised on Saturday with flu-like symptoms, the health ministry said.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the country had confirmed two new cases, bringing the total so far in Japan to six.
“One of them has no record of visiting Wuhan, and drove tourists from Wuhan on a bus twice in January,” he told reporters.
Wuhan Pneumococcal Corona-Virus In Singapore:
Two new cases of the Wuhan virus have been confirmed in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Tuesday (Jan 28).
The new cases bring the total number of people with the coronavirus in Singapore to seven. Both patients are Chinese nationals from Wuhan in Hubei province.
A 56-year-old male arrived from Wuhan on Jan 19 and subsequently developed a cough on Jan 25.
MOH said he then presented himself at Changi General Hospital on Jan 26 and tested positive for the virus the next day.
The ministry said he stayed at his family home at Pasir Ris Grove before his hospital admission.
Singapore to impose travel restrictions on holders of Chinese passports issued in Hubei. How stupid can that be?
What about Chinese citizens who visited or stayed or are working in Hubei but with passports issued by the Central Government or by other provinces?
Since the Wuhan virus has already spread to 30 of 32 provinces, why don't simply ban all Chinese citizens from entering Singapore, especially those who have visited the infected areas?
New Movie Coming Up: From China With Love - James Bond 007
"The mayor of Wuhan, Zhou XianWang said on Sunday (26 Jan) that about 5 million residents – nearly half of the city’s 11 million population – had left before the lock-down was initiated as part of an emergency measures to try to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
Among the millions that have left, thousands had flown to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Japan – although the five most popular destinations of those leaving Wuhan were in neighbouring Henan province, reported China Business News (CBN).
Thailand was the most popular foreign destination for tourist from Wuhan between 30 December to 22 January, the day before the epicentre of the deadly Coronavirus outbreak was locked down.
Figures from Flight Master (a travel platform popular in China), showed the following data from 30 Dec 2019 to 22 Jan 2020:
1. Wuhan to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport - more than 11,000
2. Wuhan to the Don Mueang International Airport - more than 9,000.
3. Wuhan to Singapore Changi Airport - more than 10,680.
4. Wuhan to Narita International Airport in Tokyo more than 9,080.
5. Wuhan to Hong Kong - more than 7,000.
In addition, at least 7 million Chinese tourists are travelling all over the world during the Lunar New Year holiday season, some of whom may be healthy, wealthy and stealthy agents for the Wuhan Virus.
Meanwhile, Singapore Health Ministry and PMO still have no desire to ban any tourist from China. Only more intense temperature screenings for those with passports issued by Hubei province.
Singaporeans must be expendable commodities, that can be easily replaced by CECA Indians?
Most people have a very biased and naive understanding of china cultural revolution. Perhaps most people got their info straight from the current Chinese government and their supporters by reducing a highly complex historical event into a simplicity of violence and human suffering. Cultural Revolution does not target all intellectuals but only those who has the tendency to be elitist in their outlook and behavior. Of course, many were innocently accused. Not sure how many have heard of the slogan during the cultural revolution: "to be read and expert". There is no doubt that there are many negatives of cultural revolution but which revolution does not? Everybody knows about the negatives, let us understand the positives to have a more balanced view of this important historical event. Cultural Revolution encouraged rebellion against establishment - does that sound familiar in today's world. Cultural Revolution tried to tear down the power of elitism and bureaucratic officers without which today's China's corruption by these people will be much worse, just like what is happening in Russia. Cultural Revolution encouraged innovations to "serve the commons" and not the 1%, that is, a very different ways of doing things. Indeed there were many innovations that took place during that period. It is because of the mindset of rebellion that give rise to today's highly innovative minds of many Chinese people in China. Innovation and rebellious mindset are two sides of the same coin. Take a critical but balanced view of this revolution. History will be the ultimate judge and we should not fall into the trap of a simplistic world analysis without understanding the historical contest, the human sufferings but also the long term positive impact of this revolution.
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