We can send you all to university, but...

RE: Further education hot topic at ITE dialogue
RE: Lawrence Wong explains position on ITE graduates
RE: Lawrence Wong: Comment on ITE graduates taken out of context

Apparently, Minister of State (Education) Lawrence Wong said at an ITE talk with its students that "he understood their aspirations but not everyone would be able to pursue a diploma at a polytechnic immediately after obtaining their Higher NITEC.

This was due to limited places at local polytechnics and employers' demand for ITE graduates. "If everyone can move up, we will not have enough ITE graduates out there in the workforce," he said.

"At the end, it's the number of places we can provide … I don't think we'll be able to satisfy everyone, frankly," he said."

FWAH! Sounds very terrible, right?
How can he even mouth something like that?

But we are all missing the point here. Don't flame him... yet.
What's more terrible is what is left UNSAID in such explanations to ITE students, Poly students, JC students, parents etc.

And the fault doesn't lie with the politicians and policy makers. It's not like anything they can say will make the reality better.

The problem really lies in everyone of us.

Take a good look at ourselves:

• Parents of young babies demand for a seat for their offsprings in pre-schools, and not just any pre-schools, must be of quality.
• Parents of kids in pre-schools demand for a seat for their offsprings in a reputable, convenient, inexpensive primary school.
• Parents of kids in primary schools demand for a seat for their offsprings in a reputable convenient, inexpensive secondary school.
• Parents of kids in secondary school demand for a seat for their offsprings in junior institutions of higher learning... whether it is a junior college, polytechnic or ITE... and eventually all must provide access to university.
• Parents and/or kids in JCs/polys/ITEs demand for more access to the local universities. 

This journey is long (around 20 years for each child) and arduous (many hoops to jump through). But have we stopped to think about the objectives? WTF are we doing this?

If your objective of getting a university degree is to get a well-paying white-collar job afterwards, shouldn't you pay some attention on whether there are in fact such opportunities, i.e. are there really well-paying white-collar jobs waiting for you after you graduate from uni?

Getting into the university is only a means to an end. However, most people behave as if that's the end in itself. As if everything will be ok once you get the degree. Or as if everything will end if you do not get the degree.

And if you are truly rational about this objective and still want to pursue the degree route, you'd realise that your efforts are better spent on:

1. Building up your CV for that job from young (Yeah... You read it right. Start building up the CV in pre-school.)
2. Lobbying for such jobs to be kept available to Singaporeans (Coz there is no point in getting the degree but only to realise that the great jobs have gone to others, yah?) 
3. Or be prepared to work overseas.

Here is the piece of information which is UNSAID and not brought to your attention, because YOU don't wanna hear it and as such no policy maker/ politician will say,

"Hey look! 

We can tweak our education system for your kid to get into university (e.g. building more local unis/polys/jcs/ITEs and allowing you to use CPF for your kid to study at private distance-learning and overseas unis in SG etc), 

BUT there is no guarantee that the degree will be worth anything afterwards."

People, who are willing to tell this to your face, unfortunately do not make good politicians coz they are unlikely to be popular.


The bottom line is there is a CERTIFICATE INFLATION.
Each additional degree a Singaporean earns, dilutes the value of everyone else's degree. Geddit?

So, in other words, for existing degree holders, your priority ought to be to prevent (i) more degree holders from arriving on our shores and (ii) more degrees to be earned upon our shores.

For non-degree holders, your priority ought to be either get a better degree than those existing, OR find a lucrative job/niche which degree holders are too dense/too occupied with their certificates to notice and attempt.

But most people are too lazy to think otherwise. They will still join in the certificate frenzy, complain about their lousy jobs, and buy TOTO on the side, hoping that their lives will change for the better someday.