Let’s be honest, elitism is a part of the Singaporean psyche. Being well-connected or associated in some way to a renowned family or individual is a surefire way to find success in the country — and despite widespread attempts to quell elitist sentiments, the fact remains that the socially privileged excel phenomenally in a meritocratic environment.
One poorly worded email allegedly sent by the management of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is bringing the issue of elitism and meritocracy to the foreground again.
Some context first: according to a graduating student of the college’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the university is looking for suitable individuals for its marketing campaign, and it’s calling for volunteers through an email.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, except for the one odd part. NTU needs “interesting” people with “good inspirational stories” — graduating students who overcame great odds or achieved something laudable.
Or, you could just be inspirational enough by being a “VIP” student — someone who’s born into privilege.
Someone questioned the veracity of the email (as everyone should), but other NTU students assured that it was real.
Like someone pointed out, there really is nothing wrong in being from a well-connected family — but the error lies with how it’s written:
Defending the message, the NTU spokesperson explained that the school wanted to highlight stories from students “who hail from uncommon backgrounds”.
“By selectively reading and narrowly highlighting just a couple of the given examples, the spirit and meaning of our open request for nominations has been misinterpreted and distorted,” the spokesperson chided.
