A major element of Affluenza is consumers feeling that their possessions, bodies, even their minds, are inadequate. The distortions of advertising, PR and marketing encourage social comparison and competition.
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The reason they do not rebel against their tyrannical parents, and instead try to be like them, is fear. Trapped in an inescapable family system which is usually linked to fundamentalist religious or other ideologies, they deal with their deep loathing of their parents by feeling intense hostility against despised minorities…In Britain and America the hated groups are most commonly homosexuals, people of colour, foreigners and Jews. All of which raises the interesting question of what happens to the rage of the sixteen-year-old Singaporeans I interviewed. Perhaps it is directed into the Virus goals that Singaporean parents set their children imposed, in turn, upon them by Lee Kuan Yew’s totalitarian body politic. Caned into compliance, the children identify lock, stock and barrel with them. The rage they felt towards their parents for treating them in this way is directed towards any aspect of themselves which fails to live up to these values, and against a group who were repeatedly referred to during my stay, the “failures”. Being a failure in Singapore is as despised as being a Black or a gay is in some sections of American society.
If the results of a 1994 study are to be believed, low self-esteem is actually normal in Singapore, and is much lower than in America. Singaporean girls suffered the problem more because their self-esteem is so heavily vested in academic performance, so they are constantly living with fear of failure…I have been told repeatedly that it is extremely rare for parents to say “Well done”; unlike China, the child’s best is never good enough.
Another important trend amongst Singaporean youth is loneliness: 87 per cent had experienced it. They were loneliest when not at school — at weekends, in the holidays (the loneliest months were June and December, the main holiday periods) and when at home. The report stated that “They seemed to need company in order not to feel lonely…on their own at home they were not able to occupy their time productively, unable to create their own pleasures…many did not have friends or other activities outside school.” The loneliest were also those with the lowest self-esteem. 1
But I don’t agree with him when he says that: “Many would argue that the job of family and society is to raise children to be citizens whose fundamental psychological needs are satisfied. The Singaporean system seems uniquely well equipped to do the opposite.” (p. 253) Buy the book, people!
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From a Facebook note I wrote:
TO THOSE who think public service means pots of money and driving Jaguars and patting yourselves on the back for giving up a career as a surgeon or similar — I say look at our best teachers and feel SHAME.
I was editing this story below for a National Day package when I felt compelled to write to the principal of NorthLight as I saw “No child left behind” is not just political rhetoric –
We champion the underdog
By Sandra Davie
Senior Writer
sandra@sph.com.sg
DEADBEATS, dropouts, dummies, they have been called all that and worse.
But the 800 pupils at a remarkable school on Dunman Road are living proof that Singaporeans are prepared to go out of their way to help those who have been written off.
NorthLight School – set up three years ago to give students who repeatedly fail their Primary School Leaving Examinations one last shot – revels in defying conventional educational wisdom.
Such a “tough” school ought to have difficulty attracting staff but all its 110 teachers applied to work there. Plus, it’s got a waiting list of teachers keen to get in. Its 800 students (65 per cent boys) have all been decreed tough cases yet they have been thriving in a high-trust, disciplined environment. Unlike other schools here, it has no fixed syllabus. The teachers in this pilot project feel their way forward, finding whatever works to get the kids ready for jobs out there.
They learn basic mathematics, English, computer skills and practical skills like retail operations and food preparation. When they graduate, they can go on to work or go for further study at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
But its the school’s many volunteers – from bakers to doctors – who best demonstrate the improbable magic that NorthLight weaves and the willingness of ordinary people to step up.
Army regular Ong Chee Siang, 26, found his devotion severely tested a couple years ago when a frightened student phoned him at 2am pleading for help as a gang sized him up for a beating.
He quickly rounded up a bunch of pals and rushed to Pasir Ris Park just in time to break up the fight. and save the 15-year- old student from being bashed. He shrugs the incident off as a small thing: “I am glad I was able to help the boy.”
Since two years ago, he started volunteering there taking students on visits to places of interest such as the Singapore Zoological Gardens and the incineration plant and playing confidante and big brother to them.
He says he is able to connect with these 14- to 18-year-olds because he too felt like a hopeless case at that age.
After he drifted into the EM3 stream Ang Mo Kio Secondary and then the Normal (Technical) group, meant for academically weaker pupils, he joined a gang and soon got into trouble with the law. But during a stint at a boys’ home, a reform centre for juvenile delinquents, his then-school principal, Ms Paramita Bandara, gave him a second chance.
Not wanting to disappoint her, he studied hard for his N-levels and graduated on to ITE, polytechnic and then Nanyang Technological University, where he earned a mechanical engineering degree.
Now when the students at NorthLight tell him they will never be successful, he relates his own story.
“I tell them I was once like them. But look at me now, I drive a big car, have a good job and am happily married. I tell them never to give up on themselves,” he says.
He uses up quite a few days of his annual leave taking NorthLight students on day trips around the island, something he insists is a pleasure, not a sacrifice.
“I feel really good helping the kids. I get a lot out of it as well.”
Mr Ong is far from alone in his devotion to the kids. At least a dozen other volunteers from all walks of life pitch in, along with at least 30 companies.
What seems to capture their interest is NorthLight’s improbable success. As one volunteer, librarian Idris Rashid Khan Surattee, 51, puts it: “It is amazing that the school works so well. After all, its students are the lowest scorers from the primary school cohort.
“It should be ridden with problems such as gangsterism and truancy but instead you see mostly happy faces of kids in the classrooms.”
The fact that many students come from disadvantaged homes also tugs at their hearts. Those who interact with the kids note that many have battered self-esteem – no surprise, given that academic failure has dogged them.
That, plus the fact that half of NorthLight’s students are on some form of financial assistance, moved baker Desmond Er, 49, to get involved. For the last two years, he has sending over freshly baked buns every morning from his Bukit Merah bakery. Two baskets of baked goods are placed just outside the staff room. Students who come to school without breakfast just help themselves.
Other volunteers were stirred into action after seeing the dedication of the teachers for their young wards.
NorthLight’s teachers are inspiring, says neighbourhood general practitioner Lau Kit Wan, 55, who charges students just $5 a visit at her Katong clinic, or nothing at all sometimes.
“Although the school is near my clinic, I didn’t know about it until the teachers started bringing the kids here. And they would pay for the kids.
“I was curious and found out more about the school. I continue to be amazed at the care and concern that the teachers show the students.”
Ms Erica Ong, 44, Home-Fix The DIY Store’s corporate social responsibility manager, is equally in awe. Her husband Low Cheong Kee, 45, one of the two founders of Home-Fix, met the school teachers at an event and “came back all excited and told me what an amazing school it was”. “I roped in my training manager Juliana and store consultant Barrycolleagues and we went to visit the school. We were completely bowled over.”
Home-Fix now donates paints, brushes and light bulbs to the school’s community project, where students help spruce up the homes of the elderly living nearby. It has also run painting workshops, roping in students and their fathers to redecorate the school’s classrooms. It also offers store attachments so that students can gain working experience.
The latest to adopt NorthLight are business development manager Madam Regina Tan, 40, and her two sisters Hilda, 43, and Cynthia, 44.
It all started when Madam Tan called NorthLight to complain about its students raising a din playing at Dakota Crescent, where she lives.
Principal Mrs Chua Yen Ching told her about the school’s special mission to give alternative routes to those who fail the PSLE and explained that the kids were there to to help old folks fit light bulbs and tap thimbles.
The mother of five was curious and rustled up her two sisters to make a school visit. The first thing they noticed were the MX-box consoles in the canteen, freely available for students to play with. They weren’t under lock and key. There was just a notice reminding them they were “trusted to take care of the gadgets”.
They were also struck by the CCTVs on every floor of the school building – to “catch students doing good” explained Mrs Chua.
After the visit, the three sisters roped in their friends and organised a flower arrangement class during the June school holidays and a day out at Punggol Marina.
Another long-time volunteer is Mr Jeff Cheong, 33, managing director and executive creative director of advertising agency Tribal DDB, who helped Mrs Chua in branding the school, including its logo and brochures. Next, the Temasek Polytechnic design graduate is producing a year-book for graduating students “to encourage them to aim for greater heights”. The father of two is full of admiration for the “entrepreneurial spirit of NorthLight teachers”.
He notes that courses are drawn up from scratch and teachers use tools like Google-Earth and even fast food outlet menus to teach maths or English. Students flash pocket-sized cards to let teachers know whether they understood what was taught – red for No and green for Yes. Teachers have also deviseda rewards system where students earn tokens for doing good or putting in extra effort that allow them to play pool or table football.
Mr Cheong adds: “It is so wonderful that Singapore has such a school. The focus is not on the intellectually gifted or top exam scorers, but on those students who find it hardest to cope in the mainstream school system.
“It challenges the conventional thinking and re-defines the meaning of success for kids who lag academically. I am so grateful to be a part of the NorthLight success story.”
{HEADLINE}
[EMPTYTAG][EMPTYTAG]We champion the underdog
ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
KICKING ASS Northlight School in Dunman Road is populated by failures and drop-outs, but Singaporeans still have a whole lotta faith in them.
{HEADER}
THE FORMER GANGSTER
Mr Ong Chee Siang (above, middle, with NorthLight students), 26, now an army operations specialist, organises outings for the students and plays big brother to them.
{HEADER}
THE BAKER
Mr Desmond Er, 47, bakes and sends baskets of buns to the school every morning to make sure the students get breakfast.
{HEADER}
THE LIBRARIAN
Mr Idris Rashid Khan Surattee, 55, helped the school set up its library and donated money to buy resources.
{HEADER}
THE SISTERS
Madam Regina Tan, 40 and her two eldersisters Hilda, 43, and Cynthia, 44, organise flower arrangement classes and other activities for the students.
{HEADER}
THE HARDWARE STORE OWNERS
Ms Erica Ong, 44, of Home-Fix The DIY Store, donates hardware for student community service projects and offers them work attachments.
{HEADER}
THE AD MAN
Mr Jeff Cheong, 33, head of Tribal DDB ad agency, helped with to design the school logo, uniform and year book.
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“I’m starting again, and learning again, to take faith — and from reading people who have exuberance, inner fire, unflinching honesty, emotional courage, daring abandon and fierce love — to go together with the intellect, the imagination, the ability and the talent — which may be construed as similar to (but not identical to) what is commonly called drive or purposefulness. It’s important to have people like these to remind you of what is possible — not as exemplars, but as examples.”
Many of my best friends are teachers, and these folk are every bit as bright and motivated as those earning megabucks in consultancies or in other professions. These are folk with offers from Oxbridge colleges. And they remind me of how some places and some people have changed me — and for the better — made me excited and open-minded, dreamers with their heads in the clouds but their feet firmly planted, feeling responsibility for the chances they have had. Those who know how to put their whole heart into things, make bad puns, offered me shoulders to lean on and hard wits to sharpen my mind against. As sparklingly intelligent as they are warm and kind and grounded, knowing when to push me to laugh and find perspective.
I played with the idea of going into teaching in the ghettos but quickly came back down to Earth when Poach told me she’s read just one book a month. I’d bite off my own head and *die*.
But you know, the idea of giving back WORKS, it’s not all about greed and competition and kiasuism. I’ll be passing some of you the book I got from Mrs Chua — but if you want a copy, do what I did. Write to her and find out more about the story of her school, her students.
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From the book Mrs Chua sent me:
My first steps into NorthLight School were hesitant ones. I have enjoyed a relatively “elite” education; apart from the first few years of primary school, most of my years were spent in the upper strata of the education system.
It was thus a new experience seeing the way NorthLight functioned and worked; a school very different from the schools that I knew and was accustomed to. I had worked with autistic children in Pathlight School for a number of months, and more relevantly, Youth-At-Risk (YARs) in the past.
I had heard of NorthLight School then, but never found out much about it. I knew of its noble overarching vision, but I had merely brushed it aside, thinking that like many other “noble” ideas and plans, there would be a huge disparity between what was on paper and what happened in reality.
At the end of my four days at NorthLight, I have to say that what I have seen is mind-blowing and I struggle for words to describe it.
In these four days, I have seen children who have been turned around; I have seen a school with an infectious optimism that seems to radiate belief in every student; and I have seen a school where high YAR students are actually willing to come to school every day.
In my opinion, this is because of three reasons: the first is a work plan for a “dream school”, with the programmes, facilities, and appropriate curriculum; the second is an iron-willed determination to make that “dream school” happen; and the third is a group of dedicated, motivated teachers who essentially turn that work plan into reality.
The work plan for this “dream school” astounds me, especially the fact that the entire plan was done up in less than nine months (along with setting up the school), and revised again and again to meet the exigencies of the time.
I’ve tried to take a picture of every clever idea that has gone into this school and I’ve since lost count of how many pictures I’ve taken….Moreover, the school has been given the resources to “make it happen”….
But what truly astounds me is the dedication of the teaching staff. The teachers at NorthLight are truly remarkable. There wasn’t a teacher in this entire school who was “unenthusiastic” about teaching, and there wasn’t a teacher who wasn’t putting the student’s best interests at heart…I have never seen this sense of higher purpose in a school before. My own teachers always seemed more interested in finishing their bond and then leaving.
…Many of the students of NorthLight are a microcosm of the uglier parts of Singaporean society. In it, and through the lives of the students, I see many things that reflect a larger problem: broken families, single parents, broken healthcare systems, an education system that perhaps streams its students too early, and too quickly.
However, NorthLight is also a place whree public policy is attempting to address these issues. In NorthLight, you see the people who are striving to make it all work, from Mr Bernard Chan who insists that the kids carry themselves properly with dignity, to the drama teacher, Ms Suzana, who believes everybody be brave to speak out well on stage.
Someday I think I’d like to teach, but I’m not quite sure how. But to those in NorthLight who teach, and who constantly inspire this group of students to be bigger and better than what they are, and who are turning lives around, I have just one word for you — Wow!
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From Mrs Chua’s e-mails:
“We do not sell our publication but let me know how many copies you need and
you can either collect them from my school or we will send by post to you.
You can donate any amount to the students assistance fund. (if you are
writing a cheque, just address to NorthLight School and on hte reverse, put
students’ assistance fund and we will give you a tax exemption receipt. We
need your NRIC and address. We will key hte info into the system so that
the amount us captured in the system when you pay your tax.
We ars still in the editing stage of the new book and once this is done , I
will send a copy to you.
It is more expensive to run NLS than an ordinary sec school because of the
vocational component and yet the fees is the lowest- no one can run such a
school except public service. This is because we believe that state
education is to educate right down to the last child.”
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From Michael Dirda, one of my favourite literary critics:
Children learn best what they love. We have all been amazed at ten-year-olds who can recite the batting average of every player in the American League or who can discuss and compare minor details in the various Star Trek series. The good teacher needs to inspire love for his subject; then all the rest will follow: children will learn the facts willingly, will read the books eagerly, because they will find them irresistible.
Easily enough said. But how can this be done, and done thirty times over in a classroom of sophomore English? There is only one way: the teacher must herself display such love for English that, like the nous of Neoplatonist creation, that love will overflow and enter into her pupils. Or at least a few of them. A true teacher, as the classicist William Arrowsmith maintained, embodies the subject he teaches: that is, a humanist should be learned, admirable and humane; a mathematician ought to think clearly, display joyfulness in the very chalk strokes he makes in inscribing an equation on the blackboard. A teacher should be a living advertisement for his or her subject.
To encourage this process, we need to make a profound change in our society’s attitude toward secondary school teachers. Teaching must again be regarded as a desirable and admirable profession. How can you love a subject if you have been tacitly taught to despise its advocate? We need to pay better salaries, attract top undergraduates to the field, and honour teachers in our community. T.S. Eliot once wrote that he had worked in a bank for many tiring hours, six days a week, but that by comparison with his stint as a schoolmaster, banking was one long vacation. Our education system will remain mediocre until parents, especially well-to-do, successful parents, urge their brightest children to become high school math and history teachers…”
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On Rawls, and justice as fairness
DISTRIBUTIVE justice/desert and entitlement: fascinating stuff! Rawls’ maximin theorising for his second principle may require too much, and would fail to compel allegiance. It also seems to ignore a central demand of justice, that merit or desert should be rewarded. On desert: the distinction between inequalities brought about by choices and circumstances is very difficult to maintain. And Nozick argues that if people exert their labour in the production process, then the maximin process is unjust, with Rawls treating the better-off as means to ends of other people.
There is one answer to this: The more well-off, if they take themselves in some strong sense to be implicated in the fate of their less favoured brethren, would not be inclined to see themselves as exploited. The needs of citizens, not of individual persons, dictate the guaranteed social minimum.
But you can say that in justice as fairness, the balance between justice and democratic politics tilts in favour of absract analysis and Rawls’ views verge on utopia. Philosophical and political concepts have not much in common and many of the versions of political philosophy today display a flight from the political, the shrinking of the political into an area of constructed consensus guided by a vision of the good life.
OP arguments may sustain reasonable hopes not of unanimous agreement, but of creating the conditions for a community of justification. Considered convictions as citizens of a modern constitutional democracy are strengthened and clarified, whereby some illusions are defeated and some myths (such as meritocracy) challenged, whereby certain prima facie attractive options (eg average utility) are dismissed and we discover resources to fight for what is non-negotiable, namely the equal basic rights and freedoms, fair equality of opportunity, the social conditions for self-respect and human dignity, and for a full exercise of citizenship.
What’s possibly the richest legacy of Rawls is an understanding of citizenship that goes beyond traditional liberalism and possibly points towards a “strong” or republican conception. Traditionally, republicanism is characterised by an understanding of citizenship based on an agreement on a shared conception of the good and on the priority of public virtues over private interests. The first aspect would make it unacceptable for Rawls’ political liberalism. But he shares with republicanism a major concern with stability and social cohesion, and he recognises that the latter is more effective than liberalism in creating the kind of stability and cohesion that modern democracies require. In contrast, liberalism’s emphasis on individual rights impoverishes the meaning of citizenship as it creates a culture of grievances, demands and claims, not of solidarity and reciprocity. It is not concerned with the bonds of citizenship, but with the needs of individuals. The societal aspect of citizenship is played down. It is clear that Rawls does not remain as indifferent as most liberals to the question of the fair value of political liberties. It is the erosion of these very liberties in a “market democracy” that started his enquiry into political and social justice in the first place. He shows great concern for what we could call the “privatisation of politics” or the politics of lobbies and private interests, and he calls for a renewal of citizens’ participation as an answer. In “The Idea of Public Reason Revisited”, he gives his most explicit statement of how he understands citizenship, a statement that sounds fairly republican in view of its emphasis on citizens’ responsibilities and on public reason:
Ideally, citizens are to think of themselves as if they were legislators and ask themselves what statutes, supported by what reasons satisfying the criterion of reciprocity, they would think it most reasonable to enact. When firm and widespread, the disposition of citizens to view themselves as ideal legislators, and to repudiate government officials and candidates for public office who violate public reason, is one of the political and social roots of democracy, and is vital for its enduring strength and vigour
(IPRR: 136)
Obviously, empowering citizens and treating them as responsible for the justice of their institutions and for putting forward social and political criticism is an important part of Rawls’ project. Let’s quote Rawls’ own description of republicanism:
Classical republicanism I take to be the view that if the citizens of a democratic society are to preserve their basic rights and liberties, including the civil liberties which secure the freedoms of private life, they must also have to a sufficient degree the “political virtues” (as I have called them) and be willing ot take part in public life. The idea is that without a widespread participation in democratic politics by a vigorous and informed citizen body, and certainly with a general retreat in private life, even the most well-designed political institutions will fall into the hands of those who seek to dominate and impose their will through the state apparatus…The safety of democratic liberties require the active participation of citizens who possess the political virtues needed to maintain a constitutional regime.
(PL: 205)
The central tenets of republicanism, which Rawls shares, can be summarised as: civil liberty needs political rights and participation; liberty is always at the mercy of domination; and citizens’ engagement and participation are the conditions for stability. The whole idea of justification as an ongoing effort that involves public reason is fairly characteristic of republican politics. What is distinctive in Rawls’ theory are the two ideas of the OP and of placing intuitions and principles in reflective equilibrium, for which there are no obvious republican equivalents. Giving the fair value of political liberties a special priority was also a meaningful innovation in the principles of justice as fairness.
While in classical liberalism, civil rights have priority over political rights, which are instrumental to the protection of personal autonomy, for Rawls, they are constitutive of it. He adds a sense of political responsibility to the list of liberal rights that define citizenship and he tries to reconcile the “liberties of the Ancients” (political participation) with the “liberty of the Moderns” (personal autonomy and non-interference). Freedom for Rawls is not simply freedom from interference, as this may still leave you at the mercy of a benevolent but all powerful ruler. Equality matters, and emphasising the link between individual freedom and an equal structure of power is characteristic of Rawls’ theory. This is why the liberties of both public and private autonomy are given side by side and unranked in the first principle of justice. The list of basic liberties does not privilege the liberal liberties over the republican ones, but gives them the same weight.
Rawls hence unites the two types of rights that make up citizenship. The first corresponds to the “liberty of the Moderns” and the rational concern for one’s own good, the second to the political liberties of the Ancients and the concern for justice and the common good. Here we hve the first elements of a new conception of citizenship which is neither liberal nor republican.
For him, the value of political liberties does not mean that the “personal is political” in the way it is for republicans. The civil and the political spheres are distinct: the realm of non-public concerns and associations is specific and distinct from the political forum.
Fragmentation, conflicts and divisions are at the heart of democratic individuality. The political conception of the person both acknowledges these conflicts and exacerbates them. Political rights are not simply external to and instrumental in the development of personal ends and commitments — they play a constitutive role. Rawls’ idea of citizenship describes a moral individuality divided, on the one hand, between valuable inherited historical and personal commitments and on the other the power that modern political rights have yielded to critically distance onself and even to rebel against those very crucial commitments. Either emancipation from or acceptance of traditions increasingly becomes a matter of personal responsibility.
These internal conflicts and divisions lead citizens to “think” in a way that traditional communitarian contexts do not favour, and to advance public justifications and reasons for their preferences, as these are not obvious for the rest of society. This is why Rawls’ central concern is rightly with public justification and citizenship, since these internal conflicts and validation processes they call for are precisely the reason why citizens have to “think” reflectively and to search for public justification. There is an organic link between the emergence of political rights and the split nature of the democratic self. Political rights may both create and heal these divisions. It is hence wrong to look at the self of political liberalism as possessing a unity independently of public commitments and citizenship. It is wrong to see it as uncommitted and available for anything or as indifferent and amoral. Rawls has tried first to reconcile liberalism with the demands of justice, beyond the narrow confines of rights-based demands, and then to reconcile civil with political liberties in a conception of citizenship. This is an extremely important move that has brought him closer to a form of liberal republicanism and to a richer conception of the political self, which both reflect his central commitment to autonomy and equal respect for persons.
Also, how does commitment to some “Rawlsian” conception of justice translate into everyday ethics? Does it make ethical sense to advocate maximin instutitions while recoiling from maximin conduct?
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1 James, Oliver, Affluenza. London: Random House, 2007. ISBN 9780091900113. pp. 251-2.
