Quote of the Post: "I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake--which I also keep handy." - W. C. Fields

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Michael Young, the person who coined the neologism 'meritocracy' why meritocracy was never meant as a workable system:

"It is good sense to appoint individual people to jobs on their merit. It is the opposite when those who are judged to have merit of a particular kind harden into a new social class without room in it for others.

Ability of a conventional kind, which used to be distributed between the classes more or less at random, has become much more highly concentrated by the engine of education.

A social revolution has been accomplished by harnessing schools and universities to the task of sieving people according to education's narrow band of values.

With an amazing battery of certificates and degrees at its disposal, education has put its seal of approval on a minority, and its seal of disapproval on the many who fail to shine from the time they are relegated to the bottom streams at the age of seven or before.

The new class has the means at hand, and largely under its control, by which it reproduces itself.

[...]

If meritocrats believe, as more and more of them are encouraged to, that their advancement comes from their own merits, they can feel they deserve whatever they can get.

They can be insufferably smug, much more so than the people who knew they had achieved advancement not on their own merit but because they were, as somebody's son or daughter, the beneficiaries of nepotism. The newcomers can actually believe they have morality on their side.

So assured have the elite become that there is almost no block on the rewards they arrogate to themselves. The old restraints of the business world have been lifted and, as the book also predicted, all manner of new ways for people to feather their own nests have been invented and exploited.

Salaries and fees have shot up. Generous share option schemes have proliferated. Top bonuses and golden handshakes have multiplied.

As a result, general inequality has been becoming more grievous with every year that passes"

TapiocaPhobe continues, in the 6th part of a series:

"you may ask: why pick on singapore?

because singapore has taken the principle of meritocracy to the extreme of a social more, one that is enshrined as one of the country’s core values.

because examinations have long been the means of judging one’s worth in this ex-british colony.

because the concept meritocracy is supposedly steeped in a thousand-year-old tradition supposedly carried down by the immigrant chinese majority from the imperial service examinations of mainland china.

because clinging to this false ideal explains many dysfunctional aspects of singaporean society without even trying.

because practically all of us have been burnt by the unforgiving system that is the manifestation of the horrible concept at some point in time.

because many of us then turn against our society for some superficial reason but are oblivious to the undercurrents that we are struggling so hard against.

because i care, and if you are reading this, you probably do, too.

because i don’t know what can we do about it, and it worries me greatly."

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Someone on a picture of Paul Samuelson: "he just looks so cute!"

Meditations on free time: "eccentricity is often the hallmark of geniuses (or perverts for that matter)... alcohol often helps me attain an altered state of consciousness unattainable thru meditation"

***

what3ver:

On Horny guys: Girls should really stop thinking that guys want to bone everything. After all, some of us have standards and frankly, with the majority of guys in NUS, if you're not an Anime babe, you're not all that worth it. Sad really.


"The Student's Choice Award is to recognise lecturers who have taken the time and effort to make their course website an integral part of their teaching. The course website should facilitate your learning.

Your answer to this questionaire would help recognise the lecturer's hard work and effort and give some form of recognition to the lecturer."

Hahahahaha


An argument often proffered as to why Singapore does not care to sign International conventions and treaties on human rights, labour standards and such is that many countries which do sign them have worse records in this arena than we do, so by not signing them, we are avoiding hypocrisy.

Following this logic, since it is impossible to have true meritocracy, we should not proclaim that we practise it, so as to avoid hypocrisy, since most advanced capitalist societies claim to practise meritocracy as well. Ditto for racial harmony.

A possible response is that the difference is that we do try to promote meritocracy. Accepting this for the sake of argument, one wonders why we do not sign the previously mentioned conventions and then try to promote human rights et al, and shows that the oft-proffered argument just avoids the question.


I saw an industrial sized tub of Best Foods SOS Serbaguna Mayo Magic All Purpose Dressing and its main ingredient was not palm oil, but soyabean oil. Yay.

We had a debate on Marx's most famous quote ('Religion is the opiate of the masses'), and my group got shunted into opposition by default. Unfortunately, 4 out of 5 of us personally agree with Marx's observation, and at least 3 of us are non-theists. So I got to exercise some of my rarely-used skills by playing Devil's Advocate and talking a disproportionatly large amount of the time.

I will probably be shot down for being elitist, but I am distinctly unimpressed by many in the premier institution of social engineering. Ah well.

In one of the many videos we viewed again, some of the women in the Chipko movement in Uttar Pradesh were put in jail for 14 days. One said that it was the "happiest time of my life" because she had no work to do - not even dishes to wash.


Quotes:

I was obviously overconfident when I wrote this paper. I used 'obviously' all the time. Probably because I knew no one would grade me on this.

[On obtuse marking] You think: I went to the trouble of writing this wretched thing. You should at least read it.

After your 10th or 12th paper on the Euthyphro, you start to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day... You have another cup of coffee, you walk around the house, you surf the web. You go back.... 'I can't take another 10 or 12 of these'

You may, sort of, have read Asterisk in your childhood (Asterix)

degradation of en'vih'romental resources (environmental)

they'll overflood (overflow)


You can't have your cake and eat it all the time

The essence of the di'lemma that development poses in this context (dilemma)

[On class] A doctor or an engineer is higher than a road sweeper. A lecturer is slightly higher than a road sweeper.

[On George Bush] When I talk to Americans, they wonder where this guy got his Texan accent

The gentleman over there. You look like you know a lot about sociology. [Me: Social inequalities are not the result of individual failings, but of social trends and forces]... Did you take sociology before? *I shake my head* Not bad for a freshman

You can't not allow the less talented to have sex. That's cruel and unusual punishment, isn't it?

[Makes jibe at student who could not hear him when he strode to the back of the LT and spoke without a mic] I'll use the microphone now, for the hard of hearing. *picks up USB cable and speaks into it* *Uproarious laughter from audience* That was deliberate.

The implications [of high inequality]: low social solidarity. That's why they need to make up a new national day song every year.

Obviously there's an individual flailing as well (failing)

It is possible that the citizens of the society have moved up. They don't do the crap jobs anymoe - don't mind my French.

Your parents may have told you that their parents used to go home for a nap in the afternoon. Can't do that anymore. I tried to do that, I tried to take a nap in the office. Don't tell anyone.

Internet file swear'pers (swappers)

Science used to be called 'Natural Philosophy'. Science used to be a part of our department, but then it grew up and left home.

[On science in Erasmus' day] This is why they used to call it philosophy, natural philosophy, because they never got anywhere with it.

I used to teach a different Descartes text. He says he is a pilot in a ship. A lot of people read it as 'pirate'. They imagined there was a pirate inside of him saying 'Arr, arr. I am Descartes'

Some Muslims I talk to: 'I just don't eat pork. I eat everything else'... People still rationalise to themselves that they are believers of a certain religion

[On determining potential output] That's one way to solve problems in economics. If you can't solve something, you call it by a nice name and put it aside for the time being.

If I hear someone pronounce it as 'kee'nees' I will strangle him or her. It drives me up the wall... Why do I get so worked up about it? Keynes was the founder of macro-economics. If you're studying macro-economics you should be able to pronounce his name.

When I was an undergrad like you I used to spend my holidays reading Karl Marx... Marx is very difficult to read. Most people read Karl Marx in jail... no one spends their holidays reading Karl Marx.

[On Singapore's disposable income figures] The Department of Statistics refused to release it.I've been begging for it for years, but they refuse to give it to me. They say it's confidential. A lot of things are confidential in Singapore to bureaucrats. (are made, by)

That's the ad hon reason (hoc)

Politicians usually don't push the economy into recession unless they get tired of office, [and] they want to resign.

Singaporeans treat the stock market as a casino. Why do they treat it as a casino? Because they get investment tips from their hairstylist instead of their investment advisor.

Businessmen are possessed by animal spirits, they're like ghosts. One animal spirit possesses them... another animal spirit possesses them.

How do you a'certain what justified true belief is? (ascertain)

[On the tutor and a student knowing about a powerful supercomputer in Japan] You guys are such dorks.

[On a girl getting upset at a friend's doing an essay on a topic that she'd wanted to do] To girls, nothing is minor

[Swapping tales of conquests with another girl] When I break up I recover very fast and look for a new target. [Someone: What's your longest?] My longest is 1 1/2 years. My shortest is 2 weeks.

You have a lot of idiosyncracies, did anyone ever tell you that? [Me: Now then you know?!] (has, told)

[Girl on assignment topics: It's not in my mail] You got too much porn in your mail

[On me and Enming] You two look like brothers [Someone: Yah, yah!]

[On his university experience] USP appeals to the mind. Hall appeals to the flesh... Physical activities. I don't mean it sexually.

In the village there're the headsmen (headmen)

[During a debate] If not it's very messy, like now. *Tutor's name*, what do you think?

In the past, there are a lot of crass distinctions (were, class)

[On the tudung and the ruling classes' interests being served by forcing it on women] How do they benefit? Do they feel cooler, when they see women wearing the thing?

Whatever is preached on the pale'pit (pulpit)

[Me: What's that smell?] Nail polish remover. [Me: Oh!] There's an almond smell. [Me: Why does nail polish remover have an almond smell?] Don't ask me, it's a girl thing.

omellete set (omelette)