For Air-level students, straight B's may be a mark of mediocrity

It may a virtue or a fault with the Singaporean system that we can be so lenient with some of our kids but so brutal to others. 

This week we are treated to an article that talks about the shifting fortunes of the A-level intake for different local university faculties ( link ). While Law and Medicine kept the minimum straight-A requirement, the newest top faculties include not just Computer Science, but also Data Analytics and Food Technology. 

As some faculties got elevated, others fell. Accounting is a particularly prominent victim of this shifting of fortunes with the cut-off being straight-Bs. 

What erks me is not the change of fortunes, as I've witnessed Engineering move from star faculty to the proverbial garbage dump, but the reaction of the faculty when they start getting more ordinary students. 

If you read closely the comments of the Accounting professor, I came off with the impression that admitting straight B students is an unmitigated disaster for the accounting faculty, it is as if straight B accountants are unlikely to think critically or bring innovation to the industry. Of course, the professor did not position it that way, he was questioning whether the course material needs to be reformed, but if you think more deeply, why do reforms only need to be triggered when you start getting straight B students? 

( If the Faculty of Engineering watered down the syllabus when they got students who get a C in Physics and Maths, people can die! The solution is to prevent them from graduating or give them a Third Class so they can make millions selling real estate or insurance! )

What entertains me more is that the Computer Science faculty in NUS does not even hide its exclusiveness anymore with prominent figures calling the older Straight-C generation of computer scientists "garbage in garbage out". I think it says more about the professor than my CS peers in the IT industry. 

This is one of those rare moments when you experience the true feelings of elites in Singapore. I actually think that only Air-level types get exposed to this before the working world. It's real-world training and at the very least it mirrors the public sector and the scholar-farmer divide - the largest employer in Singapore. 

While I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with straight B A-level grades, I always preferred the A-level system because this is where personal growth comes from trauma.

The world of local degrees is going to continue to be like this. At the micro-level, people are constantly going to be benchmarked and subject to a lot of microaggressions. At the macro level, NUS and NTU grads, even straight-B accountants,  can now get fast-tracked roles in London which should see increases in starting salaries in a few years' time.

While I might come off being unhappy with this, I think exposing my kids to elitism, prejudice and unfairness is a good way to build their character, which is why my stand on bribing them to go JC instead of Poly is still something I am considering. 

You would not really want to do the opposite as well. A friend sent me a link from the Mothership where a bunch of parents defended their decisions to send their kids to a private university.  

This was so badly done, I thought whoever orchestrated this should be fired. 

At the end of the day, if elitism and injustice is something that upsets my kids, then I suggest that they try financial markets for change. 

A REIT will give you the same dividend regardless of your A levels grades. 

In similar vein, the Terra USD lying in a wallet of a Dean's Lister will depeg no matter how many Phds you have.