Scholars/Elites detached from the ground?

Do you think Scholars/Elites detached from the ground?


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zcf

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Apr 10, 2005
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Do you think that Singapore scholars are detached from the ground? Imagine our future are decided by them :sweat:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_450151.html?vgnmr=1
www.straitstimes.com said:
Nov 4, 2009
Scholars with poor attitude
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Mr Teo (left) is also worried that if fewer and fewer young scholars desire ground postings, more of them may become divorced from ground issues and will start to lose their empathy for ordinary Singaporeans. -- ST PHOTO: JOSEPH NAIR

MOST of the current generation of young scholars are responsible and dedicated, but a few have a poor attitude and misplaced expectations. Some are very choosy about their postings and tend to place their personal interest above organisational interest, said chairman of the Public Service Commission Eddie Teo.

'Many Management Associates or MAs want to go to Ministry of Trade and Industry or Ministry of Finance for their first postings and get upset if they are posted elsewhere. One was so upset that he resigned, breaking his bond,' said Mr Teo, in an address to some 350 scholarship holders from 27 public agencies at the annual Singapore Seminar in London on Oct 31.
'When some young MAs were asked to go to NTUC to observe retrenchment exercises and learn about what impact the current economic recession is having on ordinary Singaporeans, one MA asked 'What is a retrenchment exercise?''
Mr Teo raised this to highlight why the Public Service is concerned about this group of young scholars who are seeking to advance only their self-interest, as 'it indicates that they may be unable to work in a team.' He is also worried that if fewer and fewer young scholars desire ground postings, more of them may become divorced from ground issues and will start to lose their empathy for ordinary Singaporeans.
But Mr Teo hastened to add: 'The problem is not yet so widespread that it cannot be rolled back. There is still time for the Public Service to correct the trend.'
In his speech, titled 'Defending Scholarships but not all Scholars', Mr Teo dwelt on bond breaking and attrition of scholars, two emerging trends in Singapore's scholarship system, as well as addressed the question on whether the Government is giving out too many scholarships and not enough bursaries for students from poorer backgrounds.
 

eh, the thing abt scholars/elites detached from the ground, isnt this already a FACT since dunno how many gazillion years back? yawnzzzz
 

I'm wondering if there are cases let's say coming from a humble background initially and choose to forget (or turn a blind eye) where he or she came from after attaining scholarships and achieving the elite status. :dunno:
 

But, what can you do? Think about it...;)
 

I spoke with one guy, have a healthy kopitiam debate and when he lost the debate he left the group but before that he give us his namecard and there got A*. LOL. Truly detached from the ground. As if being research fellow from A* make all his arguments true.
Some of us just left his namecard on the table to be collected later by cleaners.
By the way we are not debating about quantum particles or economic model. We are discussing about girl/guy and their attitude. LOL.
 

i'll copy and paste my same opinion to this issue... being someone close to the system...

i think the message was a little too pessimistic.

there's too much generalization, as what that has been said in the article, is applicable not only to scholars but to most of our younger generation working in society right now.

as for attrition rates, this is to assume that the employer is perfect, and the employee is always at fault. but is this always the case? unfortunately not. even if the employer is perfect, the environment is terrible, i.e. who can deny the amount of bureaucracy and office politics in any place closer to mid level management to ground level? the mid level and lower levels will always strife to make things look rosy, pretty for the higher management to see, whom will assume that everything's fine although there's lots of crap and problems hidden beneath the fascade.

rejection and prejudice against, by immediate peers/superiors, because they assume you are new, you do not understand or know enough, but they failed to realize that in their comfort zone that they have built around them for so many years, they lose objectivity, and are often very single sided, unwieldy to accepting anything out of the box, creative.

these two reasons above, could be possible for why many scholars would prefer to meet the highest management, i.e. the minister etc, because without such a meeting once in a while, their views, ideas, opinions, the visible problems and all.. could very well be lost as information passes through a long chain of "command", plus the additional censorship evitably or inevitably.

there are moral obligations of the job. someone once told me, to go into policy making, you have to have an iron heart, no feelings, deaden it, be professional and do your job, and make the best policies for what you deem best for the economy and other material pursuits, many times ignoring the cries of potential sufferers on the very ground. many times in policy making, there's no perfect policy or solution, one will always find him/herself in a position of choosing the lesser of two evils, and this implicates possible denial of moral obligation or perhaps personal human values in one's perspective, and at times, its hard to go to bed when one starts to think too much into the negative effects of one's policy or not. can everyone achieve the level of desensitization? nope.
 

whalau .... 5 Scholars/Elites members also took part in this poll here? :dunno:
 

There is a problem with this poll. It is unclear what is meant by "detached from the ground".

If the poll is saying scholars are not streetwise, then I agree. I am firmly against the idea of a "fast track" promo system because that is not wholly based on merit. Just because your academic grades are meritorious, does not mean work performance is also meritorious (when shiit hits the fan). To remain steady and do fire-fighting, takes guts that is not based on academic results. Such guts are acquired through being close to the fire everyday. From my past experience interviewing people, those who start from the bottom tend to know how to troubleshoot and firefight.

To be fair, I would suggest you consider the context of the particular vocation that is being considered. Some scholars jobs are, for example, to write speeches for people to talk. Hee Hee. That kind of vocation, no need to be very streetwise wan... But for policy formulation, yes I agree must be very streetwise to pre-empt what general singaporeans will think.
 

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If they willing to loose the mandate....but then, years after years the general population still "supported" them and the system they introduced...
 

If you are referring to voting support and mandate, I believe that "fast track" type of candidate is not going to be very popular with heartland singaporeans.


The next generation of Singaporean leader should be "rags to riches" type of person who know what the common people feel, and is able to connect to the elite at the same time.


I have never thought of scholars being capable leaders. They are capable advisors, but leaders need guts. Guts are learnt from the "school of hard knocks", not from school of books. I believe LKY acquired his guts from a background of japanese soldiers and communists running around. That kind of training, nowadays how to find.
 

Unfortunately, most of these detached scholars will come back to become our bosses, ministers, etc....

These scholars are sent to overseas University after their A Levels.. They complete their degree and PhD overseas... then come back immediately become your supervisors or bosses.. They never work "on the ground" before...

If you asked me, i do not consider experiences gained during the PhD studies as "real working experiences" because people (including bosses) just treat students from actual employee differently..

So, some of them knows nothing on the ground and only knows how to "boss" around...

But, i have alot of scholars friends who are very hands on and have a very good attitude.. So, i would say those that are detached are mostly those who went overseas to study from the start who knows nothing about the Singapore working culture..
 

basically there are 2 schools


. School of hard knocks


. School of books


Scholars need to be knocked up abit more, so they bounce well. After that den can rule singapore mah
 

get out of my uncaring elite face. remember this line?
 

orh....
 

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