Dear reader,
Happy Chinese New Year! And for those who missed last week’s very topical essay, do check out “The unbearable silence of Chinese New Year”, which examines an almost universal aspect of being Asian: family gatherings.
“Singapore This Week”. In our weekly digest, we examine Donald Trump’s popularity amongst Singaporeans; the prevalence of hoarding and shoplifting here; the connections between the Malay world and the “corpse flowers” seen at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden; Jonathan Lim, the late theatre practitioner; and Likee, the Singapore-headquartered challenger to TikTok.
Essay: “I’m ‘gifted’? Reflections of a former GEP student”. Last September, shortly after the government announced that we’ll be doing away with the Gifted Education Programme (GEP), Faith Ho, a 20-year-old Singaporean sophomore at Princeton (and former GEP student), pitched this to Jom. We had seen others penning their own GEP reflections online, but few as young, as recent a GEP graduate, as Faith. I love how she opens by situating the reader in the body and mind of a nine year old.
“‘You got into the Gifted Education Programme,’ she [my mum] says, her joy tinged with disbelief.
‘What?’
My dad turns to me to cheer. ‘You got into the GEP! You’re in the gifted programme!’
I’m gifted. I’m gifted?
Perhaps there had been a mistake?...What does getting into the GEP mean? Who will I meet? What opportunities will I get? But mostly: what does this say about me?
The toast, forgotten in the corner of my mouth, soaks up the weight of possibility.”
When Faith pitched the essay, she told us that she wanted to bring “a critical perspective that examines how the programme is reflective of structures and problems of the larger Singaporean education system.”
From her admittedly privileged vantage point, Faith walks the reader through many salient issues, from how the GEP can perpetuate socio-economic inequalities to the stress it places on individuals.
“There was never a chance to develop a healthy relationship with failure. We were never told that giftedness didn’t mean perfection; only that anything less than excellence was unacceptable. The fixation on academic excellence at such a young age has been correlated with a greater tendency to suffer from burnout or mental disorders later in life. There is often also a higher proportion of neurodivergent students in gifted classes, but there was no mention of this nor any support provided to meet these needs. Being gifted had to be enough.”
Faith isn’t the youngest person to publish an essay with Jom; that accolade belongs to Aryan Pershad, a high-school student, for his piece on living with epilepsy. But she certainly handles a complex topic with ease, guided and edited by Abhishek, our head of content (and, as the sole parent in our team, Jom’s de facto “education” expert).
We can also situate Faith’s work in the broader trend of Singaporeans in elite or privileged positions, such as scholars and civil servants, wanting to have more honest, robust conversations about opportunities and challenges in a highly stratified society. They sometimes run the risk of being mocked by critics: you’ve benefited so much and you still complain. So we’re all glad that Faith, showing maturity far beyond her years, has struck a wonderful balance between criticism and self-awareness—with a few lovely dollops of humour.
Whether or not she’s “gifted” is something only the universe might know; but this piece is certainly a gift to us all. Read it now. And thank you for your continued support of young writers like Faith and illustrators like Peng (see below).
Jom baca,
Sudhir
Editor-in-chief, Jom
Behind Jom’s art, with Charmaine Poh
This essay offers us an opportunity to think about the inner worlds of young people passing through a system that was built for them by adults. Mok Yuin Peng illustrates the possible conundrums that they face; without careful guidance, the gift of their intelligence does not always translate to a future of purpose and clarity. Through Peng’s vibrant strokes, made with the perspective of a young person in mind, we are able to contemplate what true nurture demands of us.
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