dimanche, mars 20, 2011 Singapore Meritocracy vs Foot in the Door  To all the talk recently about how underprivileged children can move up in the social ladder, I say - bullshit. There will always be old boys' networks, and who your parents are (and your parents' parents are) will ALWAYS matter. Ceteris paribus meritocracy means you have your foot in the door thanks to your connections - which will always be an ace up your sleeve after meritocracy has its say. I have intimate experience with this since I am the person who manages our internship programme in my workplace. I've had at least three interns whose parents sort of know my boss in some way, who basically shot a personal email to my boss requesting for internships for their children, and of course my boss subtly/not-so-subtly nudges me to take them. How can I not capitulate under such pressure? Now, are these kids idiots? No, far from it - they're bright young things... with the exceptional exception of one total airhead bimbo who seemed to be very poor - she couldn't seem to buy enough cloth to wear to work. Are these kids particularly exceptional? Nope, not anymore than the next candidate. So meritocracy does demand that I give them a chance (it would be bad to discriminate against these lucky kids who get born with silver spoons in their mouths) - but after all is said and done, and the cards are revealed... it's always the ones with the family connections who win the game. Is it meritocratic? I suppose so, if you want to consider "family connections" as something which should be considered. But is this fair? Not really. The solution is total transparency about who gets what job and why. Enough about meritocracy being alive and well, and look closer into what exactly you're putting on the table when you're interviewing people. People with a familial foot in the door should be declared loudly and clearly, for transparency's sake. This way, we'll always know who's in (figurative) bed with whom. And we'll know who the good guys are. Libellés : personal, singapore, working life [Singapore Meritocracy vs Foot in the Door] |
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