Q: One of the complaints is that the educational standard is rising every year, imposing ever greater demands on students.

A: I have looked at my own nephews in Primary 1. I was shocked to see that, from Primary 1, they are learning words which I would not have known until Primary 4 or 5. So I asked the minister the same question, if we are going too fast...all these words, I'd never heard of until I was much older and with full sentences and so on.
Well, my nephew seems to be able to cope and he's not exceptionally intelligent. I would say he's just a normal kid. I went through his work, I just encouraged him. He did not get full marks and so on, but I did not stress him. I said: "Try your best."
So yes, the point is, the school is giving them more and more. It is right that, from time to time, the Education Ministry must review to see whether we are not moving at too fast a pace for the average child. So that's important, which I think they have done periodically.

Q: From the parents' view, the education system and the society are structured such that they have to put pressure on their children or else they would not be able to make it in society.

A: It is our fate in Singapore where people are our only resource. You can't sit back and just watch the rice grow or the oil being pumped out from the bottom of the sea.
So, we therefore spend a lot of time in nurturing our kids.

Q: In a recent survey of Primary 4 to 6 pupils, The Sunday Times found that one in three had, at least once in their lives, thought life was not worth living.
Do you agree that the education system is taking a toll on students, especially the average children?

A: No, I think average children are doing all right. It's the gifted children who think they have under-performed and they have let down their parents, who are disappointed, who think of committing suicide once in a while.
Average and normal kids, they just struggle to the best of their ability. Their parents don't expect them to score distinctions.

Q: But they know their parents expect them to do better.

A: No, after a while, the parents adjust. It's the children with ability whom parents expect to score very high marks. Sometimes, they get 99 marks and they get caning from the parents. Those are the ones that suffer more.
So the message must go out to the parents: You must understand your child's own innate ability and potential. Encourage. That's the main thing. And you stretch them as much as you can as parents.
If you want them to enjoy their childhood, play more, that's up to you. But you can't expect your child to then do well at the same time. Some talented children can do so but most people need to study.

Q: Some parents have said they have considered going abroad because of their children's sake.

A: It is their choice. If they opt for a more leisurely life, there's nothing we can do.

Q: In their eyes, it is opting for a more balanced life.

A: Well, we hope they will not go away but that is their choice. But when you live in Singapore, you've got to understand the environment, you've got to understand the challenges that we face. We are not China or the US. This is our fate.
We only have such a small piece of land and we've got to make a living for ourselves.

Q: So it will always be a pressure cooker?

A: It would always be in Singapore. You can't slow down. If I may give an example. Let's take the port of Singapore. Can you slow down? Why do you want to work 365 days a year and 24 hours a day? Slow down. Relax. Tanjung Pelepas will take over. West Port will take over. And then what do we become?
In this game, if you're not No. 1 or No. 2, you are nothing. And transhipment port goes to the other side, what do you do? So, we have to be realistic.

Q: But do you recognise the danger of being too stressful a society?

A: There are risks. We can lighten the load but parents will say, "Oh, I'll send them for tuition." We never encouraged them to send their children for tuition but they do. Why? Because they want to give their own child an advantage over the next child.


Care for Singles and Families

Q: SOME readers are unhappy with policies which discriminate against singles.
They say it is unfair because they do not choose to be single. One said these policies make her feel like an outcast. Can the Government review these policies?

A: It is wrong to use such a strong term as "outcast". I don't think
Singaporeans consider singles outcasts. The Government certainly doesn't. So I don't think they should diminish themselves by using such terms on themselves.
It is a difficult situation. We know that most of the singles do not choose to be single, that they would like to have families like most people.
So when we approach the housing question, there are two aspects. One is the housing problem, another is the emphasis on family.
Let me deal with the housing problem first. If you were to liberalise to bring down the qualifying age for singles to apply for Housing Board flats from 35 to 30, it means that you have to build more and more flats for Singaporeans.
Can we find the land to build more HDB flats to accommodate this need of singles? It is one person occupying one flat -- and not just three-room flats.
They want four-room or five-room flats.
So the policy is, therefore, to get them to combine with another single. But if it is just one single alone, the single can buy a resale flat in certain areas.
Two, we do want to signal that the family is the cornerstone of society. So you don't want to liberalise and say that singles now can queue up on equal priority with married couples and families. But at the same time, we recognise singles do need homes.
Hence, some years ago, we allowed singles to buy resale flats in certain areas, provided they are 35 years old and above. I don't think it is timely for us to liberalise further for the two reasons I've given.

Q: Some singles feel that by this restriction, you're banishing them to the outlying areas.

A: No, they are not being banished but, in the popular areas, you've got to give priority to the others, otherwise you can't meet the needs of families.
So again, we are in a difficult situation of having to decide on priorities.
For a very popular area, who gets the priority? Families or singles? If it's singles, there are many singles who are professional women and they can afford to buy; then the families will be out.
So we say: Look, we'll provide homes for them but, no, their priority is lower than the family's.


Concerns of Older Workers

Q: Some older workers feel left behind as Singapore moves into the new economy.
They could not find jobs, and asked the Government to do more for them.

A: All the Government can do is to provide a series of training programmes to get them to change their skills... We have been very generous with funds.
We are concentrating on the economic growth. But while we attract new investments into Singapore, the jobs created are not the kind of jobs which the older employees who lose their jobs can do. So this is a structural problem, not just for Singapore but many countries.
So all we can say is to go for as much training as you can and be realistic.
Sometimes, you have to take a pay cut. The jobs are there. But they have to adjust their expectations.

Q: Some readers say that as long as employers have access to foreign workers, they will not employ older workers.

A: But the foreign workers do not come here to substitute the older workers, because the older workers will not be able to do the jobs which many of these foreign workers do. Like construction -- I think the older workers can't do it.
But the older workers can do some of the jobs which the foreign workers do, like keeping our estates clean.
Well, but then, there is the pay expectation. If they are used to earning nearly $2,000 working as a production worker or in some office, it would be quite a change to earn about $600-$700 as a cleaner in the estate. So, they would not do it.

Q: There is a growing number of elderly today, and they feel that the
Government should do more to meet their needs.

A: That is a legitimate grievance which we understand. But the solution is not so simple. Their number will increase and, of course, there will be pressure for more subsidies for them, like for bus fares at all hours of the day, more subsidies for health care, more training for them, reserving jobs for them.
But that is not the way to solve the problems because, if you have to pump more to solve this particular problem, there will be less resources for investing in the young, as an example. You have got to trade off.
They want to be retrained, but many of them lack the basic skills for
meaningful retraining. That's the big problem.
So what can we do? I would say the answer lies not so much in the Government but in their progeny, their children.
Are the children given good education? Have they got good jobs? Can they support the parents?
So you have to move on to the next generation to help support the parents.
There has to be a total effort by them, by the children, as well as by the Government, creating some opportunities for them. More.....

PM Goh's replies to public enquiries