As a Humanities teacher, talking about politics with students is inevitable
I once had a conversation with a tuition student who is a Sec 4 boy from an elite school. He said he is against the People’s Action Party because it has made many wrong decisions.
"Like what?" I asked.
"Like forcing propaganda down our throats. Why do they need to explain the four principles of governance? (Social Studies topic) it is obviously good then everyone will see that it is good."
The student also said one of the few things that the PAP has done right was the Graduate Mother Scheme (scrapped after a public uproar). "It would benefit the country if the smart people produced smart children." He said.
I thought of many of Intelligent non-graduate friends and gently pointed out that "smart" is a broad term. What do you mean by smart?
"Defining a person who is smart just he has a degree is an imprecise way."
The student replied, “It might be an imprecise way, but the Graduate Mothers' Scheme would have benefited the smart people but the less smarter people would not lose anything."