Reviewed by David Pang Auckland, New Zealand
February 2, 2006
Do not be mistaken, Family matters: The role of parents in Singapore education is not about failing schools or failing children in Singapore. Neither is it about dysfunctional families and their consequences. Rather, the thrust of the book concerns how parents in Singapore manage their children’s education and contribute to the national effort of capacity building in today’s competitive international economy. More specifically, it is about lived experiences of Singaporean parents responding to a uniquely local phenomenon called “Kiasu” (literally means ‘afraid to lose’) in a highly meritocratic and competitive society. Others have made similar observation of this preoccupation with succeeding in education: “A major concern of many parents in Singapore is how well their children will perform in school learning tasks, what marks or grades they will obtain in school and national examinations and consequently which secondary school or junior college their children get admitted to” (Quah et al., 1997, p.319). However, the active mainstreaming of parental involvement in schooling in Singapore is a relatively recent occurrence. Its marginal status was due to “a paternalistic and centrally-controlled education system in past decades” (p. 6). New policy initiatives to engage parents in a tripartite partnership of home-school-community began only in 1998 when the then educational Minister emphasized “the tapping of parental resources for schooling, and the sharing of the responsibility for the education of children with parents as well as other ‘stakeholders’” (p. 7).
As a country, Singapore is a ‘rags to riches’ story. It has evolved from a backward colony devoid of natural resources to an ultra-modern metropolis. Today, it is regarded as a nodal point of trade and commerce, particularly within the Asian region. Variously described as an ‘intelligent city’, a ‘creative destruction city’, or ‘Switzerland of Asia’, its much-admired achievement is nothing short of ‘self-made’. Not surprisingly, therefore, the author, Lana Khong Yiu Lan, an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, begins the first chapter of Family Matters with a captivating title, "Singapore schools today: survival of the fittest." In it, she encapsulates the complex and dynamic environment confronting families and writes, “education is such a high-stakes issue in Singapore” (p. 7).
Using the case study approach (Chapter Two), Khong’s study attempted to “capture the voices, emotions, and actions’ (p. 40) of seven modern middle-class mothers whose children studied in a prestigious all-girls primary school. The dominant discussion has excluded fathers because, according to the author, caring for children is still widely perceived as the mother’s domain. This effectively rules out the findings being reflective across demographic background in terms of ethnic and socioeconomic variations in parental involvement in education. Chapter Three provides some useful background information concerning those families who were surveyed as part of the study. Using the combined theoretical orientations of Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural capital (pp. 22-25) and James Coleman’s social capital (pp. 25-28), the study drew attention to the multiple social realities of parenting and investigated the different impacts these ‘capitals’ had on the case-study mothers. It sought “to understand and account for how resources in the home environment, including the relationships within it, are activated and transferred by parents to children in supporting children’s schooling” (p. 30).
Two patterns of parental management or parenting patterns have emerged in the study. Four mothers were identified as proactive parents (Chapter Four) and three as passive parents (Chapter Five). The ‘lives’ of the subjects are presented in the form of selected vignettes in four categories: mothers’ work – at home and outside, mothers and children’s schooling, mothers’ strategies, and mothers and material resources. Comparison of the characteristics of the two types of parenting show that they were uneven and easily distinguishable (Chapter Six). The key characteristics of proactive parenting included being informed, taking initiative and a parental readiness for self sacrifice (p. 115). The passive parents displayed clearly different set of parenting practices than the proactive parents. There was a lower level of personal parental involvement and participation in the children’s schooling experience. Passive parenting manifested indifference, inaction, and a focus on self-fulfilment (p. 121). The information gathered suggested that family strategies and family resources have a compelling influence in explaining the socially differentiated educational outcomes and experiences. Collectively, the parenting styles reflected the different choices and decisions made by parents in response to perceived threats and opportunities at a particular time and social location. In general, the practice of family involvement in education falls short of its promises, and the author describes the challenges this way:
These choices reflect the priorities and form a major response on the part of these modern women to the dilemma of balancing perceived opportunities and limitations. Faced with juggling real concerns for their children’s well-being in the educational contest, meeting cultural expectations for keeping family values intact, as well as being called upon to actively contribute to national GNP, most women will rarely be able to fulfil every one of these requirements equally successfully. (p. 127)
In Chapter Seven, the author offers an array of examples of what she calls “supportive webbing” (p. 194) as a means of promoting success for children’s education. She suggests that the different levels of social capital within the family and community – the development of social relationships, networks, and reciprocity between parents and children, between spouses, between home and school, and between agencies and community organizations – can account for the different educational outcomes for children. The critical role played by productive relationships is particularly important in a society where school work load is always very demanding
Khong’s concluding thoughts in Chapter 8 are by far the most interesting to read in the volume. In discussing the implications, she proposes a model where the family is at the intersection of a multiplicity of variables comprising “global, societal and familial component parts” (p. 196), with each presenting fresh challenges on parenting. However, the author cautions against focusing excessively on and overplaying the economic dimensions of families and the instrumental role of schools without seeking a balance between valuing “schools merely as machinery for the production of globally-competitive, skilled workers … [and]… as learning communities for the creation of citizens” (p. 205). Another Singapore educationist puts this delicate calibration of achieving educational and economic objectives succinctly, “[G]iven the examination-oriented culture where parents impose a lot of pressure on their children to excel in their studies, how much room are parents willing to give for their children to explore their talents and abilities?” (Tan, 2005, p.451). But one can stretch this argument still further to ask: Is this one way to moderate parents ‘kiasu’ attitude in always wanting their child to be the best? Or, do parents have a choice?
So where are parents in Singapore heading in a globalising world? Singapore, being a ‘price-taker’ rather than a ‘price-maker’ economy, can expect the pressure driving changes and raising expectations for the parents and other stakeholders to accelerate. They may find themselves increasingly guided by statements that assert the role of parents in supporting and responding to educational changes. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s first National Day speech in August 2004 is a case in point. In mapping out his vision of educating for Singapore’s future, he urged parents to “support the efforts of the schools: when the schools are trying new teaching methods or when they are trying to build character or just toughening them up a little” (Lee, 2004, p.H7). Similarly, insights provided by social commentators will be noted. For example, Thomas Friedman (2005), author of the much-talked about book, ‘The World is Flat’, suggests that “Helping individuals adapt to a flat world is not only the job of governments and companies. It is also the job of parents. They too need to know in what world their kids are growing up and what it will take them to thrive” (p. 303). Indeed, in Family matters, Khong calls for a response from all stakeholders that would reflect more adequately and accurately the impact of “external forces” (p. 197) on family and society. She seeks to stimulate this effort by highlighting, among other things, the need to give attention to the development of parenting skills, the democratization of parenting focusing on a shared role of husband and wife, and the development of family advocacy and family-friendly policy and expertise. The challenges ahead are formidable in terms of policy and practice, yet potentially achievable. It is inevitable that parenting in Singapore will be continuously revisited, rethought, and reframed. This book is not a call for celebration of success although the country has consistently come out top in the global ranking of mathematics and sciences.
This book is based on the author’s doctoral thesis. The style of writing is descriptive and discursive. And the tone is objective and straightforward. This book is suitable for generalists as well as specialists in education and related disciplines. However, readers with an interest in an interpretive analysis may find the book more appealing than would others with a more positivist inclination. For readers in Asia, they may be able to replicate their own experiences with the ethnographic content the author has assembled from the interviews with the participants (Chapters Four to Seven). And for readers in the west, the book can provide them with a comparative insight into the critical roles parents played in their children’s education in a country that has leap-frogged “From Third World to First” (Lee, 2000) within a short span of three decades. Taken as a whole, this book is an interesting study of parenting dynamics within the context of rapid social and economic change.
