Singapore's Education; IP Schools

A small island with no natural resources, Singaporeans are constantly reminded that "humans" are our only resource. Education stands to be a top priority of many Singaporeans families. The (not-so) recent hot topic in Singapore's education system is the integrated programmes (IP), where 12 year olds are selected into an institute that provides them with a safe track to an established Junior Colleges (JCs), and thus, a steadier path towards well-recognized universities.

Mergers and exclusive contracts are major corporate world activities, not just because of the huge underwriting profits for bankers, but also the possible anti-competitive nature of such actions. In essence, anti-competition is bad because consumers lose (e.g. pay higher prices for the same goods) at the expense of the producers. Why a sudden mention of mergers and exclusive contracts? Because the IP structure seems like form of vertical merger/exclusive contract, where upstream and downstream firms form a direct linkage in the production line. Basically, IP-JC sections hold "exclusive rights" to the products (bright students) from the secondary sections. More schools in Singapore are offering IPs, and many parents are worried that their late booming children are disadvantaged by the smaller number of good JC openings for their children later on.

Definitely, my approach of merging (pun intended) these two topics may not be very ideal, but I hope to only  provide a different perspective at the same old boring issue (product differentiation). Maybe someone with more time can look into this issue from this angle, but this guy/girl should not be me (at least not in the near future). Some of the more interesting issues would include:

1) Do child have to score better grades just to enter the same JCs, aka grade inflation.

2) Are IP schools providing better education? Many worry that the IP curriculum weakens the students' ability to tackle exam questions necessary for the 'A' levels.

3) Are primary school kids more pressured now to excel to enter into an IP school, leading to possible burn-outs, post exam trauma, or even other psychological issues, such as poor self-esteem from not being able to enter an IP school. Not sure about the kids, but the parents seem much more pressured to get their kids into IP schools these days.

Lastly, I am glad that I am not a young student anymore. Seeing as an outsider, I cannot help but feel sorry and pressured for these young kids. I cannot expect how it will be like when I have my own kids though, but that, will be another story all together...