What is reverse discrimination? Let us start off by defining discrimination. Discrimination is the unfair treatment of a certain group of people based on perceived differences. Reverse discriminatinon is logically the favouring of a group of people who have been treated with discrimination in the past. There are many types of reverse discrimination such as feminism, but today I would like to focus on reverse discrimination against students from elite schools.
There are various reasons for such reverse discrimination, most of which I will not ennumerate. However, I would like to elucidate on the the factor I feel is most important today. Such reasons include a sense of innate envy or jealousy that a student from a non-elite school would tend to feel towards a student from an elite school.
When one faces an erudite academic with many gleaming awards and achievements, it is quite common to feel envious of his or her multitude of highly-honoured and regarded awards and achievements. It is perfectly normal and even beneficial as this envy pushes one to greater heights as well, giving one the motivation to protect one's dignity or to disprove one's inferiority by achieving as much, if not more. However, the problem arises when one is over-sensitive and takes another person's achievements as an insult to oneself. This is a destructive process of cognition because instead of treating another persons' summit as an objective, one will have the "sour grapes" mentality and discriminate against the elite students just to vent their anger and frustration. It is easy to see how many other prejudices can stem from this redundant irritation with the elite students.
I personally feel that this is the most important reason as it is the most prevalent. It is a natural tendency to feel envious of another's achievements. This is actually a survival instinct we inherited from our evolutionary ancestors, the primeapes, albeit extremely diluted over the past millennia. All animals have the instinct to either escape from or eliminate other animals who may compete with them or pose a threat to their existence. It was necessary in the primaeval ages when natural selection only picked the fittest to survive amidst the diverse competition from various species.
Recently, there was a post on STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print) about some Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) students eating ice-cream on the bus. While I feel this is a murky case to begin with, I think reverse discrimination played a large role.
The STOMPer who posted this article, described the HCI students eating ice cream on the bus with a snide, sardonic tone, implying that there are higher expectations of HCI students than normal students. I can understand this statement since HCI is reputed for its strong root in the Confucian ethics system and is famed for its strict code of conduct. I also think the boys were in the wrong by eating on the bus. This incident of course drew much public furore. However, this raises another point.
There is a fine line separating objective disciplinary actions and prejudiced attitudes towards students from elite schools. Why should we as HCI students need to be absolutely perfect to meet the expectations of the public? Why should any students from any elite school expected to never trip up? Conversely, why are public expectations of the neighbourhood schools so low and why is there so much praise when a student from a neighbourhood school scores well in national competitions as compared with an "seen it all" attitude from the media when students from elite schools clinch the gold? After all, everyone in any secondary school, no matter how elite, is still a teenager at the core. Everyone is the same in this regard. I think it is rather biased to have expectations based on the school one attends. While I concede that this is perfectly normal, I think that the main argument when criticising students should not be their school.
The majority of Singaporeans love such gossip over controversial issues like this, so they can assert their opinions on the situation as best. However, I think it unfair and prejudiced to target all news at the elite schools of Singapore. Just because someone is from an elite school does not mean they are infallible. There have been many recent incidents to prove contrary, such as the HCI alumnus who was caught with videos of child pornography on his laptop and the HCI alumnus who set the record for most number of men slept with. My point is that one should treat everyone fairly and objectively based on individual characteristics and not based on their school or workplace. If one wishes to bring up school or workplace, one should relate it back to the individual by explaining how the school or workplace has cultivated certain desirable or undesirable characteristics in the individual.
Reverse discrimination is extremely diverse, appearing in all fields of work and play. One should be careful not to fall into the trap of utilising such fallacious arguments in one's cognition.
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