The meaning of Elitism is the practice of or belief in rule by elites or the belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.

         Elitism is practiced in many countries, including Singapore. In Singapore, Elitism is vastly used to classify and select the best and most talented from the citizens in order to groom and allow these elites to excel in what they do best. This act of elitism allows the government to sift out easily the potential leaders to lead the country. Though the aim and practicing elitism is good and beneficial, it has cause unnecessary problems too.

                Singapore's education uses elitism vastly, in every examination, be it small or big, is a practice of elitism. From these examinations students are often typecast into different category based on their results. For example, in PSLE, students are categorized into 4 categories ( special, express ,normal academic and normal technical ).from a broad point of view, many may think this is good as students' needs would be well catered for ,however if you look closely you will discover that this isn't exactly true. Elitism is often practiced in light of meritocracy, but in this process a class system is formed unknowingly. When the act of elitism singles out the elites, it actually portrays the difference between the average and the elites even more and this can cause the elites to become an exclusive group where only the best can be allowed to enter. This class system is the root of this problem; it generates prejudice and superiority among the classes.

             The problem of prejudice is well linked with superiority, one usually does not occur without the other. When a class system is formed, prejudice arises because superiority of one class over another begins to form. Even in our education system, this exists too. Students in the higher class may develop the tendency to look down upon students from a lower class. This can cause unwanted  trouble .Students of lower class may be often victimized, branded and labeled negative terms and sobriquets by students more superior than them. In long term effect, this may cause division in people and the mentality of the working class would be affected as people of lower qualifications may feel inferior towards others of better qualifications. This eventually would cause social fabric to occur in society. Employers may also mentally ranked elites as the best due to their academic achievements and would be biased to candidates who do not belong in this category; people of low rank may be given low rank jobs due to the classification of elitism.  This would cause social cohesion in the workforce to be affected. 

             Though the problems of elitism are still not obvious yet in Singapore and the people have yet to feel the impact and damage caused by elitism, the problems are brought to the public's attention through various means ,for example media. Movies such as I Not stupid and I not Stupid 2 portrays problems of the elitism through the bullying and labeling done to the protagonists of lower class by the antagonists of higher class, thus fully showing us the effects of elitism that is a real possibility in the near future.

In my opinion, the problems of elitism cannot be fully resolved but damage control can be done to minimize and contain the effects of elitism. The mentality of superiority and branding has to be changed in order to achieve such results. For example, when employers are hiring workers, they need to be objective in their opinions and also, not to based the choosing of candidates solely on qualifications or their class but also on other requirements for the job.

   All in all, I believe the problems of elitism are here to stay as long as it is practiced; therefore we need to brace ourselves and adjust our mentality in order to accept this change.       

Article for reference regarding elitism: www.todayonline.com/articles/161844.asp