Eco-systemic Tensions (Yi Ting)

  As a nation strives to grow quickly economically, there are bound to be side effects that comes along with it. An example of one of the Eco-systemic Tensions is education. In this blog post, I will be sharing my opinions about this side effect on the rich and the economy, and vaguely about how it consequently affects one's health, mostly or entirely in the Singapore context.
  The rapid economic progression results in a bigger and richer upper class. Due to our naturally 'kiahsu' (Hokkien term, meaning: afraid of losing) nature, almost all parents will want education for their children in maximum quality and quantity (in other words, the best education for their children), so that their children will grow up to be outstanding and successful in all aspects of life in future, especially career-wise. High-income families have the most ability to do so, causing their children to eventually fall 'victim' to what appears to be beneficial to them.
  With the high level of wealth possessed by the parents of the high-income families, they are able to hire top-notch private tutors to give their children extra tuition classes on almost all subjects so that they will be far ahead of their peers. Also, to build a strong foundation for their children, these children will be sent to elite primary schools. In order to achieve a higher possibility of getting into these primary schools, parents may even buy a property within a 1km radial distance from the school. Apart from academic education, most parents will also send their children to be educated on extra activities such as music and sports. All these will lead to immense amounts of stress in the children due to their packed schedules, allowing them hardly any rest, and also the loads of knowledge they need to absorb and the uncountable work and revision to be done, causing the children to be extremely pressurized.
  Other than providing the children with these material 'needs', the high social statuses of the parents and them talking about the great achievements of their friends or relatives also pressurizes the children as they will stress themselves to work extremely hard to be as successful as their parents so as to not let them down and cause the lessons spent on them to be wasted, and also not to let them 'lose face' or be speechless about their lack of achievements when chatting with their friends of equal statuses about their children's achievements, future plans etc. This adds on to the already very 'jialut' (Hokkien term, meaning terrible) amount of stress suffered by the children.
  On the surface, outsiders may feel that it is a luxury for these children to be receiving such excellent education, giving them promising futures. However, these children are actually 'victims' of the stress and pressure caused both directly and indirectly by their 'kiahsu' parents. The high level of stress experienced by these children may lead to psychological illnesses, such as depression and anxiety disorders, and also physical illnesses, such as gastrointestinal problems and those caused by obesity.
  Therefore, I feel that with the younger generation of rich people suffering from illnesses caused by stress, their bodies will fail them and may cause natural deaths or serious body failures that prevent them from working and gaining an income. Also, with their lives evolving solely around education and education-wise competition as children and youths, they will feel the lack of point of living, causing them to commit suicide even before reaching adulthood. Even if they grow into adults, their lives still solely evolve around earning money and work-based competition,causing them to attempt suicide as well, or just simply death or body failures due to stress. This causes the bigger and richer upper class to decrease, which gradually leads to an economic downfall.
  As the saying goes, "slow and steady wins the race". I believe that a slow economic progression that stabilizes will be much more efficient than a rapid economic progression which will eventually lead to economic failure.
  In conclusion, I feel that these major decision makers should think thoroughly about the consequences and implications to come before making major adjustments to and taking major action on the society, in order to minimize, or even prevent such Eco-systemic Tensions.