I was reading about what our grand old man has to say about the world economy on the Channel News Asia Website when I came across this:
On a lighter note, the Minister Mentor touched on what he calls assortative mating, that is, finding a spouse at your level – something he strongly believes in.
He said: “I have explained this. I think I lost votes after I explained the awful truth. Nobody believed it, but slowly it dawned on them, especially the graduates, that yes, you marry a non-graduate, then you worry about whether or not your son or daughter is going to make it to the university.”
Okay, I guess I’m not too well read and I usually don’t give much thought about this topic anyway. For a person who is still resisting contributing to the gene pool, this is seriously the last thing I would bother about ya?
But, assortative mating… that somehow caught my eye today. I think this term has a pretty catchy feel to it. I needed to know more. I did the next best thing and wiki’d “assortative mating” while googling “lee kuan yew assortative mating“. (don’t you just love tab browsing?)
I got to know what assortative mating meant, but I couldn’t find much material on the Minister Mentor’s view. Instead, I found a lot of people in the blogosphere flaming his idea.
I think I get his idea, and I think he has a point. I think I like it. But I don’t think his colleagues in the gahmen gets it. Otherwise, why would they put a foreign dormitory in a middle class residential area like Serangoon Gardens? Don’t they know that there are plenty of graduates and would-be graduates living in this type of housing estate?
I mean picture this… innocent ‘ol me, single and available hanging out in my cosy middle class estate when the ass of this cute female foreign worker catches my eye. I think I’m in love. I marry her. *poof* my valuable graduate genes is suddenly no longer available to a local blue blooded female graduate.
I want to be assortatively mated. A foreign worker dorm next to my house is not going to make it easy for me. I mean, sometimes dunno why ah, but when the planets are aligned and the moon is full, I think with me other head lor…
(Before I get flamed, I wish to make clear that this does not mean I think other housing estate don’t have graduates… I just wanted to point out that Serangoon Gardens have.)
Tang Siew Mun said,
November 20, 2008 @ 4:59 am
Hi Todd, never knew you are such a writer, Encik Chong must be very proud of you cos you can write “easy” and he cannot.
You know we have been away from Sg for about 4 years now but I do follow Singapore news through Asia1 and CNA website. I am really quite shock when the foreign worker dorm was proposed. Based on pass experience, it is usually signed and sealed if anything was proposed.
I come back once in awhile, everything felt so different. So many foreigners, too much traffic, prices of stuff has gone up. Just yesterday, a friend told me that he was approached twice in 3 hours by “foreign talents” while he was trying to do his work at a coffee place in Bukit Merah. Man! What had happened?!
Having said that, Sg is always special and I still miss the hawker centre food, the chilly and pepper crabs. Of course, my family and friends are also the reason why Sg is still home. I don’t know if my daughter will feel the same way having stayed overseas for most part of her life. Then again, one day we might need to come home. Till last year, I came back every year on my own expense for my NS. “Siao On” I know but I enjoy my time and I feel that we who went through NS has earned our citizenship and rights to voice our opinion, constructively.
I empathize with you feeling so strongly about the issue, maybe you should start looking at a new neighbourhood haha. Perhaps move to Ubin and in a few years Takong or even Jurong West near NTU as you should practise assortative housing.