PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS:
How living in New York has illuminated for us the difference between the Singaporean Dream and the Singaporean Plan
By Colin Goh & Joyceln Woo Yen Yen

The following essay was written for Singaporeans Exposed: Navigating the Ins and Outs of Globalisation (published to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Singapore International Foundation, 2001, Landmark Books)

Speech by Mr. Ngiam Tong Dow at the inaugural Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) lecture, National University of Singapore, 26 October 2004

Speech by Mr. Ngiam Tong Dow at the Pontiac Land-IPS Thought Leaders Lunch held on May 2005 at the Summer Palace Restaurant, The Regent, Singapore

Ninth Annual Arthur Dehon Little Memorial Lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology May 22, 1957

Introduction

The Arthur Dehon Little Memorial Lectureship was established in 1944 with funds donated by Arthur D. Little Inc., in memory of its founder. The series was initiated with the broad purpose of promoting interest in and stimulating discussion of the social implications inherent in the development of science.

Dr. Edwin H. Land, 1957 holder of the Lectureship, has joined a host of distinguished predecessors in bringing to the institute community fresh insights and provocative comments on the world around us.

It is commonly believed, and to a certain degree correctly so, that educational institutions are inherently conservative and are too often resistant to change. In the face of this tradition, it is important that we in the institutions listen carefully to our critics and provide a forum for the educational innovator. Dr. Land has reminded us that the humanistic quality of learning has been neglected far too frequently.

Education, particularly in the large universities, has become primarily concerned with subject matter rather than the development of the individual student. Dr. Land has correctly stated that the university must redress this unbalance and, at the undergraduate level, bring our focus upon the individual student and the potential which he brings to college. The growing recognition that we can no longer be prodigal with human resources and the urgent importance of developing to the fullest our available talent add further emphasis to Dr. Land's plea for a bolder effort to release the full creative abilities of the students.

While there may be practical limitations to the feasibility of some of Dr. Land's specific proposals, it behooves all of us, educators and laymen alike, to embrace his concern for the full development of the creative powers which are inherent in each and every individual. No one who heard Dr. Land lecture on the evening of May 22. 1957, could fail to have been moved by his eloquence and his penetrating understanding of our educational problems.

Julius A. Stratton Acting President Massachusetts Institute of Technology