Many Singaporean students shy away from studying the humanities and social sciences because of the perceived lack of financial returns in doing so. Another push factor is the perception that those are the less ‘prestigious’ options — that only those whose grades weren’t good enough to get them into other streams or courses end up studying the humanities or social sciences (yes, I know economics is an exception). Thus there is a certain pressure not to be seen as one of those who ‘couldn’t make it’ into the more prestigious options.

It recently struck me that there might be another major reason why Singaporeans shy away from the humanities and social sciences. Perhaps there is a fear of dealing with issues with the following characteristics:

• Not easily quantifiable
• Invites critical examination of one’s own value system
• Raises problems that cannot be solved algorithmically but requires thinking of a less constrained sort

Certainly, many of my JC classmates really disliked being handed problems, even in mathematics, that could be solved only by a method that they had not been ‘taught’ in class. They wanted to ’solve’ things for which they knew the set procedure for solving. They were also extremely uncomfortable in GP lessons when encountering values different from their own. Mere discomfort on its own may not be a problem, but they actively avoided discussions that involved clashes of values. They did not even want to attempt to resolve such clashes or find out more about why they exist (reminiscent of the government’s warnings that racial or religious controversies should not even be discussed). In short, the preference of students for tasks with standard operating procedures may predispose them to avoid the humanities and social sciences, independent of the already existing financial and social disincentives.