| Chapter 1: | The Historian and the Singapore Story |
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that are not normally appreciated about class in Singapore: Firstly, in industrial Singapore, the advantage of English on economic opportunity was historically not all that obvious. It is in postindustrial Singapore that English literacy becomes decisive. And secondly, the lack of English literacy has served to entrench class structures in Singaporean society since the 1980s, palpably narrowing the range of economic encounters in life for non-English-literate individuals and, all too often, their children. Meritocracy is, therefore, often subservient to the utilitarian and self-perpetuating value of English literacy.
This book relies on a number of statistical reports that were commissioned by various state departments. These surveys are important in that they thread the individual stories presented within together, providing a broader perspective of how entire communities were (or were not, as will be illustrated) impacted by English-literacy acquisition. The decennial census monographs (conducted on behest of the British Crown in 1947 and 1957, and four more subsequently from 1970 onwards by the sovereign government) play a major role in illustrating the major socioeconomic trends that were prevalent at the time. Particular attention is given in this book to census data on literacy, education, household conditions, employment, and economic characteristics, while the annual Yearbook of Statistics and Colony of Singapore Annual Report periodicals are employed to complement the census reports.
The conditions of everyday life in postwar Singapore are also well represented in two official documents: the 1947 survey findings presented by the Department of Social Welfare and a report on urban incomes and housing in 1953–1954 by a committee headed by Goh Keng Swee. These reports present statistical data on links between education, literacy, employment, and life. This information goes some way to addressing a number of glaring omissions in the hastily conducted Malayan census of 1947.
Education and literacy among the citizenry was the subject of great interest by both the Labour Front and PAP governments. In 1956 the critical All-Party Report (APR) on the state of education in Singapore was released, along with a series of recommendations aimed at balancing