The Impact of Neoliberalism on College Students

This research essay analyzes the influence of neoliberalism on college students in Singapore, focusing on hyper-competition and its impact on relationships. It discusses the concept of neoliberalism, its effects on the education system, and the hyper-competitive culture among Singaporean college students. The essay argues that hyper-competition discourages free time with family and ruins relationships. The essay also explores the concept of neoliberalism and its contrast with liberalism. The hyper-competitive culture in Singapore is examined, along with the pressure to perform well academically and the role of private tuitions. The essay concludes by discussing the commercialization of education and the need for educational success without compromising personal life.

Running head: THE IMPACT OF NEOLIBERALISM ON COLLEGE STUDENTS
THE IMPACT OF NEOLIBERALISM ON COLLEGE STUDENTS
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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THE IMPACT OF NEOLIBERALISM ON COLLEGE STUDENTS
Introduction
The aim of the research essay is to analyze the influence of neo-liberalism on college
students in Singapore. The aspect of hyper-competition amongst Singapore college students is
the focus of the research essay. The essay will first define neoliberalism to make the readers
understand the concept before discussing about its impact on college students. The thesis of the
essay is to argue that hyper-competition amongst Singapore college students is not good because
it discourages free time with family and ruins relationships.
Neoliberalism is amongst the most dominant topic of discourses in the modern
generation, which developed during the 1980s. The concept has penetrated into every sphere of
life including the education system as well. The paper will focus on the Singaporean education
context and highlight neoliberalism-in-action amongst the college students. One of the features
of neoliberalism is the highly individualized and competitive society. The essay will look into
these aspects in details.
Discussion
Neoliberalism, as Littler (2013) explains, views competition as the “defining
characteristic of human relations”. The author further states that the freedom offered by
neoliberalism is actually freedom only for those who are powerful and not for the weak.
Although neoliberalism was conceived as an all-encompassing policy of development, it took no
time to turn into a “self-serving racket”. The change in or modification of policies of
neoliberalism are largely dominated by market failures; the bigger the failure, the more intense
becomes the ideology. In neoliberalism, the words mostly have a subtle meaning wherein the
actual meaning is hidden behind the visible meaning. For example, the word ‘market’ only meant

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a natural system that might benefit everyone equally but in reality, it is burdened with power
relations. Prior to the emergence of neoliberalism, those who acquired wealth in a short time
were seen as not worthy by those who had inherited that money. Entrepreneurs looked for social
recognition by posing themselves as rentiers. However, the relationship has been reversed in the
contemporary era. Now the inheritors and rentiers pose themselves as entrepreneurs and claim
that they “have earned their unearned money”. Olssen (2016) however provides a positive side of
neoliberalism stating that it has helped governments to bring is progressive changes in the
society. In education especially, neoliberalism has had a deep influence on education. The author
states that neoliberalism has allowed education to be more efficient and cost-effective. As
opposed to the criticism that neoliberalism has resulted in the commercialization of education.
Singapore has recently been in the news for being topping the global PISA (Programme
for International Student Assessment) rankings in science, mathematics, and reading. The
country has even toppled the European nations as well including Australia that are at the bottom
batch of the list. The Conversation, where the report was published, further report that
Singapore’s heavy investment in the education system has reaped the fruits and led to its
outstanding performance (Theconversation.com, 2019). From the teachers being highly skilled
and trained to the high-level pedagogic approaches, Singapore has not left any stone unturned to
become the best in education. Singaporeans have it in their culture to commit excellence in
education and make it as the “brand” (Theconversation.com, 2019). According to academician
Christopher Gee this is the “educational arms race” that Singapore is involved in and wants to
come first every time (Theconversation.com, 2019).
The norm of education is highly competitive. The competitiveness however, often
becomes hyper-competitiveness and the students have to bear the burden of this competition.

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Students are treated as products of the educational market driven by neoliberalism. As mentioned
in the article, the private tuitions and coaching colleges play an important role in producing top
quality education. The statistics show that more than sixty percent of high school students attend
private tuition and coaching colleges. The concerning aspect of it is that those families who have
a monthly earning of around or less than 4000 dollars hardly could afford private tuitions to their
children (only 20 percent). The coaching colleges and private tuitions have become sort of
brands and attract millions of students every year. Their marketing strategy involves instilling
anxiety amongst parents that if they do not send their children over, their children might fail.
Several parents lament the hyper-competitive environment that compels their children to
consume more hours in tuitions thus influencing the time spent with family. The children hardly
have any time to concentrate on family and relationships but they are left with no option but to
attend these coaching classes. The reason is what Singaporeans call kiasu, which simply means
“fear of falling behind or losing out” (Theconversation.com, 2019). The government especially
the policymakers are therefore responsible for figuring out a way to ensure educational success
without compromising student’s personal life.
Prior to proceeding further, it is important to understand the concept of neoliberalism by
putting it against the concept of liberalism. This would also allow the readers to have a better
grip of hyper-competition and how it affects the college students of Singapore. In the views of
Davies and Walsh (2017), liberalism refers to the possession of rights by individuals that are
accorded to them within the sovereign system. Economic liberalism, known also as laissez-faire
argues for separate functioning of political and economic systems. However, in neoliberalism,
this distinction is blurred and the government exercises more power on the economic system.
The state and the economy are interconnected in neoliberalism. The author further elaborates that

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neoliberalism views everything from the economic perspective. According to the neoliberalists,
“hyper competition is the best way to organize society”, (Davies & Walsh, 2017). Neoliberalists
state that there is a necessity to plan and manage competition leading to a compilation of
“technologies of self and power” such as social credit system, meritocracy, and so on. Therefore,
the visible differences between liberalism and neoliberalism are that liberalism centers on full
rights of the individual whereas neoliberalism stresses on separating it through hyper-
competition.
Thus, it should now be clear that hyper-competition is a crucial aspect of neoliberalism
and the education scenario of Singapore clearly reflects this. The college students in this growing
neoliberal world feel the pressure of hyper-competition as most colleges and universities in the
country begin to fill up rapidly. Moreover, the pressure of performing the best in exams adds to
their anxiety. In a study undertaken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), it has been revealed that students in Singapore are significantly more
worried about exams, results and grades “compared to their international peers”
(Channelnewsasia.com, 2019). This hyper-competition and the pressure to perform brilliantly
are argued to be the outcome of the highly competitive culture in the country. The astonishing
story of the country’s success has been mostly credited to its structure of meritocracy; the system
where the brightest and best go up the ladder with their own hard work and merit. As has been
discussed in the above section, meritocracy is a product of hyper-competition, which is an
integral part of neoliberalism. Shin (2013) revealed in their research that hyper-competition
amongst college and university students in Singapore have become a natural thing for them. The
author explains that the growth in market competition amongst nations have caused the colleges

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and universities to produce future leaders who could compete and win the race for economic
supremacy.
Lo (2018) conducted a research on the way East Asian nations especially Singapore have
successfully accomplished in “blending aspects of globalization in Higher Education with their
pre-existing regulatory regimes”. The author however fails to acknowledge the fact that
globalization is in a way, majorly inclined towards neoliberalism wherein economic prosperity
through hyper-competition is an indicator of global success. Neoliberalism in the society today
has become the prime requisite for any country to develop. As Monbiot (2019) in The Guardian
states, “So pervasive has neoliberalism become that we seldom even recognize it as an
ideology”. The author meant to state that the concept that began as an ideology, has taken over as
the most important requirement for development. The college students of Singapore have
become kind of victims to this neoliberalism because one of its aspects, hyper-competition has
taken away the time they needed to explore their other potentials.
Conclusion
In the end, it could be stated that the neoliberalism-in-action in the Singaporean society is
clearly visible through the increasing hyper-competition amongst college students. The
assignment’s purpose was to provide instances of neoliberalism-in-action by identifying one of
the aspects of neoliberalism, which is hyper-competition. The assignment attempted to explain
the concept of neoliberalism by contrasting it with liberalism. It was revealed that as opposed to
liberalism that considers indivudal right and freedom, equality of all as most important,
neoliberalism measures everything based on economic terms. In the context of Singapore college
students, it was found that the hyper-competition to be at the top in academic field was

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mandatory of them to become future business leaders. It was revealed that the students in
Singapore are compelled from a young age to compete with others academically. Private tuitions
play a crucial role in producing students with market-oriented mentality. These private tuitions in
turn, have commercialized education in order to win another race for attracting the highest
number of students.

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Bibliography:
Channelnewsasia.com. (2019). Commentary: A hyper-competitive culture is breeding severe test
anxiety among many students. Retrieved from
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/hyper-competitive-culture-
breeding-severe-test-anxiety-among-10744150
Davis, A., & Walsh, C. (2017). Distinguishing financialization from neoliberalism. Theory,
Culture & Society, 34(5-6), 27-51.
Dawes, S., & Phelan, S. (2016). Understanding Neoliberalism, Media and the Political: An
Interview with Sean Phelan. Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA
Postgraduate Network, 9(5).
Harvey, D. (2007). Neoliberalism as creative destruction. The annals of the American academy
of political and social science, 610(1), 21-44.
Littler, J. (2013). Meritocracy as plutocracy: The marketising of'Equality'under
neoliberalism. New Formations, 80(80), 52-72.
Lo, W. Y. W. (2018). After globalisation: A reconceptualisation of transnational Higher
Education governance in Singapore and Hong Kong. Higher Education Quarterly, 72(1),
3-14.
Monbiot, G. (2019). Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-
george-monbiot

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THE IMPACT OF NEOLIBERALISM ON COLLEGE STUDENTS
Olssen, M. (2016). Neoliberal competition in higher education today: Research, accountability
and impact. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(1), 129-148.
Shin, H. (2013). Ambivalent calculations in Toronto: Negotiating the meaning of success among
early study abroad high school students. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 22(4),
527-546.
Theconversation.com. (2019). Behind Singapore’s PISA rankings success – and why other
countries may not want to join the race. Retrieved from
https://theconversation.com/behind-singapores-pisa-rankings-success-and-why-other-
countries-may-not-want-to-join-the-race-70057