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A review by thehotcrossbun
This Is What Inequality Looks Like by Teo You Yenn
5.0
lucid. this is the one word that unreservedly came in triumphant when i attempted to capture my feelings towards the book. the prose is beautifully lucid, and same can be said about your state of mind as the author dispels the clouds of assumptions that you held for long and shielded your eyes, and shine a incisive torch of light towards the hidden truth
i have to thank milton for first introducing me to the book in jan (i remember feeling so intrigued by the translucent tracing paper book cover, capturing the issue perfectly -- who says you can't judge a book by its cover??), and actually sending a copy to my doorstep as bday present :') actually started reading this back in Feb but I'm kinda ashamed to say that it didn't resonate strongly with me at that point of time, even with rave reviews from many of those around me and a strong interest in the topic (for years, before the govt started lambasting it at every opportunity this year). it took another few months: an internship that really opened my eyes, an in-person experience with poverty, and what i'm most thankful of all, an in-person meeting with prof teo at AWARE that finally spurred me to withhold my scepticism and continue with the book. and i regretted not doing so earlier.
with all the hoo-has from the govt about this issue in the MSM (i distinctively recognise that the emphasis only came this year), i attribute it to this book for starting this much-needed and long-postponed conversation in singapore. something that many people deem invisible, too uncomfortable to tackle, including me for the past 2 years as i hid behind my sheltered life and shut myself in the glass dome of intensive JC life.
however, reading the news now, I really think that the quality of politicians' discourse/debate on this is lacking - i find them repeating the same points over and over again, although they are good legit points (eg. in terms of education, equalising & levelling up pre-school education, and opening up & recognising more pathways of success, things i do feel strongly for), but there is a palpable inertia to dig deeper into the issue, to excavate the root of the worsening phenomenon, to examine our systems and gaps/side-effects of our established policies, recognise the loopholes and blots of imperfections in our seemingly perfect national narrative of progress. this book does exactly that - it's so much more insightful than our leaders' dialogue in parliament and the same things i see repeated in the news daily and week in week out.
there is a reason that inequality is worsening through the years, and a major cause of it is probably due to the way we designed our society. it worked for the past 50 years, lifted our country to exceptionalism, but like any system it too needs constant revision, re-calibration and even drastic revolution through the years.
need to reread the book and make sense out of my messy underlines and squigglies, scrawls along the columns and (too many) tab pages to absorb the book better. though i'm really really glad that this conversation is finally taking place and politicians are doing the best as they can to elevate this to a national priority now, and signalling that action is being taken.
i have to thank milton for first introducing me to the book in jan (i remember feeling so intrigued by the translucent tracing paper book cover, capturing the issue perfectly -- who says you can't judge a book by its cover??), and actually sending a copy to my doorstep as bday present :') actually started reading this back in Feb but I'm kinda ashamed to say that it didn't resonate strongly with me at that point of time, even with rave reviews from many of those around me and a strong interest in the topic (for years, before the govt started lambasting it at every opportunity this year). it took another few months: an internship that really opened my eyes, an in-person experience with poverty, and what i'm most thankful of all, an in-person meeting with prof teo at AWARE that finally spurred me to withhold my scepticism and continue with the book. and i regretted not doing so earlier.
with all the hoo-has from the govt about this issue in the MSM (i distinctively recognise that the emphasis only came this year), i attribute it to this book for starting this much-needed and long-postponed conversation in singapore. something that many people deem invisible, too uncomfortable to tackle, including me for the past 2 years as i hid behind my sheltered life and shut myself in the glass dome of intensive JC life.
however, reading the news now, I really think that the quality of politicians' discourse/debate on this is lacking - i find them repeating the same points over and over again, although they are good legit points (eg. in terms of education, equalising & levelling up pre-school education, and opening up & recognising more pathways of success, things i do feel strongly for), but there is a palpable inertia to dig deeper into the issue, to excavate the root of the worsening phenomenon, to examine our systems and gaps/side-effects of our established policies, recognise the loopholes and blots of imperfections in our seemingly perfect national narrative of progress. this book does exactly that - it's so much more insightful than our leaders' dialogue in parliament and the same things i see repeated in the news daily and week in week out.
there is a reason that inequality is worsening through the years, and a major cause of it is probably due to the way we designed our society. it worked for the past 50 years, lifted our country to exceptionalism, but like any system it too needs constant revision, re-calibration and even drastic revolution through the years.
need to reread the book and make sense out of my messy underlines and squigglies, scrawls along the columns and (too many) tab pages to absorb the book better. though i'm really really glad that this conversation is finally taking place and politicians are doing the best as they can to elevate this to a national priority now, and signalling that action is being taken.