I was reading The Straits Times today and this sentence in the Review and Forum section caught my eye,
“The truth is that Singapore cannot afford to forgo what trained manpower it has built with considerable state investment.” Straits Times, 14 March 2012
Singapore needs all the trained manpower it can get
Ahhhh! THAT is the crux of the matter. It is why the government is doing all it can to either entice women to remain in the workforce, or return to the workforce after one to two years’ leave. It has invested waaay too much money in us. Each citizen (male or female) is provided with a highly subsidised and top quality public education system, for a minimum of six years to a maximum of sixteen years (from Primary 1 to a 4 year University programme). This means that if a female citizen chooses to stop work after all that education, it would have invested in us for nothing!
I am not blaming the government for doing what it is doing at all. It has to do what it can to get the country up to speed. Competition for jobs and businesses is tough on the world stage. But I am afraid society at large thinks that way too.
Hands up those of us who have been told that we have wasted our education by choosing to be stay-at-home-mothers. All of us, right?
Have we wasted our education?
So, has the government and our parents wasted their money on those of us who choose to raise our children ourselves rather than farm them out? Are women better employed at the workplace than at home nurturing and loving their children?
Obviously I disagree! 😀
Eternal not economic ramifications
I have written before and will say it again as a reminder to all of us (me included):
What we do has eternal ramifications.
Just because it cannot be tabulated in financial terms does not negate our value at being home for our children. Nurturing our children and inculcating biblical values in them cannot be measured in concrete economic terms. Values are caught, not taught. And that takes time. Quantity and quality time, not just quality time.
Being a stay-at-home mother is not for those who cannot make it in the “real” world. I will tell you that it takes grit, determination and lots of dying to self to make it as a full-time stay-at-home mother. And who says you don’t need to be an educated mom to handle the demands of staying home?
It is only for a season
The working world is alluring and glamorous and, usually financially rewarding. More power to those who are able to juggle work and motherhood and enjoy both. But for the rest of us who are unable to, or choose not to, I’d like us to think of this season at home as that – a season.
When our children are no longer so dependent on us, we can venture out to the workplace once again. Some of us will return to the workforce earlier than others, and the length of our season at home varies. And some of us may choose never to return to the workforce.
But, we are most certainly not wasting the country’s or our parents’ money and resources by being educated to the best of our abilities and then choosing to stay home for our family’s well-being.
A well-educated mother is of great benefit to our children’s well being – educational, spiritual and emotional.
Related post : SAHM = Brain Dead Mom?!
Post updated July 2017
11 Comments on Have we wasted our education?
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Well said!
My wife has been a SAHM for the last 12 yrs simply because we want our kids to grow up like us, like a full time mother at home. She gave up a well paid job and sadly those who actually wished us worst off were females friends n colleagues. We know that it will not be easy for her to go back to work given a lot of prejudice and we are prepared. To think that S’preans work so hard for their children but the most precious asset, that is, time is sorely missing in a typical family.
Isn’t interesting how perspective, in itself, can be so different. To think that one’s education is wasted on educating our own children. I think it’s the most priceless job available. Fortunately for us, we know that $ signs do not define success in life, eh? Great post! love it!
~Sheri
Thanks guys for your comments. And thanks Sheri for dropping by!
the sad part of it is? that everyone is accepting this paradigm of materialistic grading to calculate your worth.
Reminds you of the Matrix, doesn’t it? if you cannot serve your worth as a “battery” in the large scheme of things, you are worthless and made into fertilizer for the others to absorb.
Sad~~~! really sad~!
I am proud of you and your family. To evaluate everything from economic perspective is disrespectful to the essecnce of life diversity. I stopped reading ST many years as I refuse to contribute to their revenue to continue their misguided propaganda.
thank you for pointing out that the better path in life need not be the one where
a person is an economic digit, whose sole purpose in life is to help boost the economy by holding a paying job. it is ridiculous in this day and age tt
one should be forced to hold a job simply because one has an “education”.
such a view removes all the real reasons for being educated and all that it entails.
it also reveals that while lots of people here may have gone to school, or hold a diploma or degree, few are really educated in the true sense of the word. instead, their thinking is VERY narrow. 1st world country? HAHAHAHA! u go girl…
Hope the link to a Daily Mail (a tabloid, note) newspaper works:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2115170/Can-woman-clever-stay-home-mum.html
Having been a SAHM for nearly 12 years my redundancy is imminent. Pre-menopausal now, I’m making my way back to an academic career. I have 17 more years to official pension age and I know there is a lot more I can contribute to academia. It is tough. Very tough.
As I concluded from my research in Singapore in 2004, staying at home is not an issue, part of the problem is with HR managers, many of whom are women and mothers, who refuse to give the ‘returning mother’ a chance to prove themselves. There is no culture or boardroom/govt directive to integrate mothers back into the working world.
How can it be right for a country who keeps saying “people are our only resources” to leave our most vulnerable people — babies and children — to be nurtured by those people who do not even share our language, much less a value system and aspirations? And then why penalize those families who think that the lives and futures of their children are more important to foreign holidays and brand-name goods?
Well said Siew Peng!
You could definitely see your skills in the work you write.
The world hopes for
even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always go after
your heart.
I’m a SAHD and my wife is a SAHM. So we are considered “economic failures” as far as the government is concerned … all that investment in our educations have “gone down the drain”. We decide that the best return we can give our beloved country is to invest in our own children … we can’t trust the schools to teach our children right. Being able to homeschool our children is just an added bonus as we devote ourselves to serve the Lord 100%. Thanks for your blog and your posts.