Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores the ambiguous relation between aspirations for social mobility and better lives through the lens of Singaporean parents who decide to opt out of conventional middle-class aspirations and the intense competition of the mainstream education and society.

Paper Abstract:

This paper explores the dilemmas of upward social mobility from the perspective of opting out of conventional middle-class aspirations in search of better lives. East Asian education systems are globally renowned for their high academic standards and for producing students who score at the top on international assessment tests and rankings. It is well established in previous research that (middle-class) parents invest substantial resources into their children’s education, in the hope of expanding their children's opportunities, prospects, and choices for the future. However, parent’s educational desire for academic excellence as a route to better lives is not as straightforward as it may seem. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Singapore, this paper explores the tensions and contradictions associated with the idea about upward social mobility through the lens of parents who decide to opt out of the formal education system to ‘protect’ the child from the potentially negative effects of a competitive and stressful environment. By highlighting opting-out-responses this paper addresses the ambiguous relation between aspirations for upward social mobility on the one hand, and better lives on the other. How do parents’ who opt out of mainstream education construe and negotiate ideas about better lives in relation to conventional aspirations of 'moving up'? What sacrifices are made and how are parents accounting for their decision to pursue an alternative education for their children?