ABSTRACT

This study is an attempt at better understanding the education choices of top-performing students in elite schooling. It applies a ‘glonacal’ framework (Maxwell 2018, “Changing Spaces – The Reshaping of (Elite) Education Through Internationalisation.” In Elite Education and Internationalization: From the Early Years Into Higher Education, edited by C. Maxwell, U. Deppe, H. Kruger, and W. Helsper, 347–367. London: Palgrave Macmillan.) and focuses on the case of academically elite students who have graduated from an elite secondary school in Singapore, and their attitudes toward a scheme of undergraduate state scholarships. Drawing on life history interviews and focus group discussions with such individuals, I uncover how Singaporean informants portrayed aspirations of moving abroad for university education, and of returning to Singapore, commensurate with the state’s strategy of tying them to the local through contractual bonds. Their characterisation of the scholarship in terms of ‘comfort’ and ‘stability’ must be contextualised within a nationalistic regime linking an elitist education system via scholarships to the local sphere of social and political power. The discussion serves to demonstrate relations between transnational mobility, the school and the local political economy, and how these have an influence on student subjectivities regarding education choices.

摘要

本研究旨在更好地了解精英学校中表现最好的学生的教育选择。它应用了一个“glonacal”框架（Maxwell 2018，“改变空间——通过国际化重塑（精英）教育。”在精英教育和国际化：从早期到高等教育，由 C. Maxwell、U. Deppe、H. Kruger 和 W. Helsper 编辑，347–367。伦敦：Palgrave Macmillan。），重点关注从新加坡精英中学毕业的学术精英学生的案例，以及他们对本科国家奖学金计划的态度。通过对这些人的生活史访谈和焦点小组讨论，我揭示了新加坡线人如何描绘出国接受大学教育和返回新加坡的愿望，这与国家通过合同债券将他们与当地联系起来的战略相称。他们在“舒适”和“稳定”方面对奖学金的描述必须在一个民族主义体制内进行，该体制通过奖学金将精英教育体系与当地的社会和政治权力领域联系起来。