LESS THAN HALF PIONEER YALE-NUS GRADS GETS JOB OFFER

Dear A.S.S. Editor

I refer to the Straits Times article today, which carries the headline “Nearly half of Yale-NUS pioneer grads have job offers”. You read it once, without putting any thoughts to it, it sounds nice. Then you realise that this means more than half of the Yale-NUS pioneer grads actually have no job offers.

I know the media wants to make this sound nice, and that liberal arts are gaining a foothold in Singapore, but if more than half still have not got job offers, then we are not there yet in acceptance of liberal arts graduates. Article did go on to say another one-fifth have received offers to pursue graduate studies. This means the number of graduates without any concrete future is still much more than other graduates. And the article says observers indicates that employers here believe in the value of a liberal arts education, though it is still viewed by many as a “minority” option.

If this is how employers value the liberal arts, then seriously, Singapore is not that ready yet.

Christine Chua

A.S.S. Contributor