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Budget 2025 (Part 2 of 3): How Do Our Values Affect Fertility Rates?
In the second article of our three-part series on the Large Families Scheme announced in Budget 2025, we look at how our values shape attitudes towards fertility rates in today’s Singapore, including what some large families have taught us and the struggles they face.
- 3 March 2025
Budget 2025 (Part 1 of 3): From “Stop at Two” to Large Families Scheme
This is the first in a three-part series on the Large Families Scheme announced in Budget 2025. In this article, we take a quick trip through history, tracing Singapore’s family planning policies from the well-known “Stop At Two” campaign, to “Have Three or More, If You Can Afford It”, and finally to the Large Families Scheme announced recently.
- February 25 2025
“Concerted Cultivation” on Steroids? How Singaporeans’ ‘kiasu’ parenting arises from our notions of success
In child-rearing styles, sociologist Annette Lareau observed that middle-class families engage in “concerted cultivation” to develop children through organised activities, while working-class and poor families use the “accomplishment of natural growth” where children are typically free to go out and play. As Singapore progressed from Third World to First, has our society adopted a “pressure-cooker” attitude towards child-raising?
- February 11 2025
Online Sexual Harms: Why We Urgently Need More Protections
With our high digital connectivity, the lines between public and private life are often blurred or breached. This is especially serious in the context of online sexual harms, which disproportionately affect women, children and lower-income groups. More needs to be urgently done to combat online harms and protect the common good
- January 20 2025
More For You
Cultivate Unpacks: Sex and Gender
Cultivate Unpacks is a series to unpack some of the current terms being used in social discourse today. In this piece, we look at “sex” and “gender”.
- 7 June 2024
Social Media: “Burn” Someone, or Light the Way?
Imagine that you have a flaming torch in your hand. The fire at the end of the torch emits both heat and light. You can use this torch to set fire and burn someone or something, or you can use it to light a path in the darkness.
- 31 May 2024
Is Identity Politics Always Bad?
There are two kinds of identity politics. “Common enemy” identity politics tends towards polarisation, division and conflict, while “common humanity” identity politics tends towards social harmony. We should have more of the latter, and less of the other.
- 24 May 2024
