SINGAPORE ¨C Singaporean Carmen Kok regrets that she never made it to university. She¡¯s not letting her daughter make the same mistake, even if she has to send her abroad to get a place.
¡°You can¡¯t rise up in Singapore without a degree,¡± said Kok, 47, who plans to spend three times what she makes in a year as a hairdresser to send her daughter to college in South Korea. ¡°She may be able to get a job if she doesn¡¯t go to university, but she can get a higher salary if she goes.¡±
Singapore¡¯s Tiger moms are becoming a headache for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is trying to persuade the population that they don¡¯t need to go to university to have a good career. After a clampdown on immigration and a slowdown in the economy, he needs fewer graduates and more workers to fill the shipyards, factory floors and hotel desks that keep the country going.
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