Education as the change maker

When the four tiger economies of Taiwan,Singapore,Hong Kong and South Korea rose to catch up with the developed economies in term of GDP ,they were able to raise the living standard of the people through a strong work ethic,a competitive spirit and the stress on an education system that was rigorously based on meritocracy.
 What all of them shared was a culture based on Confucian ethics of teamwork,strong work ethic and meritocracy.People got to the top not through connections or elite family background but in achieving good performance in a standardized exam.That explains the  stressful environment of academic studies in these Asian families as it was the yardstick to measure success in career and ability to get into the civil service or highly paid jobs in the private sector.
     For many are the unseen sacrifices of parents coaching children in their homework or long hours spent sacrificing personal pleasures to send children for music ,art,dance or tuition classes.Many migrant families that left their motherland to seek greener pastures in foreign countries were trying to escape war,food famines and natural disasters in their villages.Being illiterate or with very little educational opportunities,they remembered that perseverance and hard work ethic,pooling of financial resources from relative and community and mutual co dependence pulled themselves up the socio-economic ladder not through government handouts or special privileges but through sheer meritocracy and hard work.So when they made their fortune,they gave back to the community through setting up welfare institutes to aid the old,sick and poor.many tycoons pooled resources to set up hospitals,banks and even schools and university.Tan Kah Kee donated a lot to setting up Nanyang University and in his native XiaMen.
    I think the same mentality exist in Japanese migrants who migrated to Hawaii and the Latin American countries due to hardship in their motherland.The same ethic of adaptability,resilience and hard work ethic is passed on through the generations.
Education became the tool for upward socio-economic mobility not possible in their own motherland due to overpopulation and famines.