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Population
SINGAPORE(Reuters)(Feb. 8, 1984)
Singapore is working out a new family planning program which sets double standards based on the genetic theory that children borm to scholars g\have a better chance of growing up to be good, talented citizens. Graduates and professionals will be told to go forth and multiply. The less educated will be urged to have no more than two children.
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has thrown his full weight behind the controversial program. Lee and his deputy, Goh Keng Swee, say it is wrong for highly educated women to remain single and waste their genes, robbing the state of a talented generation vital to maintain the island's prosperity. It will be equally wrong for the less educated to spread their genes without restraint, which Lee and Goh are convinced will lower the island's high standards. An official spokesman said that for the less academically inclined, the lessage will remain the same - two is enough.
The Singapore Family Planning and Population Board has taken down posters from a previous campaign which advocated two children per family and had slogan such as Girl or Boy, Two is Enough and The More You Have, The Less They Get. The offical spokesman said a fresh dual-message campaign with slogans proclaiming the virtues of the new philosophy will be launched soon.
The message will be taken to schools, colleges and universities. Family Planning Board members will lecture students on "Responsible Love", marriage and parenthood. For bright students who go on to universities plus other scholars and professionals, the stress will be on the role of the woman as a homemaker. They will be told the importance of balancing career with being a good mother. The stress will also be on shared responsibility of husband and wife in raising children.
Many highly educated women have challenged the official view that they could produce more babies and run good homes while keeping their jobs. Lee and Goh are concerned that Singapore's birth pattern has turned lopsided with less-educated women producing twice as many babies as those with a good education. If persuasion does not work, they will achieve their goal through incentives and disincentives.
The Government announced that well-educated mothers will have priority in enrolling thier children in the best schools. The less educated women who agree to sterilization after their first or second child, will have next preference. Official sources said plans were afoot to induce well-educated women to marry and reproduce rather than remain single. Singapore's state-owned television is planning to run a drama series to show that unmarried women are incomplete and their lives are void.
