Education and state formation reconsidered: Chinese school identity in postwar Singapore

Abstract

Using the historical case of state regulation of Chinese school identity in Singapore from 1945 to 1965, this chapter demonstrates the dialectical relation between state formation and education. In this chapter, I consider state formation as the historical trajectory through which a governing regime builds or consolidates its dominance. It entails the tasks of cultivating national identity, advancing social and national integration, winning support from the subordinated, and outmaneuvering antagonistic forces.1 State formation is by no means a unitary project, because the ruling authorities, constantly under pressure from multiple fronts, have to deal with many contradictory demands. There is no guarantee that the ruling regime can handle the conflicting challenges of state formation simultaneously and smoothly.2 As a result, state hegemonic strategy around schooling, as with state policies in other areas, always brings about contradictory results as far as state formation is concerned. Hegemonic strategies may help the ruling authorities to cope with some crucial challenges of state building, but may, at the same time, leave some important problems of education unresolved. To prevent those unmet demands from endangering their dominant position, the ruling authorities always need to adjust their strategies or bring in auxiliary tactics for additional rounds of intervention. Because of this contradictory nature, state building is an ongoing process of struggle, and the relations between education and state formation are always reciprocal and dynamic.