The obsession with staying on track is holding Singapore students back

Author

Kenneth T. GOH, Singapore Management UniversityFollow

Publication Type

News Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

10-2025

Abstract

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship (Education) and Academic Director of SMU’s Business Families Institute Kenneth Goh, reflected on a former student who built a successful e-commerce business while studying, using his story to challenge Singapore’s “linear progression fallacy”. He argued that the education system reinforces this narrow view and stressed the need to value adaptability, experimentation, and creativity over rigid achievement. He called for reforms, concluding that Singapore should nurture a generation that values exploration and flexibility over simply staying “on track.”

Keywords

education, sports, entrepreneurship

Discipline

Asian Studies | Education | Education Policy

Research Areas

Strategy and Organisation

Publication

Straits Times

First Page

1

Last Page

2

ISSN

1692-9344

Publisher

Singapore Press holdings

Citation

GOH, Kenneth T.. The obsession with staying on track is holding Singapore students back. (2025). Straits Times. 1-2.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7874

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.