Can Singapore’s education system take ‘late bloomers’? Harvard speech reignites debate

When Singaporean Joel Tan stood before fellow Harvard-medical-school" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="3124" data-entity-type="organization">Harvard Medical School PhD graduates recently, he recalled how the chance to study biology had once seemed unrealistic because he was told his grades were not good enough.“I often think about how much of my life depended on someone, somewhere, deciding that my past performance did not have to define my future potential,” said Tan, who delivered the student address at the Harvard-medical-school" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="3124" data-entity-type="organization">Harvard Medical School-affiliated PhD programmes’ hooding ceremony on May 28.“Someone opened the door that had been closed to me, and because of that I eventually found my way here to Harvard … being here is an incredible privilege, but it’s also a reminder that talent is everywhere, opportunity is not,” he added.