DOI 10.1007/s10671-005-5692-8 Educational Research for Policy and Practice (2006) 5:15–31 © Springer 2006 Racialised Education in Singapore Michael D. Barr School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia QLD 4072, Australia E-mail: m.barr@uq.edu.au Abstract The Singapore education system plays a central role in the mythology of the young country’s nation building project. The education system is portrayed as the cradle of Singapore’s multiracialism, fostering racial harmony and understanding. Yet this historical study of primary school English textbooks from the 1970s to the present reveals that since the beginning of the 1980s they have been systemically designed in such a way that they evoke high levels of racial consciousness, and at their worst have displayed a pro-Chinese bias that has deprived non-Chinese children of inspiring role models. This study helps to explain the results of recent sociological research that has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the Singapore education system as an instrument for promoting racial harmony. Key Words: English textbooks, ethnicity, multiracialism, pedagogy, primary school, race, racism, Singapore, stereotyping, teaching English Introduction Singapore’s national ideology is based on a small collection of central con- ceptual elements. Two of these are meritocratic elitism and multiracialism. The myths of meritocracy and multiracialism enjoy a truly symbiotic rela- tionship, between them emphasising the ‘fairness’ of the Singapore system and ‘explaining’ the subordinate role of the non-Chinese minority races (Barr & Low, 2005; Moore, 2000; Rahim, 1998). At the same time they claim to guarantee to the minorities that they enjoy full status as mem- bers of the nation-building project (Teo, 2001; Yaacob, 2003). Such myths are very important in a society where people’s ethnic identity is a central element of identity, and where large ethnic minorities (mainly Malays and Indians) make up 23% of the population (Singapore Infomap, 2005), and lag behind the majority Chinese in all areas of life: politics, income, edu- cation and language dominance.