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

When Singaporean Joel Tan stood before fellow 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-affiliated PhD programmes’ hooding ceremony on May...