While researching for lecture slides (yes we work even on weekends!), I came upon a piece of history which left me with a feeling of distaste.

"The results of the 1980 census showed that the better-educated women were not replacing themselves while the lower educated “over-reproduced”. The better-educated women were also more likely to remain single. Then Prime Minister, (Now Minister Mentor) Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was as concerned about the quality of the population as the quantity, and the Graduate Mother Scheme was introduced in 1984. The scheme provided direct financial benefits and special school enrollment privileges for graduate mothers having more than two children. It also offered financial and other benefits for the voluntary sterilization of women with little education who had at least one child and whose total household income fell below a certain level."

Fortunately, the second generation of PAP leaders did not share this viewpoint and in mid-1995, the Graduate Mother Scheme was withdrawn.