[mcpie]

You misunderstood the argument.

Finland has a merit-based system just like Singapore. And Singapore has, just like Finland, made a concerted effort to provide equal access to education to all its citizens.

The argument is not to drop merit-based tests and chances based on merit. Nobody is arguing that.

The argument is that society as a whole should focus on providing equal access and chance to citizens (in this context children that go to school/university).

So whilst Singaporean education certainly is far more focussed on rote learning and the typical 'Asian Tiger' approach to labor, the system built around those approaches is very 'euro-socialist', if you will: equal access for everyone.