excellence. Hence, children are pressured by their parents to be kiasu in order to be high scorers. For example, in 2014, the Singapore Department of Statics found that almost S$1.1 billion was collectively spent on external tuition classes by parents every year to ensure that their children would fare better than other students. Moreover, a study in 1992 indicated that the percentage of students receiving private tuition rose from 19% in the early 1980s, to 32% by the 1990s. Parents would send their children of preschool age to enrichment classes as well, to provide them with a head-start against other students. Parents have also taken great measures to ensure that their children go to more reputable schools, such as by joining churches affiliated with the schools, donating large amounts to the schools, and lying about their home addresses. For example, in 2015, a couple provided a falsified home address that was 1km away from the school to secure a position for their child during Phase 2C of the Primary 1 registration exercise, which gave spaces to children who lived close to the school. Queuing culture Kiasuism also plays a primary role in Singapore’s queueing culture. A notable example of this queuing culture is seen from the “Hello Kitty fever” in 2019. When McDonald’s launched a limited edition carrier Hello Kitty, an infamous Japanese fictional character, Singaporeans began to queue hours before the launch to be one of the first to get a carrier. To get around the limit of two carriers per transaction, some Singaporeans joined the queue a second time to purchase more of the good. According to interviews by The New Paper, customers revealed that they were unsure of what to do with the carrier after their purchase. Others were selling the carriers for more than five times the original price on Carousell, an online community marketplace. Queuing culture highlights how kiasuism, particularly kiasu-negative tactics, has become a cultural norm in Singapore. An individual would get into a random queue they notice because the kiasu mindset ingrained within Singaporeans will convince them that the queue is for something valuable. Kiasuism makes people idly stand in lines just because they want to fit into the status quo and not lose out in what they perceive as an opportunity. In popular works “Kiasu” has also found itself used in popular Singaporean works, such as in its usage of the 1987