While a number of other major players fell by the wayside around 1923, and Tan's own company was critically injured, he stuck by his determination to use his factory as a school of sorts to train Singaporean Chinese in the rubber industry.
雖然 1923 年前後十幾位元老的出走，使陳嘉庚公司元氣大傷，但並沒有違背他「工廠如師校」、培養橡膠產業華僑人才的初衷。