***
Popagandhi on SMU:
"When I wasn’t being amused or upset I spent my time hovering between being unimpressed and uninterested. I had my reasons; reasons I still believe justified, at least in my experience as a Bachelor of Social Science student within a management-oriented university (I wish this was
satire but it’s such a true picture of what ‘university life’ was for me).It was all about the people. Where my education failed to stimulate me intellectually, passed off mind-numbing banter for participation and speaking-up-ness, rewarded the tyranny of mediocre majorities (group projects for every single course?), and pretended GPA numbers, salary scales and the prestige of multi-nationals was the success to aspire towards, in running away from it I also got to meet a stunning number of amazing people who are now friends for life...
SMU=endless projects, endless mugging... the demographics of the student population moved towards absorbing increasing amounts of academically outstanding but rather… different (in the worst way possible)... students... in the end it wasn’t about how much I hated the school (a lot), how much I reviled the overwhelming institutionalized corporate culture of slavish overachieving for the sake of your CV...
People there who, ultimately, changed me. Who, beyond the glossy Russell Wong photographs in our posters, beyond the cliché about how ‘different’ we are, touched my life in some way—by how different they turned out to be. Without ever having to proclaim it...
The place was, at one time, a gathering ground for a disproportionate number of dreamers and achievers before we lost the plot. It let me meet young people who dreamed, dreamers who dared put their money where their mouths were, and their lives where their convictions laid...
The only perk at SMU: 30% off all beers at Ice Cold Beer if you show your matriculation card"
the mrbrown show: the right stuff:
"I thought this is an institution of learning"
"Yes, learning is important. But, getting a high-paying job is even more important. You are more than stuff learners. You are job-seekers. Nono, not even that. You are pay-getters. Nono, high pay-getters. That's right. More than head-turners"
"We are cartwheel turners"
"Good, you are getting it"