The SMU Culture

As usual, I headed to school to get an early start to my day (this somehow serves to wake me up a bit), while at the same time checking my often overloaded email. This takes me back to the days back in Squadron where i was often hit by swarms of emails coming from all the wierdest places.

Anyways, I noticed a school-published bulletin lying on the table where I was sitting. The headline read: Are We Losing the SMU Culture? It was a nice, pretty long article that arrested many issues with the school's culture. Some passage that caught my eye were "the culture has shifted towards a mugger-culture", "SMU could be a victim of her own success".

But the final word summarized the whole article: "Let's look at ourselves and see what we want. ultimately we are responsible for our own actions - not our parents, not our institution and not our friends.

Indeed, we hold the power of changing our destiny. We are what we decide to be. And so, in the flight to the top of the ladder, we have turned to mugging in order to reach that height. And at what cost? Days pass at breakneck speed (except during classes) and greetings are exchanged in a few seconds. Only a few stop to exchange that wee bit more words as we zoom off to our next destination.

What then is the SMU Culture? Is there really a culture to speak of? Or perhaps that "Happening" Label that was pasted on was just the mark of a school near Clark Quay and normal university people who club anyway? I don't really see a culture anymore.

But I do see a lot of drive in all our students. Indeed, we are groomed to be successful. We are groomed to pursue everything under the sun and are still expected to do well. We are groomed to network, to communicate, to plan, to speak and to be different. And so we are. Different. And I am proud of it.

Must a school have a culture? I'm not too sure. But I am proud of the fact that we as SMU students have the capability and drive to succeed in life. Let us not forget the true identity of the SMU Student: Someone who will thrive in an organizational and management setting. Someone who charges on despite the fatigue and workload, yet still manages to find time to engage in other meaningful activities.

I still love my school.

(This post was dated 21 Jan 2008)