A5,C1

A
S/CT modules were consis-
tently ranked as the Worst
5 First Impressions that student
have in SMU.
Many students feel that the two
modules add little value to their
overall curriciculum. CT in par-
ticular has a bad reputation for
being a waste of time and focus-
ing more on class participation
then instilling creativity. This
could be a consequence of the
modules central tenet that cre-
ativity is relative, and the reason
why any and all verbal quips are
given merit regardless of wheth-
er or not they are constructive
contributions. As one student
puts it, CT quickly becomes a
battle for class participation,
with TAs just ticking names of
people who spoke up.
AS is a completely different ball
game, and class participation
alone does not guarantee a good
grade. We all remember redraw-
ing arrows and redefining state-
ments that can be held to be true
or false after discussing home-
Freshman Bash
S
tudents vented that the Fresh-
man Bash organized by Biz-
com at Zouk didnt meet their
expectation. It was just another
clubbing night for many and
found the pageant long and
time-consuming. Some also
hinted that the selection crite-
ria of the pageant winners could
have been more transparent.
Even some final year students
who expressed their nostalgia
about most other school events
commented that The Freshman
Bash didnt leave an impression
on me.
Nestalgla?
F
inal year students have a
much different Fresh List as
compared to the rest of the co-
horts. For them, the first lesson
in SMU, their first project, and
first presentation appears to be
the most memorable.
Does nostalgia come into the
picture? Mohan Jeyapalan, an IS
student in his graduating year of
SMU shares his experiences over
his four years in SMU.
Mohan feels that the first few
milestones in SMU were essen-
tial in shaping one to survive
the upcoming challenge. Even
though I came from a polytech-
nic the standards of projects in
SMU were just different. It felt
more formal. However we grew
together as a team. This was just
the start point of my journey in
SMU, an indicator as to what I
was to expect in future projects.
With regards to academics,
with freshmen entering every
year, I feel that the current batch
becomes more competitive than
the previous one. He remarks,
as clich is may seem, GPA is
not the only important thing.
Instead we should be aware of
other non-academic issues; the
lack of integration between the
foreign students and local stu-
dents. He also shared his disap-
pointment of pre-planned class
participation among two peers
which they executed timely dur-
ing class.
In his emphasis of personal rela-
tionships, Mohan believes that
at the end of the day it is the
people that I have met in SMU
who will leave a life-long im-
pression on me, not very much
of the digits (GPA). My group of
friends, which we have named
as Malay, Indian and Chinese
(M.I.C.) has been there beside me
through these four years. School
would not be as fun without
them. I also found the love of my
life in SMU.
He concluded with a quote im-
parted from his favorite pro-
fessor, Mr Kirpal Singh, Fight
for the things you really want
in which Mohan explains that
fruitful outcomes can only be
achieved if you believe in your-
self.
Looking at it from an entirely
different perspective, a few stu-
dents think that it was too ex-
pensive and not worth the mon-
ey; a sophomore was tongue in
cheek about it, There are a lot
of needy people out there, who
would have done much more
with the money!
Being held on a Thursday night
was also the concern of some
SMU students - Clinston Tan
said that he did not attend espe-
cially since he had class the next
morning. Like a date, both qual-
ity and timing are essential in
holding a successful event.
work questions with other stu-
dents, only to redraw and rede-
fine the exact same questions
after even more discussions with
more students.
Unlike CT, in AS students are
given a strict set of clearly-de-
fined rubrics for coursework.
But like creativity, at times even
logic seems perplexingly subjec-
tive. In addition, with its weekly
assignments, presentations and
exams, the AS module is decid-
edly more intense, and com-
plaints abound that it takes up
too much time and effort for just
a half CU.
Perhaps the reason why SMU
students share a love-hate re-
lationship with AS and CT is
because we come from a strin-
gently grade-oriented education
system, and the well-rounded-
ness that these modules aim to
inculcate in us jars with our ac-
ademic sensitivities. However,
love them or hate them, these
two modules are here to stay and
leave their impression on suc-
cessive generations of SMU stu-
dents.
5hebana Nadaraja belleves that mlsslng the geed eld
days ls streng fer nal year students
1he bark 5lde
A5,C1 classes and Freshman Bash end u regularly en the
net-se-fresh llst. 5enthll 5ukumar and Aashna Nasta reert.
1hls was just the start elnt
ef my jeurney ln 5MU, an ln-
dlcater as te what l was te
exect ln future rejects.
- Mohan Jeyapalan
(pictured), year 4
Cover Story Cover Story
The BLUe AND GOLD 18