Meritocracy and its toll on our students

In a commentary, SMU Professor Emeritus of Strategic Management (Practice) Pang Eng Fong shared the findings from more than 300 submissions that SMU business undergraduates had written for a capstone class in their final year. The students had a choice of writing on any topic, including introspecting about their life in and beyond SMU. A collection of selected essays, published in two volumes – Making Sense Of Life (2017) and Still Making Sense Of Life (2018) – largely reflected the students’ opinions of the positive role that SMU (and other universities) had played in social mobility in Singapore and how certain distinctive aspects of their SMU education had contributed to their personal and professional development and career goals.