School-related blogs

As part of the grade from my Issues in Asian Business course, I have to write a blog post about each of our seven visits. "No need to worry, only 250 words or so," was the remark when people groaned in response. But why the annoyance?

Doing the maths, a grade based on 7 short texts essentially paraphrasing what we were told at the visits is hardly too much to ask of top undergraduate students. And perhaps this is the point. When grading on a curve, how do you distinguish yourself from other bright people in so few words? With the blog-format, any previous notion of what constitutes good writing goes out the window. We even have to comment on other's blogs (also a part of the grade). The whole exercise seems retarded, and I have no clue what I can learn from this.

Unless...

I often toy with the idea that my professors are so intellectually superior we just cannot perceive it: They just took 45 of the most grade-competitive people in undergraduate business and gave them a task which has no obvious correct solution. Add into the mix that people can criticize what you say (and get points for doing it), but you can appear overly aggressive in ridiculing others, they essentially created a game which could breed alliances, deceit and paranoia. They then made the deadline June 10th so everybody can get caught up in the uncertainty for over 2 weeks. Finally, they post the whole thing online, sit back, and watch the fireworks begin.

Well played Sir.

To those who want to watch (or just really like Singaporean companies), here is the link: http://globestudytrip2012.blogspot.com/