DSC00753, originally uploaded by theunofficialngeeannweblog.
I had a chance during the Open House to sneak into one of the campus tours going around the School of Film Media Studies.
I’ve always been cynical about this school considering their reputation of churning out haughty pretentious people who are adept at playing the office politics or in this case, school politics game. They also have been described as being fiercely nonchalant about everyone else, choosing to think they are the elite of the school.
I now fully understand how this mentality comes about. Media is huge, no matter how controlled and limiting it is in our country. To be in a place where mainstream media is produced to disseminate to the general population just makes you feel so special and famous.
Of course, its not that it actually happens here, but the general idea of the magnitude of the things that will be taught and possibly applied to a career in media is enough to make anyone want to come into this course.
Still, be forewarned that there are quirks in this course. I”ve been told on numerous occasions by the students in the course themselves that, “Either you get together with someone, or you turn gay.” or that the course is a perfect simulation of how it is like in the industry, with the numerous limitations on the content you can produce and the things you can actually do on some of their aging hardware.
why, gizzy, why?
By: anonymous coward on January 20, 2008
at 12:15 am
When you mean aging hardware are you talking about media equipment or having to suck up to a boss?
By: sieteocho on January 23, 2008
at 6:07 am
no pun intended. that be the equipment.
By: fgb on January 23, 2008
at 12:00 pm
i’m sorry you hated the tour at fms. but still, your generalisation and stereotyping of mcm students is downright insulting.
By: tsk on January 24, 2008
at 12:47 pm
i believe every school has its stereotype- developed from what other faculties’ students perceive them to be.
In this case, you have brought up an uncontested argument on media students. I think it’ll only balance the picture to provide a different perspective based on what I know of the media industry/students in ngee ann.
First, while you mentioned that students put on airs and are as superficial as 46DD sili-cones, you seem to ignore the fact that media students are generally able to express their flair in words or art/design/film.
This is in contrary to the huge majority of the student population who have a horridly mediocre mindset towards communicating ideas with their sub-standard language, levels of which they are reluctant to improve- hence they probably see media student’s as being stuck-up due to their flair of expression.
Moreover, because it is a relatively more competitive environment in the media industry, people learn to play their PR cards right- a skill that’s needed in any industry. and on top of that, they push themselves further if they want to succeed unlike the sloth of some other students. Just check out the number of repeat-students for each course to know.
Call it ‘kissing ass’ as you may, as per your earlier post, but at the end of the day, this is how it’s going down in the real world. Adults would call it networking, and knowing the right people for you to capitalize on resources.
Secondly, I disagree with the mentality of elitism stemming from the fact that media is one of the greatest outreach mechanisms in a society. Do listen to your argument, dear sir, and you will realize that you sound as if it were a desperate attempt to attribute their mentality to some thing totally unrelated. Again, to enforce my earlier point, the communication breakdown – and hence perceived arrogance- is a product of others’ lack of communication skills. Mass Commers do have friends outside mcm from other courses, all of which do not belong to the mediocre language crowd.
Lastly, you have also failed to acknowledge that media courses do have relatively higher entry requirements and course work demands that other faculties’ students may be deluded about; and there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling good about one’s personal achievements.
Even if the media students had cultures that reflect that of the industry outside, that is exactly what school’s train them for- to juggle professionalism with certain unspoken rules of the industry. same goes for engineering, early childhood, IT etc. Again, your argument falls flat on its face.
So in a walnut shell, fgb, your argument has ignored 3 major keypoints that made you shoot yourself in the foot:
1) The cause for the perceived elitism being communication breakdown w/ the majority student body
2) The fact that school IS supposed to train you about your industry’s work culture and ethics, on top of theoretical knowledge
3) Media students are trained to network better than most.
Amen.
brainiac wong
By: brainiac wong on January 24, 2008
at 8:45 pm
hey you screeen comments?????
By: brainiac wong on January 24, 2008
at 8:49 pm
Mass communication students have a flair for expressing themselves? I suppose so, that’s what they are trained for anyway. But tell me, why should people get jealous over this?
Okay, so the new word for “kissing ass” is called “netoworking”, but calling it another name doesn’t mean people should do it. Hitler killed jews, and called it “racial purification.”
Purification his ass. 4 000 000 people died.
So I take it students in mass communications “network” a lot?
Quote: “Mass Commers do have friends outside mcm from other courses, all of which do not belong to the mediocre language crowd.”
Does anyone detect a teeny weeny bit of elitism?
Yep that’s nothing wrong in feeling good about one’s own achievements. Just don’t take it too far yeah?
Just because the outside industry is like that, doesn’t make the bitching and backstabbing of mass comm students any more right. There could be a “School of assasination and murder”, and there could be careers to assasinate anyone, be it Lee Kuan Yew or Osama bin Laden, but that doesn’t mean killing is the right thing to do.
May God forgive me.
TDA
By: TDA on March 27, 2008
at 2:51 pm
Haiya. all you mass commers. Look at all your stupid lengthy comments. Take a hint from your senior and mass comm alumni: Don’t bother.
You learn in mass comm that you’re supposed to be unbiased and as impartial as you can in your article. But at the same time, you also know that writing a perfectly impartial article is not as easy as it looks to be. Regardless, your own opinions will almost always leak into an article. At least a tiny smidgen of it.
And you also know that in new media (internet included), that people will put their opinions on their blogs. And this is what it is. An OPINION. on a BLOG.
Do you feel the need to justify yourself to EVERY SINGLE BLOG which has an article saying “Mass commers are an elitist and arrogant bunch”?
Are you elitist and arrogant?
If no, then why are you being so defensive?
If you’re not one of those people they’re blogging about, why bother? If you look around at your mass comm peers, you will know that elitism and arrogance DO exist to a very large degree in the mass comm culture. And you also know that wherever you are, there will be stereotyping and generalising.
So technically, they’re not wrong to say that mass commers are arrogant and “yaya” because, lets face it, we are. We crack jokes at the expense of the engineering and business students and laugh at their inability to express themselves verbally the way that we can.
But instead of getting all worked up about a bunch of words on a laptop screen, why dont you actually DO something and be one of the few mass commers who BOTHER to get to know these engineering students and business students. Believe me, there are true friends to be found outside the walls of the FMS building. In fact, a number significantly greater than the friends you have found in mass comm.
So instead of making such a big ruckus here trying to get your point across with big multi-syllabic words. Get off your bloody ass and DO something.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
By: cai on April 19, 2008
at 1:59 pm