FAQ

Guide to ‘SMU!’

What the hell is ‘SMU!’?

‘SMU!’, short for ‘Stop Manufacturing Us!’, is, on the outset, an online journal that publishes well-researched articles about the Education Culture. Read the About Us section for further details about our initiative.

Did I just hear you say “Education Culture”?

Yes, education culture is a term we have created to pertain the comprehensive culture of education which includes the way the education system is designed to work, the way people think about education, their mindsets and prioritization and every other attribute that influences the education of an individual.

Ok, now, why the hell is ‘SMU!’?

As conveyed by our motto ‘Towards Stirring a Revolution in Education!’, our primary objective is to bring mass scale educational revolution that would lead to the liberation of young minds from the clutches of poor quality of and poor philosophy behind education. This online presence could be considered the first phase of this larger goal.

How do you intend to do that?

We understand that it is not possible to solve a problem, or in our case, stir a revolution, without clearly understanding the intricacies the issue at hand possesses. Therefore, as phase one in our objective, we strive to enlighten everyone with the knowledge of the intricacies of the various maladies that the education culture possesses.

Who is behind ‘SMU!’?

Behind ‘SMU!’ is a growing group of eager young minds, mostly students, whose actions are inspired by their feeling that they have been cheated by the education culture and their eagerness to do something about it.

Who’re you yelling at?

You mean, who’re we commanding to ‘Stop Manufacturing Us!’? At everyone who constitutes the educational make up of a student right from the parents, the teachers/professors, the administrators, the policy makers, the politicians and yes, even ourselves.

Who can write for ‘SMU!’?

At ‘SMU!’, quality is our mantra. We are constantly in search of people who need not necessarily have educational qualifications to prove that they’re journalists or investigators, but have the enthusiasm and ability to carry out our projects that involve a lot of intensive research, investigation, analysis and reflection. Anyone who has the interest, self-confidence in abilities and wish to gain experience in utilizing their intellectual abilities can contact the Executive Editor with their request.

Are the articles on ‘SMU!’ the opinions of ‘SMU!’?

No. As such, ‘SMU!’ adheres to very few opinions. The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors alone and regardless of whether or not it complies with ‘SMU!’ policies, they will be published since the spirit of ‘SMU!’ is to be as egalitarian as possible as long as the views expressed through the articles are sensible, of admirable quality and worth reading.

It’s funny how we always come up with flaws relating to the education system/culture. I am part of the education culture you so diabolically oppose and I have been part of many intellectually stimulating discussions regarding the same but I fail to understand how bad the system actually is. In other words, I don’t see what your problem is with our education system!

Well, no it’s not funny at all. There are so many flaws that we don’t even know where to begin! The fundamental purpose of education is to create whole, emotionally, intellectually and morally independent human beings who are capable of taking care of themselves and are well equipped to serve the society if they so wish. But the mass formal schooling in the name of education uses a one-size-fits-all approach whose design aims to prune young individuals of their uniqueness and individuality to turn them into employable “Human resource” or “workforce” for the sake of certitude in sustenance of economic growth. In this so called ‘Education’, the individual interests and desires are consumed by the larger agenda of mass formal schooling. That’s the primary conceptual flaw in our education system. The notion that this type of education is primarily centered around the welfare of the students is only a myth. The rest of the perceived flaws such as lack of quality and such are only inefficiencies in its implementation.

This is crap, you can’t do anything to change the way things work!

We’re heard this one before. Well, hello Mr. Cynic, our recipe is a revolution in education and a revolution cannot happen without mass awareness of the diabolic misplacement of the conceptual foundation of the purpose of education. This is why we consider ‘SMU!’ as the first step in creating a revolution.

What is the pipeline and how can I contribute towards the content of 'SMU!'?

The pipeline is nothing but a list of project proposals yet to be executed by the team of writers at ‘SMU!’ This document was previously private to the team but now has been made public so that anyone willing and capable can go through it and contribute to the knowledge base that ‘SMU!’ is trying to create by undertaking any of the listed projects that interests them. For more details regarding how you can contribute towards the 'SMU!' content, visit Join Us

I'm really interested in helping this initiative but I can't really join your teams. How can I help?

We're glad that you're interested to help. The most important thing you can do for us, if you can't directly contribute towards the content, is spread the message. Just tell your friends about us and talk to them about the issues you discuss here. For this, we have a tool that could spread the message to all your friends - Go to the home page and scroll down to the bottom and click on the 'Tell a Friend' button. You can use this tool to let all your contacts know about us and that would be greatly appreciated. Remember that you can select only 25 recipients per attempt. So use multiple attempts to send invites to all your contacts.

For those readers who are willing to contribute to our initiative monetarily, we wholeheartedly welcome donations. You'll see the option to make donations at the right bottom side of this page.