Monday, February 1, 2010

Ijj aal well?

Close your eyes. Visualize your high school days. Remember the tutions, the homework and they late night studying. Now gently, whisper ... IIT

IIT. Dreams. Aspirations. Thrill. Enthusiasm. Thirst for knowledge, the strife for perfection and the leap of achievement.

And four years down the line, the adjectives change deceptively. Disillusionment. Dissatisfaction. Frustration. Aversion to books, antagonistic towards labs, antipathy to education and the anathema that is college life. What went wrong? What indeed went so wrong in so short a time?

Being on the student side of the stile of educational hierarchy, I have a tendency to speak for those among whom I stand. Granted, we are no less. IIT'ians and rockets are known to work only when their a**es are on fire. We don't study, we plagiarize projects, bunk classes even at high noon and sleep through labs. Surely there could not have been a more unruly and indisciplined lot than us. We are the paragon of bohemianism, irreverence personified and the epitomes of inconsistency.

But did they expect anything else? When they hand-picked 5000 of India's 5-lakh strong high-school population, did they expect us to be "normal"? Would an 18 year old boy prefer to go to a class or to the nearest fast food joint? Would a 19 year old girl prefer to measure titre values or watch the sunset hand-in-hand with her boyfriend? Would a young innovator rather slog over bookish formulae after a tiresome night of trying to perfect his automated door-lock than sleep?
Why were we expected to be so conventional after the selection procedure so meticulously filtered out only the mavericks?

Well, we were ready to go through that too. If I remember correctly, not a SINGLE student had bunked any class on the first day he came to IIT. Nobody had failed to try his/her level best to blaze through the first mid-semester examination at IIT. Nobody had manipulated lab results the first day they tried their hands at something in the lab. We were ready. Ready to give our best shot. Our most sincere hard work.

But they destroyed that too. They were so bad at what they were supposed to do, that within a matter of a couple of weeks they convinced people it was not worthwhile going to classes. They lost the most dedicated and sincere audience they could ever have by their extravagantly limpid demonstration of the fact that they themselves did NOT LOVE what they were doing, and that they were MISERABLE with their own lives. They made it clear that the objective of engineering was to write and solve equations, often without bothering about what they really meant or how they could be put to some practical use. They impressed upon us that lab experiments HAD TO give the same results that they expected, because they were not smart enough to explain what went wrong. Your answers had to be what "pleased" their aesthetic sense, else it was wrong. And when little boys and girls wept behind closed doors in their rooms after the mid-semester massacre, nobody came to tell them that there was always a second time. Or a third or fourth. The judgement had been taken. In a matter of 2 months, you went from being an IITian to a nobody. And the tag stuck on. It just went on, education for the sake of filling your notebooks.

The poison thus insinuated spread like wild conflagration. The smartest minds of the nation broke down under the curse of neglect, misjudgment and plebeian channelization. Friends rifted into "nerds" and "dudes" (which was primarily anchored around your CPI). The hurt sentiments of snuffed out hope resorted to extra academics, more often to feel the recognition, sense of achievement and success which they had been deprived of, than for the true love of it. But being exceptionally brilliant, they excelled at that too. They became extraordinary sportsmen, singers, artists and dramatists, or revived the talents admonished at home and long forgotten under the onerous piles of notes that symbolizes education today. They organized the best known fests in Asia and made the whole continent shake up and take notice of IIT for reasons people really had not expected in the first place.

Surprisingly, they did not like it. They never joined in the merriment, although they were certainly not THAT old. When boys and girls shook their legs on the dance floor, they arched their eyebrows and questioned their moral standards. When youngsters ran away from mess food they barricaded the gates to tie them in. When boys turned in late for class after having spent hours trying to organize the same events for which they boasted to their peers elsewhere, they rudely turned them out for indiscipline. When students enthusiastically displayed working models, they asked for theory, and when students worked out new principles, they asked for application. The amusement went a step further when the same people who quarreled with their families every evening at home attempted to counsel those whose minds had not been clouded by age. And all their noble motives suddenly vaporized into thin air when a student died from lack of timely medical attention.

And at the end of it all, when the thoroughly demotivated and frustrated population took up jobs in finance, went to management schools and to foreign universities hoping for a more intellectually stimulating environment, they put up another laughable show of ironic chicanery. To the new entrants, they showed placement statistics - they are lucrative figures anyway. To the government and newspapers, they fretted about the lack of technical bent in the minds of the youth and the brazen craze for wealth. And to the parents, they wondered why people are in such a hurry to leave the country for good. Only deep within they knew that there was only one answer to it all, a finger pointing back at themselves.

Why was this done to us? We had come here, honestly, to learn, and to make India proud. We were methodically subdued and demoralized and discouraged in every way possible. Why were we cheated and deprived? Why was our creativity nipped in the bud? Why were the erudite forced to reduce themselves to the pedestrian?

And when next time I hear a grandiloquent speech describing how we are wasting our parent's and the taxpayer's money, how ignorant we are and how hopelessly inadequate our knowledge is compared to those who strive to maintain the "sanctity of IIT", I wish to stand up and say "You may be a great man, and I may know nothing. But I have a right to live and be happy. You have already robbed me of too much, don't you dare take this away from me too."

40 comments:

  1. IIT is all about maintaining your composure and not 'losing it'... thats what it has come to now... IIT is a major disappointment after all the hype created for IITJEE...

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  2. truly agree with you arko da....

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  3. theory versus application....the one most and continuous conflicting issue in the iit-academia..while you keep getting enough of each variety from among "them", its the students who keep getting shuttle-cocked in between...

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  4. i'd like 2 see d next post suggesting some way out of this mess....we r iitians after all...we have a solution for almost everything, weird solutions, but solutions, none the less... :)

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  5. it may be noted, while THEY continue with their folly, within a few years we shall earn their annual salary in one month. so ultimately we dont lose. we never lose. unless they go on a hunger strike for payscales ;)

    @Aritra - I get to be TA next year. Bless me that I may demonstrate how to teach to keep students glued to their seats ;)

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  6. er........ I remember being snubbed by a prof in my first sem in the chem lab, for producing a compound in the lab that was thoroughly unexpected, and thus proving that they were giving impure chemicals that were hampering results. I named the impurities, and I just got this back "Do you have a Ph.D in organic? If not just keep your damned mouth shut." :( I remember the ET lab TAs snubbing us for modifying circuits to use less wires coz they dint understnd them. And then when it came to the viva, the profs were in a hurry to prove that we dont deserve to be in IIT, come on what d u expect from a 1st yr??? I totally agree with this. All I have learnt till now is what was till class 12. I dont remember "gaining knowledge" here in IIT. Its a shame for the institution that calls itself one of the best...

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  7. This is a brilliantly written piece. I'm sure there are many IITians who have the same story, reinforcing your 'we'. It is surely sad that some of the more radical and innovative minds find themselves subordinate to those who've gotten in by sheer slogging of books, and continuing which they're more successful. What the JEE filtered out were many students brilliant enough to not be broken by the IITs. All my love for mathematics, physics, and science was crushed under the boring lectures and stifling ideologies of some very banal professors who don't deserve to teach the most brilliant minds, I say this with complete belief, the country has.

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  8. Whatever you say about IITs, I am in love with this place. I don't find a single dream that can't be chased here. You want to become a noble laureate, IITs have enough facilities, you want to be a rockstar, IIT will be there. I have visited a couple of libraries abroard (I am sure u would've also visited), I find them no match against Kgp's CL.

    Personal opinion though, I am sure many would disagree.

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  9. I think the only thing that makes this place worth a life is the colleagues you meet here, people who are actually brilliant and yet (mostly) modest, and practically "GAWDS"...IIT's hype is not about the infrastructure or professors, it's the student who make it the best... And as for infrastructure, I guess it's pretty good as far as academic part is concerned (regarding halls, maybe Arkoda will like to have another post.. :P)...But still, I completely agree with the premise of this article...

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  10. After excelling in academics and showing great leadership skills in Tech gc events and elocution and many more,I never imagined you can write so well."The next chetan bhagat is in the making"..only some more masala is needed..waiting for your first novel arko da..
    GAWD!GAWD!GAWD!

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  11. sahi hai...
    par kya apni condition itni kaharab hai kya?
    i dont think so..
    at least we are enjying our night and weekends..
    and a status of being a so called IITians.. :P

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  12. The piece is sublime.. I could empathize with almost all of it. Very powerfully and eloquently written.

    However, I would also agree with Ujjwal Kumar, cos I would not trade my days in Kgp for the world.

    The home may be broken, but the people are happy. I'm in love with this place.. if only a BTech were five years long...


    Shaurya Verma

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  13. Ujjwal's comment is appreciated. I never question the facilities we have, particularly after having seen firsthand the pathos of those just beyond the boundary of the campus. And needless to say, the aegis of our friends and companions has been the key to survival here. My premise was targeted basically at the "classroom experience" and breaking a widely believed myth beyond the hallowed portals.

    And yes, thank you all for the overwhelming response.

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  14. d scenario that has been penned down is an excellent visual of what's happenin, not only in iit, but in many esteemed institutions in d nation.wish someday someone would wake up, see, and change for d good!!!

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  15. Good post!

    In addition to this, what I would like to read are some suggestions to address these concerns. Keeping in mind, that new IIT's and IIM's are going to be established, do you think there are things we can do? I don't think its very far-fetched to assume that people at IIM's feel the same way? Only that they spend less than 2 years there.

    Just some food for thought. Good job on this post though !

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  16. this was very well written. good stuff.

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  17. Reminds me a line from Mark Twain. "I've never let my school interfere with my education." Not that, it is as easy as it is said.

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  18. First up, the post was brilliant. Every last bit.

    The comments though, often fell flat on their face. The sheer insecurity caused in so many people's treasured IITian status is quite evident - they immediately go on the defensive when the attack wasn't even in their direction. Hey no, IITs are not so bad. Fuck that. They are as bad as shown here.

    We are the most brilliant minds in the country? On what scale are we judging ourselves? Our own ...

    Students in IITs often end up having their best days here. But it's only because of the relative lack of color in the rest of their lives. We spend years studying for IITJEE, which is even worse than the portrayed education in this blog post. We go through inhuman expectations before, during, and after our IIT years. No wonder the best part of most of our lives is the years spent here.

    Peace.

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  19. Totally agree man. I would also like to bring to light the incredible amount of common courses forced upon us. A person who wants to major in computer science is being forced to study about manufacturing processes... It's just too damn stupid.

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  20. "Dont you dare take anything else from me." Absolutely perfect. IIT provides great infrastructural facilities, sadly it isnt able to provide similar quality in most of its courses, to which i dont know who is to blame. The teaching methodology is poor, and so is the question paper quality. But, at the end of it, we shouldn't care for what others think we have become, or for what others label us to be. We should try to maintain the same enthusiasm, and do what we really love to do.

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  21. Recently after the VP soap box, President of Gymkhana posed a question to the Candidates to suggest a solution to the decreasing attendance rates in classes. Of course our dear candidates came up with innovative solutions like to have late classes, re-motivating the first years who were de-motivated by the bloody seniors they have in this institution , everything good and highly POLITICAL answers. After all that is what we expect from them.

    But the truth is ; Did any of the professors in this great Institution has ever done an Introspection?...I doubt not many...

    Have they ever asked themselves why students don't turn up for my class?

    I have a professor in my department who gets an attendance rate of 16-17 students on an average out of the 18 in my class. But the usual rate of attendance in other classes are like 8-9. It is high time that professors should start thinking of what they are doing to the students in this elite Institute...

    The Dean UGS was so instrumental that every student should fill their feedback form?
    But where is the result?
    what happened to the reviews?
    what is the follow up?

    I can assure one thing...If our professors are ready to get moved, the situations in IITs would be far far different!!!

    After all it is always " As the Guru so the Shishya".

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  22. Love this post. Build-up and the end were brilliant.

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  23. Brilliantly written. I think a solution to this problem is to free up the course structure. I understand that the institute is forced to make us look like "good civil engineers" and for that we need 250 credits. But....and here's the catch. I also believe, that 4 years after a mere +2 is not enough to gauge your interests for the rest of your life. I think IITs should liberalize their course offerings. More and more options should be given. IF students take 6 courses and are interested to learn in all of them, i think things will change. Also, if a student does not want to continue a course at any date, he/she should be allowed to immediately drop it. There should be no restriction on how many credits per sem are there and dropped courses should not be backlogs as everything is optional. You want a sem break....go! Free up....liberalize...that is the way to go. Sort of on the lines of our 1991 economic reforms. I hope they finally start trusting us and our intellect.
    Show the companies that come for placement a list of courses the student has done. Let them pick. Why force us to 250 credits when we want 125...or maybe 500???

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  24. really really awesome post
    nothing i wont agree upon

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  25. Awesomely written.
    Grade: AP :P

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  26. Hey, our curriculum is the most peace amongst all engineering institutes in the world...
    2 X Semester - 4months
    1 X Summer - 3months (Foreign Intern,Training)
    1 X Winter - 1month(Mood Indigo,Winter Holiday)
    4months of break, we dont even get in any schools.

    Also the Alumni pool and contacts we have is huge and useful...
    We should be proud to be IITian.

    Just if u learn how to manage time,which is difficult with all the college Fests,dance,dram,film making,hostel institute posts,and many more clubs and activities.
    Manage this and you can manage anything (Position in firms/company/Enterprise) in your life... :D

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  27. Over-Exaggeration and blame-it-on-others attitude.
    Why cant You keep studying as You did during JEE prepration ??
    The main reason I think is that most of us are here only for fat paycheques. Why are so much xtra-curricualr activities needed in the first place !!!

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  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  29. love the way you have written this post!
    kabra craxx again!

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  30. @Author...(Sorry I don't know your name...some reply says Arko but I believe it isn't the best to get informal so soon)

    Nicely written post exposing the thoughts of an average IITian's mind which he must have come across at some point in time (mostly over sunny sessions).
    I agree with it but in bits and pieces. Its not IIT or the professors or the students or the courses or whatever you want to blame it on.

    Something is really wrong with the screening process, people who never wanted to be here are here because they never came to know what interests them (Lack of exposure and all that usual blah).
    On top of it, no one even cared to find out because we Indians work on society norms, society thinks IITians are to be worshiped - we think - "People say I am good, let me get worshiped as well, also my neighbor's brother's wife's aunt's son was in IIT and he got a 10 lakh job. If he could do it..main to bond huun."

    With this starts the slogging and the expectations. Obviously this place is not utopia where everyone gets what they wished for. When the motive is so superficial what do you expect the result to be?

    In a nutshell, people who are suited for IIT love it, its courses, professors and everything about academics and people who are not, like everything else and write these blog posts and replies.

    @Excited-to-be-alive... (still you are so frustrated...weird)

    Bhai mere, you love science and engineering which doesn't mean everyone else does it too. We studied for JEE because of the aforementioned reasons, in understandable language - lack of explored options.


    @NA...

    I hate losers who can't take things in the light it should be taken and then go Oh-look-at-me-I-am-so-smart-because-I can-pwn-anyone.
    And how wannabe are you? You blame him for the use of incomprehensible language then start off with you "immaculate" bullshit.
    Last thing, there are people better than you at a lot things probably at writing English as well, ACCEPT it.

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  31. FACT! AGREED! The truth that's not bieng told, i dont know why cant media take up this issue and show the facts rather than figures. For once for god's sake

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  32. thanking everyone for sharing your opinions. it was great discussing such a pressing issue (at least I think so) with people all over India. thanks again

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  33. @kritin there are institutions in this world which work the way you said , i mean they give liberty to students ,the problem is this curriculum it is made for people who don think that they are not missing something in their life by not going to a movie or mall etc but; not for normal people like me and you who wud like to be a engineer, wud love our work provided given some liberty .

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  34. what a post.... its very true.... feelings of most of the IITians penned down on a single post..

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  35. Agree.. But see, there is the catch..
    If all of these were true, we wouldn't have mind to get into IITs in the first place.
    In fact, I had a similar conversation with a prof over this issue. She said, "True, we are not on the right track academically. But you see, IITians have to keep trying. 90% of the IITians, the last big thing in life they did was to clear JEE. The other 10% give IIT the status it has.. "
    That's the key, I believe, keep trying, till the time, we can improve the system, just keep trying.

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  36. *read: we wouldn't have wanted to get into IITs in the first place..

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  37. Ok. I must admit, this piece is well written. Sent to me by an IIT Faculty, no less.. so don't say we dont take notice...we do! So..... can we work together on solutions beyond rhetoric? I know I became a teacher because as a student I said I WOULD CHANGE THINGS. I quit when I found out that change is not as easy as one thinks. Sure I can manage to get good feedback, get some things done, but how can we change in order to recognize that the whole landscape of learning has changed. Yes I have seen impressive presentations on that too. I struggle on in search of elusive answers. But as far as questions go...this is as good as it gets.

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