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I must confess that time and again I am and will be regressing back to IIT, Kgp, JEE and related topics. This is because these have formed a major part of my life in the past 3 years and continue to be so.
So what is it that I call 'Virtual Reality Kgp'?
Or to be more precise, why do I use the adjectives 'Virtual' & 'Reality' to describe Kgp?
What is 'Virtual' in Kharagpur?
Kharagpur does exist, doesn't it?
Well, Kharagpur does exist. More specifically, an IIT exists in Kharagpur. But in the eyes of the Kgpians, the world does not exist.
Nonsense??
I do not know. Whatever little I have been able to gather from my little experience in Kharagpur, what I have realise is this - Kharagpur does not (want to) know the real world outside. They have created a virtual world governed by tempo, fundas and tradition. They seem to be unaware of the fact the the government is spending crores on IITs which could well have been used for the welfare of the poor & backward.
Kya Bakwas kar raha hai?
You might feel that I am a pessimist, a sceptic, but the truth is IITians not just in Kgp are wasting away the resources that they have at their disposal. A large chunk of IITians are ending up in non-technical professions because hamne tho classes attend ki nahi thi. Hamein tho apna CV banana hai. Even if I am a 6 pointer, I will end up in a good job because 5 point someone says so.
My dear IITian, I don't think any software giant is going to recruit you because you are a good dramatist or a guitarist. Or for that matter an electronics recruiter is going to take you because you were an inter-IIT participant
No, no, no - you are getting it all wrong. I will be my own boss. I will have a start up of my own and earn crores. Very well then. How are you going to have a product without any technical skills?
I do not know why but (most) IITians have a very narrow outlook. That is why you rarely find an IITian reaching the levels that many engineers abroad do. And a big culprit here is the JEE.
Scrap the JEE
What? Why? How? Isn't it a time tested means of getting the best analytical brains in the country? Moreover, how else do you select good candidates?
Rubbish.
All JEE has done is churn out JEE problem solvers who cannot think in a straightforward and simple manner. My suggestion would be to bring in the time-tested and good old Board Exams to select the candidates. You will get more complete individuals with less people precipitating into drug addicts and alchoholics. But they won't have those analytical skills that a JEE cracker has, would they? Ask a 9 ptr or a 10 ptr in IIT what analytical skills has he used to get his grades? Hard work and smart work. Those two skills even a 95%er possesses. Moreover, the problem of the skewed gender ratio would be solved to a great extent.
Radical views?
I do not know. Most successful engineers in India are non-IITians.
Why is it so?
Because the IITs and the IITians are in a dream world of their own which I would call 'Virtual Reality'
Super hooper in Germany!
14 years ago
2 comments
This was something I had to comment on. You talked about one side of the story, I'll take up the other side.
Though your concern about the efforts of gov being wasted is completely correct, there's much more to it than what you pointed out.
My dear IITian, I don't think any software giant is going to recruit you because you are a good dramatist or a guitarist. Or for that matter an electronics recruiter is going to take you because you were an inter-IIT participant.
So well, you mean to emphasize that IITians (I'm a BITSian, but I guess we both have the same problems), should not waste time in extra curriculars and instead try and study and get a 10cg. But are you sure that will lead to a 'Good Engineer'? Isn't there much more to you than just your cgpa? Or as many would put it, Shouldn't you have a life?
Agreed, cgpa is very important. Infact wasting time in extra-curriculars is stupid when you have huge labs with shiny instruments waiting for you. But you're forgetting the purpose why music, art, dance etc came into existence! Can you imagine how mechanical you'll become if you just keep reading your textbooks? If you just try and get 10 cgpa?
It's high time students from elite institute like IITs start looking at the big picture. A lot of them have, and you find them spending more time doing what they like rather than what they 'should' be doing. And trust me, they'll certainly make a mark later. Because they're doing something that's close to their heart, something they can do 24x7 without stressing themself.
A while back, a survey by HT discussed how majority of high earning (20 Lac + p.a.) are not satisfied with their job and would prefer a job shift/reduction in timings etc. at the cost of reducing their salaries. That's the truth. They reach a stage where they wear-out, and can't take it anymore.
Personally, for me extra-curriculars have always been a stress-buster. I've sacrified my grades for them sometimes, but it's been mostly in areas I have no interest, and I disagree to study something for grades. That's exactly opposite to doing extra-curriculars for filling your resume, and I guess both shouldn't be done.
About the JEE pattern, remember that JEE provides a uniform platform for evaluation. People in Chennai aren't smarter, they just get more Board marks because the way they're graded there is not as strict as CBSE. So how would you bridge the non-uniform grading? (Also, 2 teachers will never grade a paper in exactly the same manner!)
Pretty long reply, eh? I've written a really extremist view, just to show the contrast in your thoughts & mine. But I guess the right way is to have a bit of both.
Keep Posting!
Your points have been taken. A few counterpoints/comments though:
1. I do not know if most people see extra academic activities in the same light as a few fortunate like yourself do. The big question is - are extra academic activities a mere add-ons to your CV or is it because you are truly and genuinely interested in them. In fact many of these activities become a burden contrary to being 'stress busters'.
2. I never said that one has to take the percentage as the criterion to select candidates in Engineering Colleges in India. All I said was - have the Board Exams as the basis. You could implement it in many ways. For example, one might have 50 top candidates of each state Board(plus or minus depending on the state population etc.) & 2000 or so from CBSE & ICSE boards. The subjective element needs to be there in the exam. It would decrease the luck factor. Engineers should not be mere problem solvers or choice eliminators. They are people with ideas. And subjective papers bring that out in a candidate.
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