Last week has been pretty intense when you look at the events.
- If you take the technical scene, there was the whole Steve Job / Dennis Ritchie (known only to a miniscule minority) condolence + talk of Siri etc.
- In India, we had the political scene of split (almost) unfolding in what was expected to be an "non-political" group ie. the Team against corruption.
- Locally, in Bangalore, it was the time for an ex-chief minister to be placed under judicial custody !!!
Through all this, one particular debate ie. NRN Murthy's comment on the IIT students .vs. Chetan Bhagat's retort continues to rage. Every other day, there seems to be a new voice & opinion added to the mix - the latest I saw was that of Prof. Inderesan (ex Director of IIT chennai).
When everyone seems to be in the fray, I thought it is time I added my 2 paise ?
So, let us take the key statements being made (distilling the points with my own poetic license)
NRN Murthy : Output quality is dropping (primarily attributable to INPUT quality of students)
Chetan Bhagat : "Mr Murthy had a point, but wish he wasn’t so sweepingly high handed. Fix the system. No point judging students,”
Prof Inderasan : It is the lack of independence (read : from governmental interference) that is the REAL cause for drop in quality
Which goes to establish a common set ie.
- Acceptance that the quality has INDEED dropped
- There is a NEGATIVE impact attributable to the coaching classes (Kota being quoted repeatedly)
- There is GROWING concern on the ability of teaching staff
Given this common theme, my own opinion is that Chetan's comment seemed to be played up by the media in a confrontational format (using the body shop image). Not enough is being done to relook at the core aspects raised in the 3 points above and trying to address it ?
My own suggestion is plain and simple
- RELOOK at the multiple choice format for IIT-JEE. Instead of focusing on the "negative marking" decision process, establish a more elaborate structure for selection where the SCORE is no longer the only criteria for selection. Basically, ensure that the input draws in more 'well-rounded' students
- RELOOK at the 4 year syllabus format with higher level of Industrial interaction (allowing for multiple viewpoints) and / or allowing students to choose a research area (allowing for greater depth / introspection)
More importantly, introduce small / incremental changes NOW before the tide turns to a tsunami.
- If you take the technical scene, there was the whole Steve Job / Dennis Ritchie (known only to a miniscule minority) condolence + talk of Siri etc.
- In India, we had the political scene of split (almost) unfolding in what was expected to be an "non-political" group ie. the Team against corruption.
- Locally, in Bangalore, it was the time for an ex-chief minister to be placed under judicial custody !!!
Through all this, one particular debate ie. NRN Murthy's comment on the IIT students .vs. Chetan Bhagat's retort continues to rage. Every other day, there seems to be a new voice & opinion added to the mix - the latest I saw was that of Prof. Inderesan (ex Director of IIT chennai).
When everyone seems to be in the fray, I thought it is time I added my 2 paise ?
So, let us take the key statements being made (distilling the points with my own poetic license)
NRN Murthy : Output quality is dropping (primarily attributable to INPUT quality of students)
Chetan Bhagat : "Mr Murthy had a point, but wish he wasn’t so sweepingly high handed. Fix the system. No point judging students,”
Prof Inderasan : It is the lack of independence (read : from governmental interference) that is the REAL cause for drop in quality
Which goes to establish a common set ie.
- Acceptance that the quality has INDEED dropped
- There is a NEGATIVE impact attributable to the coaching classes (Kota being quoted repeatedly)
- There is GROWING concern on the ability of teaching staff
Given this common theme, my own opinion is that Chetan's comment seemed to be played up by the media in a confrontational format (using the body shop image). Not enough is being done to relook at the core aspects raised in the 3 points above and trying to address it ?
My own suggestion is plain and simple
- RELOOK at the multiple choice format for IIT-JEE. Instead of focusing on the "negative marking" decision process, establish a more elaborate structure for selection where the SCORE is no longer the only criteria for selection. Basically, ensure that the input draws in more 'well-rounded' students
- RELOOK at the 4 year syllabus format with higher level of Industrial interaction (allowing for multiple viewpoints) and / or allowing students to choose a research area (allowing for greater depth / introspection)
More importantly, introduce small / incremental changes NOW before the tide turns to a tsunami.
