While writing the topic, I thought for a long time as to what I should write....... 'Education stinks', 'Engineering stinks' , 'Teachers stink' but I could not agree with it for the charade that I have received in the name of education isn't exactly engineering, it's not even education. Plus the guys who attempt 'teaching' me aren't teachers, they are mostly the i-didn't-get-any-other-job-so-I-am-here types. And does this thing stink? You bet!! It stinks more than fresh puke on a hot pavement.
Imagine this:
You have been a reasonably good student all your life. You are not exactly top of the class but you have not got any KTs too. For some reason you have not been able to attend a particular prof's lecture for the penultimate semester. You were also not smart enough to work around the system and ensure enough 'proxy' attendances. But you know something of the subject and are hoping to salvage whatever is left of your reputation (infront of the prof that is) in the viva (oral exams).
You are never given that chance. Your viva-voce turns out to be more an exercise in humiliating you on your lack of attendance. Anyhow, you swallow all this and wait for the final result. When the final result arrives, you see your result wanting to see that little 'P' (indicating Pass) but what you see is a little 'F' (indicating Fail). You check again..... but its that 'F'. 'Hey! I have passed in the all the papers', but then you see........ you have failed in the vivas.
Now stop imagining, for something along these lines has actually happened to a fellow in my class. Why does this anger me? Call me a fool but I am still a stickler for the rulebook. No law in the world allows for such obscene abuse of power as was evidenced in the hallowed corridors of my college on this occasion. You find a student is not attending, his attendance is less than the required 75%. These are logical steps that should be taken (under the present rules) in my opinion:
1) Find out how many such students exist?
- In case there are many look for faults in your teaching. Maybe what you teach is just not relevant.
2) If this is a case with only a particular bunch of students, look into their past records.
3) Call the students and have a talk with them. Try to see if they have any genuine problems.
4) If you are a stickler for attendance give them a warning.
5) If a student still does not turn up, give a second warning, tell him in accordance with the rules, he would not be allowed to sit for the exams (in case the rules allow you to do that) and/or will lose 5 marks of termwork that are related to attendance.
6) If even that doesn't help, cut the 5 marks and/or don't allow the student to sit for the examination.
Ok!! I know you are laughing now....... Which fool of a prof will follow the rulebook anyway? This is the exact problem that I find with the system..... everywhere. Our contempt for the law is so great that no one, not even the so called 'gurus' who are supposed to be ideals follow them. What did the prof in question do here?. He realized that no one cares for the rulebook anyway and the only way he could seek retribution was by using all resources in his power. So he goes out and fails the student in the viva-voce - something completely unrelated with attendance.
This points to another systemic malaise - that of giving more importance to the process than the outcomes (One with which even the rulebook agrees, when it assigns 5 marks for attendance). All that is left of the still-born processes are corpses of ego-warming exercises. But these have to be preserved!! Even at the cost of knowledge, at the cost of education!! So what counts is not whether you can design a multivibrator circuit or whether you have any idea of how a MOSFET works. What matters is how many lectures have you sat for? This is supposed to impart through some super-human process..... automatic knowledge..... even if you weren't listening, even if you weren't mentally present...... or for that matter present only on paper. So what if students were not able to answer what's scaling or how a simple JFET switch works...... the incarnation of ignorance is the guy who did not attend the lectures. Hell! He's the real fool 'cause he tried to be honest and didn't even pull the proxy gag on the prof's eyes. Hang him for his honesty!!! He truly deserves that.
And you know what's the real sad thing? This prof knows the stuff he teaches (that's a rare specimen I can assure you!). I thought this prof was intelligent. And I also thought intelligent people: (a) do not care to stoop to repulsively misusing power (b) Are logical enough to be concerned more about the outcomes than the processes. Obviously, I was wrong somewhere......
Imagine this:
You have been a reasonably good student all your life. You are not exactly top of the class but you have not got any KTs too. For some reason you have not been able to attend a particular prof's lecture for the penultimate semester. You were also not smart enough to work around the system and ensure enough 'proxy' attendances. But you know something of the subject and are hoping to salvage whatever is left of your reputation (infront of the prof that is) in the viva (oral exams).
You are never given that chance. Your viva-voce turns out to be more an exercise in humiliating you on your lack of attendance. Anyhow, you swallow all this and wait for the final result. When the final result arrives, you see your result wanting to see that little 'P' (indicating Pass) but what you see is a little 'F' (indicating Fail). You check again..... but its that 'F'. 'Hey! I have passed in the all the papers', but then you see........ you have failed in the vivas.
Now stop imagining, for something along these lines has actually happened to a fellow in my class. Why does this anger me? Call me a fool but I am still a stickler for the rulebook. No law in the world allows for such obscene abuse of power as was evidenced in the hallowed corridors of my college on this occasion. You find a student is not attending, his attendance is less than the required 75%. These are logical steps that should be taken (under the present rules) in my opinion:
1) Find out how many such students exist?
- In case there are many look for faults in your teaching. Maybe what you teach is just not relevant.
2) If this is a case with only a particular bunch of students, look into their past records.
3) Call the students and have a talk with them. Try to see if they have any genuine problems.
4) If you are a stickler for attendance give them a warning.
5) If a student still does not turn up, give a second warning, tell him in accordance with the rules, he would not be allowed to sit for the exams (in case the rules allow you to do that) and/or will lose 5 marks of termwork that are related to attendance.
6) If even that doesn't help, cut the 5 marks and/or don't allow the student to sit for the examination.
Ok!! I know you are laughing now....... Which fool of a prof will follow the rulebook anyway? This is the exact problem that I find with the system..... everywhere. Our contempt for the law is so great that no one, not even the so called 'gurus' who are supposed to be ideals follow them. What did the prof in question do here?. He realized that no one cares for the rulebook anyway and the only way he could seek retribution was by using all resources in his power. So he goes out and fails the student in the viva-voce - something completely unrelated with attendance.
This points to another systemic malaise - that of giving more importance to the process than the outcomes (One with which even the rulebook agrees, when it assigns 5 marks for attendance). All that is left of the still-born processes are corpses of ego-warming exercises. But these have to be preserved!! Even at the cost of knowledge, at the cost of education!! So what counts is not whether you can design a multivibrator circuit or whether you have any idea of how a MOSFET works. What matters is how many lectures have you sat for? This is supposed to impart through some super-human process..... automatic knowledge..... even if you weren't listening, even if you weren't mentally present...... or for that matter present only on paper. So what if students were not able to answer what's scaling or how a simple JFET switch works...... the incarnation of ignorance is the guy who did not attend the lectures. Hell! He's the real fool 'cause he tried to be honest and didn't even pull the proxy gag on the prof's eyes. Hang him for his honesty!!! He truly deserves that.
And you know what's the real sad thing? This prof knows the stuff he teaches (that's a rare specimen I can assure you!). I thought this prof was intelligent. And I also thought intelligent people: (a) do not care to stoop to repulsively misusing power (b) Are logical enough to be concerned more about the outcomes than the processes. Obviously, I was wrong somewhere......
1 comment:
Excellent post ... brings back pretty awful memories of terrible profs and an absolutely rotten system. I'm happy to be out of it, but I'd love to take up an initiative which can effect some change in it. If you have any ideas, count my support.
And yeah, good luck with you interviews!
~ Madhav
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