I had been to an engineering college today for some Campus Connect program. It is a 25 year old institute in Chennai and going by the ranking, it is a fairly decent one by standards. In fact, some say it is a good institute. I have a few managers in my unit who have graduated out of this college. Without any further dilly-dallying, let me get to the point; let me tell you what happened.
I reached the campus of this Insti at 9. AM Well, South India is very popular for the hospitality its people exhibit. Not an exception to this rule, the hosts fed me good breakfast! I should admit that the steaming hot filter coffee helped not only in washing the breakfast down my throat but also one of the worst disasters of the day: the placement officer and his talk about his greatness. I honestly admit here that I could not stand him for 10 mins. I wonder how his students stand his lectures for hours! On the hind-sight, will he even be able to deliver lectures? If he does, would he make sense at all?
The man seemed to be more bothered about telling my colleagues and me, about his own self and his greatness than the program we had come for. He is 22 years old with that institute and according to him, it is great that he is still with it because he could have stepped out and joined anyone of the umpteen number of institutes en route the college from the city. Honestly, I don't see any greatness in it. If he was here for 22 years and the richness of his experience does not show any signs of wisdom in the way he talks or carries himself. To me it only meant that he is incompetent.
I was all geared up to meet some young minds and have a eventful day! I wanted to meet some dynamic and smart youth. I was all set to be challenged. I wanted to make a difference and make a small contribution in grooming them.
The reality held a different picture from the one I had imagined!I saw a bunch of laid-back youngsters.
Non-response was their mantra!
From the time I stepped into the room, the standard response for any question, query, doubt or whatever I raised to them was a blank look. I was screaming my guts out that they respond. They can afford to make mistakes now and learn from them rather than not make an attempt. No use! No use!
They lack ambition to excel in career or for that matter an object or focus to life!
When I did their personal interviews, I was shocked to know what they were doing to themselves! When I asked them "Why do they want to become software engineers? What do IT jobs mean for them?" the answer was this: It gives you good money! Oh! Really?
I went one step ahead and asked them, why did they choose to do Engineering. It is because their parents wanted! Thats it heights of it. Even if that is the reality, have they not found a purpose in the last 3 years they have spent studying? Were they not able to attach a face to the name they bore?
Learning? What does that mean?
When I was a student, I saw almost all my classmates and friends brimming with zeal and enthusiasm. No one was restricted to the four walls of the classroom. Always wanting to learn news things, talk about them, share experiences, make papers, presentations, projects, industrial trainings etc. were very common. Learning possessed some meaning ! When I anticipate the same thing from them, what is it I got? Disappointment!
They do not have a point of view about anything!
If I ponder a little deeper, I could actually see, they lack of a point of view in them. I do not know if this is because if they do not have the needed exposure, or the time for it or it is because they simply do not care!
It is very disheartening to see the youth of the nation to lack an objective in life! With no focus or drive towards an goa! No passion! No interests! No ambitions! Take life for granted! Are not at all opinionated! Wonder What future is going to be!
I reached the campus of this Insti at 9. AM Well, South India is very popular for the hospitality its people exhibit. Not an exception to this rule, the hosts fed me good breakfast! I should admit that the steaming hot filter coffee helped not only in washing the breakfast down my throat but also one of the worst disasters of the day: the placement officer and his talk about his greatness. I honestly admit here that I could not stand him for 10 mins. I wonder how his students stand his lectures for hours! On the hind-sight, will he even be able to deliver lectures? If he does, would he make sense at all?
The man seemed to be more bothered about telling my colleagues and me, about his own self and his greatness than the program we had come for. He is 22 years old with that institute and according to him, it is great that he is still with it because he could have stepped out and joined anyone of the umpteen number of institutes en route the college from the city. Honestly, I don't see any greatness in it. If he was here for 22 years and the richness of his experience does not show any signs of wisdom in the way he talks or carries himself. To me it only meant that he is incompetent.
I was all geared up to meet some young minds and have a eventful day! I wanted to meet some dynamic and smart youth. I was all set to be challenged. I wanted to make a difference and make a small contribution in grooming them.
The reality held a different picture from the one I had imagined!I saw a bunch of laid-back youngsters.
Non-response was their mantra!
From the time I stepped into the room, the standard response for any question, query, doubt or whatever I raised to them was a blank look. I was screaming my guts out that they respond. They can afford to make mistakes now and learn from them rather than not make an attempt. No use! No use!
They lack ambition to excel in career or for that matter an object or focus to life!
When I did their personal interviews, I was shocked to know what they were doing to themselves! When I asked them "Why do they want to become software engineers? What do IT jobs mean for them?" the answer was this: It gives you good money! Oh! Really?
I went one step ahead and asked them, why did they choose to do Engineering. It is because their parents wanted! Thats it heights of it. Even if that is the reality, have they not found a purpose in the last 3 years they have spent studying? Were they not able to attach a face to the name they bore?
Learning? What does that mean?
When I was a student, I saw almost all my classmates and friends brimming with zeal and enthusiasm. No one was restricted to the four walls of the classroom. Always wanting to learn news things, talk about them, share experiences, make papers, presentations, projects, industrial trainings etc. were very common. Learning possessed some meaning ! When I anticipate the same thing from them, what is it I got? Disappointment!
They do not have a point of view about anything!
If I ponder a little deeper, I could actually see, they lack of a point of view in them. I do not know if this is because if they do not have the needed exposure, or the time for it or it is because they simply do not care!
It is very disheartening to see the youth of the nation to lack an objective in life! With no focus or drive towards an goa! No passion! No interests! No ambitions! Take life for granted! Are not at all opinionated! Wonder What future is going to be!
33 comments:
What else do you expect from a totalitarian society where parents dictate (read as enslave) everything their children do?
Coming from a Tamil Brahmin family i would know the pressure i had face and put up with from relatives & society when i said i was going to join the commerce group and not do the science group and give my shot at medicine/engineering like every samathu iyengar payyan does.
I've faced the same bullshit you speak of here when i've gone to colleges for campus initiatives as a Microsoft Ambassador for NIIT. Nothing but laid back, "i don't give a damn, my parents pay for everything, i have no interest in anything except tits" (replace with something else for the women to not be gender biased here :P) look & feel they gave me. The only interaction i got was from guys when they were trying to kadalai pottufy my colleague who was an extremely pretty girl.
There are gems here and there but that's like lilly in a pond full of frogs. The problem here is our education system. We do not promote merit. We kill merit with caste based reservations. While reservations are fantastic, politicizing it with religion is so not, its a total joy kill.
Ultimately the regulations and compliance board of our education systems a practical joke. I can confidently say this since i've seen this first hand and pursuing a career as an education specialist makes me see the ugliest side of our education system that may of the blessed people around me don't get to.
The only place where i don't mind going nowadays is IIT/IIM's. The day OBC reservations hit that place, i will stop going there as well so that i don't end up depressing myself more.
Lasty, please DON'T go to any polytechnic colleges. I cannot even speak of the students there. It's not worth your effort.
P.S. Why is it HR's job to do campus recruitment. A company like yours i though would have been smart enough to isolate HR from recruitment, the latter being a separate entity from the former since overlapping both is very ineffective.
I hope this post is read by every one of those IT companies that place engineering students on the golden platter and look down upon those who chose otherwise. It is very unfortunate that people who care to think and refuse to go with the masses, because they don't see the point of it or any other reason, are ignored and those who want to follow the typical trend because they believe that is the only way or because they've been forced into it are accepted. If this trend continues the country will eventually have a population that has no individuality which is more dangerous than a weak economy. History will only repeat itself and this point has been proved time and again
just a request...dont judge them by ur interaction...u saw the placement officer...imagine what students wud've tht worth their while to listen to him and come there? for all u knw they would have rather been anywhere else...and inspiration doesn't happen over a talk or a lecture...it has to come from the institution...and I am one of the several who got thrown into engg...after college Im doing pretty decently...
May be todays 'to-be' engineers are spoilt with choices, from college/courses till jobs. Nobody have a 'sommersolt story' (to get job) nowadays, unlike my time.
May be its gen-ideology. Cousin of mine said, I'm GenX who wasted life studying & he is GenY which officially means enjoYing :-).
Anyways cant judge by one conversation, as in south uni's/schools don't teach/allow us to articulate what one thinks.
The people of our country believe that a we can exist only with 2 sections of population - Medicos and Engineers and can do away without other professionals. That precisely is the problem!
250 odd Engineering colleges in TN alone! With the elimination of the entrance exams, the check point to filter the ones with an Engineering aptitude is wiped out!
Varieties of Quota - Caste based quota, Rural Quota, Management quota, Sports quota, Chief Minister's quota, so on and so forth! If at all there was a rationale behind all these, it is obsolete as it stands today!
The "Deemed University" status which Engineering colleges claim to have is one of the biggest flaw in our educational system possesses. Anyone can get in and get out with no effort at all! Is this what the system is trying to achieve? De-recognition of some of them is a welcome gesture by the Central Government.
Institutes no more appear to be the Temples of knowledge but Mammoth buildings like a Concrete Forest!
As much of you have expressed opinions, I do agree, one meeting cannot help read a person completely. But yes, it will give an indication of whether or not, you mean what you say or do what you mean!
@self discoverer: No offense but we are not running a reality show dating contest. That's where you can say "i shouldn't judge a person on first contact", even there things are going the patient way.
This is life, its make it or break it. When you are in college and you are looking forward to campus recruitment you better coil up your tails & put your best foot forward.
I'm not asking college kids to work and pay for their own education like it happens in the west. At-least when a recruiter from a prestigious company like this blogger's comes to your college campus you need to be able to "express" yourself and convince the prospective employer that you are made of "employable material". If today's college kids spent 1/2 as much time in thinking about what they want to make out of themselves compared to the amount of time they spend in on the phone texting friends things would look far better for India.
The reason why this is so is because we compromise on merit. We settle for less and we have been told to "adjust" all of our life. This is where our problem is. If those kids had to sit through entrance exams and score a 85% + and make do in an interview (a real one) then im sure they would speak up. Sadly, they paid their way through these private colleges, which explains much of it. Which also explains why we still get low skilled labour and much of product development & R &D is done abroad in the west while support, service, patching and fixing is the best indians could do.
There should be a unified educational system for schools throughout the country. Screw state boards and matriculation boards and anglo boards and what fucking not. Make it uniform across the country. Any student can leave one school and join another school and still continue from exactly where he left. That should solve half the problems.
But more importantly, the post-schooling educational system in India needs to be improved because it adds nothing to a student's value but give a certificate and a label across the forehead.
@dilip there is reservations in IITs to clear the enterance exam. Or at least there used to be because there was one guy from school who cleared JEE and everyone know it was the reservations that got him through. I don't think he made it further though.
@Srinath
I do agree that there are some fundamentals of our educational system. But I would definitely not accept it as a reason for being aimless and laid back!
How long are we going to only crib about it and do nothing? How many of us, as individuals have done anything apart from criticizing the system?
The students in my opinion should also make an effort to make the most out of the the available resources and then ask for more rather than only say this is not not enough!
My response to this post would have also usually been nothing. To deduct that I lack ambition from that may or may not be true. But a more relevant deduction would be the quality of the post itself. Maybe that applies to you screaming out guts and other body parts.
The vanity of those who accuse others of being not up to their standards must be humanity's longest running joke.
And seriously, dear author, do you have any reasearch to back your assertions on reservation and deemed universtity and all the rest? Or is it your hubris coming in the way? May be I prefer being laid back to being stupid.
@Sapathan
I could call you a lot smarter if you comprehend the idea conveyed as-is in the post and not attempt to read between the lines and come up with your own conclusions! This post says that there is a genuine lack of thinking individuals in colleges these days.
If I have to make a choice after evaluating someone for a certain standard and I do not find it, then, obviously I have all the rights to complain.
And regarding your doubts about the validity of the information I have on reservations and de-recognition of Deemed Universities, I think you will get your answer if you keep your eyes and ears open and know what is happening in the last couple of weeks!
@Sapathan: If you cannot retort to valid arguments it is best not to retort to ad hominems and insult yourself.
As for reservations yes, we have date. 60% of all "Reserved Candidates" in IIT do not complete their courses and drop out. Thats not a large number because almost 40% of them seats do not get filled up in the first place because even with all the cut off's students don't make it to those standards.
There is no valid statistical data available to prove caste based reservations in the long run have helped eliminate poverty and discrimination. From 36 lowly castes we are now running strong at 1136 as of 2009 and counting. It has become merely a vote bank politics strategy and not a development effort.
The OBC reservation is based on data that was collected in 1930. So much that tamilnadu's reservation status of 79% is illegal as per the constitution of this country. End of the day we have compromised merit, given opportunity to the already well off creamy layer and the poor FC as well as the BC/SC/ST/MBC student is not able to get anything at all.
@ sapathan
Read in some issue once.' The statistics done 7-8 yrs before showed that there were more children in the age of 2-10 and to give them all the basic college education after 15yrs, they felt that current setup (setup that time) might not be possible.' So approval for lot of colleges in every field was given. Also controlling them all would be tough, so 'deemed uni' was approved to those who applied. All these done to achieve the target 'educated country' status. (Maybe they didn't foresee the possible flaws in it). Even today the no of colleges & uni is not enough to get education to all. Now that some flaws surface-up, measures are taken to stop/avoid them. Should understand that these are done in a good thought, if not they would have left just like that.
But having said that, I feel what the author wrote is right. I have seen many students in bachelors degree writing (no they just fill the pages) answers just to get 35 and not even try anything better, to write any further. They just sleep in the exam hall, once their 30 -35 marks target is done! In my PG, almost 70% of the students are above 35+ yrs of age and I am the youngest, but during exam I could see none being casual. They will try coming out with answers, even if it's something they haven't read about. They really wanted to study & get better.
Can you see the difference, 35+ using all brains to come out with answers in one end of the desk and 20+ sleeping on the other end! I think it's this 'laid back' attitude the author & others were expressing. You feel that there is no point in just talking, yah maybe. But if someone involved reads the blog and gets to know what is expected from them, it might bring a change in one individual at least.
We are 100+ cr people and all we can do is to 'improvise'. Improvement is the next step.
@ Athena
Nice blog. There is a common understanding, If no one expresses dissatisfaction, it is understood as 'satisfied' & your dissatisfaction on the attitude of young minds might reach them & let it bring a change.
Dilip,
I would call you many things if you can differentiate between would and could and not use one in place of the other. And I don't know Latin. I prefer to write reasonably error free sentences in the languages I know rather than wrongly use phrases from a dead language.
But if I were to hazard a guess, I think you are accusing me of targeting the author instead of what her point is. I may stand accused of pouring scorn on the author's silly assertion -- to which I happily plead guilty. However, I don't think targeting the author's hubris in saying that makes her unqualified to comment justifies the "instead" part. I'd rather argue that's in good stead even.
Maybe you should come up with a Latin phrase that has an "or" condition since the one you came up with which uses "and".
I feel students lack the inspiration & awareness.For any child their parents are their first rolemodels,similarly for students their teachers are thier mentors when the enter their academic life.How many teachers are qualified enough to educate the moral as well as academic values to students.Most of the cases in colleges our lectures are none but our seniors with zero industrial experience.I agree they cannot spoon feed them, but one cant deny that thy dont give the trigger/encouragement either.I think this responsibility has to come from colleges,apart from academics,thy should conduct professional personality development classes,mock interviews,GD's,etc.But the question is how many colleges take the responsibility to groom their students.
Let me ask one more thing,how many companies take the responsibility to groom students.Is there any intercation between students & companies,ya there are some but is it worthful or enough.I agree it is not their job,but why not help them because they are the ones who are going to use them.I suggest thy could do
1)Allow the teachers/lectures to participate in their training cycle.This could help students acquire the industry standards/expectations thru their teachers.
2)Conduct a regular technical workshop(may be in office premises)for students to discuss the latest trends,encourage them to present papers,projects etc.
@Sapathan: Your lack of comeback on my comment and a response filled with ad hominems criticizing my grammar is a total #fail, i think.
While i may stand guilty of bad grammar, i sure am not of common sense to see there is no point to your rebuttal that has no point rebutting the point i made earlier that your first comment was pointless.
@SureshK:
Companies should train students? Then why are students going to college? Is it not the University Educations Job to train the students?
Lastly, train students in office premises? Mate that really is unfair, i think. What's the point. Why do students need this spoon feeding. The same set of students that go join IIT & IIM do not need this spoon feeding. Get the difference. This is just sheer lack of motivation or inspiration to do something useful in life. Anyone who paid to get something instead of hard work will behave this way. This obviously explains why students from private engineering colleges act this way, they paid through everything.
i think you guys should write smaller comments . its pretty pissing off to read everything.
placement officers are just psychos. in fact most college profs are psychos. there are also other psychos that make your life miserable and they are tougher to deal with besides being a liability on the country
@ Dilip
There is wide gap between students skill sets & companies expectations.U need both the parties to help each other to fill this gap.The point iam trying to make clear is wht is companies role/contribution to groom students?.There are some efforts taken now from company side like giving guest lectures,allowing students for industrial visit etc,but why dont we take this to next level.I think u r not clear abt my suggestions
1)Iam not asking companies to train students,instead thy can allow teachers to participate in their training/project cycle for some time.This could help students understand the company's work culture,technical strength/needs, blah,blah through their teachers.
2)Companies could conduct a technical worshop or a forum (say for 3 or 4 days) exclusively for students where the industry experts can share their expert knowledge/thoughts/ideas.Also they can encourage students to give papers/projects & give their feedbacks.I said this could happen in office premise because it will be more ease/comfortable for employees rather than students.
Just be on the shoes of a student & imagine his life,8hrs/day in a college wht does he experience apart from friends,lectures,books,college buildings,fun.How is the industrial exposure given to him in 4 yrs of his academic life.Surely there is lack of motivation/inspiration missing from companies side too.
One cant expect more without contributing enough.
@Sureshk: Whatever you claim is needed is already present. As early as 1909 - 2002 when i graduated i've been through...
1. Internships in a software writing code for an application. No pay but excellent coaching and corporate learning. You first claim students need to be trained by companies, now you claim teachers need to be trained. What for? What are the students there for in colleges then? Smoking pot?
2. I've worked on 4 different projects with 3 different companies that were real time applications deployed for eCommerce. You claim...
"Companies could conduct a technical worshop or a forum (say for 3 or 4 days) exclusively for students where the industry experts can share their expert knowledge/thoughts/ideas."
This has been happening for ages. Its called Symposium, Conference, College Project festival etc., in different names. Companies like the blogger works for go man hunting to engineering colleges in large numbers. Sadly the quality of man power here is so bad it is impossible to pick a decent specimen out of the lot.
I did not even go to college. I studied via distance education. I was merely able to leverage my college contact classes i attended for 2 days a week on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Lack of Motivation from the companies side? What exactly in the world is "Campus Recruitment" if its not motivation or inspiration. A student is expected to be the best amongst his peers so that he gets the best shot at campus recruitment. That IS the motivation one needs. Sadly students from most private engineering colleges lack this because of one reason. They paid their way into the college.
There is NO WAY a company can train an employee on a skill set. Neither is it a company's responsibility nor is it feasible. Skill sets change everyday because the market is dynamic.
Your opinion that companies should take initiative to better the situation sadly forms a premise for an excuse in the offering to the sad state of money fleecing private engineering colleges and the hopeless mass of brainless graduates they churn year after year.
@Dilip Sir
I never claimed companies to rain students.Please read my earlier comments carefully.My real worry is the quality of teachers/lecturers.I dont want to elaborate more on how to improve the quality as i have made clear in earlier comments.
1)Internship program
Sir, i cant comment much on this as i dont know details about this.I wonder how many companies are offering this program,also even for this program there are many filter layers like interview's,recommondation etc.My gut feeling is this may not help or feasible for mass number of students.
2) Symposium, Conference, College Project festival
Sir,these events are fruitful only in few colleges may be in IIT's.But in most colleges the actual scenario is that these events happen once or worst case thirce in a year.
How many representatives from companies participate in this?
May be 2 or 3 or very worst case only a handful for entire academic life.In most cases it is zero & more often professors,senior lectures from other colleges play an active role.
What actually they do?
Most of the cases they are mere judges for all these events.Sometimes they share their knowledge.
So a representative is just spending 4 to 5 hrs per year.Do u think
this is significant contribution? oh comeon Sir.
3)Campus Recruitment as Motivation
Sir please stop joking.Many people think that these companies are
great by offering campus recruitment.I will tell u the unknown truth
1)These companies go to campus because it is profitable for them.They save the investments/time/paperwork if they go offcampus.Also in India u can neglect the fact tht colleges can even bribe these companies for the sake of oncampus.
2)These fucking capitalist companies(author sorry me,i cant hide
the anguish) are just doing a comfortable manhunt for a billable resource who is going to pump them millions of dollars in return for few thousands(as salary)
They are just doing pure buisness here.
Why do these IT service companies hire Engg students?.I beleive most of these service work can be executed by three universal commands ctrl+x,ctrl+c,ctrl+v(cut,copy,paste) + basic maths & logics + common sense + knowledge of any computer language.For
this a 12th class students or in worst case a first year engg student would suffice this profile.They hardly have a chance to do a work which is as
equivalent as puzzle they solve in their aptitude tests.Worst is the case for an MBA graduate who is only
liitle aware that his nature of work will only involve filling excel sheets.
oru mokkai vellaya kodukarathuku y r thy spoiling a engg student career athuku avanga kodukara build up thanga mudiyala Sir.
Summary: Sir,I dont want explicitly say tht there is fault from students
side too,because many have said that & Iam a living example for it.But that cannot be the only reason or solution to groom students. You need significant contribution from all students,colleges,companies to solve this issue.
PS: I mentioned u as Sir as u failed to read my comments carefully. Dont
take it hard.
@Sureshk:
1. Internship: I have a lot of interns working for my company in bangalore. They are great, they are college students (final years, usually) and they make a good resource. They are cheap labour, hard workers to share an enthusiasm for the technology and extremely disciplined at work.
2. "Symposium, Conference, College Project festival.. Sir,these events are fruitful only in few colleges may be in IIT's" -> that is why they are called events. You are supposed to prepare for them year long because you get only ONE SHOT at it. They are expensive to run and the college does not generate revenue from such events like it does with tuition fees. They are value added services. Every good college has them. If your college did not, then you joined an institution run by morons for their personal benefit in the name of an educational institution, not a college. Again, if you have events like this every week, when do you run the lecture's?
3. "These fucking capitalist companies are just doing a comfortable manhunt for a billable resource who is going to pump them millions of dollars in return for few thousands(as salary)" -> I have 7 years of experience in the industry. My company shares its revenue with me in proportion with my paycheck. For example when i make Rs. 10,000 a month (which is my salary) and my business margin is 30% i get a Rs. 3000 bonus. It takes 7 years to get to this place and of course a lot of hard work. Expecting this to happen on Day #1 is heights of stupidity. It is a capitalistic society. Don't blame capitalism. If it was not for capitalism you would probably not know what computers and internet are in a miserable downtrodden country like India. If you cannot run your own business making that "millions of $$$$" yourself, the best you can do is work for a business that makes this money and make a few 1000 Rs. in return for your services. This is called employment and that's the bigger picture for you if you failed to realize it by now. Its called the "food chain". What you are capable of you get. The big gunners run their own business and make the millions, the small timers work for the big timers and make a few thousands.
4. "Why do these IT service companies hire Engg students?.I beleive most of these service work can be executed by three universal commands ctrl+x,ctrl+c,ctrl+v(cut,copy,paste)" -> I don't know what to say. Either you watch too much movies that stereotype such software engineers or you are being plain exaggeratingly sarcastic. Going by your logic we are still re-writing the same code since 1970's. I wonder how asynchronous apps, multi-threading, web services and cloud computing came out of the same copy + paste coders you seem to claim in engineering students.
I read your comments. I fail to agree that the system is screwing up the students and that is why they are so useless. Also you seem to blame the employer and find fault when the problem is the "candidate" for employee is useless. Then you drag capitalism, an irrelevant subject here into discussion and insult the employer who is looking for a resource. You seem to live in this fairy tale land where all engineers are innovators and come up with fantastic designs and solutions and products that change the face of the society. With an impractical education system that merely enables selling college seats for a sum of money to the highest bidder nothing will come out of these engineering students.
They should be glad they have an opportunity to get a job and pay back the loans they took for paying the college fee.
At the end of the day its an INDIVIDUAL EFFORT that differentiates you from the crowd. The author is right when she says that effort is MISSING in private engineering colleges where students PAY to get in.
@sureshk lolz... ctrl+x Ctrl+c Ctrl+v
well said... two IT giants I formerly worked did exactly that.
@athena I don't see why you don't agree with me. The only ones who excel in post-school academics are the ones who are smart and the ones who strive to excel. And most of the time they gain their knowledge from books not even prescribed in the syllabus. What does that say about the curriculum designed? Most colleges design one just for the sake of making an offering to the student. This has to change.
There are flaws in the school education system and hopefully the recent steps of the state and central government should help bridge that gap a little, if not completely.
As far as company grooming students is concerned, it is waay to expensive an affair. There is no point taking in a guy who doesn't know what he wants teach him something and then stand the chance of losing him because he doesn't like it. If a student must be groomed it must be done at the school, college and societal level. A student must be given the liberty to choose a career that best suits his vocational skills. There is no other way.
@Srinath
I do not agree with you! Obviously because, you are crying and demanding to be spoon-fed : By Schools, by colleges and one step ahead by the Companies.
Ok, as usual, let me spoon-feed you, I will give you a few simple examples:
1. What is stopping you from reading a newspaper and keep yourselves informed as to what is happening around the world?
2. What is stopping you to look beyond the classroom walls and make an effort to walk up till the library?
3. What is stopping you from talking to your seniors/friends/relatives and understand the dynamics of the Business World and keep yourself informed of the same?
4. What is stopping you as students to form groups together, take initiatives, do small projects, quizzes, debates, presentations so that your dependency from the paradigm is reduced?
If you are truly brilliant on your own and it is just that the system is spoiling you, then what is stopping you to quench your "thirst" for knowledge and to excel in life by taking personal effort? I do not understand as to why, even if you find food right in front of you, you do not pick it up and eat but keep on demanding to be spoon-fed?
@Srinath: Its a given fact that our education system sucks. Which means you crying "the system is setting me up for doom" is useless. What differentiates you is what "you make out of your own effort". This is precisely my and the authors complaint. The individual effort is missing.
Definitely there are inputs from the industry/ people involved in the industry to design the syllabus nowadays. There are people who involve in teaching also. I know that very well. May be that’s one of the liberty of deemed uni status. One day govt uni’s also will do the same and the day is not far. Think there is nothing called ‘Impractical education system’.
About the industry participation in educating the students, that’s also happening. May be not to the whole bunch of students, but to a few smart minds among them. Instead of expecting companies to contribute, people from the company can do. What’s the point in just talking, just expecting. My friend does that. He didn’t talk like most others.started a foundation.
Don’t know why there is a thought that in private colleges people pay and get in, so students are laid back. No, it’s not the case. & also people think that guys from IIT/IIM are bright, it’s not the truth either. I have colleagues who studied in IIT and they are JUST as good as me. Wherever one is, one should be shrewd enough to rise high.
Should blame all, people nowadays just think of working and not to generate work. There will be a day!, most of our young minds would want to start business with new ideas, than to join a company & I am optimistic.
@ dilip
Internship:
I agree your company is great.How many companies are as great as yours.Even if there are enough self motivated individuals like u,are there enough chances for all of them?
Symposium, Conference, College Project festival:
The question is not how often these events happen?Even if it happens 1000 times a year,wht is the use if there arent any industry representative or a genuine/worthful contribution from them.
Captalism
Iam happy tht u r earning a share from ur company.But that is not the case for me & many.Though there are cons of captalism, i decide not to comment any for the sake of irrelevancy.
ctrl+x,ctrl+y,ctrl+v,Big Picture,stereotype Movies
Its my time to tell a story.My friend is a software engineer.In one of his project his work was to convert a English GUI to japanese GUI.Literally it meant he had to find a japanese equivalents for "OK,CANCEL,etc" buttons & replace it. Really very intersting work in cutting edge technologies? hahaha.. If u want to know the reality go & check right now in ur company how many of them dont have any choice but only use ctrl+x,ctrl+y,ctrl+v.No one needs a movie to know the truth,because this happens in most of the companies.
I can only say that you have great inspirational own life stories for making some home made movies or books.Because in all your comments, u site only you,ur life,ur company, as examples.I wonder whether you would see cause of the problem ignoring your own life stories. Whatever u say is happening only for few,wht abt the masses,probabilities/worthfulness of any contribution.
Also u should be equally glad(as an employer) for students(employee) to work with u because if they dont then iam afraid u have to pay back loans which u may have got for ur buisness development.
INDIVIDUAL EFFORT
If this is case then there is no need for any schools,colleges,education system etc.A student can go to a store,buy a book,learn ABCD,engg,medical,anything,get selected in company by himslef & live an orphan like life.
From your comments it seems u like to complain others for the mess, & failing to accept the responsibility,to fix this issue.
@ srinath
I think i have to reiterate this again.I never claimed companies to train students,they should train teachers/lectures.Read my first comment carefully.I dont think this an very expensive affair to train a teacher along with batch of fresh trainees.Instead this could be their next level of contribution.
Stop fighting guys....
try to reach a solution soon or get convinced yourself...
we are so bored reading pages and pages of responses...
it is shame on boys fighting infront of a HR girl...
author.. please stop these morons...
@athena and @dilip
Whoa! whoa! whoa! Don't assume me to be one of those expecting to be spoon-fed. I have never expected to be spoon fed and nor am I asking anyone to. I am of my own making and where I am today is because of everything I have done to achieve something in life. I've always been a self-help-chappie and will continue to be that way...
But not everyone is proactive. And suddenly with that statement, I realize I should rest my case.
But then again, just because the system is not good doesn't mean the system should be allowed to continue that way and let the proactive guys get ahead and the non-proactive ones be left behind. An education system should be unbiased and give everyone the same playing ground and help students realize where they are going wrong.
Ok Guys, I think we have discussed, debated and fought over enough!
Yes, time and again, this is what the message is - Loud and Clear:
Let us stop cribbing and crying! Let us in our own ways take initiatives and make a difference! If everyone says someone will do it, No one will do it!
I am glad that this post of mine actually made some heads think and express their viewpoint!
One last cent from my end at the anonymous's comment towards the end : What is this boy-gal bias? and calling the readers morons? Bad!
there are too many thoughts and ideas put forward here for me to pinpoint accurately and agree/disagree to. however, i would like to comment from the point of view of a teacher/lecturer for students of the same age group as mentioned in the blogpost.
first of all, yes, students these days lack motivation. we are all in the middle of a social transit between family centric community to individual centric community; and therefore there is frustration on many levels. In contrast to the norm in the West where many students work equally hard to pay their way through college; many kids here are blissfully unaware of the hard work it takes to acquire an education and there are fewer who take up subjects that they're truly interested in. apart from fully sponsored education, most colleges also somehow manage to deliver to almost all their students a degree; which makes them quite comfortable and secure about their future. security is not a bad thing, but too much comfort is.
of course it's unfair to just blame the students alone; how many of us have known teachers who've just KILLED our favorite subjects for us? teaching as a job is favored in technical institutes, especially by working mothers, for the 'fixed hours'. it's definitely a luxury, and there is nothing wrong in taking up a job for the hours... but when the motivation is selfish, it doesn't really benefit too many, does it?
these days, everybody wants the shortcut to a good life. and with our generation it's the magical combination of engg+mba. well almost anything and an mba. i know that most of the ppl who've commented on this page are probably engineers with/on their way to an mba, so no offence... but i'm talking about a general trend. with so many engineering colleges sprouting up around the country, wasn't that inevitable?
in our society, being a doctor/engineer/CA is the surefire step to a good job, a good spouse from where a good life is expected to sprout from.
this debate can go on and on... but the ultimate question is, why must we be COMFORTABLE?
first of all,,, ur blog is too sood,,
Me , being a student from the engineering stream..this is what i see in my college too. i think their lack of interest is not in academics,,its engineering that bothers many students. how can one show interest if you are not allowed to pursue the career of one's choice..i have many friends
who hate engineering, but are forced to work with machines.The remaining students include the so called born with silver spoon category, for whom everything comes under the management quota.Hardly there 3 or 4 in a class of 60 who deserve their seats.
You didnt see...passion, interest or motive in those students bcoz u didnt went with an open mind...if u see ppl frm ur perspective...u would only find thm dull...they wont match ur 'rainbow of colors'...reason is simple its ur brain which wants to see those colors...to see those colours u need to infact see frm thr perspective or thr prism...thn u might find colors in it...every generation and every individual has his own passion...they might not be inline with so called 'our passions' like workin for MNC, becomin entrepreneur, manager, ceo etc... but it could be as simple or crazy as being passionate abt his/her gf/bf...or being passionate abt video/computer games...or surfing internet or may be just roamin around with frnds...its just tht u whr lookin frm ur prism...u didnt found the colors...may be if u look frm thr prism...u might find those colors :)...keep writing :)
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