My previous post - Looking Back- has generated a healthy response from people. This is what I was looking forward to. My friend Vikku posted an entire article's worth as comments. I put it up here so that people can read his opinions vis-a-vis the blogpost.
Note: I have removed actual names he had put up to maintain anonymity.
Vikku's comments:
2) Again, this is something you need to tell companies. They are the ones who grade us by our CGs and our academic profile when in reality, a person needs only common sense, quick thinking skills and adaptability to learn new things to work effectively. Blame companies who are stingy to spend on their HR dept. and hire as little as they require and then make these team of 4-5 people come and recruit people from a sample space of 1000+. Naturally they will not have time or patience to sit and interview everyone individually. I would really like to see companies set their own entrance test (like Thoughtworks) regardless of CG or with a very low CG cutoff since that is a much more feasible way of determining the right person for a job.
Also, ideally the college could let people choose between whether they want to work or study further and separate the two classes and teach accordingly. Aspirants for jobs must be taught industrial standard stuff which the companies expect, and higher studies people can ideally specialize even further and be allowed to do research projects which will help them strengthen their academic profiles. But this also puts the burden of choosing between the two to the students, which in turn is never really his choice as long as his parents are Indians.
3) This is near impossible because the load for teachers will rise exponentially. They are also humans, after all. Ideally they should not have this concept of circulating teachers like what they have now. I had one teacher teach me 6 different subjects. She is qualified to take 2 of them at max. Other 4 she had to study herself before teaching. If she was left to teach the 2 she knows fully well, everything would have been good. Needlessly they will keep rotating people. That should stop.
But senior teachers who have specialization in more than one should be allowed to teach their subjects of choice. They can be freely rotated since they are actually good at whatever they are put at.
4) This has actually worked in one case of mine. There was someone who taught CPP for me and also for a BIO section in second sem. Bio class went and complained saying the person knows nothing and teaching nothing. Hence the teacher got severely reprimanded. So came and tried buttering up to us by giving us all high marks in our 3rd midsem. Actually put marks whose total came up to 51 for me. All of us gave 1/5 score to the teacher ; was reprimanded yet again and either got fired or quit after my 3rd semester.
There are also cases like teachers who are too paavam and nice but ends up teaching nothing but gets 5/5 because he is so nice to students. Students should be impartial and grade teachers correctly. Otherwise the system will be screwed. There was also one other teacher in my 6th sem. Equally bad teacher, all gave 1/5. I don't know if she was sacked or she chose to do it, but her tag turned from green to blue. I have seen her as an M Tech student in Chit in my final year and this year as well! :D I'd like to think she was sacked due to the low scores. :P
5) Very good suggestion, I wholeheartedly support it!
6) I THINK, not sure, Civil students actually have some tie up like this. Also, SPF for Mech students. There are a lot of instances, but all left to the department and how interested and how strong in putting forth their arguments towards the cause their deans are.
7) This is the best suggestion on the list, IMO. We had a subject called Electrical Gadgets in school which was exactly this. I think it should extend to all technologies. Like how many people actually can troubleshoot hardware problems for a PC? I learnt it by nondifying my computer ever since I was a small kid. Teaching things like this is essential, I feel.
8) I agree on having subject relevant labs. But this also should be common to a certain degree. I for one feel a basic electrical lab should be common to all engineers, regardless of their department.
9) Agreed. I have had friends of mine asking me for my ID card so they can borrow more under my name.
10) This is something the students should be addressed to first. In a class of 50 odd, there will be at most FIVE people who will be willing to interact with the teacher. I have suffered through classes wherein the teachers are HYPER ENTHU about classroom interaction. I was one of the two or three people in my class who would respond to my basic EEE sir in first sem, that too only because he would not let the class proceed further without getting a reply. He ended up taking all our free hours in first sem (we had 6; EEE was 3 credit) a 300% increase in the number of classes, to finish our portions, but still could not.
I know that you will be willing to interact with the teacher. I also will be willing, provided the entire class does it. Doing it as a lone man just makes it look like you are the arrogant and annoying teacher's pet of the class - not something I want associated to my name, but not something that I care about to stop me from interacting as well. I do not know about others but I can clearly tell you that some people do not want to open their mouths, mostly because majority of them have stage fright, and the others are simply indifferent towards it. They do not see a point in interaction at all. They are the types that are for this current system. Change them first.
11) This was actually once thought of. In your first year, when they made midsems weekend no. They were actually contemplating on this system of morning session, lunch, afternoon session. The three hour blocks would have stayed the same. 8 40 - 11 10; 2 20 - 4 50. I always presumed that the failure of the weekend midsem model (by far the most abysmal thing our college has come up with) made them realize that they are better off maintaining status quo.
12) Agree with you but have some minor modifications myself. Lab timings should be reduced severely (at least computer labs, I do not know about labs that require actual physical work such as the ones outside of Chit). Observation and record should be merged into one - and that should be filled in then and there once you complete your task. That is the whole point, to record your observations of the task. Not to go back home/hostel and generate values for everything one day before submission. Ideally, this will help prepare for practical examinations. And the lab structure should be modified: one task per lab session, if you complete your work you should be free to go. In my first sem C lab, we were three batches and all three had different teachers. First batch sir would let them off after they finish their program for the day. I asked my batch teacher if she would let us also go the same way. She said do your program we'll see. I did it, and she responds (although jokingly) that punishment for completing 3 hour work in 3 minutes that I can't leave the lab. :|
13) Student community should first change their attitude and mindset about education first. Then they can introspect. :P
My rejoinder:
* I was of the opinion that Private Universities should form a council and bring in some uniformity,something like the IIT council. I know, it seems to undermine the very purpose of autonomy, but what I mean is a group which can enforce some uniformity, atleast superficially. If this were done, then industry will get a broad sense of uniformity. But, I wonder if this will be feasible.
*Yes, agreed that CG is probably the only standardised measure statistically available to evaluate 1000s of students. Placements processes are ad-hoc and it is difficult to expect any uniformity; it varies with company and the interview panel.But then, that is their problem. If they end up recruiting sub-standard people, then they will eventually realise that something is wrong with their system and change it. More than employment, we should focus on employability of the students. I have heard from many people that this is a bigger challenge. Are our Universities producing graduates with sound fundamentals and are they equipped to learn at the job? I don't think separating job-seekers and higher study people is feasible, it will be cumbersome and practically a nightmare to implement, and what of those who decide what to do at the last moment.
*University should show some sense in fixing up a good teacher-student ratio and only then admit students, taking care not to exceed the limit. Quality should not be sacrificed at the altar of quality (viz.- eductaing the masses). UGC should fix a upper limit on this ratio and ensure it is strictly complied. If they want more students, then they must recruit more teachers. If the flow is one-way, there will only be stagnation.
*The feedback system is not sound. It is loaded against the weaklings- the new, inexperienced teachers. What about senior teachers who have become complacent and have stopped fine-tuning themselves? Will the management act against them in the event of poor feedback?
The senior staff must realise the scenario is different today and must adapt accordingly, thats why I insist on counselling teachers to acquaint them with changing student mindset and expectations.
*You are right when you say the students must be alert in giving proper grades, not based on how nice a person is, instead on how well he imparts knowledge.
*Also,I feel it is of prime importance to have a bridge between teachers and students in the form of a dedicated Student Counselling centre, where resource persons can help receive student opinion in secrecy and analyse it and present it to teachers. Let us face it, no one can directly go to a teacher and say complaints or criticise him/her. A counsellor can do the job. Only well-trained people with due diligence should be appointed.
*It must be the teacher's job to sustain interest in the class. Agreed not all can be expected to be partcipative, but he should create an atmosphere like that. I know many teachers in our college who can do that very well.
*Yes,Lab subjects must be in touch with the occuring theory class. Sometimes the experiment in the lab would be on a topic not yet covered in the class.Happened to me in Digital electronics lab. In that case, the lab incharge must see to it that the theory is explained. Yet, they made us do the experiments blindly. It was a big waste of time. The teacher was least interested.Yes, agree, once lab work is done we should be off. In fact I know many teachers who will let us free, but it is the Department heads who shoot down such a move, saying people will go out of college,roaming outside, etc.
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