A comment for a post I came across. My arguments make sense, I think. No offense to the author. But, I don't comment so much, and thought "Hell! one of my posts could be so long! Ok... lets make it a post then!" :P
If you have any objections.. go ahead object!
The post:
http://havetimewillwaste.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-so-reckless.html
My comment:
Hi, found you've put in quite a bit of effort/thought in the post. I have some rebuttals .
You say...
" But IITs don't make people clever. They just provide the finishing touches to people who are already very smart. ... By having a few more buildings, we won’t end raising the IQ of the people occupying them. "
Naha.. but it is exactly not that.Like you said its not getting dumb people and teaching them. It is finding people who are smart and training them. So this clever statement (no offence, sounds so much like one of Chetan Bhagat's sentences, full of rhetoric..dig deeper no actual meaning) of raising IQ by raising more buildings, actually has no grounds, and doesn't actually make sense. As, nobody is doing what you say they are. It is just not raising new buildings, they'll get more staff, more facilities etc and probably a newer method of education.
As some IITians (though any reasonably well-educated, intelligent, experienced person would do) have mentioned that the JEE exam does not really have everything in it to identify intelligence/creativity etc holistically. I do agree the exam is quite demanding and rigorous in terms of how much effort a person puts in, how he tackles new questions in basic science etc. But, it does not test other important aspects like creativity, innovation and other things which India is crying for lack of. These aspects too are related to 'success' (which they say IITians are surrounded by). So why shouldn't the govt. open more IITs.. call it exactly that, and have more 'capable' people as you call them?
Also, assuming you are an IITian, maybe you wouldnt be in IIT if the govt had not constantly increased the no of seats. :) . And then maybe you wouldnt be defending it so passionately.
"We do not have twelve Stanfords, fifteen Oxfords or twenty two ETHs."
But Stanford is not the only university in its cadre, there's Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Caltech, MIT, Princeton, and many others who are good in a particular fields. MIT is certainly not the best for everything. In Europe, there's not only Oxford, there's Cambridge, St.Andrews, EPFL, ETH, etc... So India having the population of US and UK combined(nearly!) should do a favour for her children and open more such universities ! Can't you see the imbalance??
Actually it does not really matter so much, whether they open more IITs or not. But it certainly isnt a bad idea.
Don't be so selfish and think in terms of market value of yourselves. You clearly don;t want more competition out there. If you are getting good education and its possible to extend it to more people, don't you want that? What kind of breed is India raising in the name of IITians? I don't know.
Selfishness is way over-rated. Somebody shoot Ayn Rand. Wait. She's already dead. I guess we'll have to invent a time-machine after all, to back in time and kill her.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
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2 little blighters howled thus:
Hello,
I apologize in advance for the short response. This is a topic which can be discussed till the cows come home.
"It is just not raising new buildings, they'll get more staff, more facilities etc and probably a newer method of education."
More staff from where? Will they be qualified enough? No, for they would have filled the huge number of vacancies in the old IITs already. That was my whole point. facilities from where? The condition of labs in the best IITs are despicable to say the least.Newer method probably yes.
"But Stanford is not the only university in its cadre, there's Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Caltech, MIT, Princeton, and many others who are good in a particular fields. MIT is certainly not the best for everything. In Europe, there's not only Oxford, there's Cambridge, St.Andrews, EPFL, ETH, etc... So India having the population of US and UK combined(nearly!) should do a favour for her children and open more such universities ! Can't you see the imbalance??"
Little unfair statement. I said I was all for new institutions. I used this statement to attack calling them by the same name. I did not attack their reason for existance. Not quite the same thing.
I personally will not be competing with the batches from the new IITs. And the market is ruthless. It doesnt see which IIT the student belongs to. It will select the best and throw out the lesser mortals. Attend the placement sessions in any IIT to see it for yourself.
But I do agree that we all are selfish. But thats not just the IITians. Its a trait which runs through the whole generation.
"Little unfair statement. I said I was all for new institutions. I used this statement to attack calling them by the same name. I did not attack their reason for existance. Not quite the same thing."
I agree. I take that back. But with all the arguments about how IIT status is getting diluted, I read it as you not wanting more IITs.
So you are okay with them opening other institutions, but not calling IITs. Now lets consider this case: What if they do, and make them better than IITs? Or you don't mind, as the students from those institutions will graduate much later than you, hence won't compete with you?
I agree, that the issue of most prominence that should be solved is that of the teachers/professors. The latest Pay Commission has increased the salaries by nearly 70-80%. Hopefully, that will work. Among other policies to improve facilities.
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