aye(I) aye(I) , (T)eacher!!!

At 8:30 in the morning I dint know that i was going to sit in a class today which had no academic content whatsoever! Not something that obvious. Nobody would have thought of something of that sort!

But when I sat in class 17(or watever!) of my department waiting for yet another lecture on all the crazy spin orbital coupling and splitting and what not, I dint expect , though I was sure he could, my professor to engage in an informal chat with us on the sad scenario of academics in our department and IITs in general.


Well. It all started when he noticed that the number of students in the class was a bit low while taking attendance. Mind ya, students were not absent. They were in the coffee shack. They would reach in another 15 minutes. Everybody knew that. Even the professor. So he, being the most amazing chap that he is, decided to share a joke or two with us. He said something but I dint notice coz I was as usual engaged with my Fountainhead which I was obviously finding more interesting than anything that was going on in the class. If at all I was getting distracted, it was coz of the occassional drumming sprees that DOS would come up with. Mind you, even that was far more interesting than the whole teaching process going on up front.

"There was this interesting article on a survey on IITs in mumbai mirror" . I heard my atomic and molecualr physics professor saying. My head went up. Any such topic enthuses me.
"It was on the level of happiness of students in IITs by professor Tanmay Bhattacharya of HSS deptt." He said in his typical bong accent. I love bongs for some particular reason these days.:D

I listened with all possible alertness I could muster. He continued, " They said that their survey showed that IITB students are least happy while IITK ones are the most happy guys around." He said that the reason cited by the surveyors was that: " There is nothing outside kanpur and kaharaghpur IITs and other IITs while bombay has lot many things to offer which the students are missing due to academic pressure which makes bombay students sad!"

Are these the only reasons? How accurate is the survey? How can they judge our happiness? How succesfully can a questionnaire filled by IITians casually be trusted to pass a judgement like this.

Well. Speaking of other reasons, the students came up with atleast 4-5 more of them when my professor asked for it more as a gesture rather than actually asking for any! He himself came up his observation that the faculty might be failing somehow to catch the students interests. He asked us for the possible reasons for this. I could see the pain, the desperation and fear of failure in his eyes. It was not a simple question he was putting forward. It was more of an expression of the pain he faced as a professor. The passion with which he chose the teaching profession (unlike many other professors who landed up being professors!) was clear for all to see. I felt bad.

But I dont regret my ways. My not so studious approach these days has its own reasons. He rightly was talking my mind when he said that the reason of academic failures of students was that they come to IIT only with the dream of clearing JEE which they took as a challenge. And then, the moment they are here they tend to relax and lose aim and in the process screw up the first two semesters which believe it or not form the foundation for the years to come! Then on , its a chain reaction. Either they try real hard after that making up for all the loss or else end up being like me! Complacency and procastrination rules my academic schedule! How so disgusted do I feel about it. Well, leave it at that.

There are other reasons obviously. Just like there are always other wishes in a young child's mind. The pathetic state of teaching is one of the most important ones. Teaching is an art. Though I am not accomplished or in any state to comment on it I have my opinions just like any other village fool's on the reasons for a Tsunami. The teacher should more than just teach perform his part. He should ensnare the senses of his audience. He should take each and every one with him. He is not performing for the select few in the front rows. Yes, there are always the spoilsport crowd of backbenchers (not necessarily backbenchers and not necessarily all backbenchers.. its more like an imagery!) But I believe even they can be trapped by the effortless artist's performance if he is creative and aesthetic enough.

Then there are the TAs. God! I guess I dont have to say more about them. Any student who has faced any of the dunderheads seen in plenty in various labs provided as samples of how- one-must- not- turn- out- to- be would agree to it when I say that they are failures of the whole educational system. I even doubt wether the system is corrupt. Are they taking bribes and letting them enter. Or are the physics lab TAs chosen by english professors. I dunno. I will always wait for an answer to this I guess.They are moronically mechanical and boring and confusing and confused and.. and.. and.. I am lost for words to describe them. They are so precious. :P

Then came up the issues on flexibility of course structure. Why cant they (I dunno who exactly I am refering to here! anyways whoever wants to take up reponsibilty may do so! if they happen to read this that is.. which I dont expect.. so nevah mind.. lets just say "they".. the criminals, the wrong doers..:P) just make life a whole lot simpler for us ,aspiring engineers ,by letting us to do what we want to rather than what they want us to! Why does the mistake that we did by chosing one department or course due to our sheer ignorance of details of what goes on inside have to linger with us all through our precious college life?! Why cant we chose a multidisciplinary educational style.

Lets just study the boogey trap: (courtesy mah friend Ankur Dubey)

Say, a student likes a particular subject very much. He scores well and is outstanding in it. But he doesnt like and doesnt want to care about the other subjects. He gets low and pathetic grades in them. The overall score card is abysmal but he is happy. He hopes he will go ahead and pursue a detailed study in the field he liked. He tries taking an elective in that particular topic. He faces the committee. They , in a single merciless stroke, slash is dreams and turns him down. Why? coz he cant take the load according to them. I merely would say, What The Holy Fuck!

Who was wrong? what was wrong? where is the mistake? I guess I will never know. Sad part is, that poor guy might just end up with someone like me, who has no interest in anything at all. Well though, I have an interest. I might just be happy doing some interior designing or maybe open a restaurant. I love working. I dont really care the pay package. I dont want to be rich and affluent. I want to be happy! Never mind.

Thanks for reading through. Have a nice day. Take care.