When I was young and still in class 8. I would warned by everyone - “If you don’t study well, then you won’t get good marks in Class 10. So you won’t be able to study in good +2 schools and won’t be able to get in a good college (read IIT) and then won’t be able to do an MBA in an elite institute”. In short I was warned that one failure is cascading and can spoil your life.
Fine, you can say I sensationalized the whole scenario, but I bet every other kid out in the town must have heard some part or the other of the above statement. The catch is that if you don’t study in an elite institute your career is dark. No one ever cared to realize that success depends mostly on the person itself and the institution just provides a common meeting point for like-minded people.
Now after finishing my education, I do look back. I do look back some 10 years when I entered class 8. My initial reaction is “What rubbish were we taught about career those days?”. I never studies in any super elite institutional. I never got any salute from my fellow countrymen for studying in an elite school/college. I don’t the salute for my status, but for my capabilities (if any).
IIT Coaching
Love it or hate it, IIT Coaching is an industry. An industry whose Input is vastly high than it’s output. Keep walking down a lane anywhere in N. India and you would be overwhelmed by the *spam* of IIT Coaching Classes Hoardings. Every pole, wall, tree or entity under the sun is covered by these “foo coaching classes students set a record. 8/10 top students studies at our center”. No wonder, the first rank is claimed by coaching institutes all over the country even though the student never took any coaching in the first place.
IIT Coaching Centers are nothing less of organized loot. Those who burnt their money in this gamble would surely understand that no coaching center can guarantee you a seat in IIT (unless some scams). It is the student who clears the exam and not the coaching institute. You go there to learn some new concepts, solve doubts. The real study has to be done by *you*.
Mania
IIT has become such a sensitive topic that if a child fails to qualify, it is the parents who feel millions of times more offended than the student. The student is scared, not sad. He fears what will he say to his parents who set their expectations so high that is looks unrealistic for him throughout his preparation. I have seen people dropping years and years in a hope that one fine day they will crack the elite exam. Some are even ready to take any course for the sake of IIT tag even though they have no clue of what course they are taking.
When I took the admission of the college of my choice, the branch of my choice and looked back 2 years, the whole setup looked like a mess. Parents and students have unrealistic high expectations. Unrealistic for the capabilities a student has. Who is the winner in this whole game? The parents? The student? NO - it is the coaching institutes who have their ever expanding bank balance.
Class 12
Now look at class 12 exams. It is the third-grade citizen. Since it does not carry any weight in most exams, it is neglected. In short it increases the load of the students even more since they need to pass with 60% marks to be eligible for IITs. Apart from that it is hardly of any use. The whole setup is so stressful.
Sacrifice
I have even seen parents asking their students to disconnect their TV sets, give up playing XBOX etc since the sacrifice is a good thing.
One logic I hear getting proposed is that “You need to sacrifice something to achieve your goal”. If you can achieve your goal without sacrifice, but you still do sacrifice, are you still a hero? Not for me, I’ll call you a fool. Humans should always try to be more comfortable as possible and turn to sacrifice when there is no options left. I never respect sacrifice. If you do it intentionally, then you are a fool, if you do because you had no option, then you have to do it, nothing break-through.
Recommendation by Damodar Acharya
When I read this recommendation by Damodar Acharya IIT KGP Director, my eyes lit up.
Firstly it might reduce the importance of IIT Coaching centers. That open loot can be controlled. Now head down to read the knee-jerk reactions. All you will hear is that “This undermines the prestige of our institutions”. Now one cares to explain how? Some say “IIT will be destroyed”. Again now proof. Some say that “Increasing the value of class 12 exams will destroy the prestige of the institutes”. Again how? how? how?
Looks like there is more importance on keeping the brand value and status of the institution intact rather than improving the pathetic situation of millions of students appearing for IIT. It’s like a Monarch where people are dying of hunger, but the king is more worried about maintaining of the Palace because the quality of the Palace is a status symbol. Again you can bring in the logic of sacrifice for candidate students, but as I explained above, sacrifice is nothing short of stupidity. It’s like “What’s the problem is being harassed? Weren’t you harassed for last 10 years?”
If you really want to oppose this recommendation, sit back and think deeply and come up with real opposition points rather than “IT WILL SPOIL THE IITS. THIS IS BAD. NO THEY ARE ALL STUPID”. Sigh.
