Surreal is the way epiphany strikes you sometimes.Today it slapped me right across the face during my stint in the 6th hour of the academic day viz. NAS aka Network Analysis and Synthesis hour.The world around seemed to drown into oblivion as the 69 odd students around continued to banter away to glory without giving a damn to the lecturer of the hour who spoke barely above a whisper into the blackboard The S-Domain Analysis . That was when I had my moment of enlightenment which initiated a whole thought process and I struck upon the conclusion that engineering is nothing more than a mere farce in this sleazy era!Ironic the epiphany should strike right on "Engineer's Day".
A few decades back or atleast 1 decade back,engineering was one of the most sacred courses of the country and only the 180+ IQ people who had a true passion for it,flaunted the guts to choose the noble field.Not just that,but the engineering colleges themselves were low in integer and could be tipped off on fingers.Back then,private engineering colleges had not blatantly established themselves in every nook and corner of the country,making it impossible for one to even stretch their leg without poking an engineer in the ass!
De facto,its not just the private engineering colleges that must be made to take the onus for the declining standard of education,but also the lackluster attitude of the teachers,even in the govt. engineering colleges that contributes to this fact.Plus,the students who are ruthlessly thrown into the field by their exponentially ambitious parents who take out their frustration by mauling their own future.
Let me begin by drawing brickbats at the eminence of my own college(yeah,go ahead and sue me for this!):
For the uninitiated ones,I'm in the Govt. Engg college Barton Hill TVM,one among the 9 prestigious government engineering colleges in the state,doing my 3rd semester in Electrical and Electronics engineering.Now in my course,we've a total of 6 subjects viz.(misnomers clearly to protect the identity) :
- Where you play Scrabble with the numbers
- The paper dealing with plethora of circuits
- The place where you handle water in pipes
- The paper where networks befuddle you
- The paper where machines and generators rule the roost
- The subject which demands your managerial abilities(ostensibly,it has nothing to do with engineering)
Let's take the 1st one.The teacher slogs and toils in class to teach.But his lack of voice and prowess fail to garner the attention of many a student.And these ..ahem.."students" don't have an inkling of appreciation for the teacher's efforts and continue to spit jargon as if the teacher's non-existent!Honestly people!The teacher doesn't teach as penance!He ain't the one who's gonna end up with a supplimentary paper for the exam!
Now you might misconstrue me for a geek/nerd.I'm neither!Nor do I get stellar marks!I'm just another individual trying to procure a degree with decent records!
Secondly,let's take the "2nd one".Here a clean chit can be given to the students coz it's the teacher who's apparently mauling and murdering the subject.Keeping the nibs of your pens scratching the paper en route to making myriad notes is clearly the teacher's notion of engineering.Not a single technical aspect is expounded in class making students nauseatic with all the doubts and dilemmas!Not any more tho',the passion has died out.
The 3rd one,where once our educator went on the pursuit of a greater endeavour,substitutes kept playing games with the modules of learning.Seriously,the lack of a permanent teacher in the department is disheartening to say the least.
The 4th one-I'd rather not say anything out of the respect I hold for the subject and the teacher akin.The educator is a stupendously naive and gullible person.Out of the sheer guileless devotion for his profession ,he maintains sublime silence when the apes of the class continue with their eclectic activities ranging from rampant texting(fuck the free SMS offer) to playing cards-all unconspicously done beneath the wooden desks!And the fact that the teacher's inaudible,remains an all-time alibi with both the tuitioners and the non-tuitioners(no offence guys!Just outlining the facts).This hour would be the most pathetic testimony of the state engineering has to come to in these days.Sad it is.
The 5th and 6th hour are the best among the lot!Both the undergraduates plus the educators enjoy it alike(Now if there's anyone who finds even the 5th hour dull--get a life retard!).The 5th hour is the TRUE engineering hour!Here,the educator edifies the pupils on the brass tacks of the subject and makes the course worth learning!
So what I was actually getting to was,if this is the condition in the govt. colleges,what state do you contemplate the private colleges will be in?Genuinely lemme ask something.What motive do the ones have,who get into these pvt. colleges and then later on shower curses and spit epithets on the college and course??Is it the white-collar jobs that allure them?Or is it the parental pressure??Do they give up their dreams and join the league just because everyone else is into it?Tsk tsk...pitiable.
Now to this contention of mine,several might vociferously revolt that it is in the pvt colleges that learning takes place coz their teachers give them proper notes and answers to all the questions in the text book.My dear friend,it ain't learning.It's spoon feeding!They are dummies with no impetus to think for themselves!It ain't engineering that's happening out there...it's mere ranting of the theories and formulae!
And yes,here comes the pivotal question of all!!How many actually clear the course with a degree at the end of the 4-year spell?Some of the pvt. colleges in TVM city have pass percentage as low as 18% which is like the rock bottom!Why the fuck produce engineers like this?!?
Being an engineering student and knowing the conscientious nature of the course ,I'm forced to ponder why the govt. grants permission to the perenially growing number of pvt engineering colleges to come up in the state???Every academic year, a minimum of 3 new colleges are added to the already burgeoning list of engineering colleges.That too some are set up in the remotest of locations and all it takes is a bunch of crisp currency notes to do the trick.Clearly the govt. siphons off colossal quantity of money.It's sad to see education has come on par with gambling for the top honchos at the bureacratic level.
Last but not the least,if any parent happens to chance on this post,dear elder one,please do listen to your kid's psyche and give him a chance!Don't just join the rat race and churn out one of those specimens shown in the picture at the beginning of this post that these run-of-the-mill engineering colleges churn out year after year.Your kid's special just like everyone else's.Nurture his dreams and ambitions;not yours.
And at my fellow engineers-to-be:Only true passion can move mountains.Let's keep the effort coming and serve the nation.
Photo courtesy:http://www.funresearcher.com/