This is my mail to the editor of Hindu newspaper on the article Poor standard of results in JNTU
Dear Sir/Madam,
I read your article about "Poor standard of results in JNTU." What surprises me is this: We seem to blame the college in which the students join, rather than the poor quality of the students. I live in USA now and recently I have been on a trip to India. During that trip, I had a chance to go to National Institute of Technology, Trichy, my alma mater, and chat with some of the profs there. They had a singular complaint : "quality of the students entering had declined." They quoted that the top rank students from various states fail to perform in the first year. Their argument is that " students are spoonfed even in +2 courses, while they have to study on their own in engineering". this doesnt mean the teachers dont teach. In universities, the profs are more to introduce the concept and let the student explore the subject while the profs guide them to do so. Unfortunately even good universities get blamed for the poor performance of students, while it is the system that is feeding the universities to blame.
In AP, the colleges like Narayana and Chaitanya are only interested in making the students get marks and not gain knowledge. Since EAMCET is multiple choice questions we are taught mostly to correctly guess the answer, rather than deducing it from fundamentals. Fundamentally, there is a difference in solving a problem by knowing the basics, and to pick an option out of four. The teaching methodologies are different for these two methods. My mathematics professor was so disappointed with the students from Andhra, that she asked them "why are you scoring so low when you were scoring so good in +2?" and their answer was: "Madam, have the test as multiple choice and we will reign again." Pun intended, of course. They admitted that they were taught to pick the right answer rather than the subject. This is a major problem with our education system.
I heard from a neighbor that the schools stopped teaching a lot of 9th std courses, and are directly introducing 10th std in in 9th itself. This is a clear indication of "marks" oriented teaching vs "knowledge" oriented teaching. How do we expect our next generation of students to compete against the students from rest of the world? How can we say that the poor performance in engineering colleges is due to the lack of good teachers? Though I agree that lack of good teachers in University adds to the problem, this doesnt explain why the toppers of +2 falter in good colleges like NIT.
From your article what is more disturbing is students failing in mathematics and physics which are the two main subjects required to enter into engineering. I strongly believe we need a stronger control over these private institutions to teach the subject rather than making students guess the right answer. The examination mode has also to change to stop students from doing this. Only those students who understand the subject should get good ranks. We have to change our testing procedure to that affect.
Lastly, I know for a fact that the engineering students in India work not even 10% of what the engineering students in US work. We are losing the zeal to work hard, and every step of schooling we seem to be taught to find the easy way out. Thats why when students from India come for their masters they find it so difficult to adjust to the system that makes you work hard for grades. I pity those students who complain it is too hard for them, while this is how it should be, this is how you learn the subject and gain understanding and application of that knowledge learnt.
Thanks for your time!
Dear Sir/Madam,
I read your article about "Poor standard of results in JNTU." What surprises me is this: We seem to blame the college in which the students join, rather than the poor quality of the students. I live in USA now and recently I have been on a trip to India. During that trip, I had a chance to go to National Institute of Technology, Trichy, my alma mater, and chat with some of the profs there. They had a singular complaint : "quality of the students entering had declined." They quoted that the top rank students from various states fail to perform in the first year. Their argument is that " students are spoonfed even in +2 courses, while they have to study on their own in engineering". this doesnt mean the teachers dont teach. In universities, the profs are more to introduce the concept and let the student explore the subject while the profs guide them to do so. Unfortunately even good universities get blamed for the poor performance of students, while it is the system that is feeding the universities to blame.
In AP, the colleges like Narayana and Chaitanya are only interested in making the students get marks and not gain knowledge. Since EAMCET is multiple choice questions we are taught mostly to correctly guess the answer, rather than deducing it from fundamentals. Fundamentally, there is a difference in solving a problem by knowing the basics, and to pick an option out of four. The teaching methodologies are different for these two methods. My mathematics professor was so disappointed with the students from Andhra, that she asked them "why are you scoring so low when you were scoring so good in +2?" and their answer was: "Madam, have the test as multiple choice and we will reign again." Pun intended, of course. They admitted that they were taught to pick the right answer rather than the subject. This is a major problem with our education system.
I heard from a neighbor that the schools stopped teaching a lot of 9th std courses, and are directly introducing 10th std in in 9th itself. This is a clear indication of "marks" oriented teaching vs "knowledge" oriented teaching. How do we expect our next generation of students to compete against the students from rest of the world? How can we say that the poor performance in engineering colleges is due to the lack of good teachers? Though I agree that lack of good teachers in University adds to the problem, this doesnt explain why the toppers of +2 falter in good colleges like NIT.
From your article what is more disturbing is students failing in mathematics and physics which are the two main subjects required to enter into engineering. I strongly believe we need a stronger control over these private institutions to teach the subject rather than making students guess the right answer. The examination mode has also to change to stop students from doing this. Only those students who understand the subject should get good ranks. We have to change our testing procedure to that affect.
Lastly, I know for a fact that the engineering students in India work not even 10% of what the engineering students in US work. We are losing the zeal to work hard, and every step of schooling we seem to be taught to find the easy way out. Thats why when students from India come for their masters they find it so difficult to adjust to the system that makes you work hard for grades. I pity those students who complain it is too hard for them, while this is how it should be, this is how you learn the subject and gain understanding and application of that knowledge learnt.
Thanks for your time!
2 comments:
Few more points:
How many of the colleges teaching +2 give an orientation of what lies ahead of the students when they step out of +2 and enter engineering?
I remember you guys telling me how is it to be in an engg college: "Study at the end of the term, score marks, get a good job and get out of there".
Also, how many of the courses that are taught in college are applicable in the real world?
Why is it that someone who is very good at Mathematics takes up ECE or CSE, when actually he/she has to take up M.Sc Mathematics?
How many educational institutions take up internals and externals very seriously?
There certainly is a need for the way things are being taught in schools and colleges. I agree to that. And this change needs to be bought into effect pretty soon before we further deteriorate the quality of engineers produced....
couldn't agree more!
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