Basically, its all about protecting ones interests. The OHCs want to grab everything by any means possible - they will get their kids admissions and jobs by paying capitation fees, bribes, using influence, anything it takes. But for the poor, chant the merit mantra and suddenly show great concern for the future of our nation.
Did Ratan Tata or Rahul Bajaj or any of the hot-shot Birlas get where they are through merit? But we cannot stomach reservations in the private sector now, can we?
- Jogesh
IITs and the myth of merit
by Sujai Karampuri
(Co-founder & CEO, Sloka Telecom, Bangalore)
MIT and Harvard take in many students from top 25% and sometimes even
from top 50% of the applicants. When we start giving out reservations
to OBC/SC/STs that's exactly what we do- instead of looking for
candidates in top 1%, we widen the net to include the candidates in
the top 10% (ranking 30,000 or so) or may be top 25% in some cases.
Does that really affect an institute's quality and performance? If it
does, then there is something grossly wrong with such institutes which
can only work with top 1% where it is believed that anything beyond 1%
will taint and crumble the system. The snobbery of IIM and IIT
professors is appalling. Some of them have said on TV that they can't
teach 'lower quality' students. If they are only good at grooming the
top 1% and fail to groom top 10%, I propose they should move to
countries ruled by monarchs to teach only the kids of emperors and
kings.
http://sujaiblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/reservations-v-apotheosis-of-iits-and.html
_____________________________________________________________________________
Who are these elite IITians anyway? They are a group of students who
have just passed an extremely tough entrance test at the age 16-18.
Agreed, the IITians when they enter the institute after high school
are one of the best in our country ONLY based on an examination
conducted by JEE. But that's all there is to it, nothing more and
nothing less. That doesn't mean an Indian brain is just math, physics
and chemistry. It only shows that they had the right combination of
intelligence, hard work, privileges and social conditions, working for
them during the time of the entrance test. There are many others who
do not have access to or obtain that right combination at that age and
fail to enter but may attain them at a later age to become even more
successful. In fact, it is the duty of such institutes to actually
provide some of those factors to under privileged. It's unfortunate
that our so called top institutes do not consider these other but
essential factors into consideration durng admission process- such as
diversity, social backwardness, inclusion of different religions,
which are known to play a vital role in the health of an institute and
an engineer.
Certain technology institutes in the world are rated high for their
quality of the program- characterized by the research output and
industry association resulting in inventions, improvements and
advances in Science and Technology, diversity of its students and
faculty, and not just by the salaries of outgoing students. Attacking
the hype, I would like to say that IITs are very average institutes.
Their B.Tech program is arguably one of the best, but the actual
research and concrete results coming from Masters and Ph.D. programs
are almost negligible. To that effect, they are only good at supplying
finest raw material or fodder material to MNCs, IIMs, MS and Ph.D.
programs in US, but they do not by themselves produce any thing of
great value in research content. There are no major inventions or
innovations in technology coming out from these unnecessarily hyped
Indian Institutes of Technology; except for some applications and
solutions which look good in a Science Fare and Exhibition. As such I
hold similar opinion of many other top-rated institutes of India- not
just IITs.
[While I deride these institutes, I do know that all the alumni who
feel proud of their alma mater will fight vehemently to support them.
Even I felt very proud when my college was ranked in top 10 institutes
of India. But frankly, we all know what kind of research actually
takes place in those buildings. ]
When these institutes were formed in those initial days of
Independence, the faculty was filled with forward castes, and it still
remains that way. Currently, of the 400 member faculty at IIT Chennai
282 are Brahmins (only 3 from SC). No wonder, they are called 'islands
of excellence' and 'bastions of quality'. What they mean by that is
that the 'disease of reservations' has not affected them. They have
kept them 'pure' by avoiding the 'contamination of lower caste' that
other institutes have suffered. This is the exact mentality that kept
our caste system in fashion for thousands of years- that some castes
are chaste and pure and are born from the head of Brahman himself,
while some are soiled, impure, having sinned, and born from the feet
or the soil under the feet of this Brahman. Its time to reject such
ideas and bring IITs and IIMs into the mainstream to include people
from all backgrounds and also its time for faculty and administrators
of IITs to produce good research by combining forces with Indian
Industry (more about that later), instead of perpetuating the myth of
'cream of India'.
What is merit?
If one were to follow the news and media channels in the last 15 days
of reservations hungama, one would have come across this word time and
again. The word 'merit' is defined and used as antithesis of
'reservations'. I would like to understand what they mean by it.
'Merit' in the present context is being defined as the 'scores or
marks or rank' one gets in an entrance test or in an exam before
entering another degree or job. So, if one were to write IIT-JEE and
get a certain rank that is considered 'merit'. A 'meritorious' student
is one who gets a good rank.
Due to extreme competition, only 1% of the students who write the JEE
(Joint Entrance Examination) get to be admitted into IITs
(approximately 3000 out 300,000). But having said that does that mean
only the top 1% has the required qualifications and merit to carry on
an IIT education? How about the guys who are in top 10%? Do they not
qualify to carry on education at IIT to bring it the laurels it stands
for? Compare that with any other college or institution in the world-
even MIT and Harvard take in many students from top 25% and sometimes
even from top 50% of the applicants. When we start giving out
reservations to OBC/SC/STs that's exactly what we do- instead of
looking for candidates in top 1%, we widen the net to include the
candidates in the top 10% (ranking 30,000 or so) or may be top 25% in
some cases. Does that really affect an institute's quality and
performance? If it does, then there is something grossly wrong with
such institutes which can only work with top 1% where it is believed
that anything beyond 1% will taint and crumble the system.
The snobbery of IIM and IIT professors is appalling. Some of them have
said on TV that they can't teach 'lower quality' students. If they are
only good at grooming the top 1% and fail to groom top 10%, I propose
they should move to countries ruled by monarchs to teach only the kids
of emperors and kings.
We are obsessed with scores so much that we are unable to see anything
beyond them. Just to illustrate how we never seem to outgrow this:
Just check the questions asked by Indian students in every week issue
of Economic Times where this newspaper invites members of top Business
Schools to answer Indian student's questions, OR just attend any of
the academic orientation or info session held by top US/Europe
Business Schools in India. 95% of the questions are similar to this-
"I got 7## score in GMAT. Will I get admission to your institute?"
Now, all the answers from Admission Committee are the same- "The
admission criterion consists of many other parameters in addition to
your GMAT scores and there is no hard and fast rule to that". The
questions never change no matter how much they try to explain.
I will detail the admission criteria from my own experience. [I got
admission to Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago for
Fall 2003]. The admission criteria is broadly (not necessarily true
for all schools) based on the following parameters: Bachelor Degree
scores, essays and background information, Interview, Recommendation
Letters, GMAT scores (and TOEFL if applicable), not necessarily in
that order. A person with 540 score in GMAT may enter Harvard, while
someone with 780 (out of 800) may be rejected- based on various
parameters which include, in addition to those listed above, promoting
diversity, promoting backward sections and weaker sections, etc.
An Indian brought up in India knowing that 'merit' is sole criteria to
get admission doesn't grasp how this admission process works. The
belief system he held all his life gets punctured. Some learn to
appreciate it, and some ignore it as some weird and quirky gimmick
that Americans follow, and continue to assume that its "scores" which
matter in the end. To them 'merit' (read "scores") is inviolable and
is worth fasting for and dying for. That's when another sacred entity
called 'merit' joins the pantheon of many Indian sacred symbols. And
it is our culture of sanctifying things that is the bane of our
civilization. (more on that later!)
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