IITs: Murderer of Dreams
A survey was done in some premier US colleges to find out the reason behind dropping out of students in large chunks. It was found that students of leading universities who belong to the lower section (academically) were more prone to this phenomenon. As it is said, it is better to be the leader of foxes than a minion of lions.
In India the most overhyped term is "IITian". Role models for millions of kids and an ideal son-in-law for thousands of parents, these "IITians" are no more than an ideal package for the companies who want to hire servants in numerous attractive names. IITs are wonderful industries where no matter what the raw input is, the output is always the same. I am not generalising this article as it will be an insult for some really brilliant minds who have maintained the reputation of this college but more than 80 percent of IIT "janta" are being processed in these malicious industries.
When an enthusiastic kid enters in an IIT, he portrays himself as someone like A.P.J Abdul Kalam or maybe as a CEO of a multinational company. But all he comes across is the primitive culture of placements. A world with multiple dimensions is changed into a trivial path set by the "cultured" seniors that leads to getting a job of 8-10 lac. He starts doing even those things which he hates just to add those in his CV. Literally he adds his 'efficiency in pooping' in his CV. Academics becomes secondary to him. He will play a game which he does not even like to play to get an "Inter IIT" tag as it has heavy weightage in his CV for it shows his dynamic and all-rounder instincts (seniors told him so).
Another CV "jewel" is being a Core Team Member (CTM) and Core Team Head (CTH) at the fests. Now here is the interesting part. The three day long fest is actually built up on the cemetery of many prospective bright careers. A CTM works at least for 6 hours a day and in the month of the fest they hardly sleep once in four days. This actually sounds rubbish but it's the bitter truth. You would be bewildered to see a CTM attending a class. They are again forced to bunk classes for a month or more for the sake of fests. But are these actually brilliant IITian fools that they compromise with their academics?
The answer of this is even more ghastly. The ultimate goal of a CTMs and CTHs is to become a member of the Placement Committee (Placecomms). There are some seats reserved (unofficially) for these guys. Once they become Placecomms they manipulate the CVs, GD procedures and Interview short lists to get themselves and all their fellows placed very easily. Here, a dirty game with the career of deserving candidates is played.
Although, this Placecomm scenario is expected to improve as our director has decided to clip off their wings from the next season. Now God save the fests.
After all these "Game of placements" his love and interest for science dies and a potential innovator turns into a 'Corporate Dog'. Ultimately he gets placed in a Consultancy or a Software firm irrespective of his department and interest as he learns coding and finance not by interest but for the recruiters.
All the things mentioned above doesn't seem justified as one can argue that nothing is wrong in exploring interests. But exploring interests and changing the whole life style just for a company can never be justified. A large variety of students who if remain in their true colour can go much ahead in life are forcefully converted into a similar homogeneous product which each company demands.
I guess as a rebel I will be ill-treated by some cultured fellows but yes I deny to accept this culture. And congratulations for getting placed in a company that has no overall relation with your 4 or 5 years long academic years. I will try my best to keep my inner self-awakened.
In India the most overhyped term is "IITian". Role models for millions of kids and an ideal son-in-law for thousands of parents, these "IITians" are no more than an ideal package for the companies who want to hire servants in numerous attractive names. IITs are wonderful industries where no matter what the raw input is, the output is always the same. I am not generalising this article as it will be an insult for some really brilliant minds who have maintained the reputation of this college but more than 80 percent of IIT "janta" are being processed in these malicious industries.
When an enthusiastic kid enters in an IIT, he portrays himself as someone like A.P.J Abdul Kalam or maybe as a CEO of a multinational company. But all he comes across is the primitive culture of placements. A world with multiple dimensions is changed into a trivial path set by the "cultured" seniors that leads to getting a job of 8-10 lac. He starts doing even those things which he hates just to add those in his CV. Literally he adds his 'efficiency in pooping' in his CV. Academics becomes secondary to him. He will play a game which he does not even like to play to get an "Inter IIT" tag as it has heavy weightage in his CV for it shows his dynamic and all-rounder instincts (seniors told him so).
Another CV "jewel" is being a Core Team Member (CTM) and Core Team Head (CTH) at the fests. Now here is the interesting part. The three day long fest is actually built up on the cemetery of many prospective bright careers. A CTM works at least for 6 hours a day and in the month of the fest they hardly sleep once in four days. This actually sounds rubbish but it's the bitter truth. You would be bewildered to see a CTM attending a class. They are again forced to bunk classes for a month or more for the sake of fests. But are these actually brilliant IITian fools that they compromise with their academics?
The answer of this is even more ghastly. The ultimate goal of a CTMs and CTHs is to become a member of the Placement Committee (Placecomms). There are some seats reserved (unofficially) for these guys. Once they become Placecomms they manipulate the CVs, GD procedures and Interview short lists to get themselves and all their fellows placed very easily. Here, a dirty game with the career of deserving candidates is played.
Although, this Placecomm scenario is expected to improve as our director has decided to clip off their wings from the next season. Now God save the fests.
After all these "Game of placements" his love and interest for science dies and a potential innovator turns into a 'Corporate Dog'. Ultimately he gets placed in a Consultancy or a Software firm irrespective of his department and interest as he learns coding and finance not by interest but for the recruiters.
All the things mentioned above doesn't seem justified as one can argue that nothing is wrong in exploring interests. But exploring interests and changing the whole life style just for a company can never be justified. A large variety of students who if remain in their true colour can go much ahead in life are forcefully converted into a similar homogeneous product which each company demands.
I guess as a rebel I will be ill-treated by some cultured fellows but yes I deny to accept this culture. And congratulations for getting placed in a company that has no overall relation with your 4 or 5 years long academic years. I will try my best to keep my inner self-awakened.
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