tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post2925174434875934593..comments2023-11-02T16:06:29.793+05:30Comments on My life, my words: IITs - as overrated as it can getMadhathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00644775431982631751noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-29789715073858043472019-01-07T22:58:19.916+05:302019-01-07T22:58:19.916+05:30Please read Docs as DPC. Dept Promotional committe...Please read Docs as DPC. Dept Promotional committee. Sorry for auto typo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-496688509461267792019-01-07T22:56:20.752+05:302019-01-07T22:56:20.752+05:30As a scientist of reputed in dian scientific insti...As a scientist of reputed in dian scientific institute I have experiences of my colleagues who have faced many IIT professors in their Docs as external. They have costed careers and delayed promotions to people who have presented practical work by asking outdated and stubborn questions which naturally had spoiled ambience. Few may be exceptions . But many fall in to self righteous class and fail to appreciate extant viewpoints. We just pray often for a no nonsense profs. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-35706474724898606592015-09-16T21:05:08.638+05:302015-09-16T21:05:08.638+05:30What you did was awesome. What you did was awesome. The Last Legacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17079627220969916320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-17143164024929306312015-09-16T21:04:49.466+05:302015-09-16T21:04:49.466+05:30What you did was awesome. What you did was awesome. The Last Legacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17079627220969916320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-72604116745025421842011-05-07T18:50:48.599+05:302011-05-07T18:50:48.599+05:30If you are not serious about posting comments ,ple...If you are not serious about posting comments ,please do not ask to write comments, it is a waste of time for people who write the comments. You can mention that only Pro-IIT comments are acceptable and when there is a criticism, it should be indirect praise of the greatness of IIT people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-85913540892488670912009-08-11T05:23:15.073+05:302009-08-11T05:23:15.073+05:30In one of your observations, you compared IITs to ...In one of your observations, you compared IITs to Caltech for their ignorance to humanities courses. Do you have any evidence supporting that a given number of humanities courses must be incorporated?<br /><br />I do not generally defend any institution, but like to see factual evidences than comparative evidences. Caltech is a great institution, but a number of humanities course need not necessarily make it great. Facts missing....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-67773207016297155982009-04-25T00:45:00.000+05:302009-04-25T00:45:00.000+05:30Ayush, you make a valid point. I agree that there ...Ayush, you make a valid point. I agree that there are assumptions people make about you when they come to know you are an IITian. Partly the reason why we IITians seem to have a bloated ego.Madhathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00644775431982631751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-48228726261934616532009-04-24T00:25:00.000+05:302009-04-24T00:25:00.000+05:30"Isn't it sad that the vast majority (99%) do not ..."Isn't it sad that the vast majority (99%) do not receive quality education in India? Call me a pessimist but I think the IITs are the best example of the extreme kind of exclusivity and classism that our society exhibits and I find it a disease that needs to be combated."<br /><br />Congratulations, you've earned my respect with that one line.<br /><br />Still it is sad to see that other than a lone blogger nobody seems to notice the atrocity of statements such as: "only 1% of India's population, the cream of the cream, manage to make it into this institute of excellence". Of course, we Indians don't use our minds all that often. Because if we did, there wouldn't be so much of a fuss regarding the supposed difficulty of the JEE. Concept-based learning seems to be an alien concept to most Indian kids raised primarily on rote-based education.<br /><br />Consider the not-so-cream-of-the-cream students - the 99% that didn't get in. Great. What now? It doesn't help to slog your balls off for two years only to be told that you'll be receiving "sub-standard education". Neither does it help to know that you'll never be as "brilliant", as "talented", as "godly" as the IITians. But being an IITian yourself, you're probably alien to such feelings.<br /><br />To sum it up, I believe that individual skills matter far more than some stupid college degree - IIT or the college-next-door. Look at it this way - if you're good at what you do and you ENJOY doing it (something not stressed enough by India's "elite" education system), it logically follows that you get into some good college (if not IIT). And then, for once, studies will cease to become a chore - something that you must do - and metamorphose into a pleasant pastime - something that you enjoy doing.<br /><br />It takes a little shift in focus, minus all the teeth-gnashing, knuckle-breaking effort it takes to prepare for the JEE (which doesn't even guarantee success).<br /><br />But then again if we were capable of thinking, neither would IITians be treated as gods nor would millions of youths have to waste the best years of their lives only to meet with disappointment.<br /><br />Don't even get me started on ragging and the measures taken to control it (or the lack thereof).Ayush Agarwalnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-81099718584007327082007-02-08T09:04:00.000+05:302007-02-08T09:04:00.000+05:30Dont think you are doing justice when you say that...Dont think you are doing justice when you say that students dont get to take courses from departments other than their own. These days, the concept of "minors" have been coming up quitte well, and there are a fairly large number of students opting for minors <I>of their choice</I>.<BR/>What I do feel though is that there should be reduction in the <I>number</I> of courses on needs to take with a corresponding <I>increase in the intensity</I> of the courses.<BR/>Also, I personally thibk that one of the key causes of disillusionment of many of the students is that often what they read for the entrance exams are actually much more challenging than what they are faced with in the engineering curriculum. This definitely serves to reduce the enthu of the junta.Pratik Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12991612512085384857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-48596456128210597582007-02-08T07:31:00.000+05:302007-02-08T07:31:00.000+05:30@kuffir: no comment..@manohar: I do not claim that...@kuffir: no comment..<BR/><BR/>@manohar: I do not claim that the IITs train the students for software jobs. Of course, they do not. But somehow the vast majority of people go into software jobs and it is the favourite hunting grounds for software companies. I dont know much about 'core' EE jobs but may I ask what are these 'core' CS jobs and how many companies and more specifically, how many employees who do that kind of job?<BR/>I think every person who gets into the IITs is capable of working towards a PhD. The reason why dont could be several including personal reasons and I would never consider a PhD as the ultimate goal of an 'innovator'. Heck, Edison did not even have a degree.<BR/>I would say that making the coursework a great experience for everybody is an impossibility but part of the problem of the IITs is the lack of freedom to choose coursework other than your departments. You are stuck with a department for four years and there is not much to choose from either, other than other engineering divisions. This is quite unlike an university and one of the major inherent problems of the IITs.<BR/>The problem with the IITs is not that they are not good or that they dont have facilities or that they dont attract the best minds or that they dont have autonomy <B>but that they are not getting better (in fact, they are getting worse)</B> and are unable to come up with constructive ideas to tackle the problems they face today. In fact, they are not even thinking about making the institute better in a manner that would benefit the students, who are really the greatest asset (and not just of the IITs). The problem is not even the blanket ban on the LAN but the thinking behind it which is symptomatic of a ailing and diseased administration.<BR/><BR/>@Krish: lynx porn? :D<BR/>This post was really a release of a lot of anger from my latest visit to IITK a couple of months ago. They have done some really ridiculous things. One of the pioneering Directors of IITK, PK Kelkar, is reputed to have been against walls around the academic area. While walls around the academic area was constructed a long time ago, there were other decisions that were taken during my time that I thought were quite detrimental to the spirit of Kelkar's ideas.Madhathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00644775431982631751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-75474163816083398222007-02-07T23:31:00.000+05:302007-02-07T23:31:00.000+05:30Well written post Apurva. The ban the LAN incident...Well written post Apurva. The ban the LAN incident reminds me of a similar thing that happened when I was in IITB (mid 90s). The people in charge of computer center and network thought that many students were downloading porn (that was a time when IITB allowed only lynx and web was in its infancy) and for some reason my advisor complained to CC incharge that I was the gang leader (Myself and my project advisor had a cold war going on at that time). So some of these profs entrusted with the computers and network got together and they came up with a "brilliant" plan to block domain names based on keywords like xxx, sex, etc. It gave fodder to a perennial anti-establishment guy like me. Every day morning I will send one mail to CC incharge saying that a legitimate site got blocked. The sites like xxx.lanl.gov, www.middlesex.ac.uk, www.sussex.ac.uk, www.essex.ac.uk, etc. They got so pissed off with my mails that they removed that ban. The reason I am saying this story is because I want to point out that this has been happening in IITs from time immemorial. The power to control the networks goes into the hand of some old timers who doesn't even know the recent developments in network security, etc. The only way they could tackle it is by imposing a blanket ban on everything. For example, IITM doesn't allow FTP, SSH or anything from inside their network. You have to log into one of their servers outside the firewall and then ftp or ssh from there. I do agree that ftp is not the smart way for people but it is convenient way for many users. They could have atleast allowed sftp and ssh instead of putting a blanket ban. This is the unfortunate scenario in our country's elite institutions. If this is the case with elite institutions, think what our ISPs will do. Blanket ban on blogspot.com instead of banning specific users (or just allow all users and fight their propaganda politically). <br /><br />Your mention of LAN ban reminded me of this event then. Good post Apurva.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-39747051852641312292007-02-07T21:48:00.000+05:302007-02-07T21:48:00.000+05:30Plz do not say that the IIT's train us to do "soft...Plz do not say that the IIT's train us to do "software" jobs. I agree that there are not many core jobs in India, but that has it's own reasons. But these days we do have a lot of core jobs in elec and CS in India. I am sure all departments try their level best to expose their students all possible options available in that discipline. If the teaching in IIT's was indeed so bad I am sure we would'nt have had so many students willing to go abroad for Phd programmes instaed lucrative jobs in finance companies. I agree that students have allmost zero knowledge about their branches at the time of admission and some counselling/interaction with the faculty will certainly help. As far as HS credits are concerned I don't think it really matters, the aim of a B.Tech programme is to teach students technology. We have 4 HS courses and enthu junta can take their 2-3 free electives also in HS if they want.I agree that not everything is right in IIT but it's certainly better than what u have written about it.<br /><br />S.ManoharAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885412.post-19111166834995837262007-02-06T20:09:00.000+05:302007-02-06T20:09:00.000+05:30phew!phew!kuffirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12137701734913669203noreply@blogger.com