Many of my readers have commented to me, directly, that my entries are too long. I take notice of it, and hence am trying to be short. Short articles benefit me too – need not ruminate for so long that the idea originally being ruminated on is lost! Today, I will tell you about an interesting phenomenon. Imagine a whole lot of students, weary from a loaded work week, pulled out on some week-end morning, early, on the threat of hefty fines and other sanctions at the extreme and strong social disapproval at the minimum.
Imagine a bunch of wise guys, who are probably more weary from a more loaded work week, pulled out on the same weekend morning, a bit late than the students – on the pain of constant badgering on the phone and the cyberspace, so that putting the whole badgering to rest by acceding to the request for company becomes a necessity. Both groups are sleepy, both groups are weary – neither wanted this to happen, but both are really ‘happy’ – as one group thanks the other for ‘gracing the occasion’ while the other is pleased for the ‘invitation’. Both have a distorted view of each other – the wise guys thinks the students, of a renowned school, must be really learned, and may feel a bit scared. So they try to salvage their pride by speaking stuff which is intelligible neither to themselves nor to the students. The students, meanwhile have to show that they belong to this ‘renowned institution’ and hence, they nod as if they are understanding all of it – and when their turn comes, ask questions that are not in anyway connected with all the proceedings going on – but now it is the turn of the wise guys to nod, as if they understand it all – and such exchanges go on till the week end is wasted. The end result – institution-corporate relationship!
What exactly does the institution corporate relationship achieve? No idea. Some say it increases the job prospects of the student. Well, let’s examine that statement critically. Looking from the business perspective, the students in the job market are trying to sell their services to the businesses – who are ‘business customers’ – hence, a flashy ad campaign will not do much to increase the chance of the sale – corporate buyers want value for money – sadly the value that has to be created in the students is normally lost in the excessive focus on relationship. Agreed it is a marketing driven scenario, but even then operations cannot be ignored totally. Yet, the hard selling of half baked cookies to the new ‘relatives’ might get one or two batches off the roster, but in the end, all has to get back to the basics.
Another problem with this trend is the fact that it starts a round of competitive relations building – if one college goes for wasted weekends, another might try to top it with wasted weeks! I have seen people trying to squeeze three wasted weekends in one month, so that the relationship edge is not lost! So, it starts following the vicious competitive circle that I have talked about at length in the previous post. In the end, all the time of the academic session might be put to relationship building, whereas the building of knowledge and intellect is ignored.
As I have always said, such edifices would not survive for long – built on unbacked promises, unverified claims and pretense. Sadly that is going on across the country – it is one of the worst kept secrets of the Indian education system – ask anybody individually to speak truly, be it student or wise man, and they will tell that it is all a charade. Yet, collectively, we are unable to throw off this yoke of our own making, and it keeps on getting more and more loaded. When is this going to end? I cannot say that, but it is important that somebody high up in the system calls the bluff. For now, it is good bye from a fugitive from the yoke.
Imagine a bunch of wise guys, who are probably more weary from a more loaded work week, pulled out on the same weekend morning, a bit late than the students – on the pain of constant badgering on the phone and the cyberspace, so that putting the whole badgering to rest by acceding to the request for company becomes a necessity. Both groups are sleepy, both groups are weary – neither wanted this to happen, but both are really ‘happy’ – as one group thanks the other for ‘gracing the occasion’ while the other is pleased for the ‘invitation’. Both have a distorted view of each other – the wise guys thinks the students, of a renowned school, must be really learned, and may feel a bit scared. So they try to salvage their pride by speaking stuff which is intelligible neither to themselves nor to the students. The students, meanwhile have to show that they belong to this ‘renowned institution’ and hence, they nod as if they are understanding all of it – and when their turn comes, ask questions that are not in anyway connected with all the proceedings going on – but now it is the turn of the wise guys to nod, as if they understand it all – and such exchanges go on till the week end is wasted. The end result – institution-corporate relationship!
What exactly does the institution corporate relationship achieve? No idea. Some say it increases the job prospects of the student. Well, let’s examine that statement critically. Looking from the business perspective, the students in the job market are trying to sell their services to the businesses – who are ‘business customers’ – hence, a flashy ad campaign will not do much to increase the chance of the sale – corporate buyers want value for money – sadly the value that has to be created in the students is normally lost in the excessive focus on relationship. Agreed it is a marketing driven scenario, but even then operations cannot be ignored totally. Yet, the hard selling of half baked cookies to the new ‘relatives’ might get one or two batches off the roster, but in the end, all has to get back to the basics.
Another problem with this trend is the fact that it starts a round of competitive relations building – if one college goes for wasted weekends, another might try to top it with wasted weeks! I have seen people trying to squeeze three wasted weekends in one month, so that the relationship edge is not lost! So, it starts following the vicious competitive circle that I have talked about at length in the previous post. In the end, all the time of the academic session might be put to relationship building, whereas the building of knowledge and intellect is ignored.
As I have always said, such edifices would not survive for long – built on unbacked promises, unverified claims and pretense. Sadly that is going on across the country – it is one of the worst kept secrets of the Indian education system – ask anybody individually to speak truly, be it student or wise man, and they will tell that it is all a charade. Yet, collectively, we are unable to throw off this yoke of our own making, and it keeps on getting more and more loaded. When is this going to end? I cannot say that, but it is important that somebody high up in the system calls the bluff. For now, it is good bye from a fugitive from the yoke.
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