What is the one thing that I would like to change about the profesors at DA-IICT ?
There is a belief in the air that the initial 5-6 years of DA-IICT were "Dream Years" for the Institute since the students were believed to be talented and were very much interested in doing research and innovation. With the passing years, though there has been some change, something that can definitely be felt. We can always argue that the criteria for selection, i.e. the AIEEE exam has degraded in its value. But I believe the students are still talented enough. Where then is the problem ?
The answer to both the above questions is the same : " The attitude , or rather the mindset, of some of the professors towards the students of the current batches is a little off-path." (I obviously dont have a sureshot proof of this, but judging by the clues that I shall provide later, it might be true.) And this is exactly what I would like to change. When I compare DA-IICT with the Top IITs, there was always one significant difference that I have felt - in IIT there are good and bad students, and the sometimes difference between them is vast. In DA-IICT, students might be average but all are of the same level more or less. This difference, however, is fastly eroding. We are embeding in us a part of IIT's culture, but unfortunately, the bad part.
Its almost as if the professors think "Chalta hai. Students ko kuch padi nahi hai. Koi iska benefit nai uthayega. They just dont care." before presenting any oppurtunity to the students to present themselves ( not to speak-up, but to present some quality (not necessarily academic) work). I am not talking about Assignments or home-works, they are mostly monotonous. I am talking about Ideas - allow the students to live the subject by allowing them to make some effort towards creating innovation. Of course, there are students who hate all this - in some cases they form the majority, but that by no means should discourage the teacher from providing oppurtunities to students.
Another clue that we can derive is the way our answer papers are presented to us. It almost defeats the entire purpose of exam. I believe exams are meant not only to asses students but also to deliver feedback - timely and correct feedback. There are a few professors today who either dont deliver papers on time or dont make sure that it is checked correctly. Sometimes the papers are corrected by TAs who have no idea what is going on in the course and they expect an altogether different level from the students. The result - students suffer when they dont live upto the so called "expectations" of the TAs - I have seen one of my professors admit that getting TAs to correct the paper can be nasty in such situations for the professor himself - there are a lot of rechecks of things that were never wrong in the first place. Every student has a right to view his answer papers on time and properly corrected, so the professors MUST show the papers. Not showing them on time/ giving improper feedback does not help the student to assess himself as to where he stands and how he needs to position himself for the coming part of the course. Amir Khan's dialogue from 3 Idiots " Is se Knowledge badhegi ? Nahi. Sirf Pressure Badhega" fits relevantly here. Also, I strongly feel that the professor ought to make sure there is a key for the question paper and that each student MUST get his answer paper back so that he can keep it for future reference. Some might argue that the students themselves are culprits at times - they cheat, they dont pay heed, they dont learn from their mistakes - but that by no means is a valid arguement for a professor to restrain himswlf from all the above.
At the end of it all, I wanna say that this applies to some of the professors as there are professors I know who provide ample feedback to the students on time - and this helps the students more often than not. And this is exactly how it should be. We need Professors - Teachers - Mentors - Guides who can show us the way. We dont need Bosses who control us ( not referencing any one in particular - due respect to all). This is definitely the one change that I would like to see in the professors of DA-IICT. Si esto sucede, he visto todo en DAIICT !
