Before I begin my advocacy of the CBSE Board Examinations, I must make a few things clear. Firstly, I think the CBSE exam pattern is extremely flawed. Secondly, I have said before and I reiterate that scoring in the CBSE exams amounts to nothing - it does not, in any way, prove a person to be intellectually superior to another person.This said, I now begin what I want to say. Any parent, any student and a lot of teachers consider anybody who cracks IIT, especially the top 1000 ranks, as a human whose mental capabilities are far greater than those of others. Those who top CBSE, in comparision, are almost invariably considered bookworms and rote learners. They are seen as creatures who are dipped in their books for the four-five months before the Boards and as creatures who lack imagination.
So, first let me talk about IIT. I have seen people who have cracked IIT (my cousin stayed with us and cracked IIT with AIR 210) at close quarters. Indeed, their skills at Physics, Chemistry and Maths are unparalleled. But does mastery of three subjects make them intellectually superior? True, they know about different approaches to solve a question and are better at applying what they learn than what most of us are. But beware, do not believe that this is in any way their intellectual superiority.
I say this because even these IIT people are, in a way, 'conditioned' to solve things like that. In Class X, I was among the best in the sciences in my school, but today I'd be lagging far behind. What changed in these two years? Did the others' brains grow faster than mine? No. Over two years, these IIT aspirants were conditioned to look at a question and were taught different ways to solve it. Done on a sustained manner, it made them more adept at solving questions.
But the point is that these students are solving questions, they are not doing anything creative or imaginative. They are not using most of their brains, just the small logical part of their brains. These hard-working men and women have not outgrown the rest of the student body, they have simply greater reasoning and logical skills.
Now coming back to the CBSE toppers. True, the CBSE English is among the most subjective and consequently, one of the most lop-sided examinations ever devised. Imagination and different lines of thoughts are discouraged and one must write answers that follow a particular line of thought. But that said, to score in the CBSE exams, one needs clarity of though and a flair for expressiveness. If I want to score in CBSE, I have to write my answers as briefly and as curtly as possible without leaving any details. Even in English, I am not supposed to write just anything, I must write what has been asked of me. And over a scale of 30-40 roll numbers, the CBSE English marks remain fairly relfective of one's skills in the language.
This said, it is extremely easy to master CBSE. It is easy to learn about the loopholes of the CBSE system and work your way up it. But then, the same applies to most other examinations, even the SATs and is nothing new and exclusive to the CBSE. But to score 99 in Economics took me a lot of practice and a lot of clear thinking. And to score my precious 100 in Maths took me a lot, a lot of hardwork. And my 98 in Chemistry and 95 in Physics did not come easy either.
So, all said, I want to say that scoring in CBSE proves close to nothing, but neither does scoring in IIT. What really matters is how you are able to apply all that you learn in the institution that you go to. Maybe the crux of the matter is the disrespect of arts and commerce subjects in India. So, till the day that Economics commands the same respect as Astrophysics, engineers and doctors will continue to be looked at in awe and the "poor" and "unimaginative" B.A and B.Com students will have to live in wait for the due respect that should be accorded to them.
9 comments:
I agree with you on this, but I also doubt how many IIT JEE toppers will be able to do well in _actual_ logical / reasoning tests. That's why many of them take a beating in BITSAT...and that's just 15 questions or English + logic. JEE, AIEEE, et al also have their own flaws.
dear dear ankur, do a bit of research before commenting on iitians. and subbu , u r walkin on the line, be careful. i dont think knowing the meaning of handful of english words, converting active sentences to passive,or correcting grammatically incorrect sentences really helps in designing the PC on which u r sitting.
so ankur either u r a down to earth man, or ur name didnot even feature in iit eml.
@Phoenix: Before lecturing about grammar it would be wise for you to bother to compose comments you're leaving in 'proper English'.
I'm not 'against' IITs / IITians. On the contrary I have lots of friends who are past / present IITians. I was just saying that proficiency in PCM does not necessarily equate to 'intellectual superiority' (Subhashish's point) or demonstrate a proficiency for the subject. Don't want to listen to me? OK, don't. You may want to listen to what IIT professors themselves have to say on this.
I believe one major reason why this debate crops up is the paucity of seats in 'good' engineering colleges in India. Here, PCM score dictates whether you get a course you want to do in college. In universities overseas the number of seats and the number of good quality institutes is so high that nobody is forced to take up a course they don't want. Despite this, competition to get into top universities is still very fierce.
Oho ... its good for a blogger to see people fighting on his blog, but yaar, peaceful fighting karo na.
@ Deboleena: I am merely saying that clearing IIT does not prove anything. And Ankur is very right in commenting on IITians' English skills. Debo, they may be genuises, but no point being a genius if you cannot be an effective communicator, which many IITians are not!
@ Ankur: I agree almost whole-heartedly. Yes, we lack "good" colleges not only for Engg, but the problem is worse for something like Economics .... to do research in Eco in India is IMPOSSIBLE !
@Subhashish: Here's some info on SRCC that you might be interested in. http://tr.im/srcc (There will be another podcast - on St Stephen's - soon, so stay tuned for that.)
@ Ankur: Thanks, and it'll be kind of you if you could tell me when they put up the one on Stephens, or even Hansraj if possible.
Thanks ! :D
@Subhashish: Sure thing, I'll do that.
@ Subhashish: what is this Mr. Gray thing? Gray doesnot suit you dear. what about "monsieur noir"?
@ ankur: You may be the ultimate stephanian( the angrezii guy), but dude chill. U are absolutely right about english being the most common language of communication.
But not knowing it properly should not be a handicap. Engineering institutes are supposed to find the minds and polish them. By the way, people dont lose out on bits becoz of english. U have to give it to know the reason.
@Phoenix: No Stephen's. University of Surrey. So you can call me more of an angrez if you want. :) Not having proper English communication skills may not be a handicap in fields such as engineering, but _knowing_ it in addition to the field is a definite advantage.
English / logical reasoning is not a make-or-break topic for just getting through in BITSAT. Of course I know that - just 15 questions from that topic. But for top rankers, it makes a definite dent in their score because they don't give much importance to English. That's 45 marks gone if they don't do that well, and that's without counting the negative they'll get for an incorrect answer.
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