The IIT experience

Back in the 70s, IIT graduates went on to an MBA at IIM and became brand managers at Godrej selling soap.

But then they had sold their souls (and any chance of a normal adolescence) to get into an IIT so selling comes naturally to them.

My understanding was IIT Kharagpur was a notch below the other IITs - Kanpur, Madras, Bombay and Delhi. I was told that the non-teaching staff had a greater say on the campus than the professors.

Yes, that`s the point of these pressure cooker schools. There is something like this in Pakistan, called `IBA`. The ideas were similar--put a lot of pressure, then some more. End result is a very tough cookie. These institutes don`t produce thinkers, they produce `do-ers`, which is fine, except if you think that we have a surfeit of `do-ers` who keep doing the same things, whereas we need some creative thinkers who can brainstorm us out of the issues of this century. If you get to this point, then all hell breaks lose. Seems like you are here...:).

What bothers me most is the values that places like this propound. While the Third World, bends over backwards to mimic the Corporate led success of the First World, the thinkers in the First World are on a different planet all together. Which means, we need thinkers as much as do-ers in India/Pakistan. Excellence in obtaining factual knowledge is great, but true genius lies in creative thought.

Rgds

Saima