Sunday, November 20, 2011

Views on coaching

A coaching class as a business has prospered for IIT-JEE preparation and there has been a lot of debate about the effect it has. Like all debates some parts of it are true some not. I would accept the argument that good coaching is a definite advantage to students who get them and sometimes would be disadvantageous to a more capable student who is unable to access them. But that is one part of the story. The second part is it helps. It helps immensely a student who learns from good teachers and learns better than otherwise on his own. What is so bad in it? I fail to understand. If the student has the ability to pick up and understand when told in a different way and develops a capability to solve the most complex questions in the exam what is so bad about it. Yes the coaching refines and cuts down the amount of effort the student has to make to crack the exam. But what is so wrong if they are able to find an efficient way to help students to get into an institute which is so coveted in our country. Don't tell me the students groomed by coaching are not competent enough and the IITs are churning out less brilliant students. If it is the case, its because the level of JEE has dropped significantly over the years. Why don't they make it as tough as possible and let the best minds crack it, which happen in the Olympiads as well. I am an IITian and I owe more of my engineering knowledge to my coaching teachers as compared to IIT professors or my school teachers. In school, teachers have no real motivation to teach, their salaries are fixed, their task is cut out and they don't really care. Don't forget the teachers we have in our school are nowhere close to the best minds in the country. In contrast, I can anyday bet, that my coaching teachers would fare far better in their IQ and more importantly their teaching skills. Its very easy if you map it to the corporates running in government and private sectors. The coaching institutes do not want lazy, unmindful, non-performance driven teachers who care only about the time lines of syllabus completion. So the point I'm trying to make is at the end of the day if the coaching institutes are able to impart better education irrespective of the way they run it, there's no harm in it as long as education is the winner. Why don't IIT professors learn from them how to drive the younger generation and impart better education through innovative ways. But instead they choose to criticize and reject them. I find it sad. Instead I choose to criticize their attitude. They make noises about all these things and hope to get better salaries. They are better off attending these classes and learning from them how to churn out better engineers in our society. And anyways if our schooling and our school teachers were so outstanding and if our board exams were based on meritocracy this situation would never have arrived. I can tell you the same IIT professors who are making so much hue and cry never change their ways of teaching. They more often than not stick to the class lectures to frame questions in semester exams so that a more loyal student to them who is referred to as "maggu" in IIT who attends their classes and take notes can muster them and do well to prove a point to others. The point is exactly contradictory. Their exams don't reward the best minds within IITians but who learn in a conventional way. The focus is not on thinking and strong understanding of concepts. Instead the lecture notes. Why have they failed to innovate in the exam papers that they set? Why don't people first question them and the harm they are causing the education in India? Why are they allowed to even shun these coaching classes. I would say allow these coaching teachers to run IITs and you will see what improvements in efficiencies you get in the system then.

5 comments:

nm,. said...

I really don't think so..U know these coaching centers are selfish(25 out of 70)These are nothing but money making organizations...You proposed on your block that you were some where else before FIITJEE.Even you would have felt that...But ya its true that if you get a high position then "in the end it doesn't even matter........"!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

1. Formal coaching institutes create a hype & project the IIT brand as a ladder to heaven.

Even if you don't consider the false projection, formal coaching for competition increases pressure on students due to the societal structure.

2. Those who "succeed" have insignificant contribution by coaching institutes. At the end of the day, you may be able to solve a few numerical problems (not success) or stuff but life does not end there.

I have been to Vidyamandir Classes & I know the truth. Why IITians burn out in IIT & after IIT ?

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with the author on this.

School teachers don't have any motivation to teach better, and might even not possess the knowledge required by students to crack JEE. Coaching institute teachers have their jobs dependent on the number of students getting into IIT. They have to perform every time. Their performance may also be a result of most of them being IITians themselves. And this knowledge commands money.

I don't know why you all are hell bent against money making. Everything you do or have done in your life yet is indirectly related to making as much money as possible.

Also, closing the institutes will not have any effect on the advantage the well off possess over the rest. They will always have an edge no matter the system you choose.

- future IITian ;)

Anonymous said...

Maybe the exam setters are looking for students who are already capable of solving the exam problems and/or are willing to become capable enough 'themselves' & these coaching institutes help students "crack" the exam & not necessarily have the qualities/capabilities the exam setters are looking for.

Thus, all the students who crack JEE don't have the qualities the exam setters are looking for.

Wouldn't you say some students just manage to get admission in IIT with the help of coaching institutes & don't really have the interest or aptitude for engineering?

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