Monday, March 24, 2008

BITSian Undertones !!

The following is a chat I had with one of my friends, yashoteja prabhu, who people might remember as a pretty accomplished student who not only excelled in his short BITSian life, but also cracked IIT-JEE in his second attempt....getting AIR-31 :
Yash:
So... Hws the 2nd year??
Mus b very hectic I s'pose??
Wat r the courses u r havin this sem??


binitranjan:
first semester was bad.....
this semester we have really nice courses
microprocessor programming
structures and properties of amterials
discrete structures
etc.
principles of management


Yash:
Hw com u hv a course tat basically belong to mech dept??


binitranjan:
thats how it is....
we are supposed to be well versed in the basics of all disciplines
isnt that the motive of all elite institutes?
complete engineers as they call it


Yash:
Dont think so.. Then wats the point in havin different branches..
?
Anyway its gud 2 hv a basic knowledge of the necessary fields..
Tats wat i feel ...


binitranjan:
it is not only good , it is NECESSARY
because in practical life all this knowledge is required
if i were to go by your point then you wouldnt require the 4 years of rigorous training you are goin through right now..
we already know programming..
just a crash course in computer hardware..
which also we have sufficient knowledge about
would do
that should officially be the end of our b.e. comp sci degree.
but then that is what sets apart institutes like bits-pilani and the iits


Yash:
Wel its all different views... But anyway to make it clear .. A broad basis is not an objective of our institution...
Rather its specialization in one's specific field...
One has to gain an expertise in watever they r doin...


binitranjan:
specialization in one's one field along with working knowledge in other fields is what we are supposed to strive for...
later in life, when faced with a problem of a miscallaneous kind....
which we obviously will....
we have our huge database, concepts to bank upon
in practicality we will never face a problem that is specialised to our discipline
and if we are not to face specialised problems, then simply having specialised training is not sufficient
yes there are certain topics which might have very vague significance in our future...but we cant downplay them either
it is probable that their significance is not apparent to us right now...
but when the necessary knowledge is sought it will sure come in handy
and that is when we will realise the importance
as it is said , we cant simply jump onto conclusions on the basis of naive assumptions that a particular course is not linked directly to our work requirements..


Sent at 10:59 PM on Tuesday
Yash:
To make myself clear... The arguments here r definitely not about whether or not to have the knowledge of all fields.. But rather it is about the stress laid upon the thing... Infact these first year courses like Chemistry , workshop, Eg , electrodynamics... These r all a must to have , in most of the engineering institutions ....


Sent at 11:04 PM on Tuesday
Yash:
But spending all the first year as wel as significant part of the further years too in this diversification is too much to bargain for ...
Tat too wen the 4 year time v hv is in itself too less to have a full outlook of a single branch...


binitranjan:
your point is surely valid to a certain extent
first of all
the institute wants to ensure a gradual transition from your 12th std syllabus to the present syllabus
they assume that we have no prior knowledge of the material that is being taught to us...
this i am afraid is a necessary assumption
because we, having been through rigorous training for the entrance examinations have some sort of idea and methodology set in our mind to tackle the advanced stuff being taught to us
but it wouldnt be suitable to assume the same level of understanding from all students
because they are from different backgrounds
and have different levels of preparation...
so we do need to start from the basics
as a matter of fact, one good thing done in this respect is that htey assume that we are well versed with things tought to us iun the cbse course
so after confirming the basics they need to build the actual foundation.....which is the basics of all fundamental engineering disciplines
this process to be comprehensively fulfilled does, i am afraid require 1.5 years in the case of bits-pilani...
secondly
coming to the issue of having a holistic view of the assigned/chosen discipline
i believe higher degrees cater to those needs
that is exactly the reason we go for m.s. and the like
to heavily specialise in our discipline...or whichever branch you are then interested in....
this flexibility, i think, allows a lot of decisions to be revised and rethought

Yash:
Ok then lemme draw the conclusion now... Study diversification is absolutely necessary... An' ofcourse to wat extent it is necessary this depends on the kinda job one prefers ...
Gotta go now ... Was very nice speaking to u ... Meet u some time later ....
See ya then ..\
:-)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I guess a general BITSian's opinion may differ in some respect expressed in this blog. We need more specialization as our alumnis experiences say.

bin-it said...

first of all, thanks a hell lot for posting a comment......
yeah, i guess i am a pretty deluded BITSian....would take stuff at face value....but then, if i am to argue, i would say that every individual feels that the grass is greener on the other side.....havent there been instances in your life when you have felt that 'maybe if i had opted for the other thing it would have been better......'. A similar phenomenon happens over here...even if a particular skill set, you thought was completely useless, came in handy, practically speaking, there is only a small chance that you might actually end up appreciating it. And thats probably because the associated success blinds you enough to forget about it.

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