With my semesters knocking i think, I shouldn't be writing anything and wasting time, yet here I am trying to cook something up, just to make myself happy, hoping that perhaps I can come up with something constructive.Its sad, that we, would be engineers have this bad habit of disrespecting almost every other profession, and unfortunately or fortunately, we dont even have feel remotely guilty about it. Au contraire, sometimes I feel we're downright proud of it.Its true, that in a country like ours, a professional course is something that we are forced to choose (oxymoronic as that statement is) rather than a life-path at which to succeed. Ad it always must to be a doctor or an engineer. Very typical, extremely orthodox but then one completely undeniable. The most important question though is, why do we feel superior?Now some of my 'humble' friends, would most definitely say, that they am not proud, that they do not look down upon people studying arts or commerce, but I know that somewhere deep down, we all feel a tad bloated.You might feel this is fanaticism, but read on further and you will realise your mistake.The basic aspect for this SUPERIORITY COMPLEX, is nothing but COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS. Even the nicest of engineers have, somewhere down the line, kicked someone else's BUTT, to get in the institution of their or their parents dreams.In all this BUTT kicking, somewhere we feel superior, and presume that great things are in store for us.With due respect to the worthy PURE SCIENCE cadres, most engineers consider "most of them" to be COMPETITIVE REJECTS, and 99% of intellectualy retarded engineers do not even know what "ARTS" is...The cult status of engineers, doctors and more recently lawyers, have somewhere overshadowed most of the other streams, in terms of mass social appeal. Quite pathetic, but again, undeniable.Yet, what I see around me, astonishes me. The fact that we care little about what lies in store, and are more concerned about what is in hand, proves to the undoing of most of us, the budding demigods of the Indian Education System. I have seen, in my professors, and teachers from the PURE SCIENCE cadre, an intrinsic antipathy towards us, the engineers. Their patented, remarks always having to do something about our profession.However, though we have win a hands down victory in the battle for popularity, I fear that most of us lose the greater war of academic excellence and approach.I wont be lying, when I say, that I share somewhat similar feelings towards the pure bloods, but I must say that these people always have and always will be better in approach, than we the engineers.Studying in JU, humanities has a cult status, that nobody can deny, and not being a parallel stream, bitterness is much less pronounced-even going so far as mutual respect, which is gravely lacking between professionals and pure science elsewhere.The IITs are a definite reason for the upliftment of the engineering brand value, the National Law Colleges have added a new dimension in the fields of judicial one-upmanship, but somewhere, the most premium science colleges have lost out in the race...So what am I playing at, what am I trying to say? In spite of all the adulation and the undoubted hard work, do we really deserve the respect we get?... Engineering is believed to have one the most grueling academic curricula in the world, in terms of application, yet most of the marks we get are from mugged up derivations! Its a subject where asking questions is the way to learn, yet that is perhaps the first thing we forget in the span of the course. We get all sorts of information about the whats, but do not have a clue about the whys or the hows, and possibly more alarmingly we don't really care! Engineers are the most creative imps of the education system as far as beating examinations goes but where goes that creativity when the time comes to actually study? People argue that seats increases have led to a depreciation of engineering quality, but that has happened in every field. Why is it just our lot that seems to have gone down on the quality scale?Who am I to question the system when I am an intrinsic part of it? But let me tell you this-this is not how I WANTED TO LEARN IT... And am sure many of my fellows would agree... The greatness which we admire in our seniors, our teachers, they've earned every mote of it through their own hard work, not by virtue of the stream they chose. I'm not saying we're not different from the people in the other streams. Of course we are, otherwise we would have chosen Arts or Commerce or Pure Science...but we've confused being different with being better, and that is an attitude we have to get out of, the sooner the better. Problem Lies, we were better, most of us, more able than those, whose paths lead to a shut door, and so started a burrow, but our complacency deters us, to make a distinction, allows "them", to call themselves equal. The academic approach kills, the idea, and superiority fails to prevail. However, these same professionals were the best in their fields, when they were a tender age of 18/19.Yet most lose out, settle for unskilled labours, and yet be proud about it...PITY PITY..PROBLEM IS ENGINEERING IS CONSIDERED TO BE AN ATTITUDE RATHER THAN A FULL FLEDGED ACADEMIC STREAM, ITS A PERCEPTION HELD BY NOT JUST THE SOCIETY, BUT ALSO ENGINEERS THEMSELVES & THERE LIES THE DEEPEST OF PROBLEMS. THE FIRST THING I HEARD WHEN I TOLD A FRIEND THAT I WANTED TO BE AN ENGINEER, WAS THAT "NOW NOBEL PRIZE IS OUT OF QUESTION", ENGINEERS ARE PERCEIVED AS CORPORATE SLAVES, WEIRD, WHEN WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE ULTIMATE CREATOR, USER AND FLAG BEARER OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT... BUT THANKS TO OUR DARLING EVALUATION SYSTEM, WE ARE SCREWED :(Pity pity pity
Edited by Tanay Dutta.
Edited by Tanay Dutta.
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