Reflect & Opine

The ‘Other’ Enemy

Posted on January 20, 2009. Filed under: Battlefield Mumbai |

Till yesterday I thought that we only have to deal with terrorists. But now “Battlefield Mumbai” includes Mumbai University as the other enemy.

I was in college, eagerly waiting for my Sem V results, when I found out that only 20 people got above 60%. Half my batch got an ATKT in at least one subject. Then came the highlight of the show. There was a “Torts group” and a “Contracts group”. 15 people in a row got KTs in these subjects. And these people included those who were supposed to be the smart ones of our college. Lol! It was hilarious! Unbelievable!

From among my friends, one girl was really lucky. She has always scored well and this time too it was not different. She was the 2nd highest of my batch. But one guy, who used to get 75-80% suddenly came out with a 56%! Hello! Are those people correcting our papers drunk? Do they realise this is not a game! Its our life!

Are you not getting paid well? Or are you not qualified enough to understand what I’ve written? Okay…lets give you a break. Maybe you don’t need to be educated enough. You just have to follow the model answers given to you. But then who frames these model answers? We read all that we are asked to read, learn all that we can possibly learn. and what do we get in return? A score, way below average?

Our contracts professor taught us that subject so well that the basics are drilled into my head. Maybe I won’t remember the correct section but I will surely be able to tell what is legal and what is not, according to the Indian Contracts Act, 1971. But when the paper comes…questions from only the last 20 pages of our text our asked. What are they testing? Our mugging power…aren’t they supposed to test whether we got the gist of the subject right or not? I know at least 30 people who have just passed in contracts, mostly those who sincerely attended lectures to understand what the subject was all about.

Its about time the law faculty of the university woke up! Do you need more money? Hike our fees…its fine! But please stop playing with our lives. When I go for an interview, the recruiter is not going to ask me “How did you fair in comparison to the rest?” He is just going to ask me, “How did you fair?” A student who got 90% in ICSE (Std. 10) and 89% in IB (Std. 12) is not even managing a 60%. “What happened to you kid? Did you start taking drugs or what?” “No Sir! Those who corrected my papers were high when they did!”

Since I have come from an international curriculum, I have always been accustomed to being tested on my knowledge and ability of dealing with and understanding the subject. Thus when the paper pattern was changed from Objective to Subjective I was completely for it. I thought at least now my skills and knowledge would be tested. But I guess I expected a bit too much from this ancient university. Now I realise, it only has the caliber of correcting objective type questions…they don’t have to test their own knowledge of the subject, neither do they have to rely on their mood for giving the poor student marks. If the student is right, he’s right…if he’s wrong, he’s wrong!

Why do you think people prefer IB to HSC? Only because IB respects and treats the student as he is supposed to be be treated. It teaches the student to realise his ability to capture from his environment, learn and grow. I don’t think I’ve learned anything more in the past 2 and half years in GLC (except for my Contracts lectures, which I’ll never forget) than what I did in my years at Ambani.

We want to learn…we students really want to learn and be tested in a manner that we deserve! Not this bullshit where I need to pay Rs.500 extra per paper for re-evaluation, when my paper will actually be corrected in a manner it is supposed to be (that too I doubt).

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