C'est La Vie....

The attendance requirement is akin to the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. For a batch of future managers, such a trivial rule is demeaning, not just to us, but to the very faculty that endorses it.
First hand evidence of this fact is that this was written while I was in one of my classes. : It was a subject that I can very well handle on my own. Given a few printed hand-outs and a couple of reference books, all I need are a few hours to clear a few concepts. Then why on earth was I sitting there twiddling my thumbs? So much for time management!
Frankly speaking, I’m not an academic genius. In fact I’m in deep trouble in a few subjects. I’ve done the internal papers badly and thanks to Symphony (the college fest); I have no idea of what’s happening in class. And outside the rigorous B.Com schedule there’s the DramSoc, CAT coaching classes, Placement Cell…..At this rate, I either need 48 hours a day or I drop down dead.
What really gets to me is that I’d really like to start studying and not make a grand show of seriousness by attending classes, wake up late for a couple of days, get some notes together, READ them and actually LEARN something. Think that’s far better than writing notes in class as dictated from a 20 year old register whose pages have ages but whose contents remain unchanged. That’s not about learning, it’s a prize-winning ad for MODI-XEROX.
Let’s face the facts. The issue isn’t new; it’s an age-old argument. The attendance requirement has been reduced to a whip in the hands of the faculty; its sole purpose to keep ‘wayward’ students in line. Let’s take a quick look at BITS-Pilani, where students plan their own schedule after seeing that of the faculty. No one accuses a BITSian of being irresponsible and undisciplined. Then why is this honor bestowed upon us? Which civilized educational institution detains its students on the basis of the number of hours spent staring at a blackboard! If this is the basis for professional education, then we’re all destined to be pencil pushers, adept at preaching but never practicing ourselves.
Back to Ground Zero. What are we here for? Becoming good managers I suppose. Logically speaking that should involve learning a subject from the basics, developing a hands on approach to problems and being able to solve problems in the best possible way. Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it? But is that what we are actually heading towards? Hours spent staring at teachers’ faces, furtive glances at the watch, SMSing all and sundry, doing CAT papers or reading the latest bestseller aren’t going to get us there. Wonder what all this has to do with the attendance requirement? Simple. People will study when they WANT to study. Forcing undergraduate students to attend classes and study exactly what is being taught just doesn’t work. Just look at the number of academic success stories who’ve topped with the aid of just the photocopying machine. In any case, 50 students sitting together and poring over the same material day in and day out won’t produce hot shot managers. We’ll just end up as a batch of graduates collectively pouting out what we have learnt, sorry…studied.
Not that this is a reflection on our faculty. Hats off to our teachers who teach with so many students oblivious to what’s happening in the class. It’s the system that’s faulty. And this is what prevents our faculty from reaching the apex of their teaching potential. At this level, the role of our faculty should be restricted to providing guidance, entrusting the bulk of the learning process to the students. For, any faculty is much too valuable to be wasted on such a retrograde teaching process involving a compulsory physical presence in class. It’s time to accept the reality of our current situation and move on with the times.