June 07, 2005

A bold move

Tamilnadu government sorry the Tamilnadu chief minister has taken a bold move by removing the Entrance exams. It has a lot of positives. But its definitely like taking a step backward.The worst part is it has nullified the current year's score. Like it or not Entrance exam is a truer test of ones knowledge of the subject as compared to the normal exams. I can hardly imagine where I would be if there had been no entrance exam.

The positive of this move is that Yeah it definitely removes the unfair advantage of the city based guys. Am lil bit more inclined to the positive aspect. More as a matter of some level of angst on the city breed some of which are real smart and arrogant and also as a matter of concern of all rural students who transport to the cities to prepare and take up the exam. Its infact a more traumatic experience for the rural students.

7 comments:

Ramesh said...

I appreciate your concern for rural students.

But, with the already low standards of the education in TN (compared to our neighbours), this might create a negative impact. Also, this will trigger a cut-throat competition since the differentiation factor is gonna be very very less to fetch a seat in pro courses.

May be this moved is aimed at some sizeable chunk who attend only board exams and skip the entrance.

Kannappan said...

May be this moved is aimed at some sizeable chunk who attend only board exams and skip the entrance.

Dint think from this perspective. Yeah, there should be a good chunk which constitutes this part. It pains. Things like these remove off all the positives. Something similar to this wouldbe the following situation.

Consider this, how all of us try to misuse the quota system. Changing your caste from FC to BC, from BC to MBC,etc just for the sake of getting a better seat. Even I was almost on the verge of doing such a change after some level of compromise. Dunno what saved me that day. There has to be a simple law which says that Any willful action taken to change one's caste on the birth certificate (for the sake of personal gains) is a criminal offence. Fear will take care of the rest.

Ramesh said...

People should realize that the quota system would do only harm. No ruler had shown signs of spine in dealing with the quotas.

How are we going to build a competent society if we discourage the performers? No use in whining, the politicans would never repeal the su*king method calling it as a way of improving people's lives.

Backward classes (I am becoming increasingly repulsive for this term) should not be spoonfed, they should be empowered.

The root of all the evils lies in our constitution. It should stop recgnising the FC, OBC etc.

Kannappan said...

Hey I disagree with your view man. There has to be a quota system. There is a lot of difference between people from tribal origins and those from the upper caste. The playing field is just not level. We havent yet reached that point.

Make the playing field level, then lets talk about performance/growth/development.

My view is this : The more and more we try to grow by neglecting a section of the society, we are only dividing the gap more. And at its full extreme it will only lead to something like a civil war.

Ramesh said...

Whom do you think has benefitted the most under the trial quotas? There are many who had 'converted' to tribal 'jatis' just for the benefits. The tribal are still backward and this system has not improved their lives even after 60 years.

Whether you need to alter the life style of the tribals is a differnt question altogether. If we want them to lead a normal life like us, then opening dedicated institutions, learning centres, camps, hospitals etc. would help but not the quotas, for people who do not know how to use it. Result, exploitation once again.

Senthil Kumaran said...

Your discussion digressed from the topic.
JJ move is arrogant. Government Policies are affecting the make of people than anything else now.
If you consider rural masses and goodness.See,nowhere in the world has Masses become movers and affected the lives of people. And when you appreciate something in this case, you are not appreciating the things which has been debated,discussed and implemented, But a change brought about by a person on considering some situation.
Again Mass is not the Mover here.

Now, why I say this is: Leaving all the +12 makes little difference for getting someone to aspire to something and make himself different and get ahead of the rest of the pack.

Value is decreasing,thats bad.
Again, considering things, what we are and what many people will be is because of our government. Sad.

Kannappan said...

Senthil, I can understand your views . But Let me make a few of my points clear.

1. Am not against entrance test. Am against Entrance test being skewed towards the city based students.

Infact if this policy had been introduced in our batch. I would surely have fallen down by around 500-1000 ranks or maybe even more.

The Math entrance exam is one of the toughest and most challenging exams I had ever taken. I fully appreciate that level of quality in all activities that we do.

The point is, we havent yet developed our rural students to that level of understanding. Go to a remote village government school and we will get to know. They can compete head to head with anyone in the city in any normal exams. Why do they fail in the Entrance exam. This is a question that we should put a lot lot of thought into. Did the designers of the exam take this aspect into consideration. Maybe half heartedly. It doesnt matter to the designers. What matters to them is quality.

Develop the rural students to a level where they can get the confidence to take on the entrance exams. Right now, I can imagine a student saying "Dey intha exam nammala maathiri payyangalukku laam kidayaathu daa". Please do consider the trauma and anguish that any parent of a girl student in remote villages do undergo when they send her to a city to learn in those stressful stressful coaching centres. Some of them may even go to cities for the first time in their lives. What did Anna University do to remove off all the anxious factors of the village students. Am I asking the right question. Or Am I exaggerating?. Am not sure. But this is what I feel.

2. Am not against growth or development. But am against growth at the cost of other factors. You cannot go on encouraging MNC after MNC,IT company after IT company despite the fact that they lead to a lot of growth. You have to sit down and see why farmers are suiciding themselves. A farmer's suicide is not going to cause you so much loss as compared to a loss of an IT company contract for your state. Rationally the preference would be to devote your time to finalise the contract. Is this the way we want to grow?.Who did what, when the farmers suicided one after the other. The ruler was not that very concerned (because all his time might have been eaten upon by thoughts that may lead to growth and development). The opposition was gunning for the ruler. The corporates might have wanted more time to understand the situation before going in to assist. End result: You have more companies and some small scale suicides. Is this how we want to grow.

3. Am not that really very much against the city. They do their work. They concentrate on their improvement. They do what they can do to improve. I wont request them to be concerned about others. I wont request the rural students to complain about the unfair ways. I would suggest them to give their best levels possible and take what comes. But this is not the way I am going to be with the government. It must be the role of the government to see to it that there is no unevenness. There are no unfair advantages. Why is there a Court or even laws to take care of Monopoly??Though in some cases monopoly leads to a lot of growth, Why do we want to stop the growth of a monopoly. If it has to be stopped, Who has to stop it. I dont consider it to be the role of the competitors to stop it. Sometimes I even feel like the competitors cry sour grapes when they try to highlight it. But any government must see to it that there is evenness and equality in as many spheres of life as possible.

PS : To be fair, I have written this more out of experiences and common observations. The lessons that I may have learnt from experiences may even be wrong.