Wasted chances

In India, for almost everything you do (or rather don't, in this case) you have an out. For a student who does not do well at an exam and fails it, there is always the ATKT system. Or the re-examination situation. A sort of second chance for those who could not make the most of their first. Should educators be against it? I am not sure. It depends, and I have not checked any research or analysis to claim either way. 

Am I against it? Big time. And I talk here merely from my own experience in the classes that I teach. Since I teach at autonomous and private institutions, for once, the University cannot be blamed. Except of course for allowing the ATKT system to thrive, since all the other institutes follow a similar pattern. There was a moment, a couple of months ago when I wanted to punch someone. Of course, I didn't. It was when I was informed that I had to set a paper for the ATKT exam. I stood there, shocked. 

Let me explain. I do not teach a theory paper. I teach classes on skills - communication and presentation, among others. I also teach editing to postgrad journalism students. And none of these subjects can be tested in the purview of an exam! How am I going to test a student's body language in a written paper? And his or her ability to cross check facts when editing a written piece? 

Finally, I was able to explain the programme heads and course coordinators that an exam was not possible, I never conduct one even in my regular classes. I try and adopt a constructivist approach to my class, and have set up a continuous evaluation process based on a mix of take-home, group, individual and in-class assignments. These are based on real life situations and encourage the students to think. 

Even then, I had to do something about giving those students another chance, who had failed in my class in the first semester. So I did. I set another assignment. It was not the extra work that bothered me. It was not the fact that it was just expected that a second chance would be given without a valid reason, though these were and remain major concerns. 

It was the fact that you could have it so easy when it is an ATKT. The students in question had failed for a reason. Not attending class. Not submitting assignments on time. Not paying attention to the details (which is an absolute must in many cases). And most of all, not working at all on the assignments at hand and turning in extremely shoddy work. And in one stroke, just like that, they had another chance, working on which was much easier than the first. One assignment, hundred marks. So much easier that their peers who worked hard on multiple projects. 

That's not even the worst part. The students made the same mistakes again. Neither of the ATKT students submitted work that was good enough to pass. But pass they will. Why? Another feature - called 'grace marks'. The deficit between what you need to pass and what you have. Just donated to you. And with this grace they will go home with a diploma. What is it's worth? Only the industry will tell. I am just concerned with a very short-term and straight forward thought. How can I even compare the 50/100 scored by these ATKT students to another sincere student's 64/100? More importantly, how do I live with it?

It's Mumbai University alright!

Beauty without.... Mumbai University!
Photo courtesy: Ajay Kamalakaran

It was a moment of great pride when an ex-student referred me to deliver a lecture to a master's level class of journalism and communication at the University of Mumbai. Although I knew better, I accepted the offer over the phone, in spite of the fact that their budget for a guest lecture by a person with industry experience was quite meagre. In a period of two days over my discussion with this student, I realised that my lecture was a part of the assignment given to the students - to arrange for a guest lecture before a certain deadline to clear a particular subject/ course. 

I went, all prepared with photocopies of news stories and pieces I'd wanted to share and reading up on material I thought I had become a little dusty in. From that point on, everything else was a challenge. I entered the classroom quite happy to see it full! To my dismay, the students seated there did not belong to the class I had to teach. They were not even willing to budge to vacate the classroom for me to conduct the class. Finally I managed to locate a bunch of students which belonged to my class, only to realise that they were racing against time to complete an assignment and were not interested in sitting for the lecture. The course coordinator was nowhere to be found. 

After 20 minutes of making no headway, I told the girl who had invited me to call off the lecture, since there was no point. She then took me to the faculty member whose assignment the others were working on, and he had to threaten the students to sit in my class! He also came by to the classroom and drove away the students occupying it. When leaving, he asked me to approach him if there was any other trouble. By now I was reasonably mortified. Once in class, I gave the students an out. They could leave, as there was no point in forcibly making them attend. A few left. About 15 stayed, rather sceptical about the next hour. Once I started the class, talking freely to them, and encouraging them to discuss issues, I was glad I stuck it out. This interested lot was willing to share opinions and question other comments. This, after a good 45 minutes had passed it getting it all together. By then, I had lowered my expectations to such a level, that I would have been happy with mute listeners. What I had was much better. It was exactly what I feel happens with our university time and again, for many matters - too little, too late.

The payment system proved it as well. I delivered the lecture in October 2012. That day, I filled out a form, followed protocol at the University Department, and was asked to wait for my cheque (for the meagre amount after deducting tax) which would take a few weeks. I am still waiting. Calls to the student who invited me to deliver the lecture have not helped. Not that I need the amount, but I wanted to check. Verify my theory of too little too late, since the University has always treated students in a way that seems like that. Only, in this case, there is neither little nor late. There is nothing!