Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Should IITs Diversify ?
Nalanda is often called the first great university in recorded history. It had over 2,000 teachers and 10,000 scholars living on a residential campus. Subjects being taught: Mahayana and Hinayana schools of Buddhism, Veidic texts, philosophy, logic, grammar, astronomy, medicine and fine arts. Taxila, was known for its military science, Vedic teachings, law and medicine. The Massachusetts's Institute of Technology has under it 5 schools of learning, covering subjects like Engineering, Science, Management, Architecture, Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. We see a similar structure of education in Harvard, Oxford, Yale, et al.
Unfortunately, in India, the system of education is highly compartmentalized. We see professional colleges, which provide specific education, in their own specialized field. A student of Engineering, say, entering such a college, will never be exposed to quality education in any other branch of learning.
This is not what education was supposed to be. When you educate a person, you inherently give him/her the right to choose what to learn. Such a unidirectional approach to education can only harm the student. Agreed, that at a certain point of time, one has to decide one's major and career path, but that does not, in anyway mean that you make the system so rigid, that a person is forced to study and study only what he chose while joining a college.
While discussing this topic, one comes across people who argue that additional faculty, or visiting professors can always be hired in the required field of study. But these orphan departments can never hope to compete with the exposure and the experience that a faculty of a full fledged school of learning will bring to an educational institution. I call them orphan departments, because until very recently, IIT Madras had such a department, the Humanities and Sciences Department, whose only aim was to the supplement the education of the engineering students by providing them with some introductory courses in economics, philosophy, and literature. This department had no undergraduate students, and very few doctoral scholars. Now, they offer a dual degree undergraduate program, and since its inception, the department has seen a 25% growth in faculty strength. They will attract better and more experienced faculty, notwithstanding the increase in the variety of courses they will have to offer students of other branches.
The Indian Institutes of Technology. Technology, and not business, or arts, or social sciences, people might say. Well, being an institute of technology, one has to keep up with the scientific and technological developments. And when you realize, that by exposing students to a wide range of subjects drom different disciplines, you actually encourage original and innovative ideas, it is time you step up and implement it.
Unfortunately, in India, the system of education is highly compartmentalized. We see professional colleges, which provide specific education, in their own specialized field. A student of Engineering, say, entering such a college, will never be exposed to quality education in any other branch of learning.
This is not what education was supposed to be. When you educate a person, you inherently give him/her the right to choose what to learn. Such a unidirectional approach to education can only harm the student. Agreed, that at a certain point of time, one has to decide one's major and career path, but that does not, in anyway mean that you make the system so rigid, that a person is forced to study and study only what he chose while joining a college.
While discussing this topic, one comes across people who argue that additional faculty, or visiting professors can always be hired in the required field of study. But these orphan departments can never hope to compete with the exposure and the experience that a faculty of a full fledged school of learning will bring to an educational institution. I call them orphan departments, because until very recently, IIT Madras had such a department, the Humanities and Sciences Department, whose only aim was to the supplement the education of the engineering students by providing them with some introductory courses in economics, philosophy, and literature. This department had no undergraduate students, and very few doctoral scholars. Now, they offer a dual degree undergraduate program, and since its inception, the department has seen a 25% growth in faculty strength. They will attract better and more experienced faculty, notwithstanding the increase in the variety of courses they will have to offer students of other branches.
The Indian Institutes of Technology. Technology, and not business, or arts, or social sciences, people might say. Well, being an institute of technology, one has to keep up with the scientific and technological developments. And when you realize, that by exposing students to a wide range of subjects drom different disciplines, you actually encourage original and innovative ideas, it is time you step up and implement it.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Death of an Ipod
Lasted 2 years. Something that costly should last for at least 10. What a waste.
Jobs and co. should concentrate more on making the battery/hard disk of their hdd based mp3 players last longer. With the newest additions to the Ipod stable making headlines all over web, I cannot help but wonder, what is wrong with these electronics companies. I can't believe that the life of a costly gadget is so low. Even if you account for the frequency of upgradation of gadgets by the west, 2 years is still too low. Maybe a flash based player would have better. I am sure even with the upper limit of the read/write cycles, the flash memory chip would have lasted much longer than 2 years. Worst of all, the Ipod was a gift.
Or maybe its just that I was one of the unlucky few to have an Ipod die prematurely. Either ways, a robust and sturdy mp3 player, with the looks of the Ipod, without the insane price tag, would be hitting the sweet spot. Hoping the big guys get the message fast.
Jobs and co. should concentrate more on making the battery/hard disk of their hdd based mp3 players last longer. With the newest additions to the Ipod stable making headlines all over web, I cannot help but wonder, what is wrong with these electronics companies. I can't believe that the life of a costly gadget is so low. Even if you account for the frequency of upgradation of gadgets by the west, 2 years is still too low. Maybe a flash based player would have better. I am sure even with the upper limit of the read/write cycles, the flash memory chip would have lasted much longer than 2 years. Worst of all, the Ipod was a gift.
Or maybe its just that I was one of the unlucky few to have an Ipod die prematurely. Either ways, a robust and sturdy mp3 player, with the looks of the Ipod, without the insane price tag, would be hitting the sweet spot. Hoping the big guys get the message fast.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
About Harry Potter
12 million copies printed for release. 3 million sold in the first 24 hours. The latest adventure of this boy magician has suddenly got the world thinking about the literary brilliance of Rowling, the upsurge of reading among the youth and the return of the good old bed time story. Or.. has it? Truth be told, not really. Every Potter release is marked by a similar pottermania, only that each time, it gets bigger, better, costlier. Every time, I hear similar run ups, the same midnight release parties, the same fear of hearing a rumour that might turn out to be true.
Rowling's Potter, makes a very good, not to mention addictive read. I give full points to the author for creating a good children's book, and sticking by story even after being turned down by 55 publishers. But is it an exceptionally outstanding? I hate to admit it, but no. What it is, is an exceptionally brilliant marketing campaign, making Rowling, and the Publishers a great deal of money. And there is nothing wrong in that. The people at Bloomsbury and Scholastic did something that had never been done before, they made people fall in love with a series during the course of its writing. All the media hysteria, all the movies, and games, the big publicity events made it much more than a stupid book release. Never had people actually waited for a book before its release, and it didn't help that the book was actually good.
And now we are sad because this is the end, the end of the 7 books. There is speculation that Rowling will write an 8th book. Well, she might.. she might not, but that is besides the point. We will have more Potters. Other publishing houses have realised that by proper marketing, they can create a best seller out of any good fiction story. Already we see a whole bunch of new series in the magical fantasy genre. They will use it, and we will see other books that have as large fan followings.
The TIME magazine ran an article this month on the extensive security precautions to prevent leaks during the printing of 12 million copies of the latest Potter. Imagine trying to prevent anybody from reading that many copies of a book that is supposed to be sent all over the world. Amazing effort. Its a shame it failed. Personally, I don't think it was necessary in the first place. There is a pleasure in reading a book, the old way, with a cup of tea, or late at night in bed. I don't care if someone tells me the ending of a book, I will still read it. Its the read that matters, the story, in its entirety, not only the ending. Anyways, for better or for worse, Harry Potter, goodbye !
Rowling's Potter, makes a very good, not to mention addictive read. I give full points to the author for creating a good children's book, and sticking by story even after being turned down by 55 publishers. But is it an exceptionally outstanding? I hate to admit it, but no. What it is, is an exceptionally brilliant marketing campaign, making Rowling, and the Publishers a great deal of money. And there is nothing wrong in that. The people at Bloomsbury and Scholastic did something that had never been done before, they made people fall in love with a series during the course of its writing. All the media hysteria, all the movies, and games, the big publicity events made it much more than a stupid book release. Never had people actually waited for a book before its release, and it didn't help that the book was actually good.
And now we are sad because this is the end, the end of the 7 books. There is speculation that Rowling will write an 8th book. Well, she might.. she might not, but that is besides the point. We will have more Potters. Other publishing houses have realised that by proper marketing, they can create a best seller out of any good fiction story. Already we see a whole bunch of new series in the magical fantasy genre. They will use it, and we will see other books that have as large fan followings.
The TIME magazine ran an article this month on the extensive security precautions to prevent leaks during the printing of 12 million copies of the latest Potter. Imagine trying to prevent anybody from reading that many copies of a book that is supposed to be sent all over the world. Amazing effort. Its a shame it failed. Personally, I don't think it was necessary in the first place. There is a pleasure in reading a book, the old way, with a cup of tea, or late at night in bed. I don't care if someone tells me the ending of a book, I will still read it. Its the read that matters, the story, in its entirety, not only the ending. Anyways, for better or for worse, Harry Potter, goodbye !
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Its done..
Finally.. (I think), its over.. all the tweaking.. all the head scratching. Now for the hard part, writing. Junking all the previous test posts. For some reason, Opera is still not displaying the fonts, and their sizes correctly. Even are giving substitute fonts, it is only displaying mono spaced fonts instead of the serif family of fonts. Sans-serif is coming out fine. Ah.. well, I think I will leave it as it is.. wait for the latest version, then check. IE 7 is rendering it fine, although I would recommend Firefox to all the viewers.
PS: I have put in a lot of effort behind the designing of this blog, so any suggestions or comments are most welcome. ;)
PS: I have put in a lot of effort behind the designing of this blog, so any suggestions or comments are most welcome. ;)
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