The second problem that arises after passing JEE is herd mentality.When choosing a major, most students don’t choose their branch because they have an interest in that particular field. The decision usually depends on which branch and college offers the highest salary during on-campus placement. Amogh Meshram wrote,
The Indian education system puts a lot of emphasis on the academic performance of students, which is based on theory exams. Students usually get through these by rote – a practice that starts in school. With the infrastructure and staff we currently have, few schools are able to teach students to learn in a practical and meaningful way.
A typical path for an engineering aspirant is as follows: join a tutoring institute, work out all the concepts of physics, chemistry and math, try to pass the joint entrance exam, and try to get into IIT/NIT. Prior to this, most students were used to a rote learning cycle (test prep – take the test – forget what they learned for the test). Rote problems are often accompanied by the glorification of trivial achievements. Showing pictures of students cracking IIT-JEE/NEET in every newspaper and public billboards along with other coaching industry marketing tactics are examples of glorifying rote learning.
When choosing a major, most students don’t choose their branch because they have an interest in that particular field. For example, every aspirant wants to study Engineering in Computer Science at IIT Bombay.
They found that rote learning methods no longer worked. Some students adapted to the new style of applied learning, while the majority felt uncomfortable adjusting to it. Their academic performance will suffer. Due to herd mentality, most students subsequently lose interest in engineering and decide to pursue non-core careers after graduation. to accumulate experience and beautify their resumes, and finally get job opportunities in campus internships. IITs/NITs follow a very rigorous engineering theory curriculum, but lack a support system and blueprint to guide undergraduates transitioning into research and core industry careers.
As a student at IIT Bombay I was doing poorly academically and I was at the bottom of my chemical engineering class. My grades were so poor that my peers assured me that I would not be successful in life even with non-core jobs. Today, however, I’m working on some cutting-edge engineering projects with the steel industry as well as the U.S. Department of Energy.
The first and most important thing an undergraduate student can do is start working on a small research project as soon as possible, which may often involve a literature review with an on-campus professor. Students must choose their own research topics and study the topics they like to study. To find topics of interest, students should do their due diligence to understand current research trends in industry and academia.
After exposure to research, students should aim to contribute to journal publications, which can be achieved by assisting on-campus doctoral students with research. For example, they may take responsibility for completing certain tasks related to their research article. New research ideas should then be proposed and current research efforts improved. Some students have even landed internships at US or European universities through the strategy of pitching research ideas to professors and working on those ideas during the summer. Because working in research and development requires practical experience and real-world problem-solving skills that students cannot learn through theoretical rote methods in the classroom. Pursuing a career in a core industry is not hard if you ditch the habit of rote theory, ditch the herd mentality, and start solving real-world engineering problems through meaningful applied learning.
