Tag: MIT

Concerted response required for the recent letter “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” ?

The recent letter “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” and its rejection by MIT could be a welcome opportunity for the Educational Leaders and the leading Institutions?
https://lnkd.in/gYxdYv7J
The letter “Compact for ….” from the Education Secretary appears to be a Trojan Horse for power grab and an attempt to curb free thinking. The shallow intellectual depth of the administration makes one wonder, if there is even an interest to promote “Conservative” values in lieu of “Liberal” thoughts and expression in campuses! It might just be an old ploy of pitting one group against another and relishing in the chaos, as the outcome!
The challenge through the letter from the Education Secretary and this Administration goes beyond their thinking and adversarial approach to governing. In fact they stem from insidious developments over the past five decades or more that have been metastasizing our nation, its culture and our Democratic and moral fibre.
For example:
— Technology (=Science X Engineering X Managment) is now synonymously treated as reflecting only IT, Computer Science, Data Science or AI! In other words, the entire value of MIT is reduced to one Department or one sector of activity!
— Rewards of Capitalism have degenerated the society that was once heavily middle class (40/40/20 : Poor/Middle/Rich) into a nation of “haves” and “have nots” (90/10: Poor and Middle /Ultra rich). Traditional sharing of the wealth through Risk/Reward has not shifted to Risk/Effort/Reward sharing models.
— While it may be true that over 80% of MIT undergraduates are free of loan burden, that can not be said of most UGs across the nation. Being driven out of the middle class they are also driven into economic disadvantage Vs. their global college educated compatriots.
— Most of the Social Media products – with their inability to control and limit the polarizing effect on the society – are developed and implemented by graduates from top schools like MIT, aided by low wage high skilled H1B Visa workers.
In all of the above, schools like MIT are not solely responsible for the outcomes. But, systemic failure in leadership across the nation, over the decades, to challenge the above outcomes and their corrupting influence has to be acknowledged. It has been leading to despair and “throw the baby out with the bath water” attitude on our social and democratic norms. These are the undercurrent rhat fuel this administration and its political power. As I have learned at MIT, the “System and its solution” need a comprehensive approach addressing several issues at the same time! My plea to the leadership at MIT as well as at other leading institutions is to take bold action on the above (bulleted) and other similar issues. That would be a worthy antidote raising social awareness and public support against arbitrary and misplaced demands from the current administration?

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7382497220568211456/

The Misguided War on the SAT – Comments on NYT essay.

The essay The misguided war on the SAT, dated Jan. 7, 24 by Mr. David Leonhardt is a thoughtful and data rich essay on this topic. The essay, the contents and the debate strike a personal chord in my memory lanes!

Being an alumni of MIT, I am genuinely proud and grateful for their thoughtful probing on this matter of Standardized Test scores and their impact on diversity in their student population admitted, as well long term performance or success of students in their performance at college and subsequent career success. Life and success is more than just success in the UG studies, admission to Graduate School or working in a “Prestigious” firm! I hope MIT and other institutions will explore other factors such as good family life (long term relations); success in mentoring others (children, colleagues, fellow professionals) and social responsibility (service to the society, racial/gender cohesiveness) as well as interests in the larger interests of humanity and global issues! How are these factors related to performance in generalized tests such as SAT scores?

Born and brought up in a small village in Tamil Nadu state, India, I attended a local public elementary school and moved to a public countywide school (Board High School). Our education was entirely in Tamil, a local language (rich in history and literature). We were also exposed to English as a special language and to a minimum extent Sanskrit, another ancient and culturally rich language. Our assessment at the end of the final High School year was a common examination in all subjects (Language, Science, Mathematics, History, Geography, etc.). While students were graduated based on the individual’s score, the comparison was across all students in the District level (across several counties). I was ranked first in my school and second at the District level. There were no issues up to this point. Life was as smooth as it can be for a poor rural Indian boy!

Then I proceeded to a prestigious college in a city 12 miles away, which meant travel by train (and some walking) adding up to 3 plus hours of travel each day! But, the bigger shock was that all subjects now were taught in the English language! Without any in-depth preparation in the language, the expectation for learning all subjects in English overnight, was a rude awakening! Somehow all of us students, with similar backgrounds, plugged along. This one year course – called Pre-University Course – is a bridge before proceeding to seek admission for U.G. studies. At the end of this year, students took the prestigious IIT Entrance Examination, offered across India. This is closest to the equivalent of the SAT exam. in USA. The language for this entrance exam. was completely English! On top of that, the questions were entirely “gibberish” as seen by this totally unqualified student – myself – with little exposure to English, and absolutely no exposure to Urban values and issues and way of living as well as national or international matters. Nobody had to assess my test scores. I was certain when I left the examination hall that I had failed the IIT Entrance Examination. It was indeed the case!

Getting ahead in life is as much a matter of chance, as it is due to qualifications and preparations! As a combination of all these, I ended up at Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh one of the states in India.  I proceeded to study my B.S. in Mech. Engg., being ranked second across the entire University (with several engineering colleges in their jurisdiction). Another set of chances, qualification and preparations resulted in my getting admitted to MIT. In those days students like me with limited knowledge and exposure, did not know that MIT was a prestigious institution, worth persevering for admission as much as possible! I could have easily gone to another place, but for a kind letter during the admission process from Prof. N.H. Cook from MIT (who later became my adviser). It was my father’s wise counsel to stay patient, being respectful to a professor’s letter. This guidance from my father was more from the principle of being respectful to teachers, the ancient wisdom from Eastern philosophy! It had nothing to do with the merits of MIT as an institution of great acclaim! I did exercise patience for two more weeks and in this time my admission to MIT was confirmed! My admission at that time did not require a GRE examination, the standardized test required for all students applying for Graduate Studies! I did not know the reason then, nor do I care to know it now! Past poor performance in the IIT Entrance Exam. or not taking GRE standardized exam., have not held me back in my jobs, career or life as a whole. I have been blessed with opportunities to collaborate with many across the globe including the IIT in India. My rural upbringing, exposure to the ancient wisdoms and culture have helped me to find meaning and purpose in every step as life has unfolded over the years. https://sipractce.com/   https://stimsinstitute.com/about/management-team/

There are many successful faculty at prestigious institutions like MIT, who are not necessarily graduates from the same institution or from similar well known institutions.  Life and performance as a result of education is as much a matter of chance, as it is due to qualifications and preparations! The debate should not be whether or not SAT scores ( as well as GRE scores) are valid and needed. Instead, the approach should be to use SAT score as one of the measures for the admission process as it has been practiced all along. Then the admission officers should diligently explore the background of the outliers, especially those applicants with poor SAT scores, their background and circumstances and also their performance relative to their peer groups in their local settings?