Professor Goldberg, in the video found here talks about what he calls “The Missing Basics”. Things that the average engineer coming out of a technical institution just doesn’t know. As an Indian who flew half across the world in the pursuit of a decent engineering education, I’m struck by how relevant his points are even for an engineering student from India. A typical IITian (a student graduating from one of the seven Indian Institutes of Technology – the premier engineering colleges in India) will have brilliant math skills. Given a question and nothing else more than a piece of paper and a pencil and he’ll probably be able to give you the answer you were looking for instantly. Put him in the real world however and ask him to innovate and come up with creative solutions, and he’s lost more often than not. To be fair, it’s not exactly his fault : from an extremely young age, Indian students are taught not to ask questions. To follow blindly the orders/advice of your parents, your seniors and your teachers. His job is to lock himself away in a box to ‘study’ – memorize the text till you can reproduce it word by word in the examinations. Get the marks, get into an IIT, graduate and get a job to support his family. No understanding required. He is under immense pressure to conform; in India – you are your marks. A 90% is brilliant, a 60 worthless (even if he can play the guitar like Hendrix or paint like Raphael). He doesn’t know how to ask questions, model, decompose or visualize and cringes when he’s asked to communicate more than a few words at a time. This is exactly what ,propels thousands of indians to the far corners of the globe, to pursue more complete educations – ones where you can ask questions, think differently and have your own unique brand of creativity rewarded. So in this regard, I believe Professor Goldberg is spot on. Since we live in a world where the average engineer spends less than 30% of his time using the math, physics and chemistry he learns in college (and taking into consideration the scores of Indian engineers who use engineering as a foundation degree before completing and MBA and jumping into the foray of stock brokers and civil servants, their engineering degree gathering dust on some wall of his office) we need engineers who are both innovative and expressive. Though it hardly counts as a mini-action plan, I plan to become one.
By the end of the semester, I plan to be develop my communication skills, both oral and written. The former by taking the initiative to participate in different public speaking roles and the latter simply by writing as many assignments as I’m able. Additionally I plan on becoming a more extroverted person – simply by interacting with as many different types of people as I’m able: from jocks to DDR nerds. Not very detailed perhaps. But (hopefully) effective.
As stated in my blog, I've had the same innate experiences in school, where questioning is not welcomed with open arms. We, as individuals, have to take concrete steps towards improving our condition.
ReplyDeleteDo you know why I wanted to be an engineer? Because I didn't want to communicate too much, which I thought is a trait of hard-working engineers. But I was wrong, and it seems that I have to force myself into an extroverted person... I guess we are in the same situation.
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ReplyDeleteAs a Chinese growing up in America, I have experienced what you have noticed in India as well as the opposite of the Indian culture. For me, there is the constant struggle between maintaining my identity as a Chinese among my parents and assimilating into the American culture as an Asian-American.
ReplyDeleteAt home, my parents prioritize academics while criticizing extra-curricular. A "100%" on a test is a job well done. "90" is potential to do better. "80%" means I'm slacking according to my parents. And anything lower than "70%" doesn't come without scorn. The heavy emphasis on academics doesn’t allow room for socializing. Going outside to play ball is bad. Staying home to study is good. Therefore, most of my childhood days have been spent buried in a book rather than buried in sand along with all the other children during a hot summer day at the beach.
At school, my teachers taught us how to think for ourself. We were taught how to question what we don’t know, visualize what we can’t see, and do what we want to do. This new culture was entirely different from my culture at home. I do not have to follow the expectations of my parents. Those are not as important as my own aspirations.
I believe engineers are taught in an environment where academic conformity works to the fullest. Because of this, engineers lack the communication skills and perhaps many other skills in order to work successfully with others. Like what the American culture has done to me (made me think for myself), Missing Basics might renovate the entire mindset of a stereotypical engineer to question better, communicate better, and become well-rounded overall.
Shao, I think you're very lucky to have teachers that taught you to think for yourself, since I suppose I'm currently trying to learn to do that.
ReplyDeleteI totally get what you are saying. Similarly, when I was growing up, my parents and teachers didn't encourage using my creativity but rather getting the right answers. Its not hard to get the answers, but it is hard to hide your creativity. I wish you the best of luck in becoming more extroverted. I, too, was very introverted. I would talk to very few people through out a day. But throughout high school, was able to become more social. Something that I had to learn was that changing who you are as a person isn't easy. You will be faced with many situations that you might not be comfortable with, but stick with it and it usually pays off.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you quite extensively. Not just engineering but any education has to be well rounded in order to be useful in the real world.I am not going to mention IIT because I have different opinions about it. However on the whole I do agree that Goldberg is on the right track. But I ask, if you find what he says higly applicable to students comming from a typical indian education but it is also obvoiusly being applied here in the US, where at least as I see it, the situation is very different, perhaps the style of education is not that relevant in this matter.
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