I read a blog in Information Week - Indian Schools Ditch Microsoft For Linux, Kill Golden Goose. Its about Kerala's decision to teach Linux in schools instead of Microsoft. I was astonished to the extent people read this simple decision made in a school district in Kerala. I mean its like any decision made in any school district in the US. The article and people who has commented it reflects not only their ignorance about other countries and cultures but also their arrogance (in some). The blog and the comments, reminded me of a line in the movie "The Last of the Mohicans" - "...do not try to make them understand you and do not try to understand them. That is because they are a breed apart and they make no sense...".
The proverb - "The fish would have not gotten into trouble if it has simply shut its mouth" - proves to be true for the author of the blog.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Friday, September 01, 2006
Quality of Engineers?!?!?!
Please dont get misguided by the title. I read a few articles from EE Times and from www.embedded.com. Instead of writing my opinions I thought I will blog the links of the articles and let your opinions flow.
According to me the article gives signals about a more serious issue at hand - our quality of education and the whole system behind it. Our colleges and universities churn out engineers every year. For the colleges, they are after the money rather than the quality. And some have some horrible rules and regulations which will stop the free thinking mind to grow and become a part of the template that college puts forth. The government does not care about any of these.
I would say 'perspective' is the missing piece of the puzzle. We never think education as an investment. Even an uneducated would know that if he/she invest some money in the bank they expect the money to grow and yield some income to them. But when it comes to education we never see it as an investment. Parents see it as a responsibility to get education to their children. What is the return on investment? Students start worrying about their life only when they reach the final year of their education. I wouldn't want to go into every little detail that contributes to this big problem.
Take your time to read these articles and throw in your 2 cents.
The following link is the source article ("State of the Engineer: The young and the restless") that has spawned a chain of responses in EE Times and embedded.com:
http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192202043
Here are two of the responses:-
1. "Over my dead body":
http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192300023
2. "Don't look at India as low-cost talent" - by a Manager in India who also has experience working in the US:
http://www.embedded.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192300881
According to me the article gives signals about a more serious issue at hand - our quality of education and the whole system behind it. Our colleges and universities churn out engineers every year. For the colleges, they are after the money rather than the quality. And some have some horrible rules and regulations which will stop the free thinking mind to grow and become a part of the template that college puts forth. The government does not care about any of these.
I would say 'perspective' is the missing piece of the puzzle. We never think education as an investment. Even an uneducated would know that if he/she invest some money in the bank they expect the money to grow and yield some income to them. But when it comes to education we never see it as an investment. Parents see it as a responsibility to get education to their children. What is the return on investment? Students start worrying about their life only when they reach the final year of their education. I wouldn't want to go into every little detail that contributes to this big problem.
Take your time to read these articles and throw in your 2 cents.
The following link is the source article ("State of the Engineer: The young and the restless") that has spawned a chain of responses in EE Times and embedded.com:
http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192202043
Here are two of the responses:-
1. "Over my dead body":
http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192300023
2. "Don't look at India as low-cost talent" - by a Manager in India who also has experience working in the US:
http://www.embedded.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192300881
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