The Big Fight Debate speech

The topic of the debate was: The lack of passion towards Civil Engineering among students: Is it due to a similar lack in teachers?


And what follows is roughly what I spoke.
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What is passion really all about? And on what parameters should it be measured? Before going ahead with the real debate, I think it’s worth considering these questions. To talk about it in a very broad sense, passion is nothing but a keen interest in a particular subject or activity. So when one says that a student lacks passion in civil engineering, what it ideally implies is that, that particular student does not have a keen interest in the field of civil engineering. So now if we have some way of measuring this ‘interest’, we can definitely make a judgment on the lack of passion or the abundance of it, whatever the case may be. But then, how does one really measure the interest of a student? What parameters to look for? A professor might say that the interest level of a student can be judged by the attendance, class participation, the performance in quizzes, the extra enthusiasm shown towards learning the civil engineering subjects and so on and so forth. But how truly can these parameters actually measure the real interest of the students? A professor might be witnessing very high attendance in his class. But then this could be because that particular professor happens to be an extremely great teacher. Students love to listen to him. They could be attending his classes because of what he is, and the way he teaches, and not necessarily because they are interested in civil engineering as a subject in itself. Similarly class participation might be a result of the some such factor which doesn’t really have to do much with the student’s passion in Civil Engineering. No, I of course do not mean to say that, those who actually are passionate for their branch or their courses, wont contribute towards high attendance or class participation. But yes, just because they score great marks on these parameters, need not necessarily imply that they really are passionate.

But then, for the sake of sticking to today’s debate topic, let me blindly assume for the rest of the discussion that students do lack passion in Civil Engineering. And here we have a very tricky question now: is it because of a similar lack in Professors. The answer is YES. My point in support of this answer will make much more sense, if we again, try to explore what exactly do we mean, when we say that a Professor is not passionate about civil engineering. On first thought, it looks like a weak statement. Why should one become a professor at the first place, if one is not passionate for Civil Engineering at all? Why should one even go for a PhD degree in Civil Engineering if one is not interested in it? Does anyone really do that? I will come to this in a while but let me first come back to the whole meaning of a passionate Professor and a not so passionate Professor. What are the parameters on which a Professor’s interest should be judged? Should be restricted to the consultancy work that he keeps taking and the research work that he supervises? Or should it also include how good can he teach his/her students and undergraduate students in particular? Once again, like we noticed while trying to measure the interest level of student, there’s no definite relation between any of these parameters that I just spoke, and the real passion that is the key issue of today’s debate. A professor does a lot of consultancy work. It might be because he is passionate towards Civil engineering and wants to use his brain to crack real world problems. But it might be because he gets huge money for doing that! A prof is a great research supervisor. It might be because he actually is passionate towards Civil Engineering and genuinely believes that these researches will go a long way in helping the civil engineering community. But it might be because that’s the only thing he can do. May be he is just too bad at consultancy. A prof teaches really well in class, and motivates the students to learn his subject with heart and soul. It might be because is truly passionate towards Civil Engineering and realizes that his students are the future engineers, and so does his best to get them interested. Or it might be that, he just happens to be a good teacher and a great communicator. All I want to say is that, there is no single parameter which can actually establish how passionate a Professor is.

We will do the same thing, that we did for students. Let us, for the rest of the discussion assume that in general the Professors do lack passion in Civil Engineering. Only when we assume this, we can move on to the crux of the debate.

Fine, the students lack passion in Civil Engineering. The professors lack passion in Civil Engineering too! Basically the two assumptions boil down to this: Civil Engineering sucks! So far so good. But does the second assumption causes first? This will be the topic of discussion for the remaining time that I have. I say yes, it is because of lack of passion in general from most of the Professor’s, that we the students lack the same. If the students are not passionate towards Civil Engineering then who else should be blames but the Profs? Aren’t they the only ones who can ensure that their students become passionate? Yes, they are the only one. They are the people who have taken the responsibility of introducing us to the world of civil engineering. In other words, we begin with looking towards this whole new world, through our Professor’s eyes. And if those very eyes are not passionate, how can it be expected for us to move over the mental block with which we enter the insti as freshers, having made the decision to take Civil all for the sake of being called an IITian. I had told earlier that the fact that someone spent so much time studying Civil Engineering to become a Prof should in itself be a reason to testify there passion. No it’s not true. The real reflection of their passion should show in a similar passion in there students. This is the only parameter that counts. Had that been the case, we would have been here debating not about the cause and relationship of the so called lack of passion. Instead, we would have been debating about what is the real cause for the immense passion that the Civil Engineering Students have for their courses: is it because of a similar passion of Profs?

With this, I end my debate.

Not so big fight

Big Fight is one of the most awaited debate events of IIT Madras. The cool thing about it is that it happens between Professors and students (though only from the Civil Engineering Departement).

What follows below is a slightly edited version of the arguments that followed in the civil mail group over the selection of a freshie to participate in Big Fight. And before you start with the mails, here is the list of characters.

student1: fourth year CE student frustrated over the freshie selection
student2: a core group member of the organizing body (all these students are classmates)
student3: one of the five civil studetns who were selected to speak in the BF
student4: another core group member
student5: he had missed to participate in the prelims! poor dude!
student6: yet another core group member
student7: a common student and 1's good friend

Mail 1 (from student 1)

KUDOS to the organizers!!!

This time we have a freshie girl speaking on the topic "The lack of passion towards Civil Engineering among students: Is it due to a similar lack in teachers?"
Lolz!!

Did it not strike to any of the organizers or anyone else that this topic is totally irrelevant for a freshie to speak on.... (or am I the only gifted one??)

Mail 2 (from student 2)

hi student 1,

thanks for the kudos....

sorry to disappoint u, but u are not the only gifted one who had enuf brains to think about the relevance of the topic to a freshie speaker...

the fact is, ther is another huge factor to be be kept in mind :- enthu to participate...
if seniors wer better suited to fire away at that topic,they shud have kept sum time outta their busy schedule and participated in the prelims which wer held last week...5 of the best speakers wer chosen...and it would be unfair not to let the best speaker of the lot to participate just because she's a freshie....

cheers
core members

Mail 3 (from student 3)

This is slightly off the topic but I am slisha curious to know if I was 4th or 5th! Can someone tell me about that?

Mail 4 (from student 2)

These wer the results of the debate held last week

1st: mech-student
2nd: civil-freshie-student
3rd: yet-another-student
4th: student-cum-core
5th: student 3
6th: student-cum-teacher

note:- first place guy is from mech...hence we've chosen 6

Mail 5 (from student 1)

Hi Student 2..

Thanks for enlightening me out of my delusion... But the point I raised was not about the procedure of selection or the enthu for participation or anything else for that matter. My point was that how can someone even imagine a freshie speaking on that topic... If you had decided the topic for Big Fight, you should have kept a minimum elegibility of at least being in 3rd year for speaking on that topic.... or if you didnt want to break freshies' hearts (which you didnt of course) you shoud have chosen some other topic.... Its not that I wanted to malign the organizers or anyone but I thought Big Fight is not like any other debate that one browses the net, finds some points, writes a speach level thing and speaks out. I thought one has to express his/her own ideas there which have developed as a consequence of his/her stay here in the department which a fresher, who has been here for hardly 2 months, wont have of course.

I think I made myself clearer here.

Mail 6 (by student 4)

Hi student 1..

As u said v cud have put a min eligibility of being atleast in 3rd yr.. but then there was just 1 third yr guy who had enthu to participate n 3- fourth yr guys.. so as u can see.. v were short of one participant..
n the topic was decided by Prof who-cares-whoe as a moderator so its not possible to change it.. n who-cares-who wanted a girl in the students' panel.. so with all these constraints v cudnt help but had to take the freshie..

n ya.. u could have put the same enthu in participating tat u r putting to these mails.. then u would be in the panel instead of the freshie :)

Mail 7 (from student 5)

How dare you doubt the capabilities of the freshie nari...you are nothing in front of nari shakthi....watch...without any basis, or background whatsoever she shall wipe away the delusions of you and other chauvinistic pigs...by outperforming all others in the big fight....you can enjoy your PIG fight in your hostel....

If you have any shame left, kill yourself man!!

Mail 8 (from student 6)

Jokes apart!

Dear student 1

As i had briefed u in ur room... it was a decision taken by the core members that whomsoever is interested to participate in the big fight is supposed to undergo a preliminary screening...well... we already thought abt the year based cut off before conducting the prelims...but then there was a huge prob with the 3rd and 4th years...it is the lack of enthu...rather lack of passion...
the participants, in case we had it as an all senior team, would be either only those students who spoke before or there wud be a deprived students team as ppl are not going to turn up ( and yes... that is what has exactly happened )...and a few 3rd and 4th years who were interested(enthu) to participate in the big fight could not take abt half an hour of their time off and participate in the prelims!!

So under those circumstances, we were urged to extend it to the freshies even though they had minimal knowledge abt the current topic. I m sure, the way the "freshie nari" spoke at the prelims, she can atleast make junta feel her presence and voice out her opinions. And i sincerely request u ppl not to crib abt her later even if she remains aloof in the debate and discourage her cuz' she has never seen the level of debating at the big fight...

Regards
Student 6

P.S : I request all the core members not to reply to this thread as everything seems to be in place and is crystal clear!! Thank You

Mail 9 (from student 7)

As student 4 pointed out that who-cares-who wanted a girl in the panel so would it have mattered if every guy in our class would have turned up. its the enthuless girls of our class and 3rd yr who have created the problem for the 'core' members so they had to select a freshie girl. And if the enthuless girls of our class instead of defending the core members so vociferously would have gone to participate we wouldnt have this thread.

And anyway student 1 as they say it "Coords are God", cores are definitely above them so u cant question them.

Mail 10 (from student 1)

As student 7 already hit the nail on the head in the last one... one more request to the people who are already above the gods.... if this is because u wanted to be fair, why did u be unfair to that poor mech guy who turned up with whole hearted enthu, beat everyone in the prelims and then jhhuuussst because he was in mech, he cannnnaaat speak. He is as good as any civil freshie to speak on the topic (and the fact that he topped the prelims).... So pls try to show some more fairness and call that mech guy... otherwise all other branches people will lose faith in CEA and you ppl will be labelled as branchists...

P.S.(student 7) - Still these are not the enthuless girls of our class who are defending the core members.... these two are the core members themselves... see how enthuless girls are.... lolz!!

Mail 11 (from student 7)

I agree with student 1 on this issue. if a freshie girl can speak on this topic i think a mech guy could also do it.

I think that the real reason for kicking him out was our dear student-cum-teacher coming 6th and as he is the third in command in CEA he either used his position or got the benefits of his position and that mech guy was unnecessarily kicked off

National Highways go strong

The government on Thursday approved six-laning of 6,500 km of National Highways (NH), comprising 5,700 km of Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) at a cost of Rs 41,210 crore (Rs 35,692 crore from the private sector and Rs 5,518 crore as viability gap funding, utility shifting etc). [news link]

The projects would be taken up on Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) mode following a Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) pattern with a maximum of 10 per cent viability gap funding.

For those who are not too comfortable with the jargons used, I would like to put few fundays:

1. Viability Gap Funding: Whenever it is felt that the private players wont be able to realize expected returns on any project if they put in all the money themselves, the Government generally contributes enough from its own pocket to the fund, so that the project is still viable.

2.BOT model: In general, the huge infrastructure systems like highways are owned by the Goverment (might be the centre or the state). A BOT model is one, where though the ownership right is still with the government at any time, the project is built by someone else (generally by a special purpose vehicle), operated by the same/different firm, for a pre-determined time period, and then handed over back to the Government for future operations.