What is with MMJ and his minions ????

There are a billion zillion gajillion problems facing this country and a shit load of them pertain to the state of education . With only a little more than half the population capable of reading and writing , the state of primary and secondary education in this country is at best , laughable , at best . At worst , it is downright pathetic . The problem is not with the thousands of private schools in cities and towns . These schools provide an excellent education to urban Indians . It is these Indians who are resposible for creating the impression in international circles that India has an excellent school system that produces hardworking bright kids who have mastered Bernoulli's theorem and Schrodinger's wave equation even before they learn how to ride a bike .

If we come to the state of primary education in rural areas ............. the less said the better . The education that these people recieve is so poor that it cant even be called an education . "HOW THE F*** DO YOU KNOW , YOU HAVEN'T STUDIED IN A VILLAGE " you may ask . BUt I had a servant who studied in a village in TN . Very intelligent chap - now working as an electrician . But he's told me a shit load of stories of how teachers hardly show up in schools and in some cases the same teacher handles all subjects . And it is not an exagerration to extrapolate this to most of the thousands of primary and sec. schools in rural areas in this country .

But let me get to the point . The point is , instead of spending their precious financial resources on improving the state of edu. in rural india , these buggers in the HRD ministry are wasting the taxpayer's money on subsidising MBA students in India'a premier B-Schools . We are talking about students who will be commanding starting salaries of 6-7 lakhs p.a on an average when they graduate . After all , a measly 3 lakhs is a small investment , considering the returns you can get once you graduate .Some people have the gall to say that many deserving students are reluctant to write CAT because they think that they will not be able to afford the fee , eveb if they do get in . Helloo !!!!!! - ever heard of something called a student loan ???? If these people haven't , they can go suck crow . Some people even have the gall to say that they shouldnt even be expected to take a loan - that all forms of education must be affordable . Excuse me - but Socialism is dead . Ever heard of Capitlism and the free market ? If you are deserving and cant afford it , then you jolly well take a loan . Dont expect an MBA program to cost as much as a bar of chocolate . And the crux of the issue is , the MBA students themselves do not want the fee to be reduced , because they know what'll happen if it is . Let me illustrate a possible scenario :

> Fee is reduced
> IIMs have to depend on Govt. funding
> Govt. gets greater say in how the money is used
> Reduces faculty salary ( which is already low)
> Good faculty leave for private B schools
> Govt. asks for increased intake from 1200 to 3000 - every TDH now gets into IIM
> Brand IIM goees for a six
> Govt. increases reservation in IIMs
> Removes GD/PI as a selection tool , and all sorta people who cant communicate to save their lives get into B school and become managers .
> Corporate India , shocked by the poor qualty of students , decides to stay away from the IIMs .

And the fact of the matter is , this is a VERY LIKELY scenario .

I think this whole project has been masterminded by some IAS officers who cant stand the fact that IIM grads make 10 times the money that these guys do , and want to see the IIMs put in their place . It is also very likely , that some niece or nephew of MMJ or some senior beaurocrat may have failed to make it to an IIM , despite getting a high score in CAT , maybe because of poor GDPI .

Now this is where the IIMs must wake up and take corrective action . They already have a reputation of being elitist , which I have no problem with . But all these socialists cant stand the concept of meritocracy . The highly subjective nature of the selection procees is not doing the IIMs any good either . What they can to do to increase the transparency in the selection process , is to reveal what is the exact algorithm they use to select . Obviously , you cant scrap GDPI . But what is the harm in revealing what the weightage of each selection parameter is ?? If GDPI weightage is 30 , then tell us it is 30 . Then at least those who cant communicate effectively can try to compensate in some other parameter , like CAT score or acads or maybe extra currics .

Bottom line is , revealing weightage isnt going to bring the entire selection process crashing down on their heads . If any thing , it is going to make the job of the student easier , bcoz he will now know what are the areas he will have to focus on to get into an IIM . The IIMs calim to have a transparent selection process - About time they walk their talk . This will serve to improve their image , and reduce some of the gripes that people have against the IIMs IMHO.

da STIFFmaester