Attendance:(

The attendance requirement is like the sword of damocles hanging over heads. For a BATCH OF ENGINEERS, such a trivial rule is dameaning, not hzt to us , but to the very faculty that enforces it...

First hand evidence is this fact that i used to play Antakshari sitting in the class. It was a subject that i cud very well handle on my own,. Given a few printed handouts n a couple of reference books, all i need are a few hours during the course of the semister to clear a few concepts. Then y on earth i was sitting in class? so much for time management!

Frankly speaking i'm not an acadamic Genius. in fact i'm in deep trouble in a few subs. wat really gets 2 meis dat i 'd really like to start studying n not make a grand show of seriousness by attending classes.Wake up late foe a couple of days, get some notes together,read them n actually learn something.Think that far better than writting notes in the class as dictated from the same text book wich we r supposed to study.

lets face the facts. The issue isn't new;its the age old argument.The attendance requirement has been reduces to a whip in the hands of the faculty;its sole purpose to keep 'wayward' student in line.Lets take a quick look at the BITS pilani, where students plan their own schedule after seeing dat of the faculty,. No1 accusses a BITSian of being irresponsible n undisciplined. Then y is this unique honor bestowed upon us?wich civilized educational institution wud detain student on the basis of the number of hours spent staring at a blackboard? If this is the basis for professional education , den we're al destined to b pencil pushers, adept at preaching but never practicing ourselves.

Back to ground Zero. Wat r we really here for? Becoming good engineers i suppose.Logically speaking, that shud involve learning a subject 4m the basics. Developing a hand s on approach to problems and being able to solve problems in the best possible way.Sounds pretty impressive doesnt it?But is that wat we're actually heading towards? Hours spent staring at teachers faces, furtive glances at the watches, SMSing all the time.Wonder wat dis has 2 do wid the attendancce requirement? simple. Ppl will study wen they want to study.Forcing UG students to attend classes n study exactly wat being taught!jzt doesnt work.Jst look at academic sucess stories who've topped with the aid of jzt the photocopying machine.In any case, 50 students sitting together n poring over the same material day in day out won't produce hotshot engineers. We'll just end up as a batch of graduates collectively pouting out wat we've learnt sorry....... studied..

Not dat this is a reflection on our faculty. Hats off to our teachers who teach with so many students oblivious to what 's happening. Its the system that's faulty. And this is wat preventing our faculty frm reaching the apex of their teaching potential. At this level,role of our faculty shud b restricted to providing guidance,entrusting the bulk of the learning process to the students. For ant faculty is much too valuable to b wasted on such a retrograde teaching process involving a compulsory phusical presence in class. Lets accept the reality of our current situaton n move on with the times. Only then we b well n truly 'inspired by life'.