The more time I spend in academia, the more it becomes apparent how "merit" in India is gaslighting concept used by the elites to justify not really delivering education but a stamp. Hence the obsession more on entrance exam ranks than what you do in college.
It's the same gatekeeping behind the whines about how more IIT/IIMs "dilute the brand". That's all they care about. The brand. If 300 mn Americans can have 100 univs with education AND brands better than the II's, why can't 1.4 bn Indians have a 100 IITs/IIMs?
Yup. This is also a tacit confession that our colleges don't really focus on teaching as much as on entrance exams.
https://twitter.com/_setoodeh/status/1499056473691013122?t=8L4aXu6_gyfQggW-CLRB6A&s=19
Imagine if tomorrow a smaller newer UC school starts an MBA program and UC Berkeley and UCLA say it "dilutes the brand".
Nonsensical. Nothing of the sort happens. Especially MBA which is a very general and approachable course as opposed to, say, theoretical physics PhD.
Nonsensical. Nothing of the sort happens. Especially MBA which is a very general and approachable course as opposed to, say, theoretical physics PhD.
These "meritorious" people will ask if you will go to a doctor who got into medical school on affirmative action, as if any answer except "Yes" doesn't show you to be a bigot.
The idea that a dozen new IIMs will in any way impact the reputation or popularity of established IIMs like ABCLIK is so bizarrely absurd to someone who actually works in a university, that only a privileged bigoted mind can come up with it.
Tomorrow if a satellite campus of Penn State or Ohio State decides to start a business school, do you think Smeal or Fisher will act as if their "brand is diluted"? No, like normal people, they will be like, good luck, we are here to help out.
So yeah, all these whines on merit and reservations and brand dilution are just 21st century brahminical casteism in action. Creating an artificial scarcity in education, the one thing that actually by its very nature, anti-scarce. Education needs spreading not guarding.
In the real world, growth in campuses actually helps the brand, doesn't dilute it. When Cornell bought a huge chunk of Roosevelt Island to start an NYC tech campus, you think people in Ithaca were cowering about brand dilution?
No!
Cornell brand is now many times stronger!
No!
Cornell brand is now many times stronger!
Kartikeya nails it. These "dilution of brand" whines from IIT IIM folks reveal a deep lack of confidence and self-esteem.
https://twitter.com/cricketingview/status/1499060570682802182?t=TcKrqrNpoNdeF3VzX6yVtA&s=19
Oh yes, this from 20 years ago. Back then the gatekeeping was, only A,B,C are "real" IIMs and L,I,K are "inferior".
Many of my L classmates chafed over this. I was like, dudes, have you met people from A,B,C? They aren't really different or smarter. 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️
Many of my L classmates chafed over this. I was like, dudes, have you met people from A,B,C? They aren't really different or smarter. 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️
https://twitter.com/ameyamhatre/status/1499091129773420546?t=TcKrqrNpoNdeF3VzX6yVtA&s=19
Oooh, just noticed I still say ABCLIK from force of habit, not ABCIKL, alphabetically. Cos that was hammered into us. We aren't A,B,C, but we are the best of the rest, so alphabetical order be damned..🙈🙈🙈
See, that's how hardwired that caste system is, that even within hierarchies, there are hierarchies. After establishing that brahmins are best and smartest, we then have to decide whether konknastha are smartest or deshastha or Saraswat or karhade.
We create new inequalities.
We create new inequalities.
US has its own hierarchy, privilege & perpetuation of it all. Harvard is Harvard. Wharton is Wharton. You hear the name "Duke University" and you have no idea whether it is named for a cowboy or a jazz singer or one of Diana's sons or even what state it is in. But you know Duke.
The difference is, I've never ever heard a highly educated person from the US get upset or threatened by a new university or new campus. But my IIT/IIM circles act like it is the end of the world that there will be many more IITs and IIMs and we won't be as special anymore.
Do you know how many people get the "Harvard graduate" stamp every year? 7500 students. That is a lot of students! Getting THE most valued brand stamp in the world.
One private university in a corner of US doesn't dilute its brand. But all IIMs together having 5000 grads does 🤷🏽♂️
One private university in a corner of US doesn't dilute its brand. But all IIMs together having 5000 grads does 🤷🏽♂️
The people who whine about merit, reservations, brand dilution are the same people who, if they lived in the 1800s, would have thrown garbage at Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule for daring to spread education beyondn those born brahmin, kshatriya, vaisya.
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