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Clearly these men are all very capable but would they have been able to have the same impact had they stayed in India? Given that they all did post-graduate st

by jbarham 13y ago

Clearly these men are all very capable but would they have been able to have the same impact had they stayed in India? Given that they all did post-graduate study in the US and currently live in the US and work for an American company, I think their accomplishments say less about the quality of IIT graduates and more about the fact that a huge amount of human potential is being wasted in India.

tassl 13y ago
> more about the fact that a huge amount of human potential is being wasted in India. I think your text would make more sense by using "the world" instead of restricting to "India". I have thought multiple times about the quantity of great people that could be having a great impact in our lives and are "missing". We have examples all over our history (islamic mathematics, old greeks,...) of different civilizations that accomplished huge achievements with smaller populations. Obviously, I don't think that there is a genetic factor for certain ethnics to be more intelligent, but we still see how jews (13-14 million?) are on top of the Nobel Prizes on science, while arabic contribution is symbolic. The same prizes a few centuries ago would have a completely different destination. The current distribution of Nobel Prizes surely shocks me more than seeing some Indian IT people on top of great companies (1 billion). Not to remove merit from the individuals, but from the system; I have always thought that there is something more in a person than the results of a "simple" exam.
fakeer 13y ago
I shall not say they didn't work hard. But admission to an IIT and the status that you get after that is more about rot, luck, parents who can afford it and the fact that overall quality of education in India is so dismal and whatever good there is the quantity is so sparse. So , what happens is when you are not in one of the IITs or few top colleges - you are stuck with the stereotype of second grade, third grade and over the years you fall into the line without even knowing you could have been sth else, sth bigger or better. It's IIT or nothing. Govt and public alike are trying hard keep it that way. When new IITs were announced - most of the alumni and pundits were not even giving it a thought that more students shall have access to relatively better education and facilities ; they were worried that brand value of IITs shall be diluted. Uhh.. once you get in and get out getting the tag, you are the elite and don't want many around you to dilute your elitism. Fair enough.
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
Fakeer, you've been banned or hell banned for some reason. Nothing in your comment history stands out to me, so you might want to talk to the admins to see what happened.
simula67 13y ago
>huge amount of human potential is being wasted in India. Just a counterpoint : IITs are state funded, i.e most of the student fees are paid for by the government. Once they complete their education, do they not have a duty to give back to the people ? Remember, brain drain is a serious problem for countries like India.
- lake99 13y ago
  Though my own taxes help fund the IITs, and I never was hard-working enough to get through the JEE, I'm happy that we have the IITs setting at least some kind of an example for the rest of India. I am disappointed by the idiots filling teaching positions in most other colleges. > do they not have a duty to give back to the people ? I hate this attitude, not just in India, but anywhere in the world. Like Kennedy's "ask not what your country has done for you...". To start with, their own parents paid taxes to support the IITs too. Do we have a way of making a balance sheet for how my taxes were utilized? How much have I lost to supporting corruption? How much have I lost to supporting undeserving candidates who got in through reservation? In case of IITs, you are, of course, neglecting all the private funding it gets. > brain drain is a serious problem for countries like India. Many Indians who have left have gone on to accomplish great things. Do you think they would have accomplished even 1% of that, had they stayed in India? Brain drain is not India's problem; it is an avenue for opportunity for many Indians. India's problem is corruption and unfettered democracy.
  - Ashuu 13y ago
    About the brain drain problem, I think yes. They would have accomplished more if they stayed in India. Just have a look at Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys. Just imagine if people like Sundar Pichai, Vic Gundotra etc stayed in India, they might have done something even bigger than what they had done at Google. Android or something similar would have been created in India or India would have a social network like Google Plus! Who knows!

by jbarham 13y ago

tassl 13y ago

> more about the fact that a huge amount of human potential is being wasted in India. I think your text would make more sense by using "the world" instead of restricting to "India". I have thought multiple times about the quantity of great people that could be having a great impact in our lives and are "missing". We have examples all over our history (islamic mathematics, old greeks,...) of different civilizations that accomplished huge achievements with smaller populations. Obviously, I don't think that there is a genetic factor for certain ethnics to be more intelligent, but we still see how jews (13-14 million?) are on top of the Nobel Prizes on science, while arabic contribution is symbolic. The same prizes a few centuries ago would have a completely different destination. The current distribution of Nobel Prizes surely shocks me more than seeing some Indian IT people on top of great companies (1 billion). Not to remove merit from the individuals, but from the system; I have always thought that there is something more in a person than the results of a "simple" exam.

fakeer 13y ago

I shall not say they didn't work hard. But admission to an IIT and the status that you get after that is more about rot, luck, parents who can afford it and the fact that overall quality of education in India is so dismal and whatever good there is the quantity is so sparse. So , what happens is when you are not in one of the IITs or few top colleges - you are stuck with the stereotype of second grade, third grade and over the years you fall into the line without even knowing you could have been sth else, sth bigger or better. It's IIT or nothing. Govt and public alike are trying hard keep it that way. When new IITs were announced - most of the alumni and pundits were not even giving it a thought that more students shall have access to relatively better education and facilities ; they were worried that brand value of IITs shall be diluted. Uhh.. once you get in and get out getting the tag, you are the elite and don't want many around you to dilute your elitism. Fair enough.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

Fakeer, you've been banned or hell banned for some reason. Nothing in your comment history stands out to me, so you might want to talk to the admins to see what happened.

simula67 13y ago

>huge amount of human potential is being wasted in India. Just a counterpoint : IITs are state funded, i.e most of the student fees are paid for by the government. Once they complete their education, do they not have a duty to give back to the people ? Remember, brain drain is a serious problem for countries like India.

lake99 13y ago
Though my own taxes help fund the IITs, and I never was hard-working enough to get through the JEE, I'm happy that we have the IITs setting at least some kind of an example for the rest of India. I am disappointed by the idiots filling teaching positions in most other colleges. > do they not have a duty to give back to the people ? I hate this attitude, not just in India, but anywhere in the world. Like Kennedy's "ask not what your country has done for you...". To start with, their own parents paid taxes to support the IITs too. Do we have a way of making a balance sheet for how my taxes were utilized? How much have I lost to supporting corruption? How much have I lost to supporting undeserving candidates who got in through reservation? In case of IITs, you are, of course, neglecting all the private funding it gets. > brain drain is a serious problem for countries like India. Many Indians who have left have gone on to accomplish great things. Do you think they would have accomplished even 1% of that, had they stayed in India? Brain drain is not India's problem; it is an avenue for opportunity for many Indians. India's problem is corruption and unfettered democracy.
- Ashuu 13y ago
  About the brain drain problem, I think yes. They would have accomplished more if they stayed in India. Just have a look at Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys. Just imagine if people like Sundar Pichai, Vic Gundotra etc stayed in India, they might have done something even bigger than what they had done at Google. Android or something similar would have been created in India or India would have a social network like Google Plus! Who knows!