Indian Institute of Child Prodigies (IICP)

As one passes a major education institute, like school or college, one tries to think, "What have I learnt?" In school, we learn about the basics which help us develop our cognitive abilities and also try to explore our aptitude. We decide in our school, whether to take up a science or a college stream, a decision, predominantly based on our peers, but also reflecting our interest to some extent. We get into a college and ostensibly specialize in a particular field. After graduation, we get a job and it is then when we expect our knowledge to be put to test. But, alas! We are given training for 6-12 months pertaining to the field of the company. This makes one introspect, that whatever learnt in the college was of some use or not? Application is a lot different than theory. In real life situations, quick decisions are based more on logic and common sense than some complex derivations from existing theories. For instance, if I'm a fresh Civil engineer posted on a site and a problem comes up, I would be expected to give a quick remedy rather than grab a calculator and Indian Standard codes and churn out numbers. So, what role does college plays in our life? Is it again a continuation of building our aptitude and cognition? What differentiates an elite college from the rest? Being from IIT, I've noticed that though we are endowed with huge funds from the government, the facilities are not utilized to the full potential by the undergraduates. The only differentiating factor is the quality of students entering into the college. Students mostly leverage upon the brand image. IITs have become the hub of the smartest kids in the country, ones who can grasp anything quickly. This is what the USP of IIT is. The kind of companies visiting the campus reflects the expectations the corporate world has from IITs. Investment banks and consultancies take the cream out of the campus, which should otherwise have been engineers. Students end up being financial analysts, which is nowhere near the curriculum taught in the college. So, what is the meaning of demarcating engineering into different fields, when a mechanical engineer and a computer engineer end up in the same job? It is the aptitude that has the market value. Salary is directly proportional to the level of brain involved in the job. Current trend suggests that students would be better off learning to crack puzzles and teasers rather than learning engineering as these are mainly the questions asked in an interview. One could argue that IITs give a lot of options to its students and it is left solely on the student to take up whatever job he/she wishes, either an engineer, analyst, consultant. However, the current market values street smartness rather than knowledge in case of an undergraduate. A separate institute of the super intelligent, Indian Institute of Child Prodigies (IICP), would be more apt for the current job scenario, wherein students are given challenging mathematic problems and puzzles throughout the curriculum.