Gotta catch'em young!

(This is an email I sent to to all first year students I recently taught but I guess it remains applicable to all college freshers!)

Why should one teach the first ever course that most students hate/find difficult? The subject line of this email is the answer to this question. Your mathematical world turns upside down when you start worrying about “why” more than “how”. For us, this course is an opportunity to interact with some of the brightest kids in the country while becoming the face of the institute for them! Teaching such a large class, interacting with so many of you coming from different backgrounds, and seeing fresh perspectives everyday is both a treat as well as a massive responsibility. We cannot afford to fall sick in this period, we cannot afford to make mistakes since each mistake gets multiplied by several hundreds—despite the fact that our statements are often misinterpreted by students in several confusing and wrong ways. Being your instructor has availed me the possibility of sharing my thoughts with all of you with the hope that the majority of you would read this message, many would think about the issues/questions I raise, some would share their thoughts, and at least a few would seriously change their perspective. 

I have been teaching in this institute for the past 8 years and most of my awake time here has been spent with my students. Several of them are still in touch, and a few are friends with whom I had an agreement that they would stop calling me “sir” from the day they graduate! This background on my relationship with my students must be mentioned for it could give you some context for the things I write below.

Food for thought

Perhaps you did not get enough time to process the answers to the following questions: Why did you choose this institute? Is your chosen branch the subject that you love/are certain to love or you just chose it to get into this institute? Are you planning to make any “real” use of the knowledge earned during this degree or just of the degree itself? Is earning a huge package “the goal” of your degree or just a desirable by-product of job satisfaction? 

Prejudiced?

With the ever-changing landscape of the world around us, the general thoughts of the student population also reflect such changes. Just like organisms pass on their legacies to the next generations, a batch of seniors seems to pass on a legacy to their juniors in our campus. Several traditions and customs are followed religiously without ever questioning their purpose. Are students of this institute really independent thinkers or just blind followers? It is widely said and believed that only mad people can create history but do you really get a chance to think differently? It seem that you feel that you should follow the trends of your seniors who did the same themselves, ask them for advice about every little thing and also hope that your juniors would do the same in the future. Breaking established trends is hard. Take, for example, our (un)successful(?) attempt to present real analysis differently. I personally do not understand how a person born a few years before me is capable of providing advice—they can help by providing information and through sharing experiences; the choice to do or not do something should be left with us. I admire the way British people respond when asked for advice—their sentences take the form “If I were in your situation…I’d do…” Why look at the world through borrowed glasses when your eyesight is intact?

The need for validation

It may be true with most of you that several important decisions of your life were taken by your parents/guardians. Now that you are adults, but still (rebellious) teens, you want to make your own life decisions but do not know how or where to start, that is why you still turn to others around you for help and/or validation. I have heard a lot of students saying that “this is my only life, and I do not want to regret later that I did not try something”. One cannot and does not try everything in life—we learn from other’s experiences. For example, nobody would, or rather should, try harming someone, irrespective of whether that someone is another person or you yourself. Some bad habits you might fall into at this vulnerable age have long-lasting, often devastating consequences, and probably at a later stage you will not be able to trace the problems back to these formative years. As a very simple example, I have seen students developing cholesterol issues while on campus, just because they did not like the mess food and kept eating pizza.

While eating a forbidden apple, what exactly goes on in your mind? Select ALL that apply:

1) I want to become “cool” like peers/seniors/idols.

2) My definition of a life worth living includes checking these boxes.

3) Everyone is doing it, so it must be correct.

4) I want to feel accepted/validated by a peer group.

5) It is an experience and I have enough self-control to not develop a habit/addiction if I do not like it.

6) I cannot say NO!

Walking in someone else’s shoes

I noticed during orientation that many of you are interested in success stories, but remember that there is something called survival bias associated with such stories. How many failure stories do you know and what did you learn from them? Do you really know the world outside or have you always been protected and sheltered? Do not think that these questions are rhetorical. I do know that many of you have gone through hardships and have sacrificed a lot to reach this position. But everyone’s story is different, and maybe you cannot endure going through the situations your roommate went through. 

Connections connections

We all wear invisible masks but how many people do you know without their masks? The more fundamental question is whether you really want to see people without the facade, and whether you try something in that direction? True friendships are getting scarcer with each passing year. I have seen top-ranking students go through depression alone while being unwilling to share anything with their peers just because, in return, those peers would also unload their problems on them! Such a sad state of affairs… Currently the loneliness pandemic is far more widespread that covid ever was! Everyone wants to network but very few want to connect.

With great power comes great responsibility

There are several reasons why the video from class became viral, and why the whole world reacted to it. No doubt that the moment captured is hilarious. Moreover, the purpose of the video was not to cause any harm but pure entertainment. I also decided to take it as light humour. However, through numerous conversations on this topic I had with people from different walks of life, one very important aspect came into light.

Do we really have the right to take photos and videos of people without their permission? Most of you have got your instructors caught on camera in the class, and the common justification is that “everybody does that, so it cannot be wrong”. A snap or a reel usually captures a moment without context. Such snippets from some people’s lives have sometimes helped people in the court of law, while many have lost their good night sleep or have been wrongfully convicted. The phone from which you are inseparable is a weapon, and the power is in the wielder’s hand! As adults you should be aware not to mistakenly ruin someone’s life through the use of this weapon.

Is success just measured in numbers?

As soon as you achieved the dream of cracking JEE, how long could you really enjoy in the glory of success? Or did you immediately start worrying about further important questions about choosing a college and a branch? Often you cannot savour the moment when a goal is reached, and do not realise that the journey to the destination was the major part of your life.

Let us try to talk about the subject that helped us connect. I get so many emails regarding regrades and grading policy but not enough about actual mathematical content. You want more marks and good grades because your future depends on it. But are you interested in learning the subject? Is it just one of those long dark tunnels through which you have to drag yourself to see the light of the day? Have you forgotten that at some point in your school life you actually enjoyed studying, solving problems, learning new concepts, and satisfying curiosity? Isn’t that the real reason you could reach this point?Now you do not have the time to enjoy the learning process because you need to enrich your CV, make contacts and earn brownie points in various activities. Just as machine learning and artificial intelligence is taking over the world, you also feel the urge to attack a subject through mechanical processes like solving past exam papers, feeling proud to pull all-nighters before exams, asking around to get to know how a particular instructor grades, complaint on online platforms without looking into mirrors. Granted that you worked really hard to crack JEE, and that you are tired but there is no algorithm for success that works for everyone. You need to find your own path. The undergraduate years are aptly called formative years because they provide you with responsibility-free years of adult life where you can understand your own self. Unfortunately, the internal exploration that could possibly answer several of your doubts is often put on the back burner while you seek outside help.

Here is a dialogue from “Alice in Wonderland”:

Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

The Cheshire Cat:  “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

Alice: “I don’t much care where.”

The Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

Do you know what you want to do with your life? Are you already possessed by FOMO or you are inheriting this essential trait from the campus air? Do you really need to keep all the options open at all times or there is merit in working hard to achieve a particular goal? Is it just to show off that you could do anything and everything? Or you do not want to choose because you are afraid of the consequences? Not making is choice is also a choice you make which makes life stressful. Stress, anxiety and depression have become common in your generation because you are afraid of making choices, taking right risks, and fear commitment.

Earning and currency

Are people happier when they earn more money? What if they are too busy earning that they cannot enjoy spending? What does one do when they earn more than they need/could spend? If you thought of answering this question as “let me first be such a person, and then I will tell you”, then I would encourage you to think about the difference between needs and wants. It is said that the most important things in life are free! Satisfaction, having someone to share and peace of mind are never included in a package!

A little bit of discipline?!

Bunking classes seems like a fun idea because you could not do this earlier and now you can! But just because one can does not mean one should. If rules are meant to be broken and every exam is full of cheaters, then the honest suffer the most, which in turn encourages them too to choose the same path. Ultimately, an engineer educated through such system is bound to construct a building that is doomed to collapse. Should there be no principles to live by? A good routine helps keep a person sane as well as healthy, and is often recommended as the cure to mental health problems.

Please continue having 3 meals at designated times and write your own success story while caring for your fragile inner self. Today is the last day when I meet most of you in a professional capacity, especially in a classroom, but I will be happy to lend an ear if you ever wish to talk to someone.

Best wishes for the journey called life!