[Note: This post is as such directed at senior PhD students and post-docs who might be seeking academic positions in India in the near future. However, I think anyone who might be feeling that the quality of teaching at our colleges/universities is not as good as it ought to be might get some insight into the reasons. Be warned though 🙂 : I'm not too politically correct and say things as I see them in a pretty upfront manner.]
Here's some well meaning advice for senior PhD students and/or post-docs who might be seeking academic positions in India. The idea or intent is not to hurt anyone's idealism - I have been extremely idealistic myself and am proud of it - but rather to give you a fairly frank understanding of how things actually are (in my estimate) at most places.
Whatever I say here is based on observations I have made at different institutes as well as personal experience. I would recommend also discussing the points I'm making with other people you might trust, making your own observations if you can, and arriving at your own independent conclusions.
Here goes:
This might seem counterintuitive since educational institutions, by definition 🙂, exist to educate: BUT - UNLESS you are confident your institute values excellence in teaching and explicitly and clearly includes this as a criterion for career progression - *don't* be overzealous with your teaching. Just fulfill the basic expectations - hold lectures, tutorials and office hours to clear doubts, cover syllabus, evaluate, assign grades - and move on. Don't venture to do any more than this to inspire students, make them really love a subject, etc.
Instead: Spend more time on publishing papers. That's what will get you mileage and take you forward in your career.
As a friend and colleague (who is best left unnamed for his safety 😁) likes to remark: You are your h-index.
I explain in more detail below:
Teaching passionately and seeing your students' eyes shine can be deeply fulfilling. I know this and have breathed this breath myself. I have earned six letters of commendation for exemplary teaching and have featured in annual teaching excellence awards twice.
But to be frank 🙂, I don't believe excellence in teaching is given its due weightage at most institutes today as far as career progression is concerned. I have spoken with directors, I even attended a board meeting once where the director was presenting the institute's yearly report to the board and its chairman. How well faculty members have been teaching doesn't feature at all most of the times. That's of course a pity - why else does an educational institution even exist if not to educate properly? - but it's the truth.
For an academic institution to be excellent overall, each faculty member has to aspire for excellence in three things: Teaching, Research and Institute Service. For this to happen, all three of these have to be given their due weightage when it comes to evaluation and career progression. From what I can see, this is simply no longer the case at many institutes. You can also cross-check this with others.
So you might be a most brilliant teacher, might be affecting your students' lives profoundly, but when it comes to being evaluated, this aspect will most likely not receive the weightage it deserves. It's a complete disgrace as far as I'm concerned. But that seems to be the ground reality at most places. So if you choose to be idealistic, do so with full awareness of what to expect at the end of the day.
The above hasn't been my way and it never will be. Teaching well is important to me and I don't compromise with it.
But as I said earlier, if you choose to be idealistic, do so with full awareness of what you are getting into. Don't moan and groan that the world isn't all ok. It isn't. That's the plain fact of the matter. Accept it. Maybe things will be better some day. I would like to see that change too. Maybe some of us will bring about changes when it's our turn. But things are exactly what they are today. Accept and move forward.
I emphasize again: You need not take any of the above on face value. By all means discuss these matters with people you trust, make your own observations, and arrive at your own conclusions. I would respect that totally.
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