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To lend from the oft-repeated Kautilya, “even the devil has to be given his dues”, as otherwise all notions of fairness and credibility go away. So, when I gave away a bewildered face with a bemused surprise and disappointment at my ratings (6.4 & 5.7), I found out the ratings provided. While many have given even 9 or 10 with some objective and some superlative comments, I found out some students have given 1 or 2 in the parameters (well, I just think of the heavenly fun they will have when they will give a marks of 11 /100 or 15/100 if they ever will become Professors, IF) with comments that borders on allegations of unfairness and favoritism, e.g. I used to give lifts to some students in my car to their homes or that I used to smoke cigarettes with some students or drank tea and chatted with them (good thinking, all these, only as a practicing manager for many years I always thought it’s Group-D territory). Logically, the charges of taking bribes or sexual harassments could be the next? I take a bow to their judgments if they were taken regarding my teaching aspects, and my efforts in the extra mile I always thought I should walk for them. But something tells me that may not be true. Firstly such a completely polarized rating range talk of severe bias and a ridiculously low rating on all parameters show a complete lack of objectivity. When I finished my classes after 7 on one of the days in the week, some students often approached me for a lift (the only people I myself had offered lift at any time were my fellow Professors and a SSD), should have I said No ? And friendly ? That I always was and to everybody (including the rickshaw-pullers, as I had mentioned in the class in a theoretical context) as a rule, till I am reproached in some manner (when I turn brutally aloof and selectively blind).
I took out their marks to double check and found out
1) The top 20% is a random mix of people from all, as we say, caste – creed – race – religion – sex – province – language etc.
2) None of the guys I gave a lift in my car has made to the top 10%
3) The most incorrigibly talkative of them all had still made grade A
4) One of the toppers had a serious fight with me in the class. Another guy had shouted on me regarding the rules and my choice of judges in a Presentation type case study had made grade A
5) One of the guys who got 90+ has never even spoken to me or greeted me or even recognized me outside the class
6) I, as I had decided earlier, have given 10% extra marks to everybody than I thought was due and had to resist, defy and bypass the general marking guideline to do so
7) Attendance, or rather the real snapshot of it, played a factor or a parameter. This is not the old India that the NRSs (Non-resident students) should be the super-class citizens
Unfair ? Vindictive ? Playing favorites ? I bow to the judgment. The tell-tale signs of a tall tale is that there is always more to the tale that you can tell yourself . People can get away with anything when they are paying, but what will happen when they will be paid ? Somebody showing this kind of mindset in a corporate setup will not last a week and the men will be separated from the boys there. However, I have seen the office-assistants and the cleaning people discussing a lot of issues like this in the pantry and other sacred places. We know it all along and never have any special expectation over the Group-D thought processes.
Some people never understand the real issues and why do someone get less marks. I have seen people who may be good but has always tried to remain a part of the paint on the back wall in the class, speaking 0-3 sentences in the 34 classes I took. It is not enough to be good, it must be demonstrated also. I, who is still a student, have felt numerous times in my life that I should have got a bit more marks, but at least I was still not stupid enough to presume that the examiner had something personal against me. I always knew after my schooldays that I am lacking somewhere, in the knowledge or the expression or the technique of delivery – to get any marks lower than the topper. Some students try to oil them, but any good Professor worth his shirt will consciously avoid any bias towards them. Some students always tried to hog the limelight even at the time of the case studies, but at least that shows their intent participation. If somebody remains merely a physical presence, I have no way of knowing he is with the case or is really at Nolbon at that time. The wisdom or rather the religion of Zombiehood do not make any special mark for the impression. Professors are ought to be impressed with some characteristic, and a management student must know it in the strategy class.
In the west and the good institutes like IIM-C, I have seen Professors are very friendly and approachable while elsewhere I have often seen them more aloof and distant. In fact, when I have seen my colleagues and friends (who are Professors in different colleges and Institutes) giving their marks, I have secretly thought them as insensitive. Now I know on which side of the fence they are.
Ultimately, at the end of the day, I know that it‘s my failure. I hang my proud head in ethereal shame that months of my passionate lectures on strategy could not do even the simple job of changing a mindset or the thinking pattern. What sins did I commit to not deserve this?
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