O Mentor Where Art Thou

A meeting with one of my favourite students has given me the rudest of shocks. There I was, a little smug of my ability to connect as a normal human being with the students specially a few of the under graduates and there he was telling me what a false idea that was. Just three years ago this bright little kid had his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm for anything challenging about mechanics and asking questions which made me learn and relearn. Unquestionable ability, the desire to learn and discuss being right there, all that we, the teachers, had to do was to expose him to the wonderful world of mechanical engineering. Now graduating, not a kid anymore, the student is convinced that mechanical engineering: academia or industry is just not for him. While I respect the growth of a person and their quest for their calling in life, but I can’t deny the sense of deflation I feel. There is something hugely wrong in our academic system, instead of inspiring a few who don’t even want to consider engineering as an option we are managing to do exactly the opposite. And I come to know of this transition in one of my favourite students after three years!

Seeing parallels between parenthood and being a teacher comes naturally to me perhaps because both happened to me around the same time. The under graduate student is like a newly arrived who slowly picks up the basic skills and the language of his/her profession for survival in the later life. We the teachers like parents must provide the infrastructure, we must convey the passion for our subject, but more importantly we have to spend some quality time. Even when the student wants to run to his/her peers we must want to share their joys as well as anxieties of these growing years. In this mad rush to satisfy all the demands of academia and self-growth perhaps it is easy to forget these are young minds who come to an academic institution with hope and aspirations. We cannot let them come and go without ever being involved with them.