Cribs & C+, CPs & Cold Calls , Clubs & CV Points...

Contradictions. Dualism. Constant tension between two forces. Should I sharpen my gray cells or worry about Black on White? Here is a race. Race to win. Not everybody can win, but then everybody has to run. Bleeding. Stressed. Thats how our system is designed. The most respected grades by IIMA. Industry takes them on face value. Each additional subgrade has a potential to earn a lac rupee more (incremental contribution as they say in managerial accounting!). Thats why we care about our grades so much. If we get C+, we try to convert it to B-. How does it happen? There is a provision for crib! Not happy with C+? Go for crib. Try to convince your Academic Associate that what you intended to do, or why your solution is also true, etc. etc. But crib is not always that easy. Sometimes, you know from within, that you are unnecessarily complaining about your grade. At least I get what I deserve : C+!!!

This contradiction also prevails for CPs and Cold Calls. Let me first explain what these terms mean. CP is an acronym for Class Participation. Class Participation is very important in case method of teaching which is widely used at IIMA - thanks to early ties with Harvard Business School at the time of genesis. Now, to motivate people to effectively participate in the class and for maximum learning to take place, Class Participation is also graded. Intention is clear and admirable. Same is the story of Cold Calls. Again one more ritual from Harvard and an essential for case method of teaching. Cold Call is the random call from professor to any one of us to present the case analysis. You will not know why we call it cold call until you experience the shivering generated by that randomness, especially when you haven't prepared for the class! Precisely that is the point why professors cold call. But unfortunately, sometimes both CPs and Cold calls loose their relevance and work agains the spirit of case method of teaching. Near the end of the term, all of a sudden, many people realize the need for scoring (at least!) in CP and then classroom becomes a fish market in the race of putting CPs. The opposite happens in the case of cold call, many people take risk of not preparing the case given that only one or two out of class of seventyfive will be cold called in a day! (They teach us probability so well, that we can't resist using it for our comfort!!!).

Anyway, thats the academic side of the story. Contradictions and dualisms prevail even in the extracurricular activities. We have quite a few clubs to take care of the several extracurricular intersts of the students. We have serious clubs like Niche for marketing, Beta for finance, Consult for consultancy and several others for socializing like Cultcomm, Faculty Student Interaction and yet another set is of self interest groups like Perspectives for photography, stargazzers for astronomy, Freeriders for travelling fraternity and so on. Contradictions comes when interests clash with the potential to get a CV point by joining a club. Not all clubs are prestigous to look good on CV! Once again, we have to make a choice between what my heart says vis-a-vis what my head thinks! CV point prevails, I drop my old hobby of photography and join Beta club because that is what gives me a great CV value! Contradictions. Contradictions of my identity and the expected identity which has a fixed mould. (However, you always feel that you are shaping your own career and you have full control over life!)

Its a constant choice between putting a CP for grades or a genuine CP. Joining a club for CV point or for interest. Putting a crib or accepting a C+!!!! I would prefer the later in all cases. (Disclaimer: I am not sure, what would I have done if I would have stakes. I am a doctoral student and none of this really matters for me unlike MBA students. I am with them for my first year).