Changing courses mid-stream

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, June 22, 2007
A recent trend among students has put those wanting to study English as their first option at a disadvantage.
Mohit Kashyap (name changed), a science student of St. Stephens’ School has got 70 per cent in his ISC exam. He could not crack JEE and his percentage would not guarantee him a BSc honours seat in any reputed college. Hence, Mohit has applied for English honours in the better colleges in the city and hope to get calls from more than one college because his percentage is higher compared to his competitors from the humanities.
“I could not apply at Lady Brabourne College, because I have 69 per cent aggregate, whereas the college is asking for at least 70 per cent. But many of my friends who had science in their plus-two are applying,” said Anusha Bhowmick, (name changed) who passed out of South Point High School. “This is not right. It is easy for the science students to have a better aggregate. The colleges should have separate eligibility criteria for those seeking English honours from different streams,” she added.
The teachers are helpless. “We know such things happen. But we do not have any option other than preparing a merit list giving equal weightage to all students. That is the university rule,” said Debabrata Chowdhury, principal of Ashutosh College. “The main problem is that while students from any stream can apply for humanities, it is not applicable the other way round. Those who studied humanities in the higher secondary level remain in a disadvantageous position,” he added.
Mohit’s father explained why his son applied for an English course, “When he passed Class X with 80 per cent marks, we insisted that he took up science because that is what we know meritorious students do. And an English honours degree was always the last option for us in case he was unable to do well or crack JEE. English can now offer him several other avenues.”
Some teachers do not object to this line of reasoning. “Some not-so good students from the science stream may apply for English honours, but then they won’t get the subject unless they have the minimum required marks in English. No mater from which stream a student comes they have to be good in the subject,” said Monidipa Ray, principal of Gokhale College.
Malini Bhagat, principal of Mahadevi Birla Girls High School, feels another reason for science students later opting for humanities is immaturity. “I have seen several cases where students discovered they did not like the stream, several months after taking up the course. At Class XI, students are too young to decide which stream to opt for and they take up science thinking it would increase their stature among friends and relatives. But after Class XII, they realise their mistake and are forced to opt for a humanities degree.”
Jadapur University for instance, has seen many science students taking up English. “Last year a successful WBJEE medical candidate chose English because he loved the subject more. Since we conduct a written test, we can distinguish the genuine cases,” said Nilanjana Gupta, professor of English at JU.
mou.chakraborty@hindustantimes.com