Class Participation

Almost every ISB student writes about this phenomenon in his blog. Its now my turn.

As part of the ISB grading system, student participation in class discussions carries marks and affects the final grade. The weightage varies from subject to subject. This system has been kept in place to ensure that the students come adequately prepared for class and also benefit from the views and experience of peers in the class. However, what actually translates is quite different. People in their enthusiasm to score some CP points make all sorts of comments. I have thus classified people into the following nine categories.

1. Commonsensical Point: This league of extraordinary gentlemen camouflage mere commonsensical points into brilliant works of art. They tend to take even rhetorical questions very seriously and carefully enlist their response

2. CraP: This group's only aim is to make sure that their voice is heard in the class. It is not of much relevance to them to think, if it makes sense..

3. CoPied: Brilliant imitators. Borrow ideas from others, but not words. Shrewd listeners who will be quick to borrow an idea, para phrase/ re-phrase/ cut/ edit/ add but essentially maintain the chastity of the soul and give out the same point..

4. Continuous Pain: Intellectual masturbaters. Their sole aim is display their knowledge. The problem is, they dont bother if it is relevant in the current context.

5. Crossed Past: They dont have any genuine point, nor can they display their knowledge (or the lack of it), but still they have a tremendous desire to participate in the class. So they end up asking questions which the professor has just answered. They however try to mask their intentions by keeping a seriously concentrated face which reads "genuine doubt". Fall not into this trap, for less than 10% of this group is genuinely interested in hearing the answer to the question, for the rest "asking the question" is an end in itself..

6. Chronically Pointless: They dont mind taking a ridiculous stance, questioning fundamental concepts or even making up impossible hypothetical situations, as long as it promises some "airtime" in the class

7. Calling Professor: They miss their chances to grab the professor's attention to make their point. So, when their impatience reaches a peak and they become desperate to make their presence felt, they call out the professor and camouflage their comments as questions/ doubts

8. Curtain Puller: Take a peek at the next slide and base your question/ comment on them and try to pass them off as intelligent remarks

9. Class Participant: It is this small but sensible proportion of the population that actually understands the true spirit of CP and genuinely tries to contribute towards the learning and development of the entire class...