It’s 11.58 pm. 22 July 2021.Thursday. And, my second blog! I am not going to write some heavy philosophical stuff, rather I would attempt unravelling my journey as a virtual freshman at CNLU, for I never got to attend the university in person owing to the once-in-a-millennia pandemic. How satisfactory the journey has been? Hits and Misses. How excited I am about the second year journey? My take on the Padhai-in-pandemic Era? And, the other assorted issues that might occur to me while I write this blog. Let’s start then!
Padhai-in-pandemiC!
Ask any student, law students in particular about the level of satisfaction he/she has as to the studies in pandemic times, the answer would pretty much be the same. Subduing.Boring. Monotonous.Let me ask another question: What about the attention span in the classroom? Frankly speaking, nobody can non-stop stare at a computer screen for five to six hours. It’s just not possible. Yet we were supposed to be doing the un-do-able! The result is but natural that most of the students couldn’t maintain a very high attention span in classes, thereby resulting in decreased academic output and classroom interaction. Infact, in my class, all along the first two semesters barring half a dozen students, the entire class simply chose not to participate in classroom discussion. Seriously, it’s off-putting even thinking that one has to stare without pausing a minute for four long hours at a computer screen,split in hundreds of tiny boxes with a big dot occupying the centre of all; simultaneously attentively listen to a one-way monologue. Even teachers, who tried their best in creating a conducive and energetic learning ambience, showed signs of fatigue, ennui and boredom. The raging second wave that spared none, literally none, further aggravated the problem. Mental health and stress-related issues have affected the student community the uttermost. It’s hard recollecting those unpleasant memories and putting them on paper. The situation has improved a little bit yet there isn’t any sea change as of now. It’s limping back to normalcy by and by. I only pray to God that the majority of the population gets vaccinated as soon as possible and I get to see my college: CNLU!
enQuiry into eXams!
Now, it’s 0.36 am, hence I can say that today I have to write my end semester exams. Family law is going to be the first paper. Generally, my attitude is of being excited about writing exams, but this time around, forget being excited, I am worrying whether I will pass the exam or not? But, why things have come downhill? Well, my wholesale neglect of the syllabus and classes can hardly be overlooked. In the second semester, I missed classes more than warranted,thereby missing out on important concepts and topics that professors delivered lectures on. I wasted a lot of time debating and discussing ideological and political issues. My bad. This obsession is something that consumed a large share of the temporal pie I had. Then, some personal and attitudinal issues plagued me, and in trying and figuring strategems to deal with them, I spent a substantial amount of time. Moreover, I devoted much time to poring over books and stuff unrelated to the core syllabus. And so forth.
It’s fuCKinG inSane!
Imagine you are sitting in the class, listening to a deeply engrossing lecture on Kafka, and out of nowhere, you find in the nick of time that you have been shut out of the class! Sounds crazy and cruel, right? Well, this is precisely what happened over and over again to us ‘cursed’ students. In the virtual mode, settings are such that any student can change them on his own;do whatever he/she wants: mute the entire class or any particular student(his sworn enemy!), remove somebody from the meeting(funnily, even professors weren’t spared), and disrupt the class in n no of ways. And, as with any other class, in my class also, few ‘students’-we sadly failed in nabbing them-enjoyed removing their colleagues from the class.And, to make matters worse,it wasn’t a one-off activity, rather this sordid drama became a routine affair. Whenever a student got removed, he would angrily shoot off some bitter message in the WhatsApp group complaining about how he was removed twice, thrice and sometimes, shockingly, he was forced to abandon the attempt of joining the class, for it would result in him being removed once again! It’s really disgusting writing about this all! How can be one so insensitive and apathetic towards his colleagues? Eventually, we found out the proverbial light at the end of tunnel in settings. A minor tweak in the settings and things got sorted. Then onwards,professors started making everyone in the class attendees so that this monstrosity canbe put to rest. Now, looking backwards over this whole saga, one thinks why didn’t the settings were changed in the very first place, nipping in the bud any such potentiality? Well, the question has a very easy and commonplace yet unsettling answer: Technolgy has galloped way ahead, and teachers(apologies tech-savvy ones!), still stuck in the days of blackboard, chalk and duster,were driven up against the insurmountable tech wall in wake of the pandemic and resultng new normal in the way classes were supposed to be conducted,that is,virtual classes. I don’t want to disgress, but suffice it to say that the tech-illiteracy of tutors proved to be a big stumbling block in the path of knowledge dissemination.
DeBatinG, or rather Deb-SoC-ing…
Why debate? Isn’t a peaceful discussion more fruitful than a ‘slanging match’? Moreover, is there any hope at all of arriving at a common ground in a discussion wherein both sides are more concerned about refuting and rubbishing the claims of the other than learning a thing or two? (apols for asking loaded questions!) It is doubtless that debates quite often end in friction and hot-headed ranting. It’s also somewhat true that we get obsessed with rebutting other’s claims,using every trick in the book! We sometimes try influencing the audience and judges by doing sophistry, needless to mention the ubiquitous red-herring arguments and empty rhetoric. Well, let’s first address brasstacks so as to have clarity of mind as to the real nature of a debate? What’s the main purpose of debating? Etcetera.
, Debating at its core is a ‘civilised dialectical duel’ whereby two or more sides logically discuss a particular issue putting forth their case, pointing out flaws in their counterparts’ claims, thereby rectifying and refining the arguments(not necessarily in the same order).In the entire process, the chaff gets separated from grains. Because whatever points one makes in a debate doesn’t go unquestioned, it is quite natural that the side under attack would pull out all stops-shout and harangue, mislead and misquote, clarify and re-contextualize- to both defend and convince others of the validity of its claims. And, if refuted convincingly, sides very often admit their folly. In sum, the cyclical process of relentless questioning culminates in a clear cut understanding of premises and the inferences one can draw from them. Invalid, faulty and peripheral arguments get weeded out. Audience not only enjoys this process, or rather fight, but also gets a nuanced understanding of the issues at stake. They are free to pick sides of their liking in a debate.This all is unlikely to happen in a so-called friendly discussion wherein both sides agree on everything and disagree on nothing! On top of it all, debating is FuN-like nothing! Period.
I don’t want this blog to be a very lengthy one, plus I am feeling itchy to publish it, hahaha.Will try posting the next one as soon as possible!
LegaL-bilge! 