It’s time to talk to the gen-z of India in a language they understand!
What we recently witnessed in the country is a crystal-clear illustration of everything that gen-z stands for. A generation that is often criticised for its lack of consistency, focus and long-term vision came together – from across the length and breadth of the country – to showcase its rebellion, disdain and seek support.
In a way, this is an important component of self-driven entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship by definition comes with the will to question, change and transform. Every entrepreneur in the world starts with a challenge, a problem that needs to be eliminated. By finding innovative, out-of-the-box solutions to that problem, an entrepreneur often goes off the traditional path to achieve the goal. In the current context, it is evident that gen-z entrepreneurs are no longer just sitting in cozy air-conditioned rooms and strategizing their problems. They are – literally – biting the dust and operating from ground zero. Controlled rebellion – along with acumen and intelligence – is what makes up a good entrepreneur, and today, we are seeing them in humongous large numbers.
This is an important time for us to see how academia can provide a conducive environment for gen-z to focus on their core acumen and hand-hold them to become future innovators. I believe there is a huge flaw in how we rank and grade student performance. For decades, we have been obsessively ranking students on pure academics, conveniently ignoring the fact that they are not academic robots, but human beings that come with emotions! For a country that is obsessed with entrance exam scores and results, we are speaking in a language that the gen-z simply does not understand.
Gen-z is multi-talented, and expecting them to dedicate their entire lifetime to become proficient in ONE subject and build a career around it is an outdated, futile attempt at unnecessary control and restriction – two things that they easily rebel against!
In this regard, I have been using and propagating a student grading system that encompasses parameters such as communication skills, personal well-being, creativity quotient, and problem-solving abilities. From my experience in interacting with the student and academia community from across the world, I have realised that educationists must encourage students to have wellness and personality development integrated into their courses, to ensure that we are churning out future entrepreneurs and leaders – not theoretical robots. I have done this in the college that I represent. We have formulated a seven-stage wellness course into our educational programs, and every student of ours self-grades every semester – on wellness and inter-personal development and sets targets for the future.
It is the perfect time for us to remember that students belong in classrooms that groom their overall personality along with academics – not on the street!
We are wasting their time by exposing them to systemic and institutional roadblocks – their entrepreneurship journey will anyway put them through that. Also, we must have a deep re-look at how we are evaluating them.
Let’s leverage gen-z for their multi-faceted competencies by accepting and respecting them for their emotional resilience. Moving away from traditional, archaic grading systems might be a good start…
Prof. Eishwar Maanay
Dean, BNMIT
