Because I am a teacher many people have asked how if feel about the movie and Aamir Khan. Some of my colleagues have taken a little serious note of the movie and have been critical of the way in which they have shown the education system and some of the pranks played.
Though i agree the movie could have been moderated in the way it has portrayed some incidents, and especially towards the end of the college life part, the story seems to have stretched a little too far, but then that is the way of a typical Bollywood movie and the 3 idiots has followed it to the hilt.
But then overall I found that the message being sent out , "Follow your Passion and stay way from the rat race" very relevant and timely . The way we are churning out Engineers who are being fed into the IT industry is something which has always made me uncomfortable. Young bright people getting very good starting salaries and as a result getting too comfortable too soon with their lives (coding and partying). But do not get me wrong here, I acknowledge the role IT industry has played in the growth of the economy and employment, but I still find it hard to explain when I find a electrical engineer from possibly the best institutions in India (if not the world) working at the back office of retailer, writing codes to manage their customer base ?????
And the fate of the those who do not make in the rat race is something which is even worse. And as they say even if you win in the rat race you remain a rat :).
Among the other takeaways from the movie , the questioning of the way teaching is being currently done and the evaluation system (emphasizing rote) are somethings which we as teachers need to look into very seriously. A radical rethinking on these two things should form the center of the much needed reforms in the education system in the country....
