An Assembly Line!

Henry Ford in 1909 is said to have said "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black", about the Model T. Ford ushered in the assembly line concept taht revolutionized manufacturing and to large extent process efficiency. He also said "The average man won't really do a day's work unless he is caught and cannot get out of it". Henry Ford was a hard driving man who made his own rules and lived by them in a fast changing world. Fast forward to present day India and what is said to be one of the toughest examinations in the world to crack, the IITJEE. The examination always was a test of intelligence, skill, hard work and perseverance, where teens slog long hours to achieve a place in some of India's top technical colleges. Today in India, admission to these institutions resembles Ford's assembly line. Kids are taken from home and dumped in hostels, grilled for hours on end, away from their parents and eventually many do make it to the IIT's. But at what cost? Former Infosys Head Honcho, N.R.Narayanamurthy said a few months ago that the quality of students at the IIT's were dipping and that there were a singular lack of innovation. I'm sure the assembly line concept has something to do with this. To circumvent, this system India's current minister of education has said that, entry to the IIT's will henceforth carry a component from the 12th Grade passing out marks. This would preclude the assembly liners in coaching kids only for the IIT's at the exclusion of all else. However with the ingenuity of the Indian mind, I'm sure coaching centres would find a way around this initiative, by maybe roping in kids when they are ten or so and putting them on the assembly line. The point I'm trying to make is that, we need to be efficient, however should all our cars be black and should we collar kids and grind them to get them to join an institution of national importance? Can you compare a custom made Ferrari to a Ford Sedan? Assembly lines are good to a point, but when efficiency turns into a national obsession it can be debilitating.It kills creativity and innovation. When I see an Alfa Romeo go by, I tip my hat, is what Ford had to finally say of the superbly designed and crafted Alfa Romeo, which did not come off the assembly line.