Smart Students

In this article, I want to highlight a critical issue in teaching that I've observed firsthand. I’ve previously written about the scarcity of qualified teachers, but today I want to discuss the unique challenges and rewards of teaching, particularly in an era where information is readily available at our fingertips.

As a teacher specializing in Design principles and patterns for working professionals, I’m in a field where even one mistake is unacceptable. My students, who are experienced engineers with 1 to 20 years in the industry, won’t remember the 100 things I teach correctly—but they will immediately catch any error I make. Once that happens, their trust in my teachings can waver, and they may start questioning everything I present. This is why I say I’m in a profession where there is no room for error, and I take immense pride in this challenge because it has pushed me to learn and grow in ways that many others don’t experience.

What makes this both risky and fascinating is the intelligence of the students. They are professionals who cannot be easily fooled; this is simply the nature of the profession.

In the past, before the advent of the internet and AI tools like ChatGPT, teaching might have been somewhat easier. But now, if a teacher makes a mistake, students can instantly verify the information online or with AI, and they will confront the teacher about it. In fact, during classroom sessions today, many students keep a window open on their devices to cross-check the teacher’s information in real-time.

In the corporate world, the situation is a bit more manageable because the students are mature, disciplined professionals who are more accommodating of occasional mistakes, though they are still rare.

Recently, as part of my initiative on product engineering and design excellence, I started working with universities and colleges. Having taught corporate students for a long time, I assumed that teaching college students would be relatively easy. However, when I spoke with deans and administrators, they warned me that teaching in corporate settings and teaching in educational institutions are entirely different challenges. Many even doubted my ability to manage young students, and their concerns were quite alarming.

I was told that students can be undisciplined, hostile, and unforgiving towards their professors. They shared stories of senior professors being driven to tears by unruly students who refused to let them teach. Initially, I was apprehensive, wondering if I could handle such a challenging environment.

However, my mentor, PG, who is an expert corporate trainer and had successfully taught at the same university, gave me confidence. And to be honest, it wasn’t as difficult as it was made out to be. While corporate training classes usually have 20 to 30 students, I found myself teaching 100 students in a university classroom. The sheer number of students was daunting, but from my very first hour, I felt in complete control of the class.

What I realized is that students are incredibly intelligent. They can gauge a teacher’s caliber within the first few minutes. Once they recognize your depth of knowledge, expertise, and industry experience, they become highly cooperative. Despite being told that I would be teaching some of the most notorious students—those who were disinterested in studies and known for harassing professors—I found that these students were not inherently bad. They simply had different priorities, and their energy needed to be channeled in the right direction.

In this new generation, where the internet and AI tools like ChatGPT are ubiquitous, students are sharp and unforgiving. They don’t want professors to merely teach what’s already available online or parrot the same YouTube videos they watch. Many students have told me that they often find their teachers using the same videos they rely on for learning.

I believe that if a teacher or professor can engage students with interesting stories and experiences, backed by genuine knowledge and expertise, students will love it. That’s what they truly seek, but unfortunately, it’s something that’s often lacking in today’s educational environment.

Some of my best students have become some of my closest friends, and I continue to learn a great deal from them—especially about areas I’m less familiar with. While I provide them with solid fundamentals, they teach me how young minds think and how to leverage new-age tools and gadgets, which they excel at.

I have great faith in the potential of young people and students.