comparing the education system of india & usa

[AkshayC]

The basic difference between the two educational systems in my opinion is the stress on math that is given in India at the high school level itself. Mathematics,is the study logical and rational thinking (and of course the topics). Indian schools start teaching maths, like multiplication tables, at the beginner level itself.topics like calculus,permutation and combination etc. in 11th ,12th class. which is the base for engineering etc. and it is good up to some extent.Now in educational system of America ( whatever i heard from my father) is all based on logical and analytical thinking.i.e. student who are good in sciences up to high school won't opt for advance maths.In general, I found that math in the universities of US are equivalent to high school graduates in India in terms of math study.I realized that the general problem with the Indian education (high school) students are just studying for marks not for the knowledge.

 

[Cricketman]

Indian students are all mugpots who just vomit facts up on test day. In America you are expected to know your stuff.

All my Indian friends say that the exact questions from review show up on exams. All they do is memorize it. Doesn't work that way here.

Plus at the University level, you have to be good at everything here - not only marks but you have to be a leader, be involved in lots of activities, sports, etc. India all you need is a percentage cut off.

I also think that the emphasis on analytical writing isn't enough in India at all. When given essays students openly admit to just copying and pasting stuff from the internet. Thats acceptable there. You would get expelled for that here.

People can't seem to put 3 sentences together for some reason. Its a pain to talk to some of my very intelligent friends on FB but they just can't type or string out words. I guess that is the same on PC.

 

[Highlander999]

When given essays students openly admit to just copying and pasting stuff from the internet. Thats acceptable there. You would get expelled for that here.

Woah woah woah. Never knew this. So plagiarism is the norm in India? Doesn't that make the whole point of forming an opinion in an essay, pointless? That's a joke if awards from institutions there count for something globally if all that happens is people cheat to receive them.

 

[SaiSrini]

Yes, its the Indian mentality to mug up things and vomit it out on test day. It never works properly though because students cram too much into their memory, and invariably struggle on test day. Those who understand it well and write the exam are successful. Also 3 Idiots emphasised on the over importance of marks. 96.7%, 96.9% is what many there care about. It has to change. In the US, I did my 12th grade and I was happy with a B or above (though I tried hard for that A grade). My parents too said you did good. Whats ultimately important is that you need to have a good grasp of the material. Yes, people here in US are comparatively weaker in Math than us (we do better in Math) but the system here and the quality is uncomparable with the subcontinent.

Also in India, the interaction between students and the teacher needs to improve a lot. Students very easily get intimidated by the professor and dont ask questions and discuss in class. So most of the students grow up like that, and when they switch to US where in class discussion is very common, they freak out. It happened to me. In India, I never talked in class, asked questions if I didnt understand the material, etc. But here in US, some classes forced everyone to speak out in class and when it was my turn to speak, my legs would be trembling in fear and my heart rate would be spiking.

SaiSrini added 3 Minutes and 58 Seconds later...

Woah woah woah. Never knew this. So plagiarism is the norm in India? Doesn't that make the whole point of forming an opinion in an essay, pointless? That's a joke if awards from institutions there count for something globally if all that happens is people cheat to receive them.

Not sure how it is now, but when I did my schooling in India, plagiarism was common because in those times, technology wasnt available to the teachers and so they didnt have access to these softwares that spot plaigiarism. Also teachers in India are not as good at spotting plaigiarism as some of the professors here in the US (i.e. without the software). Dont know if teachers use the technology these days. There is also this lackadaisical attitude among teachers who want to get their jobs done quickly and so go through correction of the papers as quickly as possible. So many things would be swept under the carpet. I can write on and on about the criticism on Indian education.

 

[jkartik]

man, the indian education system is so bad, i can keep on criticizing it forever!:doh

i was so put off by the system, i didnt even finish my graduation..dropped out after 1st year of college.

 

[pcfan123]

Sai I assume you took AP classes? AP level HighSchool courses in nice school districts are no joke. Especially the ones that require critical writing.

 

[Varun]

Woah woah woah. Never knew this. So plagiarism is the norm in India? Doesn't that make the whole point of forming an opinion in an essay, pointless? That's a joke if awards from institutions there count for something globally if all that happens is people cheat to receive them.

And what more? Various publishing companies have launched what they call "guides" which have all the questions and answers a student needs to learn to get good marks in the exams or good grades in the class. It is just a school text book + all the answers.
It has all revision writing skills - letters, essays, speeches and all, PREWRITTEN!!
Though i don't use them as I find them ridiculous.

 

[Meet]

And the tuitions are common here in India, in which the teachers do nothing else than preparing to write same thing again and again!I was completely amazed when one of my fellow friend said that he will be too busy today because he have to write whole Maths exercise 5 times!Is it of any use?And even some of the teachers(the ones who are teaching in school) just gave them whole paper and they score some good marks!Although I haven't seen a bit of tuitions in my life!And in examination hall, if they see their own student doing some copy work, they just ignore them!They even exchanges their answer paper
Although I don't do all those things, I notice the same thing everyday!
Is this gonna help India?

 

[P Squared]

And what more? Various publishing companies have launched what they call "guides" which have all the questions and answers a student needs to learn to get good marks in the exams or good grades in the class. It is just a school text book + all the answers.
It has all revision writing skills - letters, essays, speeches and all, PREWRITTEN!!
Though i don't use them as I find them ridiculous.

+1.

And the tuitions are common here in India, in which the teachers do nothing else than preparing to write same thing again and again!I was completely amazed when one of my fellow friend said that he will be too busy today because he have to write whole Maths exercise 5 times!Is it of any use?And even some of the teachers(the ones who are teaching in school) just gave them whole paper and they score some good marks!Although I haven't seen a bit of tuitions in my life!And in examination hall, if they see their own student doing some copy work, they just ignore them!They even exchanges their answer paper
Although I don't do all those things, I notice the same thing everyday!
Is this gonna help India?

Though that is a bit ridiculous Meet, I've never seen anyone doing the same thing 5 times.

 

[AkshayC]

education system in India hurts the self esteem of Students.:help

 

[Varun]

education system in India hurts the self esteem of Students.

Indian students and their parents are themselves responsible for that I'd say.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

I don't know where you all are getting the plagiarism data from, but my uni would expel me if they found out I've plagiarized stuff.

Any programs that we submit are run through something called MOSS, which checks for plagiarism between people. Found plagiarizing, the consequences range from failing that course to getting expelled. And they're serious about it. The projects I make, assignments, they're all checked for cross-plagiarism and common internet sources.

I guess what you all are saying is right at the school level. There's a plethora of students to be taught and not enough qualified teachers to be everywhere. At the university level though, the scene is different. At least at mine it is. I'm sure all good universities in India follow the same practice as mine.

I know our education system kinda sucks, its definitely not the best, but its not as bad as you're making it sound...

Kshitiz_Indian added 3 Minutes and 19 Seconds later...

Also in India, the interaction between students and the teacher needs to improve a lot. Students very easily get intimidated by the professor and dont ask questions and discuss in class. So most of the students grow up like that, and when they switch to US where in class discussion is very common, they freak out. It happened to me. In India, I never talked in class, asked questions if I didnt understand the material, etc. But here in US, some classes forced everyone to speak out in class and when it was my turn to speak, my legs would be trembling in fear and my heart rate would be spiking.

I just completed my schooling this year and the teacher-student interaction was quite good. But I guess the scene is quite different in the government schools, I'm sure what you said applies to them even till date...

 

[Bounce]

I know our education system kinda sucks, its definitely not the best, but its not as bad as you're making it sound...

Exactly.

Some of the situations mentioned here are very rare. I haven't ever heard of the professors themselves distributing the question papers or not catching their students if and when they copy!

 

[Varun]

I don't know where you all are getting the plagiarism data from, but my uni would expel me if they found out I've plagiarized stuff.

The unis are pretty good at that thing but nobody cares about originality in most schools. As I remarked earlier, the guides are ruining the concept of studies in India.

I know our education system kinda sucks, its definitely not the best, but its not as bad as you're making it sound...

I agree. It's the students' and parents' mentality that makes it sound ridiculous.
Currently, a great man known as Kapil Sibal has brought some revolutionary (I would say) changes to our education system. He has currently passed proposals for some more plans. If those are approved and applied, I am sure our education system will be a lot better though people's mentality also matters a lot in the outcome.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Education? Forget it, it is not even that. I'm put off by our system and people really. I just want to do something different but unfortunately something personal doesn't allow. I hope to go out one day and achieve what I want to.