The author has some good points, but IMHO he does not see the complete picture.
The IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination), the examination used to recruit students into these institutions is arguably the most grueling experience for a high school kid anywhere in the world. Thousands of students all over India spend upto two years of their lives doing nothing other than preparing for these exams. There are many side-effects to this phenomenon.
First, these exams are not like the regular school exams which essentially promote rote learning. The problems are designed to make you think. Two years doing nothing but solving physics and maths problems hones your problem-solving ability to a very high degree.
Second, the pressure to succeed is immense and the competition is cut-throat. Anyone who has successfully been through two years of such an ordeal will be able to handle stressful and tense situations a lot better. This kind of a mindset is a natural fit for a lot of careers that these kids will eventually go on to take up, thereby increasing their chances of success.
<flamebait>
At this age, an average high school kid in the US or UK is probably having a lot more fun, trying to get drunk or get laid :) (if you go by all those teen-flicks and TV Shows!)
</flamebait>
A lot of students attempt IIT twice more if they dont get in the first time (or not get one of the choice electives). The ordeal does not end with IIT Entrance, but is even more stressful after getting in – as they compete with the best bunch of students and even though they may be better than the top rankers in other institutions, they would be at the bottom of the pool within their peer group in IIT.
I agree with you. India's education system is too complex to be quantified by the traveling westerner - however often he/she has visited India.
I think the mushrooming of such vast numbers of Management and Tech Institutes reflects the aspirations of the generation. Considering India's population , its apt that we have such large number of tech / mgmt learning centers. Yes even though they are not of worthy "ivy league" quality.
Imagine if we had large numbers of "Institute of philosophy & history " - what would we do with so many philosophy/history majors? I am sure we currently have sufficient number of such graduates.
The real challenge for India is to step these private "Bob" Institutes to something which is not just world class but world beating !
why hasn’t the market unraveled? Why aren’t employers making offers to students when the results of the joint entrance exams are announced?
I suspect there's an oversupply of workers. But I also think it's just a matter of time until the entrance exams results are sufficient for a lot of employers.
Why hasn’t competition driven out `bad’ institutions?
I suspect a shortage of supply in education and oversupply of demand for education.
Last, what if quality of faculty research is unrelated to the ability to educate undergraduates?
It isn't! But you don't go to Harvard just for the book learning, mostly you go there to rub elbows with the old money.
People come to India for their vacations for couple of weeks; they see India and then comment without understanding the complexity of India. They Compare India with US, UK etc. Every such writer point out problems (Easiest task in the world) but no one try to give single solution. They even don't understand India is having such a diversified culture with such a large population. If I replace population and diversity of India with US, i don't think even US can survive
People come to X for their vacations for a couple of weeks; they see X and then comment without understanding the complexity of X. They compare X with Y, Z, etc. Every such writer point out problems (Easiest task in the world) but no one try to give single solution. They even don't understand X is having such a diversified culture with such a large population. If I replace population and diversity of X with Y, i don't think even Y can survive.
(I'm not saying you're wrong, maheshs; I'm actually agreeing, just in a larger context, and it's worth highlighting that larger context. In fact, as an American I observe that I can't fully understand the US; I seriously doubt "an Indian" has India all figured out, either. 300 million is a lot of people, and India's got another multiplicative factor on top of that.)
[+] [-] deepakjois|16 years ago|reply
The IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination), the examination used to recruit students into these institutions is arguably the most grueling experience for a high school kid anywhere in the world. Thousands of students all over India spend upto two years of their lives doing nothing other than preparing for these exams. There are many side-effects to this phenomenon.
First, these exams are not like the regular school exams which essentially promote rote learning. The problems are designed to make you think. Two years doing nothing but solving physics and maths problems hones your problem-solving ability to a very high degree.
Second, the pressure to succeed is immense and the competition is cut-throat. Anyone who has successfully been through two years of such an ordeal will be able to handle stressful and tense situations a lot better. This kind of a mindset is a natural fit for a lot of careers that these kids will eventually go on to take up, thereby increasing their chances of success.
<flamebait> At this age, an average high school kid in the US or UK is probably having a lot more fun, trying to get drunk or get laid :) (if you go by all those teen-flicks and TV Shows!) </flamebait>
Related Reference : See this Al-Jazeera documentary on a guy who runs an IIT Training school in India's poorest and most lawless province Bihar - http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2009/02/2009...
[+] [-] Dilpil|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nimbupani|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|16 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] UsNThem|16 years ago|reply
I think the mushrooming of such vast numbers of Management and Tech Institutes reflects the aspirations of the generation. Considering India's population , its apt that we have such large number of tech / mgmt learning centers. Yes even though they are not of worthy "ivy league" quality. Imagine if we had large numbers of "Institute of philosophy & history " - what would we do with so many philosophy/history majors? I am sure we currently have sufficient number of such graduates.
The real challenge for India is to step these private "Bob" Institutes to something which is not just world class but world beating !
[+] [-] biohacker42|16 years ago|reply
I suspect there's an oversupply of workers. But I also think it's just a matter of time until the entrance exams results are sufficient for a lot of employers.
Why hasn’t competition driven out `bad’ institutions?
I suspect a shortage of supply in education and oversupply of demand for education.
Last, what if quality of faculty research is unrelated to the ability to educate undergraduates?
It isn't! But you don't go to Harvard just for the book learning, mostly you go there to rub elbows with the old money.
[+] [-] maheshs|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jerf|16 years ago|reply
(I'm not saying you're wrong, maheshs; I'm actually agreeing, just in a larger context, and it's worth highlighting that larger context. In fact, as an American I observe that I can't fully understand the US; I seriously doubt "an Indian" has India all figured out, either. 300 million is a lot of people, and India's got another multiplicative factor on top of that.)
[+] [-] Dilpil|16 years ago|reply
And by all means, explain the complexities to us.
[+] [-] abi|16 years ago|reply
On what logical basis can you make such a claim? What do you mean by "survive"?