Roland's views can be dismissed as episodic evidence. Yet keep in mind two factors -- IITs don't represent the "average" India. And, till very recently, you had to struggle very hard to get in almost every institution of higher education in India (except the very generalist degrees of little consequence that people like myself have!) So that might have just made the top end here much more competitive. But we don't have any statistical evidence to prove that.
At the end of the day, it will be a subjective evaluation. And, like Goastalgic expats who live in the past and get so very 'patriotic' about Goa while being half-a-world-away, we'll never know if this is genuine or just hot air! Or, you could say it would be as subjective as the views of every Goan claiming that *they* live in the best part of the planet. (Some of us in Goa do the same, LOL!) As far as learning-by-rote goes, I too thought it was bizarre. Till I saw that it's about the only way a class of 40 with a single-teacher can be managed, and somehow made to work. Like the ECT administered to the mentally ill, there are some things in life that tend to work... even if we still don't know *how exactly* they work! Finally, I think the "undue emphasis on maths" is not necessarily a bad thing! Anyway, what is a "well rounded education"? Something defined in 18th century Europe? If Indian techies get respect by roaming the world on the basis of (their possibly exaggerated) software skills, then so be it. My only regret is that the kids have stopped cramming their tables with the cutoff at 10 (instead of 12, i.e. 12X12=144, as it was in our days). But then, you didn't live in India :-) And that the children in the vernacular schools are far better than in English-medium schools or even Maybe we just need to think in terms of creating unidimensional people, who are good at their job :-) FN -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org 9822122436 +91-832-240-9490 http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/ _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
