Sonia Faleiro
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
A Passage From India
Suketu Mehta in the NYT, on moving home, the outsourcing debate, and where to find the world's biggest underclass. (No prizes for this).:
Read the rest here.
"When I moved to Queens, in New York City, at the age of 14, I found myself, for the first time in my life, considered good at math. In Bombay, math was my worst subject, and I regularly found my place near the bottom of the class rankings in that rigorous subject. But in my American school, so low were their standards that I was - to my parents' disbelief - near the top of the class. It was the same in English and, unexpectedly, in American history, for my school in Bombay included a detailed study of the American Revolution. My American school curriculum had, of course, almost nothing on the subcontinent's freedom struggle. I was mercilessly bullied during the 1979-80 hostage crisis, because my classmates couldn't tell the difference between Iran and India. If I were now to move with my family to India, my children - who go to one of the best private schools in New York - would have to take remedial math and science courses to get into a good school in Bombay."
Read the rest here.
:: posted by Sonia Faleiro, 8:37 AM
4 Comments:
nia, thanks for this pointer - this is something I keep thinking about - our education system - despite its many faults, is doing something right, atleast till the primary/middle school level... have blogged about this today - please read it sometime - http://indsight.org/blog/archives/2005/07/13/the-education-system/
Charu, thanks for the link.
I loved the excerpt from RK Narayan, and I think your point that despite the obvious shortcomings of the education system, "Narayan’s writing and creativity are clearly quite intact," is valid. It can also be argued that Narayan's creativity was nurtured because so much (as a result or so little) was left to the imagination.
I don't agree with the statement that learning by rote creates a strong foundation, though.
I learnt everything that way "mugging" it was called then, and understood little. A foundation is built on thorough understanding of a situation or a subject, not just by thoughtless repetition. I mugged my way through most of my exams (blame the teacher, blame me), and the result is that my school education is one big blur. (Except the part where I was at the bottom of the class in Maths. Now that, I remember clearly!)
I loved the excerpt from RK Narayan, and I think your point that despite the obvious shortcomings of the education system, "Narayan’s writing and creativity are clearly quite intact," is valid. It can also be argued that Narayan's creativity was nurtured because so much (as a result or so little) was left to the imagination.
I don't agree with the statement that learning by rote creates a strong foundation, though.
I learnt everything that way "mugging" it was called then, and understood little. A foundation is built on thorough understanding of a situation or a subject, not just by thoughtless repetition. I mugged my way through most of my exams (blame the teacher, blame me), and the result is that my school education is one big blur. (Except the part where I was at the bottom of the class in Maths. Now that, I remember clearly!)
oops, what happened to the 'so' in front of your name? *embarrassed* - next time on, will preview before publish :)
:) Don't worry about it.
