“I want to be an actress when I am older “, said 10-year-old Kiara H. “ I am a dramatic person”.
“She does not like math or science much”, her dad told me.
“I would always urge her to practice math problems, but those are too boring for her”.
Her siblings are not interested in science or math either. She adds that her brother, Andy, loves to play video games and is an expert in rigging up gaming equipment; however, that passion does not translate into an interest in science. He recently earned a spot in a study program in France and is excited to learn the language in its country of origin. Their youngest sister, Di, is a talented gymnast and wants to study history.
In my class at CSU Northridge, there are more English majors than Math majors and more Music majors than Science Majors. The United States has their share of top-notch universities and they are still world leaders in the fields of science, technology, and medicine.
How come their school and college students have such little interest in math or science?
Dr. Norman Herr, a Professor at Cal State University at Northridge, has a theory.
He says that every year, many freshmen declare a science or math major. They are optimistic about a career in a STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) field. However, when they first get their grades at college, they are disheartened. They change fields, sometimes to a field like Psychology. Professor Herr thinks the whole problem is due to the students’ weak foundation in High School math and science. In subjects like Physics, Chemistry, and Math, you cannot build anything upon a weak foundation and students whose basics are not strong enough, they fall further and further behind and ultimately end up switching majors.
Dr. Norman Herr, Professor, CSUN
In comparison, all Indian children seem to be born to take on the challenges of science and math as careers. Whether it is twelve-year-old Arun, fifteen-year-old Mousumi or ten-year-old Arka from India; all of them want to be doctors or engineers when they grow up. You are simply not good enough if you prefer a stream otherwise. In a world full of engineers and doctors, all Indian students strive to be the best of their lot by excelling in all subjects ‘science’.
In my years of being a student in India, and then transitioning to being a student in the United States, via a career as an engineer, I have learnt a couple of interesting things. The education systems of these two countries differ fundamentally and produce very different learning outcomes for their students.
Inherent Competitiveness
Life for the average American student is fairly more laid back. They are in competition with themselves and strive to be the best version that they can be. Life choices and resources are more abundant in the States, allowing the average student to take a more relaxed approach to learning.
An Indian student, in comparison, starts competing against peers, from very early in life. It almost always comes down to competing against thousands of potential students for a single spot in a prestigious institute, like the Indian Institute of Technology. For the large Indian middle class, the choice is to either make the cut or endure a life of very limited opportunities.
The Private School Advantage
In the United States, most parents choose to send their kids to a public school. The public school system is solidly set up in all states, providing free for all, k-12 education and is under the governance of local school districts that draw their funding from the local, state and federal governments. There are private schools, but they are significantly less in number. They are free to choose their own curriculum. Only rich parents can afford to choose the prohibitively expensive private education. Some choose a specific school or home-school their kids for religious reasons.
The Indian middle class rarely place their faith in government funded schools.
There is a system of public education in place, but the schools are rarely functional and in good hands. The majority of middle-class kids attend private schools that have the English language as the medium of instruction. They are expensive (less so than private education in the States), but parents put the education of their children before everything else. Taking a vacation or buying something expensive takes a back seat to being able to afford a good education for the kids .
The focal point of the two education systems
Due to the greatly differing background, the instruction, delivery, and outcome of the two education systems are very different as well. The Indian education system emphasizes on quantitative and problem-solving skills. However, creativity and free-range thinking are not pivotal to the system, In contrast, the American students cover a wide range of different subjects, but rarely do they study one particular subject in depth; and when they do, the subjects of choice are mostly qualitative- that which requires thoughtful analysis and description. Often times, this mode of education fails to focus on core quantitative abilities.
So, which education system is superior?
Both of these systems have certain strong points and some fallacies. The system of rote learning that Indian students are exposed to may tend to dull creativity. The system also stresses on knowledge of facts and the ability to recall those facts during exams, in order to succeed. However, recall is in fact on the lowest rung of the Pyramid representing Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Bloom’s taxonomy for teaching standards
In the US, the approach to learning is more hands-on and experiential. There is limited or no rote learning When I was a grad student in Texas, Girls Inc. Arlington, had a very interesting afterschool program for at-risk girls, ages ranging from 5 to 12. I was lucky to have been a student at UTA then, and was drafted by Dr. Sattler’s service learning project to volunteer at the program. University students arrived with their arms full of mad stuff to have fun with the girls – doing STEM projects. Even the little ones participated. We made ozone molecules using marshmallows and toothpicks. We built balloon powered cars out of matchboxes - all prime examples of the States’ education system
Making balloon powered cars at Girls’ Inc., Arlington (2012)
However, it is possible that the US education system tends to get carried away with its breadth, that takes space away for depth.
I had an eye opening experience when I saw this great laboratory activity being implemented for some 10th and 11th graders in the States. They were to observe a candle flame and write down answers to different questions that were supposed to teach them about how scientific observation worked. However, all I saw was a bunch of students who got too carried away by their task at hand to think about why they were doing it. They set up their candles and all of them got busy taking slow motion videos of the candle flame and how it extinguished when the oxygen supply was gone.
None of them were analyzing what they observed and were essentially playing around with expensive equipment.
Arun, Mousumi, and Arka do not get many chances to experiment during their science classes. They are, however, strong on theory and can solve all problems from their textbooks. Their American counterparts have not memorized the textbook word for word and might falter at solving problems as expertly; however, they know how to test out a hypothesis to determine the truth or fallacy in a statement.
The best of both worlds would be to put together a system of delivering instruction where students work on both theoretical and practical aspects of science.
As in science, so in all other fields of study, students must learn to think by themselves.
As Professor Herr would say his favorite quote is – never do for students what they can do by themselves. They should also take responsibility for their own learning. The adage ‘you can lead a horse to the water, but you cannot make it drink’ is apt for all students.
They need to have their own goals and work towards meeting that.
Nelson Mandela once said ‘education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.’
I am optimistic that the future generations would take these words to heart and give the world more people with independent thoughts and creativity; more people that would create brilliant art, a team of doctors who would find the cure to cancer and engineers who could design a system of reducing food waste. We need these people and only if we change our education systems globally can we bring that about. Grades should not be the goal, but the by-product of great effort.
What are your thoughts on the education system in India? Leave a reply or write to us at editor@blankslatechronicles.com
Please note: All opinions presented in this article are the author's own.