<p>hey saatvik you took up a point about mugging things up and sorts…dude see…boards== Science-Understanding+slogging+regurgitating on paper.</p>
<p>And well according to me…in US high schools have lower level courses but thats good coz atleast they totally understand what they study (without bustin their mind) but the amount of course we have for the 2 years…its not possible for any teacher nor any ‘normal’ students (aka me,Sachit,Ronty,SM, and so on and so forth…meaning us fun loving guys) to understand it all in 2 years…So basically this is 2 years of redundant teaching or studying whatever…</p>
<p>Well I would sum it up as follows:
A student in high school in India can define a certain phenomenon.
A student in high school in the west can explain a certain phenomenon.</p>
<p>I don’t know about high school in the US, but a fair bit about the UK. I was in high school in India till ICSE, and am now doing A levels in the UK.</p>
<p>The point is that there is a huge difference in the approach to learning at this level. Sadly the Indian system seems to encourage mugging up texts and a general sense of accepting whatever the teacher has to say, refusing to question or debate. Education here seems to do the opposite, encouraging you to think and question every single piece of information you gain. There is an emphasis, and in fact, at my school, a conscientious effort, to keep the focus away from final exams and moreso on all-round learning and intellectual development. </p>
<p>A friend of mine at another school in the UK, has an Economics teacher who does not allow his students to use a textbook or to even take notes during the class, where they are to simply listen and discuss. I myself do not use a textbook for Physics or Economics.</p>
<p>However we must not forget that the Indian system has its advantages. It is rigorous and rewards pure hard work and perseverance. The theory that there is in fact only one correct answer has been thought to be benefical in developing a logical and mathematical mindset- perhaps a reason for India’s eminence in the fields of Mathematics and Computer Science. </p>
<p>About the US having lower level courses, I can’t say I know about courses there. But if you’re implying that Indian courses are of a very high level, I disagree. A number of people I know who did the ISC have told me they had a lot of trouble in the first few semesters at uni in the US, as compared to students who had taken the IB and A Level. Perhaps you’re right in saying that the 2 years in India is quite dense. The A Level certainly gives the student a lot more choice of subject and workload. A good student takes anywhere between 3 and 5 A Levels. More choice in the Indian system would certainly be beneficial and possibly prove to be more effective.</p>
<p>I agree that mugging is necessary in the Indian system, but only to a certain extent. There’s no way you can reach 12th std. Science, simply by learning by rote all the matter. If you can’t understand what’s going on, it’s sort of hard to mug.</p>
<p>Dude well considering that half the board paper…no wait 80% of it comes directly out of text book…people find their way of mugging things and thats the truth…I personally have known guys who say “derivations aa jayein to accha hai yaar ratt ke likh do…numericals mein to haalat kharab hoti hai” and these are guys who got like 94-95 in 10th.</p>
<p>SM, that email went to my Bulkmail folder, so yeah, I too got that… also, I m not able to connect to the Yahoo! Messenger now becuz of the slow boradband connection. :(</p>
There’s no way you can ‘understand’ the Chemistry of Class XII. Class XI was much better - there was less mugging up to do.</p>
<p>In my class, most kids don’t understand what they’re studying. I can trip them up with simple questions like, “If Newton’s 3rd law says that action and reaction are equal and opposite, why don’t they just cancel each other?”. Obviously, everyone just says, “pata nahin, hota hai yaar”. Or I once asked my teacher why sign convention is applied twice during optics (once during the derivation of the forumla, and later while plugging in numbers). He simply said “itne saal se karte aa rahe hain, sahi hi hoga”. Although I understood it later, I feel it is the duty of the teacher to explain all these things. </p>
<p>Unfortunately in today’s system, the teachers aren’t adding any value to what you\we learn.</p>
<p>P.S. - Does anyone else find it strange that people are killing themselves over the Boards and no one is bothered?</p>
<p>Well in my opinion, the greatest disadvantage of Indian examination system is that it lays a considerable emphasis on textual knowledge and learning here is a little restricted, in a sense. At times one has to stifle one’s understanding and creativity for test scores. Our text matter is made in such a manner that no one can escape without mugging up. Probably the best example of this according to me is the chapter of P-block in Class 12 chemistry. I used to hate that chapter from the bottom of my heart. It required absolutely no understanding, just mugging hundreds of properties and even more exceptions!! </p>
<p>As Sphynx said, there are 2 levels of understanding. One, from very elementary ideas we understand how the various laws are made. Two, we accept the laws and understand how other phenomenas based on them work. In India the former is just totally missing. As Saatvik pointed out, no one cares to think about Newton’s Laws because they have already been established and proven. We just imbibe them and use them to solve more complicated problems, an act which seems to be more productive as far as marks are concerned.</p>
<p>as of newton’s laws the answers are pretty obvious though teachers wud be the last person to ever tell you that…</p>
<p>as of everything… basically what we are talking of is not mugging up but rather limitation to the textual matter … we really dont mug up anything the bookworm way like we do a pledge or stuff. We rather find a pleasant alternative…get sum basic understanding and then get the whole thing printed there in mind… </p>
<p>We sure are limited to thinking beyond the book at any time coz we aren’t required to, where we must. That is the biggest disadvantage. but then things are changing and they are changing for the gud of it… </p>
<p>the flaw is fundamentally within the system … which can be cured with a little modification of exam pattern only… if the destination sought by a student shifts off the focus from yr end exams then only will we learn enough to satisfy our-self. …</p>
<p>As of what is pointed out about the individual subject , i choose to disagree coz the problem as far as i know has extended even to maths. There has been a clear trend of type of sums that come, type of formulas to use and type of logic to apply…
when logic to be applied becomes a memory based factor it becomes not logic but rather reiteration of past’s proven facts…</p>
<p>Stressing out for exams is something i cant agree more on… why do we even need to be so worried about it… ppl forgo daily lively activities for months with the one reason on the pages which says
" Boards up so gotta study cant do anything else "</p>
<p>But yes we shouldn’t giv such hell of an importance to it …and i am one of those least bothered by boards in the freggin crazy stressful sense… of course i am serious towards it and giving it in my full commitment BUT…</p>
<p>IMHO, the Olympiads, especially the maths and informatics olympiads, do a pretty good job of testing your overall brilliance. Often times, students come up with better solutions than the guys who framed the problem…</p>
<p>Just a different point of view…some controversy</p>
<p>People say that the indian education system till 10th, maybe 12th standard is the best in the world… It might involve a lot of mugging, but this s h i t stays with you for life… And this is probably why indian students are among the best prepared at university (at least in maths and the sciences)… Hate the system, but in the end, even knowing this stuff by heart without knowing the reasons for it, gives you a headstart over the other people who dont know it at all…</p>
<p>Well I never really looked at the system from that pov, but I suppose its possible. Personally I can’t mug if I don’t understand what’s going on, I just can’t. </p>
<p>At the same time not all Western kids are as brilliant in their fundamentals as is generalized. I dunno bout IB level curricula, but in the GCSE system most science kids are pretty much as clueless as any Indian, if not more.This is from personal experience so erm… </p>
<p>The arts are ,however, light years ahead of Indian Arts education(History, English so on…).</p>
<p>Methinks if an Indian curricula student went and studied for a few years in the West, then he/she would find that stuff is explained better. But a kid who’s studied in the West all his life,is used to working at that level, so he/she would find nothing special about it.</p>
<p>^ Have no idea if that made any sense or not.</p>
<p>Isnt it ironical…People in India kill themseleves over not getting in IIT’s or take gaps and are like lakhs in numbers but have only 2000 odd seats…
The american kids cannot care less about the colleges where they get…they dont take gaps ever…dont fret much about decisions…and basically many don’t even want to study for college…and yet they have like half the good institutions in the world…</p>