Indian kids are somehow able to graduate high school at 17 or so, and be fully capable of moving on to college.
If the current US system can’t get kids ready by age 18, how is doing more of the same going to make a difference? And, why even consider more grades rather than reforming the grades already in place?
Of course, kids in India are started on reading, math, and basic “social studies” i.e. history and basic knowledge of their culture, in preschool, and by Kindergarten are expected to not only be proficient in Hindi, but reasonably capable of English as well. By 1st grade, they’re doing all four basic math operations, and by 6th they’re doing algebra.
Meanwhile, for kids in the US, preschool is nothing more than daycare, even at the organized “schools”, and kindergarten is only the barest rudiments of exposure to things like the existence of numbers and letters. My 3yo daughter can already recognize the entire alphabet, write the letters in upper and lower case, is reading words, is starting to show signs of understanding how the “tens” place works in numbers, and can do basic addition and subtraction. When she starts school, she’ll probably be capable of skipping right to 1st grade at age 5, and I’ll have to get her enrolled in some outside institution so she gets actual instruction in academics like math and language.
Yes, the other kind of Indians.
Instead of adding grade 13, why not make sure students learn what they need to know in the first 12 grades?