Indian students ranked 2nd last in global test

Times of India ^ | 01/15/2012 | Hemali Chhapia

[Duke of Qin]

MUMBAI: Across the world, India is seen as an education powerhouse - based largely on the reputation of a few islands of academic excellence such as the IITs. But scratch the glossy surface of our education system and the picture turns seriously bleak.

Fifteen-year-old Indians who were put, for the first time, on a global stage stood second to last, only beating Kyrgyzstan when tested on their reading, math and science abilities.

India ranked second last among the 73 countries that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted annually to evaluate education systems worldwide by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Secretariat. The survey is based on two-hour tests that half a million students are put through.

[Duke of Qin]

For all the slings and arrows hurled against the U.S. educational system, it is still empirically without a doubt the best in the world (Unfortunately it also happens to be the most expensive and wasteful). The biggest problem facing American education and one that absolutely no one in the educational bureaucracy will address is that the Marxists running the show keep attempting (and failing) to circle the square by closing "gaps" and disparities. Naturally to do so requires more diversity commissars, and more propaganda drummed into peoples heads, and most of all more money. In truth, even the under performing immigrant students are doing wildly better than in their home countries. Yet the powers that be keep clucking their heads at declining test scores without accounting for the demographic shift of America's future generations.

[HChampagne]

It is the Caste system in India that holds it back.

[americanophile]

That’s surprising. Every Indian I know is sharp as a tack and highly engaged in education. Of course they’re either immigrants or here on student/working visas. I’m not sure about your assertion regarding the U.S. educational system though. While I think it’s absurd to compare everything a nation of 300 million people do to, say, Norway, our system is nevertheless deeply flawed, our scores are substandard in many categories, and our dropout rates are becoming epidemic in some localities. The schools in places like Detroit are a national shame. I think your statement was true 50 years ago, and historically speaking, I think we’re doing okay by the standards of very large nations, but there is massive room for improvement and each day brings another story of bureacratic ineffeciency, union greed, and inane political correctness that further diminish what was once a great system that lifted many out of poverty.

[rbg81]

Every Indian I know is sharp as a tack and highly engaged in education.

---

I’ll have to disagree with you there. About 1/4th are smart, but the rest not so much. Many of them can’t program their way out of a paper bag. There is a lot of cheating (copying) that goes on among Indian students. More than once, I’ve had the problem where they submit papers with whole sections plagerized—sometimes even out of an obvious source like Wikipedia. They are very respectful, but don’t mistake that for intelligence.

[James C. Bennett]

That’s like African Americans claiming slavery is what keeps them under-performing compared to the other ethnicities.

This was outlawed in India 60+ years ago, resulting in one of the largest affirmative-action (reverse discrimination) programs ever run on Earth - now THAT might have something to do with it, as Socialism always does.

[msamizdat]

My husband is Indian and I can objectively say brilliant. My oldest daughter (1/2 Indian) recently took the MCAT in Chicago. Of the 50 test takers 45 were Indian and 5 were white.

[msamizdat]

My husband is Indian and I can objectively say brilliant. My oldest daughter (1/2 Indian) recently took the MCAT in Chicago. Of the 50 test takers 45 were Indian and 5 were white.

[msamizdat]

My husband is Indian and I can objectively say brilliant. My oldest daughter (1/2 Indian) recently took the MCAT in Chicago. Of the 50 test takers 45 were Indian and 5 were white.

[Celerity]

In the I.T. field, I found that the schools out there are packed. It’s basically “Show up and sit down” enrollment. The testing is comprehensive, but many pass with flying colors. The key course is English. From there, you graduate along with 250,000 other graduates and scramble for any kind of job.

Most will go back to manual labor because of the competition. Some will start to write spam and spyware, add their success to their resumes and sell themselves that way to get ahead of their competition. If they are lucky, they can travel. Lets say, they show up in the US. They speak english very well, and are very courteous in the phone. I hire them. Everything goes well, but their technical knowledge is very low-level. They can’t even compete in the U.S... When on U.S. soil.

In India their successes are drafted behind the success of the international I.T. headhunters and staffing agencies. They are drafting behind the big-thinkers who often bluff their way into huge contracts with global suppliers such as Dell or IBM. From that level down, it’s all a matter of lies piled on lies until the bough breaks. It’s basically “Dot Com” era out there - but instead of lofty promises of big sales and lifestyles based on the internet - it’s lofty promises of lower product and support prices in lieu of American paid support.

Sadly, these people will make mere pennies per hour for their work in cramped, in-humane conditions that we wouldn’t stand for.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I went to graduate school with those “ITT” guys. Smart, funny, clever, good-natured, wonderful folks. They give the whole country a good name ;)

[RedMDer]

Freepers! All contributions are for the Current Quarter Expenses. In other words, FR could go away if the expenses for this quarter are not met. Where would you go? Click here or mail checks to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Freepers! All contributions are for the Current Quarter Expenses. In other words, FR could go away if the expenses for this quarter are not met. Where would you go? Click here or mail checks to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

[Principled]

...plagerized...

Did you plagiarize your post from an Indian? LOL

[Vide]

For all the slings and arrows hurled against the U.S. educational system, it is still empirically without a doubt the best in the world...

I'll have a pint of what you're drinking.

[ScottfromNJ]

“While I think it’s absurd to compare everything a nation of 300 million people do to, say, Norway, our system is nevertheless deeply flawed, our scores are substandard in many categories, and our dropout rates are becoming epidemic in some localities.”

Other countries often seperate poorer performing students from regular students and exclude them from their statistice, exaggerating the success of their education system as a result when compared to ours. Still, our system continues to struggle with increasing government meddling.

[ScottfromNJ]

Meant to say statistics.

[BobL]

“For all the slings and arrows hurled against the U.S. educational system, it is still empirically without a doubt the best in the world...”

And it could even be better if we actually taught kids how to read before 4th grade and taught them how to do arithmetic without a calculator before college.

But no, that’s asking too much of the ‘educators’, so we force parents to do it - either themselves or through after-school programs. The parents that cannot do that (either don’t have the money, or actually believe the ‘best in the world’ propaganda) wind up zombies for kids. The minorities, of course, get screwed the worst, as they often have no options for escape.

Other than that, all is fine here...

[dfwgator]

But they know how to put condoms on cucumbers.

[expat1000]

I didn’t read the article in detail, but in much of Asia public schools are useless, and every responsible parent who can scrape together the tuition sends their kids to private school.

I’d expect public school students to fare very badly, and pull down the averages.

[Cronos]

"Other countries often seperate poorer performing students from regular students and exclude them from their statistice, exaggerating the success of their education system as a result when compared to ours. Still, our system continues to struggle with increasing government meddling. "

Correct.

[wintertime]

For all the slings and arrows hurled against the U.S. educational system, it is still empirically without a doubt the best in the world ..
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We have absolutely **NO NO NO*** idea how well our nation's socialist system of school is doing or has done. Why?

Answer: Because NO studies have ever been done to determine how much is learned by the student due to **afterschooling** as compared to that knowledge acquired in the classroom.

Without this information, any judgments about how good or bad U.S. schooling may or may not be is complete supposition.

It is my anecdotal observation ( professionally working with several thousand families over 30 years in a field unrelated to education) that there is **NO** difference in the amount of time that academically successful students ( institutionalized or homeschooled) spend in formal studies in the **home**! Both of these families who successfully homeschool or institutionalize their children have the same value for education, similar home habits, well-functioning discipline practices, monitor friendships, take education trips and vacation, fill their homes with books and magazines, are quick to spot and resolve learning problems, and **control** electronic media use.

So?...If institutionalized kids and homeschoolers, who are academically successful, are doing the same things, and those families ( homeschooling or institutionalizing) with children with poor outcomes are not doing these things, then how can we credit socialist schooling with anything except wasting most of the child's waking day and a lot of tax dollars?

If all government schools were to close tomorrow, the **same** children who are getting an education today would get one tomorrow, because it is the parents and the child himself who is pulling together an education on their own in the home and from friends, family, and private tutoring. I conclude that our nation's socialist schools are merely sending home a curriculum and textbooks for the parents and child to follow.

Honestly....We, as taxpayers are paying up to more than $20,000 per year per child in some states and we ***DO NOT KNOW** if our socialist schools actually teach anything because afterschooling has NEVER been measured. Wow!

( Yeah! I am shouting. $11,000 to $25,000 per child per year is something to shout about, especially when institutionalizing the child in some of these hellish schools actually does more harm than good~!)