There’s a long tradition of “Dubious Trend Line” (DBL) stories in the New York Times, and today’s article on how Japanese parents have suddenly become interested in the Indian educational system seems to more or less fit the pattern.
The idea is, Japanese students are no longer tops in Asia when it comes to math and science. While India itself is nowhere near the top, there are apparently numerous signs that Indian ideas about education (including rote “memorization and cramming”) are becoming more popular:
Bookstores are filled with titles like “Extreme Indian Arithmetic Drills†and “The Unknown Secrets of the Indians.†Newspapers carry reports of Indian children memorizing multiplication tables far beyond nine times nine, the standard for young elementary students in Japan.
And Japan’s few Indian international schools are reporting a surge in applications from Japanese families.
At the Little Angels English Academy & International Kindergarten, the textbooks are from India, most of the teachers are South Asian, and classroom posters depict animals out of Indian tales. The kindergarten students even color maps of India in the green and saffron of its flag.
Little Angels is located in this Tokyo suburb, where only one of its 45 students is Indian. Most are Japanese. (link)
This quote presents us with some amusing titles (“Extreme Indian Arithmetic Drills”! Catchy…), but it also contains the article’s first major problem, which is statistical: the only concrete example in the entire piece is based on this one school (“Little Angels”), which only has 45 students. (Other Indian International schools are mentioned in the second half of the article, but in those schools the vast majority of students are currently Indian expatriates, not Japanese.)
The second major problem in reasoning is in the following passage:
Much of Japan has long looked down on the rest of Asia, priding itself on being the region’s most advanced nation. Indeed, Japan has dominated the continent for more than a century, first as an imperial power and more recently as the first Asian economy to achieve Western levels of economic development.
But in the last few years, Japan has grown increasingly insecure, gripped by fear that it is being overshadowed by India and China, which are rapidly gaining in economic weight and sophistication. The government here has tried to preserve Japan’s technological lead and strengthen its military. But the Japanese have been forced to shed their traditional indifference to the region. (link)
If a Dubious Trend Line journalist goes to broad geopolitical generalizations when trying to explain a much more specific cultural event, they’re likely grasping at straws.
In general, I don’t disagree that a focus on the fundamentals might be useful in the early years (and I have my doubts about the Montessori method), but there’s nothing especially “Indian” about that, is there? Isn’t the memorization simply a hold-over from the old British educational model? Overall, the article does little to convince me that this is anything other than a mini-fad — if that.
(Note, check out the comments on the News Tab for more detailed dissection of this article.)
These may be great undergraduate institutions, but unfortunately, very few professors here are active researchers or have their finger on the latest in their fields. Unlike the IITs or BITS or similar level institutions such as the IIMs/IISc/AIIMS, not many non-science undergrad majors in India are exposed to the latest work or rigorous research methods. Delhi School of Economics, FMS, JNU, TISS, and a few good professors scattered over the country (some in the Humanities departments of the IITs) produce some nice research but it rarely ever trickles down to undergraduates who are stuck with the same outmoded concepts. By and large, however, a lack of funding, motivation, and incentives, makes it very difficult for the average Indian academic to pursue research or curricular re-design. Many professors at Delhi University will tell you that a PhD granted there counts for very little. And on school education: Although math and science secondary level education in India is very rigorous (and I’m very thankful for having received it), many times it seems to be “too much, too soon.” The drills are very useful; but I think that many secondary level students in India have to sacrifice the desire to learn concepts intuitively and deeply, at a more fundamental level perhaps, for their vocational and educational goals.
portmanteau,
I am not qualified to speak on the quality of research in the institutions I mentioned as I was talking more in terms of quality of instructors for commerce and economics. Correct me if I am wrong, doesn’t a lot of funding directed by UGC which if correct may explain the bureaucracy affecting another facet. Just wondering feel free not to answer, are there any people from Delhi University North Campus and DPS Mathura road here?
ROTFL
I went to one of the institutions you have mentioned above for 2 1/2 years (Jr college and for a undergrad program for a while as a safety while waiting for the results to get into an engineering program). Relatives and friends went to others. None of the colleges were considered to be anywhere close to the same league as a good engineering school.
With a few exceptions, the people who went to these undergrad programs landed up here because they either could not get into engineering/ medicine, etc or because they did not want to put the effort required in a professional course. (This has been changing slowly since the late 90’s , but the selection bias remains).
Dizzy,
That is probably because there used to be excessive stress on an engineering education in India, I also went to one of the colleges for B.Com and not because I couldn’t get into a professional course, and know a great number of people who attended these institutions. The effort lacking on the part of people you knew doesn’t make these institutions subpar.
Did the Hindustan Times pay of the New York Times to write this article?
Why are those Indian engineering grads considered unemployable by international corporations?
One learns the Quran in Arabic as well as one’s own language, I thought.
Pundits of Sanskrit learn intricate meanings to the sanskrit words they study, so I would imagine same type of education is available for the Arabic/Quran students.
The Japanese are on to something, but it’s the Americans who could probably benefit from Indian-style schools. Most American kids have lost respect for the teacher and are focused on taking the easy way out vs. actually work hard for an education. Memorizing multiplication tables forces children to do things the hard way, not the easy way (calculators). It’s symbolic of the Indian approach to education. I never even thought about picking up a calculator as a kid, I had to figure it out on my own.
I thinking you may be generalizing a bit much here. I have had many students (mostly freshmen) who were extremely hardworking and dedicated, some held jobs and were paying for their own education while taking a full time course load in engineering or physics. Definitely working harder than I was when I was 18 or 19.
Yeah, where do you get this from?
I also never thought about picking up a calculator, but in those days calculators were not considered an option before university level. I don´t know how old you are but my guess is that calculators were widely used in neither American nor Indian schools at that time.
In no particular order
1.) little quality control in the large number of colleges coming up 2.) Students are starting to lose focus on their core subjects as many feel that a job in IT is gauranteed 3.) Good students now have options in areas other than engg 4.) Flight of good opportunities professors as job opportunities/ pay rates in have exploded in the indusrty 5.) 50% + reservations throught the system, leading to an overall lower quality of students and tons of other side effects 6.) overcrowded system 7.) burn out — too much pressure too early on in students takes its toll 8.) Too many students go in w/o liking their subject 9.) The high payff of shortcuts/ cheating has lowered the work ethic 10) Too much political interference in the academic institutions etc, etc. From an overll perspective many of the reasons are not really bad for India, and many of these just reflect growing pains.
Caluculators were banned. Calculators were discouraged specifically to ensure math skills were built up. One professor of mine used to say that this was essential later on because this enabled students to easily recognize errors (and locate where the error occured) when calculators were used. (Good arithmetic skills also increased the speed needed in solving a problem tremendously)
(Good arithmetic skills also increased the speed needed in solving a problem tremendously)
oops … meant decreased. (too bad good arithmetic skills did nothing for your writing skills 🙂 )
Interesting topic. I think someone mentioned this earlier – in India there is too much focus on the straight and narrow while in America we focus too much on the creative process. I am largely a product of the Indian school system (St. Anne’s, Fort and St Xavier’s – Bombay) and I thought I got a great education. Certainly a huge emphasis on memorization of some things but I always thought that was necessary. When I came to school here it made it so much easier for me. I didn’t have to spend so much time struggling with basics that I lost the energy or desire to actually learn about something in greater depth. The fact that I could cram when required made anatomy classes a breeze and actually made me look forward to studying physiology. And grad and post grad school helped me express my creative side.
That being said, what I love about the American way is that you have the ability to capitalize on your uniqueness and your difference if you choose to do so. Especially in primary school where the focus is so much on that “feel good†aspect. In India I was considered a decent student but an “underachiever.†I thought I studied hard but I could not compete with the true crammers. Here in America I always did really well because the confluence of both types of education is what works best for me.
Ah, Wren and Martin! The memories that evokes…
26 · Dhoni said
Interesting view and I agree somewhat. But I think American post-war involvement and the countries’ adoption of the capitalist model of dev had a lot to do with S.Korea’s and Taiwan’s successes. Pakistan was in sync with the Korean trajectory as well, but their feudal society which they didn’t dismantle post-independence is their undoing.
Regardless, as you mention, the wonderful products of the Indian education system are on display for all to see in India.
When will SM fix its quoting system. The quote in 62 is messed up. 63 is the right quote.
59 · iABD said
I’ve worked with inner city kids and I’ve seen it firsthand. Teachers just aren’t respected and learning is seen as very “uncool”. I also grew up in the American suburbs so I saw many of my peers disrespect teachers firsthand – and this in one of most successful school districts in the country. Sure, we had our Princetons and Harvards, but there were more of the sort who did not respect education like my cousins did in India.
(I don’t mean to generalize, these are my observations).
As for calculators, I grew up in the 80’s and they were available….but my parents would not let me use them.
I was talking about college students. I have no personal experience with schools in this country except for one summer when I was involved in the Upward Bound program teaching physics to high school students and yes they were not serious about work at all. So I think your characterization is probably accurate about school kids. However by the time they get to college most students I came across knew they had to be serious or they would flunk. I am talking about engineering and physics freshmen mostly here. There is no such thing as a gentleman’s F which is what you will get if you don’t take your work seriously. Most of my students were respectful, hardworking and diligent. This was in rural state with a mostly white population.
In India we did respect our teachers but sometimes we were just scared of them, they could be quite tyrannical.
not dubious and completely true! most of the indian schools in tokyo have been started by ex-pat indians and we have quite a reputation for our supposed vedic math skills. that’s the thing though – they don’t really respect the indian education system as a whole; only the math and science components. in addition, japanese school children learn english all through jr. high and high school but have very, very difficult time with conversational english. this can also be considered the case for indian students however, indians (generally and comparatively speaking) have an advantage over other asians with their ability to communicate in english. this might be another reason why they consider the indian schooling system to be successful.
to address the specific questions: no, i don’t feel that it’s a fad. my j. fiance told me that these types of books have been available for quite a long time (at least last 30 years) and are very popular. my feeling is that the reason this is becoming newsworthy now is that there are now actual indian schools that japanese people to send their kids to. in addition, my understanding is that the japanese school system is just as focused on cramming and rote memorization as we find indian schools to be. having attended elementary and some jr. high in india and finished the rest of my education in the usa, my experience has found that this is the case for most school systems.
the nihon-jin fiance is quite willing to send his future half indian children to indian schools should we move to japan in the near future! also, the first time i met his parents, they asked me if i was proficient in vedic mental math with numbers larger than two digits. unfortunately, i had to confess my poor mathematical abilities and that i took remedial algebra II in university (where the professor, the racist bastard, said to me on the first day, “why are you here? you’re indian!” sigh.
44 · brown said
I’m not sure how big of a deal this achievement is. There was a time that the Saudis had a lot of exports in the global macroeconomic environment. And we know how successful and cultured the Saudis are (tongue in cheek).
But I stand by my claim that the Europeans taught us Indian history. We learned about Sanskrit being an Indo-European language, the Indus-valley civilization, the decipherment of the Vedas, and so on from Europeans. They did a good job at that, and we should be thankful for this (and we all are), and we should also be proud of who we are (and this we are as well).
Umm, Boston Mahesh. It was a very big deal. At no point did the Saudis contribute 25% of the world GDP. And going by that logic, we can also say that the US having 25% of the world GDP is no big deal either? It was not without reason that India was called the brightest jewel in the crown of the British empire. Besides Economy and culture and not necessarily correlated.
And what history did the Europeans teach us? You should perhaps read about Thomas Babington Macaulay and his treatise on Indian education. That should educate you on the true European purpose of “educating” the Indians. The whole aim was to convince us that Indian literature,art etc..is inferior and of substandard quality. The whole Aryan invasion fairytale was fabricated and Sanskrit became an “Indo-European” language. Yes there Sanskrit has loan words and some grammatical similarily with classical European languages, but that does not make German a “Indo-European” language now does it?
68 · campmuir said
Good and interesting point. I have friends and family in education, and I personally think that the problem with the educational system in the USA is NOT the teachers and schools. The problem is with the students themselves. The students here are very disrespectful, they don’t care about education and applying themselves scholastically, and they would rather hone their chearleading/football skills. Their school equipment is top notch, however: access to computers and internet, access to public libraries in their cities, very nice and modern schools, etc. However, the bulk of them don’t really care, and some of them are in gross neglect of empowering themselves with education. On the other hand, these same kids go out of their way to hone their slam-dunking skills because this is what they believe passionately on.
In India, the students share books, do without electricity, have to walk great distances to schools, and one way or another, they HUSSLE to learn. They’re ENTHUSED to learn. They show up to work sick. You get the idea.
beleza, your fiance is Japanese? That’s quite unusual isn’t it? How does your family feel about it? Just questions out of curiosity. The more cross-cultural mixing, the better, imho 🙂
72 · RandomDude said
Very interesting. India is resource rich in the Old World, and it has a lot of arable soil, which can support big populations.
anyways, German is an Indo-European language, just like Sanskrit. If you don’t believe this, then you’re probably subscribe to Creationalism and Flat Earth Theory. Why don’t you buy books from India and increase their world share of exports.
Well, that’s a relief. They are doing lots right when it comes to educating their citizenry. For example, Japan has just as high a population density as India but you don’t find their streets choked with honking traffic, pollution and garbage (population is often cited as the main reason for this but Japan stands as a shining counterexample).
:). I’d have taken that as a compliment – at least, there’s something Indians are perceived to be good at, correctly or incorrectly.
A lot of the dynamics here are familiar. The drumbeat in the ’80s in the US was that Germany and Japan were going to be eating America’s lunch. Thus America looked to their educational systems and adopted many of their methods (or fads); little surprise that we saw Kumon springing up across American suburbs.
[All that said, the evidence that a nation’s economic prospects are tied to its students’ performance on tests is weak. On the other hand, the quality of the education — which largely takes place outside of schools, and which depends on social supports for its families and children at least as much as on specific pedagogical methods — might be a lot more relevant. Berliner and Biddle (“The Manufactured Crisis”) and Rothstein (“Class and Schools”) are worth reading on these points.]
Now Americans (and Japanese) see economic competition from India and China looming and a similar reaction has been provoked. What this article doesn’t mention (but which has been covered somewhat more frequently) is that nations with high average test scores (e.g., Singapore) are looking to American models to instill more creativity and innovation in their students, rather than rote learning.
The odd and disturbing thing to me is that the non-rote approach is exactly how Japan went from mediocre to excellent in student performance. Japanese elementary math instruction, in particular, is far more innovative and (dare I say it) “constructivist”. It reaches far more students and lays a much stronger foundation for further study than rote memorization of facts and procedures. (The standard American impression of Japanese education seems to come from the high school level, which emphasizes innovation far less, whether in the regular school or the juku or “cram school”.)
American math education has learned a lot of good stuff from Japan’s innovations in the last generation. It’s a little dismaying that Japan is now importing the bad parts of another model, apparently driven by the same motivations that make some American parents inveigh against educational models they don’t trust (even when they’ve proven effective). At least it’s promoting some tolerance of the brown.
meena –
i suppose we are “unusual.” we haven’t met any other desi-japanese couples before. most unusual is that we met because we both train capoeira and he has only been in the US for 1.5 years (i’ve known him the whole time).
anyway, we recently got engaged. my parents have “already decided to love him” and consented to the marriage when he came over to ask their permission. his parents don’t speak english and live in japan so it’s really difficult to get a true sense of their feeling for me but they were very nice to me when we met. my belief is that once you are forced to deal with someone of a different culture one on one it becomes impossible to keep believing cultural stereotypes – whether positive or negative.
so life is strange but wondrous.
Someone –
the boy and i were just talking about what japan is feeling at the moment – according to the type of things the newspapers (he reads japanese newspapers in japanese), etc. focus on – which i think is directly related to the post:
japan is feeling insecure about their ability to compete in the global workplace. also, the lack of population growth has brought about many of its own concerns. the lack of a future japanese workforce and being culturally closed to foreigners and immigration is something that japanese people are now trying to work around. i.e.> looking to educate their children in new, innovative ways; opening up immigration; opening up the “glass ceiling” within japanese corporations so that foreigners can advance and have incentive to stay with the company.
obviously i’m just giving a small, general view of the situation but you get the idea. japan is now realizing that to be globally competitive it has to offer the benefits and opportunity that innovation needs. so they’re looking out.
anyway, regarding my professor – i don’t feel it’s a compliment. i’m sure you are aware of the issues with being a “model minority.” not all of us need to be math or spelling bee champions.
peace.
Indians running schools outside India would be careful not to force (get forced) pupils into their our of school hours tuition classes. Unlike in India police and legal system will be less prone to let any one bribed-out.
Indian Science and Mathematics Scholars at best can write guides.
For text book they do translations. Ridiculously Gujarat Higher Secondary Board’ Physics textbook in Gujarati is translation of American Textbook by Halliday and Resnick. The English Medium pupils of the state are given English Translation of Gujarati translation. This was done by Board appointed University Professors of Gujarat.
One foreign-degreed Professor of IIMA was caught writing textbook for MBA which was lifted wholesale from some American Text Book.
Indian University Professors get purchased textbooks from West in the Library and not let them get displayed on new arrival shelf. Books never get seen by students.
Indians must take any praise of their Education System with bucketfuls of salt.
http://www.dmjoshi.org