The Education System in India vs United States- A sneak peak

Since the pandemic started, more people have started following skill based education. Even companies are looking for skills rather than education, but still there are a large number of students who prefer moving to the United States to pursue their education.

Now what makes the education system better than our Indian education?

Let’s see

Education Structure

The Indian education system primarily consists of 4 parts. Kindergarten, primary schooling (1st grade to 8th grade), secondary schooling (9th and 10th grade), high school (11th and 12th grade). Soon after 12th grade, college life or prefer a professional course over graduation.

Whereas in the U.S. it is divided into three levels: elementary school (kindergarten through 5th grade), middle school (6th to 8th grade), and high school (9th to 12 grade). Once the child has completed high school, he/she can enroll in college for bachelor’s courses of his choice, and then later in universities for professional courses.

Examination

In the Indian education system the knowledge is tested via formal examinations even in lower classes, there are formal exams. In most cases, children who can memorize study material score higher in India. The ability to think and be creative is rarely given the credit it deserves.

Whereas in the U.S. system, only in high school formal exams will be conducted to test the knowledge, s Exams are usually part of normal teaching in lower grades, so students do not usually sit and read for days before taking a test.

Learning Materials

The Indian system focuses more on learning materials, syllabus hence young Indian minds focus on absorbing more knowledge than ever. But the problem is they don’t do as well in “soft” subjects and are generally poor at critical or independent thinking.

Schools for the most part ignore personality development and social skills.

Theoretical knowledge is given more emphasis than practical. Majority of the young Indian minds find it difficult to crack the common aptitude test as it requires a more logical approach than theoretical approach.

On the other hand the U.S. education system puts a great emphasis on soft skills by creating a more competitive individual with knowledge.

Emphasis

U.S. education emphasis is placed on practical understanding, reading, writing, math, conceptual understanding, and documentation. Students are given the freedom to choose their class subjects and are encouraged to take an interest in and responsibility for their studies.

Sports, technical education, the arts, foreign languages, and other subjects are also given equal weight.

Extracurricular activities such as drill teams, bands, football or even non-athletic activities such as musical groups, school newspaper and debate teams are encouraged and each and every student is made to participate in one or the other activity apart from the curriculum.

Indian education’s emphasis was on absorbing concepts and passing tests but now we are changing direction post pandemic as more new practical subjects are getting introduced and classroom education is becoming practical exercises to prepare the young minds for a competitive world.

Education

Even though U.S. education is more advanced than any other countries still the number of people getting educated is low as compared to India.

In the U.S. majority of the teens start their professional life before completing education and forget studies whereas in India schooling is mandatory due to the parent children culture, children are always under the care of the parents so they make sure their ward gets the necessary education that is needed for them.

College and Career Life

Comparatively both India and U.S are advanced equally in the masters graduation level comprising coursework, practical education and project based education.

Even though both are equal, the Indian system looks to pass and get good grades and move out thinking of securing a good job in big multinational corporations.

Whereas when you are in the U.S. you are expected to put in the hard work and understand the project and a minor mistake will be considered a flaw and you may have to re-work the whole project again.

U.S. education prepares you for the professional life you are going to face for the next 40–50 years and of course you need to educate in the upcoming years as and when trends change but you are well aware of how to tackle the business situations and come out of it

But the Indian education system prepares you to land a job and you will have to find your way up through your own self education. Indian education focuses on technical skills at the university level in subjects like mathematics, etc. Hence we have more qualified software developers around the globe.

Conclusion

In India, the education pattern is more traditional, and students are expected to learn all subjects.

Extracurricular activities and sports are given less emphasis. But, schools in the US provide equal importance to extracurricular activities and games.

Developing countries are increasingly acknowledging the importance of education in entirety. Although it is taking long, with different struggles, especially financially to support the education system, they are slowly coming up.

The U.S. has the most international students next to the UK as its curriculum is more flexible and practical. The Indian system is catching up, hope we can see that in the future.