India’s colleges not preparing their students; are we?
My father shared with me an article, India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire, from the Wall Street Journal. It discusses that many of the graduates from India’s colleges are not prepared to work in India’s business and engineering fields. Even call centers are finding it difficult to fill jobs. We have all heard “India has more honor students then we have students.” It does not matter how many ‘honor’ students you may have if they cannot achieve their full potential. A person’s talent cannot be realized unless they have participated in a robust, varied education where active learning, questioning and exploration are central. Information and rote learning are just a small part of one’s learning. What contributes to a person’s success and participation in innovation is their ability to be flexible, collaborative, researching, problem solvers. These skills, according to the article, are not being taught and encouraged in India’s colleges. Are we encouraging these skills in our students? Or are we encouraging more basic, fact based learning with our current focus on testing.
My hope for our students, and my children, is that they become learners who know how to research, are members of active learning communities were they collaborate, share and create. I want them to explore outside the prescribed curriculum, follow their interests and pull it all together in new and creative ways. I never want my children to say “we never learned that in school” or “I do not know” and just give up. Instead I want them to say “lets find out”, “how can I…, and “let me try.”
7 thoughts on “India’s colleges not preparing their students; are we?”
Hi,
My name is Alexandra Maniaci and I’m a secondary math education major at the University of South Alabama. I had an assignment in one of my education classes to come up with a blog post. So, I decided to find a blog related to education and comment on it, and I came across your blog. The class I’m in is all about technology in the classroom and you can visit the EDM 310 class blog if you would like to find out more about it.
This article you posted is very interesting and shocking. It’s sad that students in India are graduating without even basic communication and comprehension skills. It would be tragic if American students followed down the same path. These skills are necessary and very important for life. I agree with you that it would be wonderful if students could learn to research, be creative, and work together instead of simply trying to get an acceptable letter grade.
Welcome Alexandra,
Blogging is a good example of research, creativity and collaboration. By reading a wide variety of information, writing about what you read and sharing that with others you develop a deeper understanding of the topic. I wish you well in your studies.
I recently completed an assignment about educators in Qatar. I thought it was very interesting when one of the instructors was discussing how she wanted to get her students involved in research. She explained that it was a really big shock to most of the students when they realized how much work actually went into the research process. She stated most students just assumed they would read through a few articles and analyze them. I also discovered from the video that I watched, that most educational programs overseas are not regulated as strictly as some our programs may be here in the states. We have numerous entities that keep an eye on our educational systems. Educational systems in the states are required to gain and maintain all sorts of accreditations. Schools and universities are audited constantly. I think that may be one of the reasons why India may be graduating students that are not competent enough to perform in their current job market.
Yes, Beth, I agree with your thoughts on teaching our students how to research and become active members of a learning community.
Testing and teaching to the test is such a huge hinderance to this process. In Florida, next year we will no longer have some of the FCAT tests. We now have a quarterly exam handed down to us by someone in the district that accesses students and teachers. Our pay is going to ride on this. Pressure to teach to the test will continue to rise.
Hello, this is the first time I have responded to a blog. Reading the information about the students in India not being fit for hire was surprising. However, I thought about all of the students in our US school systems that are being taught information to pass a test. When my daughter was in first grade last year the teachers focused on preparing the students for the CRCT test. Everything revolved around them learning the information that will appear on the test. Then I think about the college students that are going into debt with majors that offer little employment in the field.
Beth,
Excellent points, and based on my experience specific to your points, I can only assume that India’s business sector is currently full of individuals that have said talents. Let me explain, in my community their are several schools that specifically designed and only admit students that fall into the gifted and talented category. Out of the top 13 students who have recently graduated from these schools, 11 or either Indian or Chinese. What our your thoughts?
Sean
Beth
Having read this article we need to question why employers are sitting back and pointing the blame and responsibility at the government, teachers and schools. Should they not be collaborating with the government to produce the quality of graduates required for their business? Rather than taking the easier path and looking offshore. Surely there is something wrong in this reasoning. It appears to be a temporary solution which could harm the economic growth.