Ben Mathew Economics
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Recommended
  • Mailing List
  • Contact

Education in India

5/9/2013

0 Comments

 
Education in India is as bad now as when I left 19 years ago. Thane Richard, a student at Brown University, was appalled by what he saw when he was an exchange student at one of India's premier colleges, St. Stephens College in Delhi. He describes his experience in an article in the Hindu.

"In one economic history class the professor would enter the room, take attendance, open his notebook, and begin reading. He would read his notes word for word while we, his students, copied these notes word for word until the bell sounded. Next class he would find the spot where the bell had interrupted him, like a storyteller reading to children and trying to recall where he had last put down the story. He would even pause slightly at the end of a long sentence to give us enough time to finish writing before he moved on.[...] I would sit in class and think to myself “Can you just photocopy your notebook and give me the notes so I can spend my time doing something less completely useless?” I refused to participate. Instead, I sat at my desk writing letters to friends."

I remember this sort of thing from my school days in India. I couldn't wait to escape to college in the United States. I bet the situation is no different in most developing countries. What a waste of human capital. I can't wait for MOOCs to fix education in these parts of the world. It's only a matter of time.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Ben Mathew

    Author of Economics: The Remarkable Story of How the Economy Works

    Archives

    October 2016
    September 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.