What are the differences between the American and Indian education systems?

A2A; I think this is where the two countries actually differ, Providing free and compulsory primary education. "Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. …" Though India and America both have adopted Right to Education well in their constitutions. I believe America is doing a much better job here. While USA spends around 5.5% of its GDP on Education, India spends only 3.1%. In United States, Education is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: state, local, and federal. America spends over $500 billion a year on public elementary and secondary education in the United States. On average, school districts spend $10,314 for each individual student. All three levels of government – federal, state, and local - contribute to education funding. States typically provide a little less than half of all elementary and secondary education funding. Local governments generally contribute about 44 percent of the total, and the federal government contributes about 13 percent of all direct expenditures. US's two biggest programs are No Child Left Behind Grant and IDEA Special Education State Grants. In India, State child rights commissions monitors implementation of the RTE Act in their respective states. Which is hardly done because of the financial burden of this ambitious Act. The country does not have enough funds to make the right to education a reality is a farce. Apparently, The budget for implementation of the RTE Act throughout the country is just half of the amount spent on the 2010 Commonwealth Games, so funds are scarcely the problem. This kind of attitude is a grim reminder of times before Independence when foreign rulers and the upper class discouraged the idea that poor Indian children should be empowered with education. In 1891, a proposal in the Imperial Legislative Assembly for free and compulsory education for all was opposed by the upper class and the ruling British. Maharaja Darbhanga went one step further and gathered 11,000 signatures from the influential creamy layer to oppose the move. The argument was: if everyone was to go to school, who would tend to their agricultural land? It is clearly not lack of funds that is a hindrance in implementation of the RTE Act but lack of intent and political will. So what is the need of the day? For quality education to truly reach every child in the country, it is necessary that the following steps are taken: Each state should prepare a set of model rules for implementation of the right to education, with the participation of the community and other stakeholders. Although the RTE Act puts the applicable age-group at 6-14, it has been left to the states to decide whether they want to widen this group, say from 0-18 as Kerala has done. States should think about including more children under the Act’s ambit. With the Act coming into effect, it has been found that there is a shortage of 12-13 lakh teachers in schools. The states must take steps to employ more teachers and not rely on para-teachers to provide children with quality education. The government should ensure that all government schools are well-equipped to take in students, so that they are not left with the sole choice of going to private schools. School management committees should take it upon themselves to spread awareness about the Act at the community level, in panchayats, so that people are encouraged to send their children to school. School management committees should be provided the necessary financial and other support by the state to go about their duties. For effective implementation of the RTE Act, states should give some sort of judicial power to the education department. The public private partnership (PPP) model in primary education should be avoided at all costs so that there is no commercialisation of education. There is a conflict between the child labour law and the Right to Education Act, although both deal with related issues and promote the overall development of children. It is important to bring them in step, to avoid confusion. To effectively implement the RTE Act, the Human Resource Development Ministry, Labour Ministry, Women and Child Development Ministry, Panchayati Raj Ministry and Rural Development Ministry have to work together. There should be an umbrella body that brings all these agencies together to work towards a common goal. The government must make every effort to become self-sufficient by using the education cess and other taxes to effectively implement the RTE Act. It must not always beg from the private sector. References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_spending_on_education_(%25_of_GDP)#cite_ref-UNDP_1-38 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States#cite_note-.5B142.5D-4 http://infochangeindia.org/education/backgrounders/challenges-in-implementing-the-rte-act.html

In primary school, children in the USA go through an educational process that is a lot less rigorous than their Indian counterparts, and one that is not necessarily so focused on rote learning, especially in mathematics and sciences.  There are no uniforms to wear in public schools, and apart from decrepit inner city schools, all have playgrounds and facilities like that. Indian children in primary school are already getting prepared for slavery to come.  Children in the USA face much less of this, and are generally good at various other things they pursue, like games, hobbies, art, music, etc. In high school, the pressure increases slightly on students in the USA, but Indian students are at fever pitch preparing for what they believe are the gateways to their future - exams, exams and more exams. Kids in the USA "graduate" from school, and get diplomas, and are celebrated for this minor achievement like they got an Olympic medal.  Indian kids are herded through to college, through much pressure and tension for their parents. Once in college, Indian kids go into either the high pressure "professional" courses like medicine or engineering, and find some respect, or attend something considered ordinary like arts, science or commerce.  Very slowly, this is changing, because there are many unemployed engineers, perhaps! College is serious work in the USA.  There is a lot of structural freedom, but GPA is very important, and colleges have very high quality of education at the university level.  They take pride in attracting the best students and teachers, and constantly strive to keep syllabus updates to real world requirements.  Most college graduates are eminently employable, unlike their counterparts in India, exceptions like the IITs apart. At the Masters and Ph.D. level, it takes a great deal of effort in the USA, but life is relatively easier in India.  If someone holds a masters degree from a university in the USA, it really means that person knows something in that subject.  In India, this is debatable.  A lot of Ph.D.s coming out of India are also dubious. What is common to both countries: Both produce a huge number of bozos to keep many illusions of democracy, freedom, enterprise, opportunity, dreams, development, growth and a whole lot of crap going without any question. Both supply the middle class with new slaves, who will never really vote in large numbers, rise to make a difference, or have the balls to challenge status quo in any society. Both will however, hold candles and put on "we care" shows whenever fashionable. Both provide the stable base for the consumer goods industry.

Education system in USA is: About learning. About preparing children to explore and understand concepts. Is about learning the concept through practicals along with theories. Is not about stressing kids on exams Is not about academic competitiveness. Is about learning in small numbers. One can excel in many ways not just academically but also through sports. Is about exploring new ideas and concept through good exchange  programs Is about giving equal importance to extra corricular activities Students are judged by their talent, no reservation logic Education in India is: Preparing children to read and absorb Is more about memorizing with study materials. Is all about academic performance. Have large classes with at least more than 50 students overall. (Though nowadays the ration of students per class has changed considerably) Is about learning through theories Academic excellence has given more importance then extra curricular activities. Reservation system plays big role in Indian education system PS: The scenario is changing rapidly in India and we cant come to the conclusion that American is better then Indian, as the need differ from country to country. Also, within India the education system is different from rural to cities to metro cities.

Indian System: 2-5 years of rigorous training to get into IIT, just because salary after the course is exceptional. Life settled. Mediocre brains work 4 years not even knowing what they want to study at Engineering If you follow Commerce, Arts, Music or anything out-of-line one is considered a grave mistake. Doctor is another respected education stream. Admitting the hard-working not the deserving and interested. If one is not pursuing JEE, it's because he's dumb! (General Concept) You study so that you get a job, and sustainable income. Quality of education different in different institutions. Marks are important not knowledge. Cram and you will defeat the system bring it on its knees. American System: Write an aptitude exam (SAT), pursue what interests you. Music, dance everything has scope and people respect other streams. Show some interest in Computers get admitted into that stream. Pressure to perform and get a job does not exist. PS: Personal views, could be wrong esp. the American system. But Indian system is picture perfect.

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Education system in USA Education system in USA is far more advanced and different than the rest of the countries, considered to be better and forgoing. The education pattern is divided into three levels, viz the elementary school, the middle school and high school. In each of these levels, the children are included as per their age group and divided into grades. This means that once your kid starts with the elementary school, he goes in the first grade which so on keeps moving to the 12th grade which is the final year of high school. Once the kid finishes high school, then he can enroll for further studies in the Post-secondary education which is commonly referred as College. The elementary school may start somewhere in the age group of 5 for a child and the high school would end up in the age group of 17 for a child approximately. More emphasis is given to practical understanding, reading, writing, math, understanding concepts, documentation. Students are provide freedom to choose class subjects and are encouraged to take interest and responsibilities towards studies. In addition to this, sports, technical education, arts, foreign languages and more such subjects are given equal importance along with the existing curriculum. Extracurricular activities such as drill teams, bands, football or even non-athletic activity 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. Overall education system in USA is: - About learning. - About preparing children to explore and understand concepts. - Is about learning the concept not just by reading but by actually learning through practicals. - Is not about stressing kids on exams - Is not about academic competitiveness. - Is about learning in small numbers. - One can excel in many ways not just academically but also through sports. Education pattern in India Though the above system seems to be amazing, even the Indian system manages to fascinate us. The current education system in India which seems to be improvising every single day has caught everyone's eye including people outside India. Indian education system has always been inspired from its historical backgrounds which relate way back thousands and thousands year ago, and includes the Puranas Vedas. Presently the education system in India comprises of pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary education which is followed by higher education. Pre-primary is the kindergarten, primary is the middle school and secondary is the high school. Higher secondary education is up to 12th standard and then one can pursue his further studies with graduation or post-graduation level. Specific curriculum is designed for kids which includes all the subjects that are been specified. Additionally there are extra-curricular activities which kids can opt for though not compulsorily. Moreover sports too form an essential part of the curriculum, but only children who are selected get to avail the opportunity. Though the curriculum has improvised lately, with more and more attention been paid to activities and overall the practical evaluation of the kid which relates to projects and day to day evaluation and less importance is been given to theory and written exams. Overall education in India is all about: - Preparing children to read and absorb - Is more about memorizing with study materials. - Is all about academic performance. - Have large classes with at least more than 50 students overall. (Though nowadays the ration of students per class has changed considerably) - Academic excellence achieves more preference than sports or other overall achievement. - Teachers hold great value and respect. They gain more respect from students as well as parents. Similarities between Indian education and US education - Qualified teachers - Best infrastructural facilities - Impart quality education - Well-equipped labs. - Both the countries have concept of private and public schools. Properly tailored curriculum as per regular standards. Difference in the education system in India and USA Whatever may be the fact lays undeniable that the education system in India and USA have vast differences. Even with the current ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) or IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) pattern which claims to be global, the truth is that the surroundings and the pattern will be definitely not the same. The same applies to the school surroundings and teachers. - Teachers in USA have to go for qualified courses which include their Bachelor or Masters Degree in EARLY Childhood Education and Elementary education. Teachers are been told about what they expected to teach the children. Teachers in India are qualified to become teacher as soon as they pass the Masters in Education or Bachelors in Education. The Masters and Bachelors degree is definitely equivalent to that of Indian Standards of Education. - Each and every class in USA Schools has a 20 – 30 children per teacher ratio. But the regular schools in India, unlike US Schools, have around 50 or more than 50 students in class per teacher. However that may not be the same thing with the new ICSE and CBSE schools. - The education pattern in India is lot more the traditional where students are expected to learn all the subjects. Less emphasis is given on sports and extracurricular activities (though this has changed with the concept of new education that has been introduced even in these schools). However in US schools, extra-curricular activities also hold equal importance. - Education system in US is considerably more flexible than that in India. - The Indian education standard is considerably higher than that of US Standards, as students are made to prepare for challenges in life, unlike US where education is made as said flexible so that each and every student passes out High school. - Indian education system provides great emphasis on Math other than US where it is an optional subject. No wonder why India has so many good software engineers and other professionals. source - Internet

Indian education is rote based whereas western education is more practical experience based. That's not to say western education is easy - in fact it tests your knowledge more thoroughly and hence more difficult - average students who haven't understood much can't get away Western education seems to develop a passion in students for what they do. This means there are extremes - kids who love what they do, and focus hugely on it - and kids who have no passion so end up failing. Failures exist in India too but to my mind the % of failures are less in India - not because we are better but because it's easy in our assessment system for average kids to get away with normal scores. Just mug it up and ur done - no need to grasp the knowledge In the west - kids seem to have more time to pursue extra curricular activities. There are book clubs in school where kids of class 7 actually discuss books - haven't seen that in the best of schools here. In India finishing the syllabus and giving tests and exams is the main focus In the west kids can focus on getting practical experience even during holidays- they don't mind doing summer jobs even small ones. Their mind is not hijacked by just holiday homework alone. Let's ask for banning holiday homework by signing this petition!https://www.change.org/p/banholidayhomeworknep-prakashjavdekar-hrdministry-pls-pass-an-order-and-let-kids-enjoy-vacation-nep-mhrd-transformingindia?recruiter=60026036&utm_source=petitions_show_components_action_panel_wrapper&utm_medium=copylink

I could not really answer about US education system, but Indian Education system is sound to a certain standard i.e. 8th standard. After that it is little shaky on practical front. Until 8th standard out basics are strengths. After that we should be provided specific information about our interests. So from that point onward we must be provided more practical information about a subject that every individual is interested in. Though I think that at college level, our courses must direct more on our syllabus with practical measurements. Which is not yet handled in Indian educational system. I do not really think that it is our educations system that has most of the problems rather it is the implementation problem. For example, even though we had funds and money, but our teachers were not able to execute the chemistry tests at their own. How would have we learnt from them? But even after such a course, lot of Indian engineers and doctors successfully working in USA.

I think nobody has mentioned this yet, but to me this is one major difference between the two systems. And trust me, it has far reaching consequences. "ZERO TOLERANCE TO ACADEMIC DISHONESTY"In India, if a student cheats on an exam, they are penalized with some points(maybe 5 or 10). This is true for most cases, if not all. But in the US, if your are caught cheating on an assignment/project/test or whatever, the minimum penalty is an "F" grade for that course.The syllabus of most of my courses says "The minimum penalty for any student found cheating will be to receive an F for the course. The maximum penalty will be expulsion from the university." I am pretty sure this practice is followed in the schools too.According to me, it imbibes the quality of INTEGRITY among students, which is one of the most important to create a just society.