<p>No. Maybe for a study abroad but not for the bulk of their education.</p>
<p>Funny that you mentioned social skills, jym626. I have found my sample of a dozen or so IIT’ian friends to have excellent social skills, and from what I could tell, it was not because they were in the upper echelons of the country. This could explain my friends’ success in US management, with a couple even being CEO’s of small but thriving companies. </p>
<p>But then, I feel that the perceived lack of social skills in all of us engineering types is a myth more than it is reality . Once in a while I run into a socially awkward engineer type but for the most part the issue is self correcting…</p>
<p>I am quite familiar with engineers and IT folks. I find some very socially adept, and some very socially awkward. Some are what I call cueless and clueless. Maybe dad<em>of</em>3s post above might explain some of it.</p>
<p>"I went to one of the top 2 private schools in my state. I needed absolutely no supplemental coaching, beyond doing some practice tests (freely available). But the kid who goes to the average school has no chance. Very few kids from public schools get in. Of the private schools, very few get in outside of the top 5 or 10 in the state. "</p>
<p>It sounds like India’s system is failing a lot of students – just in a different way from how the US system is. That saddens me.</p>
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<p>There are some instances where Joe Q Public gets in the IIT - two of my IIT friends did not have anything like the socioeconomic background that would provide top 1-2 private school education) just like there are some instances where some kid from Inner City Central High gets into the Ivies. But in both cases the odds are not good. </p>
<p>Still, I have great respect for the country simply because they understand - a lot more than we do I fear - the importance of college education. One of my best buddies came from a not-so-privileged parts of Hyderabad. Not a great student, his city employee father scraped money for a donation seat at a local college (the one with the recent unrests :-)). He finished, came to the US for grad school, worked for a few years, then went back and is now a CTO for a major IT consulting firm. (I blame him for introducing me to Ajit jokes…)</p>
<p>Perhaps if we focused more on the average people that overcome staggering odds to make it, rather than the elite superstars whose primary concern ends up being H vs Y vs P, we may get somewhere.</p>
<p>pizza girl this is the school where my D volunteered in Tamil Nadu- their primary purpose is to provide free schooling for handicapped children.
[Madurai</a> Messenger - Times of Madurai - July 2008 : Amar Seva Sangam Mirror of Heaven](<a href=“maduraimessenger.org - This website is for sale! - maduraimessenger Resources and Information.”>maduraimessenger.org - This website is for sale! - maduraimessenger Resources and Information.)
They are fairly successful, but still it is a small % of the children who need help.</p>
<p>If only 15% of the population makes it to high school … Yes, the majority are not well served. It seems still very caste-like – to a few go the spoils, and everyone else is out of luck. The US system is not perfect by any means, but it’s not as though not going to an elite school dooms someone in life.</p>
<p>Elite US schools are willing to do outreach precisely to look for the diamond in the rough kids from Inner City Central High, because they recognize test scores aren’t everything and that personal characteristics are important too. Does IIT do the same?</p>
<p>
Well said, turbo.</p>
<p>Turbo, I want to make one thing clear. Going to a good private school doesn’t in any way guarantee an IIT spot. In fact, it doesn’t even guarantee a high school graduation. We started with 1700 students in grade 1, and only 170 graduated from grade 12. The rest couldn’t keep up and were kicked out. The culling is at all levels. Of the 170 that remained, around 15 to 20 percent got in to the IITs. So, it is not a matter of socio economics either, at least it is not a guarantee. There is constant pressure to keep up.</p>
<p>Now, as for the public schools, they are truly in shambles. The funding is low. The teachers are underpaid and unmotivated. The coursework is the same, but often superficial. You can’t fire the teachers, and many don’t even show up to teach year are year, but still collect paychecks. Corruption abounds and you can buy exams, or scores. In the middle class, perhaps only 10 percent or so send their kids to public schools.</p>
<p>PG, IIT does do that, for a small numbers of seats. These kids are put in a special program. They have one year to prove that they can keep up with the rigors of the coursework. If not, they have to go. It is really a cruel joke, as these kids struggle mightily, and typically leave after a year. It’s the same phenomenon at the US elites where underprepared candidates often drop out, after incurring loads of student loans. Such jokes are just cruel.</p>
<p>“It’s the same phenomenon at the US elites where underprepared candidates often drop out, after incurring loads of student loans. Such jokes are just cruel. "
Where did you get this idea from?? The local rumor mill? Which “Elites”? Many top private colleges have incredibly generous FA programs and have graduation rates close to 95%. So which “Elites” precisely have students “often” drop out? There is lots of information online that shows the graduation rates of colleges in the US.
And you are mixing up unrelated reasons for a student dropping out-taking out too many loans is unrelated to being " unprepared”.
Some proof for this sweeping generalization of yours?
Or is it yet another an assumption you made up that fits your ideas about the US educational system? [Which you have already admitted you know little about.]</p>
<p>I wonder what example shows more of a commitment to education of the populace.
A system with an artificially high bar meant to weed out most " contestants" or one that has various supports for the hurdles along the way to graduation?</p>
<p>It depends on what your objective is I suppose.
( & many of the ultra competitive American schools have both- only a % are admitted, but once they are, they are provided with supports needed to graduate.)</p>
<p>IP, I think you are mistaken. The dropout rate at US elites is extremely low.</p>
<p>It seems that if you are super super bright in India, you succeed – but if you are only normal bright,you are eliminated and tossed out on your ear. That’s quite a contrast from American values and the American structure which provides higher education options at all levels of ability and doesn’t view some people as dispensable.</p>
<p>It takes little creativity or talent to set a bar so high that only a select few will pass. It takes a lot more creativity and talent to devise a system that offers opportunity for a wide spectrum of abilities.</p>
<p>And the fact that the US has over 3500 colleges shows that there are many more opportunities here than in any other county for millions of students who do want a college education.</p>
<p>85% of the kids won’t get a Hs education or the equivalent, and the ones who do are out of luck unless they are the super brilliant. Oh, well, at least the handful of super brilliant ones are learning calculus at age 10. @@</p>
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</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Didn’t someone just post that about 1% of Indian people make it to college? Here, the percentage of Americans who have some college education is 55%+.</p>
<p>Good Point.</p>
<p>In the US, most of our kids take a college education for granted, and the heck with the consequences. A BS Electrical Engineering or a BFA Elbonian Basket Weaving, who cares. Both are doable, so why not party till we drop, et cetera. If money’s not there, there’s Sallie Mae, FAFSA, et. al. </p>
<p>Other places, by virtue of the staggering odds that they have to overcome to get in, tend to take college a bit more seriously than that, simply as a way out. </p>
<p>We’re too optimistic for our own good, while for them, every class is like the Olympic try-outs.</p>