I recently came across an article in the New York Times about Indian high school students competing for top colleges:I am impressed with these students’ ambition and determination to get into the best college programs. The parents are as involved as the students are in this process and it creates a culture of responsibility for learning. However, I am concerned that the tough competition and rigid grading system is giving these over-ambitious students skewed lessons about life and success.
In the United States too, for most upper middle class or wealthy families, there is increasing pressure on their children to get into the top colleges or Ivies. There are several very expensive tutoring services for these students to prepare for these colleges. This is especially evident in some of the prestigious high schools across America. In some cases, this pressure starts from gifted kindergarten programs to the top high schools. Nevertheless, most ambitious American students are just as competitive in other areas such as Sports or Music. In addition, most American parents don’t chart their children’s career destiny like many Indian parents do. Thus, ambitious students are likely to excel in fields that they choose.
The situation in India seems too focused on paper grades and rank. There is also pressure to get into engineering or medicine, whether or not the students have any interest in these fields. This creates a culture of robotic students whose only aim is to focus on the future, instead of living in the present. In addition, high financial cost of achieving their goals leave out the majority of the Indian population who live under poverty.
This competition extends to prestigious colleges too. The plot of a recent Bollywood movie called 
"3 Idiots" revolved around the theme of competition at a prestigious engineering college. The tone of the movie was more of disdain for this system, so it seems like many Indians are waking up to realize the problems with this system.
"3 Idiots" revolved around the theme of competition at a prestigious engineering college. The tone of the movie was more of disdain for this system, so it seems like many Indians are waking up to realize the problems with this system.This generation of Indian students will eventually enter the corporate world. If they continue to look to their future as an extension of their educational system, they will be in for a huge disappointment. Leadership skills, empathy, creativity, time management, maturity, critical reasoning, and a variety of other skills cannot be learned in this rigid system. They may also have to start learning how to live in the present once in a while.
interesting post, In most under privileged / impoverished societies, esp in India . success is often associated with how much you earn and what job you get rather than what you are good at. an art/history student is a loser and an IT geek or doctor is more interesting to talk to. the part of the reason is times in which the previous generation grew and and the things which has influenced them. it will take another generation to change this.
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