Yes, its the Indian mentality to mug up things and vomit it out on test day. It never works properly though because students cram too much into their memory, and invariably struggle on test day. Those who understand it well and write the exam are successful. Also 3 Idiots emphasised on the over importance of marks. 96.7%, 96.9% is what many there care about. It has to change. In the US, I did my 12th grade and I was happy with a B or above (though I tried hard for that A grade). My parents too said you did good. Whats ultimately important is that you need to have a good grasp of the material. Yes, people here in US are comparatively weaker in Math than us (we do better in Math) but the system here and the quality is uncomparable with the subcontinent.
Also in India, the interaction between students and the teacher needs to improve a lot. Students very easily get intimidated by the professor and dont ask questions and discuss in class. So most of the students grow up like that, and when they switch to US where in class discussion is very common, they freak out. It happened to me. In India, I never talked in class, asked questions if I didnt understand the material, etc. But here in US, some classes forced everyone to speak out in class and when it was my turn to speak, my legs would be trembling in fear and my heart rate would be spiking.
SaiSrini added 3 Minutes and 58 Seconds later...
Woah woah woah. Never knew this. So plagiarism is the norm in India? Doesn't that make the whole point of forming an opinion in an essay, pointless? That's a joke if awards from institutions there count for something globally if all that happens is people cheat to receive them.
Not sure how it is now, but when I did my schooling in India, plagiarism was common because in those times, technology wasnt available to the teachers and so they didnt have access to these softwares that spot plaigiarism. Also teachers in India are not as good at spotting plaigiarism as some of the professors here in the US (i.e. without the software). Dont know if teachers use the technology these days. There is also this lackadaisical attitude among teachers who want to get their jobs done quickly and so go through correction of the papers as quickly as possible. So many things would be swept under the carpet. I can write on and on about the criticism on Indian education.