If you are Indian, you probably know one person who is studying in USA. If you are in USA or Australia, you probably know an Indian student.
I recently read the news that this year was the record for Indian students heading outside. According to CBSE data, we have about 21 lakh students in the national board. Add 21 lakh more from the state boards and ICSE(probably overkill) which is 42 lakhs of which about 7.7 lakh Indian students went abroad to study in 2022.
That’s greater than one of six students. This number is overwhelming. While some of my close friends are also going to give SAT this November, I don’t understand this foreign rush.
Indian education system is unduly competitive and the number of seats quite low in comparison to the applicants, however so are good universities elsewhere.
An Instagram reel had gone viral a few months ago stating that Harvard has an acceptance rate of 4.1% while IIT Bombay(India’s best engineering collage) has acceptance of 0.1%. While both the data is true, it is somewhat biased.
Harvard’s acceptance is less than 2% for international students and is heavily biased towards Europe and China. and IIT Bombay is not the only engineering collage, the other legacy collages makes the ratio easily hit 3%. Most of the Indian collages in this list are far cheaper to attend and some even give you a stipend.
But here's the kicker. It wouldn't be such a head-scratcher if foreign colleges were offering some mind-blowing education. But, alas, that's not always the case. A random state university in the USA can be just as meh as a random state university in India.
So, what's driving this exodus of students willing to pay ten times the price for what often amounts to marginally better education? It finally hit me.
Jaby Koey, a film critic shared an anecdote. He was sitting in pub where he saw a group of NRI’s(Non-Residential Indians). He went over and decided to strike up a conversation about Bollywood. They didn’t recognize him so he pretended to be someone who wanted to get into Indian films. They laughed at him and told, “Dude! Those movies are crap. Meaningless action and cringe dialogues. Your shows are way better. They are garbage.” As the conversation progressed Jaby found that these guys were completely disconnected. They watched only western media and believed it to be supreme over whatever their homeland produced.
In history, I remember we had studied about Wood’s dispatch. It was dispatch from Wood, the UK's education minister, to the Indian viceroy during 1900-1910, which essentially aimed to replace Eastern knowledge with Western knowledge and make Indians big fans and consumers of Western goods. Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel Laureate, thought that plan had failed, but sadly, it seems he was mistaken.
Today, India exports cotton garments to various brands and then imports them back at a markup. I know this firsthand because almost my entire family is in the garment industry.
So, what's my point here? Most of those heading abroad aren't necessarily doing it for a better education. They're doing it because they're drawn to the Western way of life, as an escape from what they sometimes perceive as the 'dump' they were born in. I've got no issue with folks aiming for places like MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, or Munich – those are institutions worth crossing oceans for.
I'm talking about those who choose random state universities. I'm talking about those who ditch their traditional attire the moment they set foot on foreign soil. I'm talking about those who believe Eternals has depth and dismiss RRR as a dumb film. I'm talking about those who croon "Love Me Like You Do" (an incredibly popular song about making out that even third graders sing loudly on the school bus) and cringe at the lyrics of "Maan Meri Jaan" (the hit song about a guy apologizing to his better half for lying and promising to take care of her). I'm talking about those who haven't seen Rocket Boys (which I've written a post about) but can't stop gushing about Oppenheimer all day.
I'm not asking you to love everything about India. Heck, I don't even love everything about it. Turning a blind eye to flaws is called ignorance. I'm simply asking you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Recommendations
Another book suggestion which most of you will never check out, A Decade Berkley Math Circle has some of the best explanations of complex topics and teaches them in a way which doesn’t need you to even know a sliver of higher math. Knot theory, group theory, inversive geometry taught in the most approachable way possible.
Dropout, one of the only studios who the WGA has allowed to continue production(as it is owned by writers) turned 5. The anniversary video is hilarious and heartfelt. Also a shoutout to their new series Mentopolis(detective noir but the setting is inside your brain. Think Raymond Chandler meets Insider Out.) which I have not yet been able to complete.
Heard great reviews(yet to watch) of Rocky and Rani ki Prem Kahani(Rocky and Rani’s love story) film which as I have been told by friend has also realeased in USA. So go and watch it, and tell me if I should watch it the next time I get 3 hours off.
Quote of the week
Who says there cannot be a hole in the sky, just throw a stone with determination, my friends - Dushyant Kumar
This post was delayed as I attempted to get my point across without offending anyone. Specific people whom I know and also read this newsletter’s personal anecdotes were removed as they were not comfortable with me mentioning them.
Other than that, I’ll be back this Friday which happens to be just 3 days away.