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India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

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Re: India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

#31

Post by grannyg00se »

bdhe wrote: post #7

An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, college education in India does not allow for a student to independently chose his/her major. People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in. This leads to two things: 1. Most people do not have a clue about their interests and passion until it is too late (or never!). 2. The only majors that pe…

"An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, ...People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in."

Isn't that how it works in the US as well? Don't students join colleges already deciding what they plan to get a degree in? I'm from Canada. When we apply to university we have to apply to a specific degree. First year courses are already tailored to a particular degree path. If that's not the case in the US, when is it that you actually choose your degree? I always hated the notion that 18 year old people coming out of high school are expected to know what course they want to target for the next four years.

Re: India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

#33

Post by bryanwb »

I ran a startup in Kathmandu, Nepal for 4 years (www.olenepal.org) and this mirrors my experience there. The modus operandi of Nepali Schools is the "the teacher speaks and the kids repeat." this means that you can't judge applicants at all by their educational background. The best ones I had were almost entirely self-educated. Also, I think I found that only one in 50 applicants were worth hiring.

That said, I believe that the geeks I hired are totally world class. I also believe that w/in 5 years time they will be earning 100,000 USD per year, whether they are living in Nepal or elsewhere. cuz, they are worth it.

Re: India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

#35

Post by sudont »

grannyg00se wrote: post #31
bdhe wrote: post #7

An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, college education in India does not allow for a student to independently chose his/her major. People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in. This leads to two things: 1. Most people do not have a clue about their interests and passion until it is too late (or never!). 2. The only majors that pe…

"An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, ...People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in." Isn't that how it works in the US as well? Don't students join colleges already deciding what they plan to get a degree in? I'm from Canada. When we apply to university we have to apply to a specific degree. First year courses are already tail…

No, at least not if the academic advisor knows anything. I was pushed into generals and certain key classes to get an introduction to my major and it's fit. In smaller US high schools there are vocational training paths, however it was limited to welding and nursing where I came from. There's supposed to be the tradition of "Liberal Arts" in the system, where a general academic background is impressed before any specific training.

Because of this, there's more fluidity (not in any traditionally siloed discipline, like medicine) in the US university system, see: the cliché about the 6 year student who changed their major after three years. Most of the structure comes from parental and academic pressure to buckle down and really dedicate to the subject.

Re: India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

#36

Post by fryguy »

grannyg00se wrote: post #31
bdhe wrote: post #7

An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, college education in India does not allow for a student to independently chose his/her major. People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in. This leads to two things: 1. Most people do not have a clue about their interests and passion until it is too late (or never!). 2. The only majors that pe…

"An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, ...People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in." Isn't that how it works in the US as well? Don't students join colleges already deciding what they plan to get a degree in? I'm from Canada. When we apply to university we have to apply to a specific degree. First year courses are already tail…

It's not necessarily true. There are a lot of people that take mainly "general education" classes that are required to graduate during the first two years, or alternatively get an associates degree first. Also, given that you're not in a particularly demanding major (like the max-unit engineering degrees) and have a lot of electives, you're not out a lot of work by changing majors within your first two years. Most majors don't have chaining dependencies that take the full four years to complete. For my degree, there was a set of 8 classes that were required to become an upper-division student that only had a 3 semester-deep dependency chain (let's use a computer -> object oriented programming -> abstract data types), and then upper division had around 8-10 classes, and there was only a 3 semester-deep chain (data structures -> processor design -> operating systems). The number of classes you can take per semester is the limiting factor.

Also, considering that people are working jobs and going to school at the same time, four year degrees sometimes take longer. It's pretty common for the challenging engineering degrees to take 5 years due to the sheer number of units required to graduate (I took 6 years, without switching, although I did get a double major in math & computer science).

Re: India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

#37

Post by yummyfajitas »

grannyg00se wrote: post #31
bdhe wrote: post #7

An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, college education in India does not allow for a student to independently chose his/her major. People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in. This leads to two things: 1. Most people do not have a clue about their interests and passion until it is too late (or never!). 2. The only majors that pe…

"An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, ...People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in." Isn't that how it works in the US as well? Don't students join colleges already deciding what they plan to get a degree in? I'm from Canada. When we apply to university we have to apply to a specific degree. First year courses are already tail…

Isn't that how it works in the US as well?

In general no. Some specific programs may have a special admissions program (art and music are culprits here) and sometimes you need to apply to a specific school (e.g. Engineering vs Arts & Sciences). But usually, you can major in "Undeclared" for your first 2 years.

I've always hated the notion that we expect 18 year old people to invest $25-100k on education in "Undeclared Major" with the eventual hope that they will figure something useful out. It's almost as silly as dropping $25-100k on "Undeclared Stock or ETF", though unlike "Undeclared Stock or ETF", there is some hedonic benefit.

Re: India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

#38

Post by gamble »

grannyg00se wrote: post #31
bdhe wrote: post #7

An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, college education in India does not allow for a student to independently chose his/her major. People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in. This leads to two things: 1. Most people do not have a clue about their interests and passion until it is too late (or never!). 2. The only majors that pe…

"An important, but tangential point to note is that unlike the US, ...People join colleges already deciding (without taking a single course) what they plan to get a degree in." Isn't that how it works in the US as well? Don't students join colleges already deciding what they plan to get a degree in? I'm from Canada. When we apply to university we have to apply to a specific degree. First year courses are already tail…

Even in Canada, liberal arts students don't have to declare a major until they're a couple of years in. However, for STEM degrees you've generally got to know where you want to go by the end of high school, or by the end of freshman year at the latest.

Of course, in the US and Canada you can generally switch programs in midstream. That may not be possible in India.

Re: India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire

#40

Post by Splines »

dman wrote: post #17
galadriel wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can teachers be bribed in US to pass students ? (Just curious)

Its included in the tution! http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/court-battle-o... Note: Story is about Canada not the US. Frankly I think its rather hard to fail in a US university course.

Hah. I failed a course at the U of M. For the record, it was completely my fault; I was an idiot and easily distracted by shiny things.
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