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India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

nature.com

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Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#11

Post by Dig1t »

benced wrote: post #5
jmclnx wrote: post #3

Is education free in India ? I believe it is. With that said, seems India is mirroring the US in making sure only the wealthy will get a good education (private schools). It is a dangerous game doing that, eventually the mass will rise up once they realize their children have no hope in succeeding.

It is far more common in India to go to a private school. As a rule of thumb, if you know an educated Indian, they went to private school. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/10/in... This makes this decision both more and less outrageous. On one level, it had less effect than a similar decision than the US. On the other, it helps cripple the poor in India (who are actually poor, not American poor)…

That goes against what I heard from my Indian friends. I was told that public schools are actually more prestigious than private schools, they are more rigorous apparently?

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#12

Post by james-redwood »

Reading the source that Nature cites, it seems like the content has been made temporarily unexaminable ‘in light of COVID’, rather than the section actually getting cut from the textbook. https://ncert.nic.in/rationalised-content.php Could any Indian with a new physical textbook perhaps confirm? It’s a rather concerning policy.

The headline also seems awfully clickbaity. What the policy seems to have done is shifted basic evolution down to younger grades and moved the more advanced concepts to more senior grades. However, this shifts more advanced concepts up to grades in which science as a subject is not compulsory. Regressive as this is, this isn’t what the headline suggests.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#13

Post by joshuaissac »

alephnerd wrote: post #7

It's only affecting 10th grade CBSE (NCERT), not ICSE or state board* exams, let alone competitive board exams like the JEE (Engineering) or NEET (Medicine). It's still being taught in the NCERT books as well, but now in 12th grade instead of 10th grade. The scarier thing should be the rewriting of the history section of CBSE. * board is Indian English for curriculum Also, on the hierarchy of Indian board exams: Top…

> board is Indian English for curriculum

This sense of the word 'board' as in 'examination board' also exists in British English. The US also has the 'College Board' which sets some national exams.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#14

Post by alephnerd »

joshuaissac wrote: post #13
alephnerd wrote: post #7

It's only affecting 10th grade CBSE (NCERT), not ICSE or state board* exams, let alone competitive board exams like the JEE (Engineering) or NEET (Medicine). It's still being taught in the NCERT books as well, but now in 12th grade instead of 10th grade. The scarier thing should be the rewriting of the history section of CBSE. * board is Indian English for curriculum Also, on the hierarchy of Indian board exams: Top…

> board is Indian English for curriculum This sense of the word 'board' as in 'examination board' also exists in British English. The US also has the 'College Board' which sets some national exams.

Yep. But we call 'em "AP tests", "PSATs", or "SATs". The word "Exam" isn't commonly used in American English.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#16

Post by joshuaissac »

Dig1t wrote: post #11
benced wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is far more common in India to go to a private school. As a rule of thumb, if you know an educated Indian, they went to private school. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/10/in... This makes this decision both more and less outrageous. On one level, it had less effect than a similar decision than the US. On the other, it helps cripple the poor in India (who are actually poor, not American poor)…

That goes against what I heard from my Indian friends. I was told that public schools are actually more prestigious than private schools, they are more rigorous apparently?

> public schools are actually more prestigious than private schools

They are, but they are still private schools, not government schools. They are based in British public schools, where the word 'public' refers to the fact that students of any religion could historically be admitted to them, not that they are state-owned or state-controlled.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#17

Post by mhink »

Dig1t wrote: post #11
benced wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is far more common in India to go to a private school. As a rule of thumb, if you know an educated Indian, they went to private school. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/10/in... This makes this decision both more and less outrageous. On one level, it had less effect than a similar decision than the US. On the other, it helps cripple the poor in India (who are actually poor, not American poor)…

That goes against what I heard from my Indian friends. I was told that public schools are actually more prestigious than private schools, they are more rigorous apparently?

According to a commenter up-thread, what Americans call "public schools" are referred to as "government schools", and what Americans call "private schools" are referred to as "public schools".

Probably a carryover in terminology from Britain, where extremely prestigious schools like Eton are called "public schools" for historical reasons.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#19

Post by [deleted] »

WhatsName wrote: post #4

Cutting and defunding education seems such a prevalent global trend, I find it hard to believe there is no hidden agenda. At least here it seems to happen with the clear political agenda. Who needs evolution and democracy anyways other than those inconvenient to the indian government.

[deleted]

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#20

Post by coolg54321 »

Dig1t wrote: post #11
benced wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is far more common in India to go to a private school. As a rule of thumb, if you know an educated Indian, they went to private school. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/10/in... This makes this decision both more and less outrageous. On one level, it had less effect than a similar decision than the US. On the other, it helps cripple the poor in India (who are actually poor, not American poor)…

That goes against what I heard from my Indian friends. I was told that public schools are actually more prestigious than private schools, they are more rigorous apparently?

This is true for public colleges/unis (IITs, JNU...etc), they are prestigious, but not public schools
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