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India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

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Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

>"Exam" isn't commonly used in American English. Huh? Is this a homeschool trend? Final exams are the cornerstone of US secondary and tertiary education.

I grew up in ~6 different states in 9 schools in the US during the 1990s and 2000s, and we did not have final exams from Kindergarten through 12th grade, other than Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

You typically take tests at various points in time during the school year up to 12th grade, but entire course year tests labeled as "exams" did not happen until university, or AP exams if you took AP courses in high school.

Exam is definitely used in American English, though.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#32
post #18

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Lots of science at this level is not taught as you say and they just teach them as fact. They teach kids about techtonic plates, dinosaurs, atoms and the planets as just facts about the universe. why separate out "evolution" as one topic that needs this rigorous standard to be taught to kids?

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#33

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…

>It's still being taught in the NCERT books as well, but now in 12th grade instead of 10th grade. You're not required to take Chemistry and Biology after the 10th grade, so technically you could miss out on the periodic table and evolution still. That said, I'm pretty sure I only learned the periodic table in 11th grade Chemistry class myself (15 years ago), so I guess it must've moved down to 10th grade at some poin…

They're removing streams from the Indian education system. The NEP is making the Indian system much more American and will push for electives and classes instead.

So hypothetically, if I was targeting Medical, I could still take some classes in Commerce at the 10-12 level.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#34

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.

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Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#35
post #8
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)…

Both public and private schools in India use NCERT books and have the same examinations. Private schools only ensure things are taught better, what is taught is still the same.

In my experience, government schools are far more likely to be state government schools than central government schools, and so they are more likely use the local state board's curriculum instead those of the CBSE or ICSE.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's still being taught in the NCERT books as well, but now in 12th grade instead of 10th grade. You're not required to take Chemistry and Biology after the 10th grade, so technically you could miss out on the periodic table and evolution still. That said, I'm pretty sure I only learned the periodic table in 11th grade Chemistry class myself (15 years ago), so I guess it must've moved down to 10th grade at some poin…

They're removing streams from the Indian education system. The NEP is making the Indian system much more American and will push for electives and classes instead. So hypothetically, if I was targeting Medical, I could still take some classes in Commerce at the 10-12 level.

Oh, that's interesting. Thanks.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Exam" isn't commonly used in American English. Huh? Is this a homeschool trend? Final exams are the cornerstone of US secondary and tertiary education.

The word "exam" isn't really used in American English. Tests are definetly a thing in the US.

> The word "exam" isn't really used in American English

Maybe there is some specific narrow regional or other dialect where this is true, but it is ludicrously wrong as a generalization of American English.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#38
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is removing the option to teach anything at home?

home schooling is practically illegal in most of western europe and school is taking more and more of the child's life

You can still teach your kid at home.

I for one am glad that Europe expects and enforced certain education standards.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I hear “exam” all the time in American English, though “test” is perhaps slightly more common. The “T” in LSAT, SAT, PSAT, etc. is “test”, but they are “AP exams” [0], “bar exams”, etc., and both “test prep” and “exam prep” are commom terms for the industry that esiats to take money from people hoping for better scores on any of them. [0] https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/ap-exams-overview

Interesting. For me at least, it's 70-30 test-exam.

Would love to see if there is a regional dialectic difference or maybe some kind of a language shift in the past 15-20 years.

Re: India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks

#40

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…

Above ranking does not make sense at all. Is CBSE is so low ranked, why is prevalent board in Indian and schools abroad which favors CBSE?

ICSE is more all round syllabus which makes sense but does not make it difficult or higher ranked than CBSE.

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