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In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

wired.co.uk

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Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#51

Post by vinceguidry »

When I learned that the military suicide rate is no higher than the suicide rate in the civilian world, my criteria for believing that any one thing is so deleterious to mental health that it actually drives people to suicide went up tremendously.

Our minds are remarkably robust and most will handle immense pressure. Some minds just aren't. Sure, they'll crack under pressure. But that pressure can come from literally anywhere, including existential angst that comes from nowhere but the person's own mind.

Hence why suicide rates tend to remain constant no matter the situation.

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#52

Post by enitihas »

adrianN wrote: post #49
enitihas wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, some schools even expect the parents to be well educated.

That's not unreasonable if you want to select for high performing children. The correlation is very clear.

There are various correlations which are very clear, like parents wealth. The question is whether these are ethical. If every school filters for such criterion, would students from poor or uneducated parents ever have a chance at social mobility? Do we want such a society?

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#53

Post by devang1994 »

shubhamjain wrote: post #30
chii wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was very lucky to escape this trap. I considered myself to be very dumb and knew that there's absolutely no chance I was going to make it. so what did you do instead? and can that be replicated by 100,000 other young people?

> so what did you do instead? and can that be replicated by 100,000 other young people? Theoretically, it can be replicated. The tools that I have used to learn everything are accessible to most of the people I have met. But, whatever may be the reasons, it just doesn't happen.

I am very curious what are these tools you talk about? I am often asked by students at my old high school about what they can do if they dont want to study for JEE and I havent really been able to come up with a satisfactory answer.

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#54

Post by amalfra »

blocked_again wrote: post #42
kobiguru wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Many Indian jobs advertisement specially mention student from IIT only. there is job site that targets only IITians. So the pedigree obviously is valuable.

Can you point to any job description that says so? I have never seen any job description that mentions only IIT students can apply for the job. I have seen some mediocre companies mentioning open to only IITs, NITs, and IIITs though.

Almost all jobs of good software engineering companies these days have a top college degree as a requirement in their job ads. If you have been in the job market you would know the fact that it's the degree that matters most. Companies prefer to even give an interview only if you have a degree from top-tier college. Whether we like it or not it's the fact that here we need a degree from top college to get good opportunities and job.

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#55

Post by sokoloff »

shubhamjain wrote: post #12
a_d wrote: post #2

I am from Kota - the city mentioned in this article as the epicenter of this crisis. India's annual suicide rate is 10.5 per 100,000 people, while the suicide rate for the world as a whole is 11.6 per 100,000 [1]. Kota has seen an extremely large influx of young students over the last decade. Roughly 200,000 [2] students come to live in this city to study for college entrance exam. Now, while the high-pressure exams…

I am from Kota too and your argument is just nit-picking. Of course, when you're blaming high-pressure exams, you're also blaming every factor related to it. Your analysis of suicide rates fails to consider that these are very young students barely in the age group of 15-19 and the cause is singular (high-pressure parenting). But suicide rate is just one symptom that this industry engenders. The immense pressure thes…

> that these are very young students barely in the age group of 15-19 and the cause is singular (high-pressure parenting)

I'm skeptical that an individual suicide is single-factor and deeply skeptical that a population-wide rate of this magnitude is driven by a single factor.

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#56

Post by sean_the_geek »

worldexplorer wrote: post #34
kamaal wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>It slightly portrays that Indian engineering education landscape starts and ends in IITs only. Well, the problem is people treat degrees from these institutions as lifelong aristocratic privilege. Once you start going in that direction, its now in your interest to keep the myths alive about your alma mater. How else are you going to earn higher than everybody else? You have to convince the society nobody can ever b…

And the constant taunting they get when they are not able to get 'expected' package . 'Oh you are from IIT why working in this startup at such low package. My friend from XYZ college is working for much better company/salary than you.' Interests, skills, background, ambitions and the human behind the degree all goes to hell.

"Interests, skills, background, ambitions and the human behind the degree all goes to hell." This. Can't agree more.

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#57

Post by devang1994 »

rakamotog wrote: post #24
lozenge wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India's population has boomed in 50 years but has the number of available places at prestigious institutions boomed with it?

Yes! Exponentially in last 10 years. When I took the exam a rank of 2.5 k was almost equal to not getting a rank. But now a rank of 10k has better opportunities! Colleges mushroomed from 6 to 23!

Getting CS at Bombay, Kanpur, Delhi, Madras etc still requires a rank under 500 or so. Correct me if I am wrong but all the headline grabbing salaries are still restricted to these courses and institutes.

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#58

Post by DanBC »

__s wrote: post #38
DanBC wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously you need more than safer fans, but don't knock it. Reducing access to means and methods is the most important thing you can do for suicide prevention. People talk about method substitution, but that doesn't always happen.

The root of the issue is people choosing they want to die, not that people are able to die

Sure, work on that too. But the most effective measure so far for suicide prevention has been to reduce access to means and methods. This is replicated in many different areas across time.

Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis

#59

Post by kstx »

Just wondering how this might be tied to the statistic[1] which ranks top countries (hours/week) where parents help their kids with their homework. India ranks as the top country. This might set bad habits to the students with learning, as they come more dependant to get help from their parents (and other peers) and it might also hamper their problem solving skills.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16882430

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