Educational Systems, A Contrasting View

As mentioned in the previous post, in this post I shall present some of the thoughts which have accumulated over the past month.

The points I shall present here are a result of my observations and interactions with local as well as other international students, who come from a diverse set of educational, cultural, and economic backgrounds, coupled with my own experiences and interactions back in India.

Education, a topic I take keen interest in — the contrast between what I was exposed to in India and what I see here is tremendous.

The city I live in currently, Göteborg, is one of the industrial areas and is Sweden’s second largest city in terms of population. Contrastingly, it has only one technical university (Chalmers), and the University of Gothenburg is a much larger university focusing on social sciences and other non-technical programs. My point here being, though an industrial town, there is no “industry” churning out engineers. The courses offered in these two universities are diverse in number, and none is treated as superior to the other. I guess you get the contrast, I need not get into that.

The form of education here is more application-oriented and less of the rote-learning model followed back in India. Along with this, a lot of emphasis is given to new ideas and innovation. Students often study in groups, sharing ideas and learning in the process. The result of this is Sweden ranking as one of the most innovative countries — which translates to income, by selling technology to other parts of the world.

Back in India, when I would talk to students about politics and ideologies, rarely would I find ones with a sensible understanding of the situation who would talk logically without bringing in their own personal vendetta. On the contrary, all the political and philosophical conversations here have resulted in both parties gaining some additional insight on the topic. Points shared are not directly quoted from some media source but stated more logically, giving reasons for their occurrence. People here are more informed about the happenings around them and can clearly distinguish between a true incident and a media-created one.

In the course of my interactions I did come across a few who knew India and were aware of some aspects of its culture, and some spoke of the failing economy. But a larger number of people only knew Bollywood, and trust me, it has painted a very wrong picture of India to the western world, and continues to do so.

Lastly, an interesting observation I have made here is the importance given to activities apart from your main job. On my journey back from Stockholm, on the other side of the aisle sat a lady who kept herself busy all through the journey — she was either studying “social psychology” or spent time knitting (back in India I used to associate knitting with old ladies who had to somehow pass time). I could quote a number of instances where people here are not confined to one single job or task, they balance things by doing something they like, or just spending time out with family and friends. This definitely helps — you would know if you tried it out.

Yes, I sure have painted a greener side of the western world, and it is intentional. There always are certain negative aspects too, but I haven’t paid much heed to them, they serve no purpose here and are overshadowed. Though India is on the path of development thanks to various student bodies, I believe a change in the system will lead to more rapid progress.