Ok, I have a partial opinion. Get at me. But I've seen how focused (voluntarily or not,) children are about school in India. They go to school. They go to tuitions. They go home. They do more homework. They sleep. Repeat. They don't hate school. Why is it that they can do so much more work than us, yet not be so negative about it? Because they know that education will take them somewhere.
Both times that I've watched this documentary, I can't help but feel awesome. Yeah, I'm not that smart, but my association of background, I'm awesome. (logical fallacy. But really, I am awesome.) 2 Million Minutes makes me feel so much respect and awe-ness for my dad, who got accepted into IIT--if you didn't pay attention during that part of the movie(shame on you) it is the most prestigious school in India. Which makes him awesome. Which makes me even more awesome.
Now I'm going to be angry at you for your response to the two Indian students in the movie. STOP LAUGHING AT THE BOY FOR HAVING A MUSTACHE. STOP LAUGHING AT THE GIRL'S FAMILY FOR EATING WITH THEIR HANDS. IT'S NOT WEIRD, PEOPLE. IT'S NORMAL. JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S NOT NORMAL OR COOL. AMERICANS AREN'T RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING.
Rage over. I like you again.
Time for being American. The movie does make us look bad. But it does summarize the attitudes of many fellow students I know.
That is all the American-ism I have right now.
Now comes the (relatively) impartial Shreya. Let's just agree that your education can be ruined either by your teacher sucking, our your work ethic sucking even more. It's give and take, people. You have to give your energy into education if you want to take the benefits of going to school. "For Once, Blame the Students," is right. Once again, American students suck. (just kidding) I know what it's like to be eager to do well in a class and have the teacher be horrible at their job. I also have witnessed what it's like to have an awesome teacher get stuck with an un-awesome student who refuses to work. Both situations are hard. Both situations can't really be avoided.
I feel like I sound really anti-American-student here.
I <3 AMREECA
"They don't hate school."
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! This is a great point to bring up. I know I'm guilty of this, but I can't think of one block that I haven't heard a complaint about school.
"This is way too much homework!"
"But I have a meeting tonight!"
There's a lot of whining in our school, but honestly, none of it's from the hard workers.
I agree with both of you on this point, I was going to comment on the same thing. Even as students in my classes don't really work THAT hard, their excuses for not doing homework are either one: they simply don't care. and two: they don't like the class so they wont do the work.
ReplyDeleteNot only do people do this necessarily, but they even take pride in it. They BRAG that they are not doing their homework. Think if an Indian or Chinese student witnessed this...can you say embarrassing?
Shreya, I could totally hear your voice when I read this, which made it so much more interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway...yes, I do agree with you on most things. Kids get defensive and mad when they watch that film because it's bashing America even though what they're saying in the film is mostly true. We don't work as hard or take as much time and yet many kids still do hate their classes. We hang out on weekends and spend our week looking forward to friday football games instead of focusing on our school work each night. Other countries are ahead of us in this and we shouldn't even try to defend ourselves on that one.
But on the other hand, American students are more well rounded. We don't spend as much time studying because we spend more time on extracurricular activities and socializing. Some people may look at this as bad but I think it's a good thing. It prepares us for the future in a different kid of way than studying.
I'm not saying this makes America better or worse than other countries. We are just different.
By the way, props to your dad. That's awesome.
I really liked your logical fallacies and rant. They definitely add to the argument you are making.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that so many people sit and whine about how hard school is and there classes aren't even considered "rigorous" courses. While many of us taking AP classes might feel pressure to do well, it is nothing compared to the students in India and Asia. We are off watching football while they are studying their butts off to get into the most prestigious universities.
That is incredible that your dad was accepted IIT, you should be really proud.
Alyssa, I agree with you on us being more well rounded. You need to be smart as well as be a people-person.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, guys! I am proud!