My friend Raj, who graduated from a top college and graduate school in India, went to the US to do his MBA. He found that Indians were much better at theoretical knowledge. They knew formulas inside out and could solve difficult math problems far better than the American students. But American students did much better with the case studies. They excelled at coming up with solutions to business problems. Much of this, this difference has to do with educational systems.
There are advantages in both systems. So we're not saying that one is better than the other, but rather seeking to understand the differences. Professor Dougie Carr in her doctoral dissertation examines academic adjustment experiences of Indian girls graduate students in the US, Dr. Carr found five common areas of academic adjustment. First is critical thinking. Second, the academic code of integrity. Third, in class participation, fourth, the approach to education, and finally, Student Instructor relationships.
In the next few sessions, we'll look at these areas and provide resources to help you prepare for studying in the US. India is significantly more teacher centered in its approach to education than the US. This is true of most Asian countries as well. The US is much more student centered. You'll see American values reflected in the American educational system as we look at various aspects of it. What do you call this book in India, it's often called a copybook.
In the US, it's most often called a composition book. Our first and second grade children are often taught to write stories using their imagination. It's not a problem if the words are misspelled. The important thing is that they're thinking and composing and becoming creative. In the teacher centered model of education, the teacher is shown as the person of respect and is the source of knowledge and of wisdom. student centered education approaches.
The teacher has greater knowledge, but is seen as a facilitator imparting information and directing students to resources that will help them form their own conclusions. Students are encouraged to use a variety Resources beyond the professor's lectures. Some classes may consist of student presentations with very few lectures given by the professor. most universities have excellent library facilities. Often students will be assigned articles to read from journals or books. And we'll be giving writing assignments to critique those articles.
There may also be surprised quizzes based upon the contents of the reading. In the teacher centered approach, questioning or disagreeing with the teacher is a sign of disrespect. In the student centered approach, questioning and disagreeing with the teacher shows interest in learning. I know this may be hard for you to believe but professors often give you a better grade. If you bring up alternative views on the subject you're discussing, even if you're disagreeing with them. Now there are some professors that have their minds made on certain issues, and don't want to be challenged, but for the most part various viewpoints are welcome.
If, and this is an important if, if you can logically defend your position, Americans are very analytical in their approach to education. Dr. Carr study concluded that critical thinking comprised one of the most significant areas of adaptation. All participants viewed the critical thinking approach required by graduate work as a new approach to which they had to adapt after coming to the United States, as they were used to more used to more rote learning, or memorization. Much of the American educational system is based upon Bloom's Taxonomy at the first level, memorizing or to remember is very important and then moving on to understanding, applying the learning, and then three areas of further analysis one, you actually analyze it, you evaluate it. And finally, you have creative learning and creative application that comes from it. We don't have time to give an in depth look at the taxonomy, but I've provided a link to a couple of resource pages.
And I would encourage you to spend some time learning about the analytical thinking used in American universities before you travel to the US. In the teacher centered approach, student's time will be used at attending lectures and committing to memory important information. In the student centered approach, students time will be used for independent study and research. And Indian students studying in America said, in India, students must spend more time in the classroom As compared to the United States, in the US, students don't have to rely solely on the instructors as they can go to the laboratories and use a number of other resources. participants had to get used to using facilities like the computer laboratories, the library, and other resources in addition to textbooks, and they had to learn not to be solely dependent on the instructors and textbooks for their learning. It will be important for you to manage your time.
In India time pressures come into play before major exams and at the end of the school term. At your us University time management will be important throughout the semester. There will be times throughout the semester, when you'll have to have a paper do an exam, a class project, all during the same week. There is no coordination between professors as to what assignments are due, even though you're in the same year with in the same major as a fellow student, you may have different electives and a very different schedule. You'll need to manage your time carefully in order to keep up with the assignments throughout the semester. If you're too relaxed thinking the project or paper isn't new for another month, you may find that you have a week to go and it's impossible to complete all of the assignments on time, or at least with the quality that you want.
Assessment and grading in the teacher centered approach is based upon exams at the end of the term from lecture notes and the assigned syllabus. assessment in the student centered approach is based upon a variety of criteria developed by the individual professor. It may include classroom discussions assigned readings projects, research papers and exams. assessment of a master thesis and a doctoral dissertations are done by a faculty committee. There will be no state or national exams for assessment. your grades will be determined by your professor.
It's important that you understand the expectations of your professor. It will be it will be important for you to take time during that first week to understand your professors requirements. If you have questions about assignments, talk to your professor. It may be hard to catch the professor after class. So you may need to make an appointment to talk to your professor. When writing papers or even in classroom discussions, professors do not want you to tell them everything that you know about the subject.
They're more interested In shorter papers, which follow the guidelines given and develop ideas Well, they are not interested in you giving a lot of background information, but rather presenting the problem. The word conciseness is important here. Americans prefer an inductive approach to education. Indians like much of your are more directive. One Indian student observed that Americans possess phenomenal practical knowledge while we possess phenomenal book knowledge. Aaron Meyer in her book, the culture map describes the difference between inductive and deductive methods of teaching.
Take a math class as an example. And of course, using the applications first method, you first learn the formula and practice applying it after seeing how this formula leads to the right answer. Again and again, you then move on to understand the concept or the principle underpinning it. This means you spend 80% of your time focused on the concrete tool and how to apply it another 20% of your time, considering its conceptual or theoretical explanation. school systems in Anglo Saxon countries tend to emphasize this method of teaching. By contrast, in principle first math classes, you first prove the general principle, only then use it to develop a concrete formula that can be applied to various problems.
As a French manager once told me, we had to calculate the value of pi as a class. Before we use PI in a formula. In this kind of math class, you'll spend 80% of your time focused on the concepts or theories underpinning the general mathematical principles, and only 20% of your time applying those principles to concrete problems. Americans prefer solving the problem and coming up with solutions. Rather than spending a lot of time on theories. We look for conciseness and simplicity, we want to know how does this relate to real life.
This kind of problem solving approach has a component of intuition to it. As you practice solving problems, you begin to get a sense of how to solve them without understanding all of the underlying theory. The inductive method commonly used in the US closely aligns with many of our other values. We don't want to spend time theorizing we are people of having With the desire to get things done, get them done fast. Another example from an interview by Aaron Meyer, in the UK, the learning was all about concept. Only after we struggled through the theoretical, did we get to the practical application, the US was exactly the opposite.
Even before I attended a class, I was already given a case study as pre work. An example of practical application. In the classroom, it was all about the three L's of leadership, the six C's of customer satisfaction. From moment one, we were immersed in practical solutions, and examples of how to apply the solutions. When you give a class presentation, you will need to focus on key findings and how you arrived at them. You'll need to Keep your presentation to the given time and concentrate on the essentials.
After you get used to the American academic environment, you will enjoy it. You will enjoy some of the variety. You may find it easier in some ways than the Indian system and in other ways more challenging. In our next session, we will look more closely at your professors expectations.