College, Calculus, and Other Crazy Things I Was Not Prepared For

     I had grown quite accustomed to the academic system in Vermont. I came to school wearing street clothes, I sat at big round tables, I called certain teachers by their last names, sometimes dropping the, “Ms.” or “Mr.”, and I was used to the casual conversational environment that was in place. When I thought of school, carts full of laptops and classrooms with projectors came to my mind, as did muraled walls, musical instruments, and red cafeteria trays. This was all I knew, but when I arrived in India, I found something completely different.

                        

     I have speamt the last six months enrolled in K.T.H.M. College, Nashik. Yes, college. In India, after you turn 15, high school is behind you. At that point, children are expected to have decided upon their career, enroll in either a Science, Commerce, or Arts college depending on that career, and then work hard towards achieving high marks and completing a degree. I am one of the students of K.T.H.M.’s “Dilligent Batch 1” in the science stream. This means I am expected to attend college from 8-4 six days a week, and even for five hours on Sunday. Each week a Dilligent Batch student has about 10 hours a week of Math, 7 hours of Chemistry, 8 hours of Physics, 3-6 hours a week of other subjects like Geography, Biology, and languages. To top it off, there are weekly exams. Needless to say, the Dilligent Batch classrooms buzz with competition, devotion, and stress.
    My average school day begins with me rushing into room 316 just before the 8 o’clock bell rings. There, 70 Indian teenagers clad in baby blue uniforms have already been waiting for at least 20 minutes, copying each other’s homework, studying from their three pound textbooks, or even napping against the shoulder of their seatmate despite the noise.
    When the bell sounds, the chaos abruptly ends as if turned off by a switch. Everyone wakes up, Everyone stashes their books. They tidy their uniform and in no time, they are sitting, pen in hand, with a rigid back and focused eyes. 

     The teacher enters the room and we students spring to our feet. In robotic unison we say, “Goodmorning Sir“ and plop back down into our metal desks where we sit two to a bench.
     The sir writes forcefully on the board. He writes so hard that the chalk snaps in half multiple times per class. The sir lectures in am mixture of the local language Marathi, the national language Hindi, and English. And so goes the hour long block. Pens scribble, chalk clicks, students whisper, the sir yells. Occasionally a kid will doze off, and wake up as a piece of chalk, thrown by the lecturer, bounces off their head and the entire class exuberantly laughs.
      The classroom vibe is high energy and very changeable. One moment my peers will be frantically scrawling notes in focused, respectful silence. A moments later they may be uproariously laughing at a fellow classmate who has failed to memorize the proper order of the elements on the table. Before you know it, they’re already back to taking notes. The dedication to learn and desire to succeed is clear in every line every student writes in their immaculate handwriting.

     The differences between the education systems of America and India are too numerous to count. In my experience I have found the American education system to value creativity and exploration, and strives to provide students with a well rounded collection of knowledge . In India, the education system cultivated precision and competition within the students, with the end goal being success and expertise.
     I cannot say one is better than the other, but I will say that Louisa Funk and eight hours of science aren’t exactly a dream team. However, there are aspects of the K.T.H.M. experience that I thoroughly enjoy. I really like my math teacher, because he once said to me, “you do not have a strong sense of how to solve calculus problems, but you have a strong sense of how to live.” And because he lets me journal during his lectures. I love that there are swears written all over the walls and formulas written on the desks. I also love that although English is my mother tongue, I often have to cheat of my trilingual classmates during exams because I don’t know grammar terminology.
      Mostly I love how dedicated to learning my classmates are. It is so easy to treat school as a chore or an annoyance, but everyday when I sit in a room full of kids who have traded on their Sundays and sacrificed sleeping late for their educational gain, I remember how important school is. I’m my time in the Indian school system I have been inspired by the dedication of those around me. I have learned more about hard work (and much more about science) then I have ever known before.