Veda and Kartik Shastri, two students of the Lexington school system, went to India for a whole school year to experience the differences in the teaching methods. They were both born here in the US and although they occasionally went back to India for a vacation, this time was different. I interviewed them to find out about their adventures in the capital city of the subcontinent, New Delhi.

Why did you go to India?
Veda: I went to India because my parents wanted to have us experience living there, and also my mother was doing a research project there.
Kartik: Yeah, but it wasn't surprising because we had discussed the idea before.

When did you leave?
Veda: I think the exact date is June 28th, 2001, about a week after school let out.

When did you start school?
Veda: My brother started school on July 2nd and I started school I think on July 9th or something like that.

Did you enjoy the trip?
Veda: Yes, it was a great learning experience and I had a lot of fun as well. I especially liked the dance classes.
Kartik: Yes, it was a lot of fun and it was nice to stay with relatives and get to know them a lot better than we usually did when we went for a vacation in India.

What schools did you go to?
Veda: I went to a relatively new school, the Sanskriti School in Delhi which was a school for many children whose parents were in the Foreign Service.
Kartik: I went to Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (Which was also my father's school.) It was very different from Veda's school because it was normal school, not for kids whose parents were in the Foreign Service.

What was the best thing about the schools?
Veda: I liked the fact that everyone was Indian and I could talk about Hindi films, music, culture etc., to anyone around.
Kartik: I liked the canteen and everybody was really nice.

What was the worst?
Veda: The worst part was that it got boring at times because one was in the same class with the same group of friends the whole day, and teachers came in to our respective classrooms to teach us.
Kartik: Sometimes it was slightly hard to relate to them (the kids) because the way we grow up here is very different from the way people grow up there. But in the schools, I have to admit that the bathrooms could definitely have used some cleaning and it would have been nice if they had been better at basketball.

What did you learn?
Veda: Well, for science I had to take Biology, Physics AND Chemistry. For Social Studies I took Geography, History and Civics. Then of course I had to take Math and English, and the hardest...Hindi! I also took French.
Kartik: Well, I had to take everything Veda took except for French. I took Sanskrit and Tamil instead.

Compare and contrast your school with the school you go to here. Was the material covered at a higher level then schools here?
Veda: It depends on the subject…for example…Math and Science were definitely at a higher level at my school, while English is at a much higher level here.
Kartik: Well, it was a bit different at my school. I think everything was at the same standard pretty much.

Were the teaching methods very different?
Veda: Well, I suppose it was less interactive there, and the methods might be thought a bit boring, but it wasn't as bad as it is made to sound.
Kartik: There was more of a focus on the facts there while here people want you to analyze the concepts and facts aren't made to be memorized. There's a lot more memorization there. Very few teachers here ask you to memorize poems every week. The class sizes are much larger as well.

Tests/ exams/ essays/ projects?
Veda: Well, there were weekly unit test which were a pain to study for, and DID count a bit on your grades and report card. Of course there were midterm exams and final exams which counted much more, because if you didn't pass them, you would not be promoted to the next grade! There were a fair amount of projects and they were quite creative and interesting.
Kartik: The weird thing was that when you do a research project, it's perfectly acceptable to copy from the textbook in India. Everybody does it and the teachers don't care. In fact, they (teachers) encourage it.

Did the teachers teach well? How were they alike/ different from here?
Veda: The teachers taught well in the way they are supposed to in the system there, and the way in which they were told to, taught too. No, there wasn't any corporal punishment!
Kartik: Well, the teachers tend to be a little less open minded then they are here and they tell you what to think and what opinions you're supposed to have, but I have to admit that I learned much more there than I do here.

Were the students any different?
Veda: Yes, I think there were less social groups and cliques, and people were a lot friendlier to everyone.
Kartik: People are brought up differently so they will be different.

What extracurricular activities did you do while you were there?
Veda: I took dance Classical Indian Dance- Odissi, 3 times a week! In school I also took drama, art and gym of course!
Kartik: I was on the cricket team in school and I took tennis lessons outside of school.

Did you learn any valuable lessons for life that you can share with us while you were there?
Veda: I'll get back to you on that!
Kartik: Well, at first, we thought adjusting would be really hard, but it wasn't too bad. In fact, we had a lot of fun and we learned a lot. So I guess you shouldn't be afraid of trying new things, even new school systems.

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