Craze among Indian students to go abroad
There is a craze among Indian students to go abroad for their higher studies. It is probably due to reasons like better opportunities and lifestyle. But they do not realise that this could turn out to be a one-way street.
IT IS a fact that the ultimate aim of most Indian students is to go abroad for higher studies. I have never understood this craze. It is probably due to a variety of reasons. This craze starts right from the beginning when they first start thinking about higher studies and a career.
Most parents I know would love to see their children studying abroad and finally settling there. They do not realise that this is a one-way street and that their child could well be lost forever. There are many complications to the motivation of parents who want to send their children abroad. India is unfortunate in the sense that a majority of our educated citizens feel that there is no future in our country. Thus they psyche their children into believing that the best thing they can do is to go to the United States of America, United Kingdom, Singapore, etc. Children are quite malleable in their younger years, and they readily accept this outlook. Thus, this craze for going abroad gets ingrained in their thinking.
It is surprising that many teachers and tutors also put a high premium on their students going abroad. Teachers make statements like: "The good students usually go to foreign universities for further studies" or "You are such a good student, you must sit for the SAT or other similar examinations and go abroad to finish your studies". Children generally accept what their teachers say and thus take such statements at face value.
In general, Indian society gives high regard to a person who has studied or is working abroad. The tags 'NRI', 'foreign returned', 'green card holder' etc, are held in high esteem in our country. Even in the marriage market these tags are valuable!
With this sort of mentality, it is not surprising that our children dream of going abroad for higher studies, jobs, etc, little realising the pitfalls that they have to face.
There are no statistics available on the success rate of students going abroad for their studies. But indications are that many of them falter along the way. Some of them fall prey to the negative aspects of Western lifestyle and take the familiar path towards alchoholism and drugs. Some of them cannot take the intense pressure of multinational competition and settle for lesser degrees and sub-standard jobs. Obviously a good number do come out with flying colours.
Studying and working abroad is no piece of cake. We are all witness to the racial hatred towards Indian students in so-called developed countries such as Australia, UK, Canada and the USA. Indian workers have quietly borne the brunt of racial animosity in these countries for many years.
I have no issues at all with students pursuing their studies abroad and settling down for good in the country of their choice. What I find distasteful is the absolute craze and the eagerness to go abroad, anywhere as long as it is out of the country.
My request to parents, teachers, students and others who may have a say in these matters: Please do not demean our great country by being in such a rush to get out. The Indian education system is still one of the best in the world, and India is still a great country to live in. Think about it.
It is surprising that many teachers and tutors also put a high premium on their students going abroad. Teachers make statements like: "The good students usually go to foreign universities for further studies" or "You are such a good student, you must sit for the SAT or other similar examinations and go abroad to finish your studies". Children generally accept what their teachers say and thus take such statements at face value.
In general, Indian society gives high regard to a person who has studied or is working abroad. The tags 'NRI', 'foreign returned', 'green card holder' etc, are held in high esteem in our country. Even in the marriage market these tags are valuable!
With this sort of mentality, it is not surprising that our children dream of going abroad for higher studies, jobs, etc, little realising the pitfalls that they have to face.
There are no statistics available on the success rate of students going abroad for their studies. But indications are that many of them falter along the way. Some of them fall prey to the negative aspects of Western lifestyle and take the familiar path towards alchoholism and drugs. Some of them cannot take the intense pressure of multinational competition and settle for lesser degrees and sub-standard jobs. Obviously a good number do come out with flying colours.
Studying and working abroad is no piece of cake. We are all witness to the racial hatred towards Indian students in so-called developed countries such as Australia, UK, Canada and the USA. Indian workers have quietly borne the brunt of racial animosity in these countries for many years.
I have no issues at all with students pursuing their studies abroad and settling down for good in the country of their choice. What I find distasteful is the absolute craze and the eagerness to go abroad, anywhere as long as it is out of the country.
My request to parents, teachers, students and others who may have a say in these matters: Please do not demean our great country by being in such a rush to get out. The Indian education system is still one of the best in the world, and India is still a great country to live in. Think about it.
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radhika
I accept the fact that India is a great country. But can u get me the aswers for these questions?
1. what you say for the quotos they allot for higher education seats?
2. What you say about the recommemdation letters which plays a role in getting a job or seat in any insititution rather then merits?
3. What you say about corruption (those who get money to give saets)
4. What you say about the ambience in this country (cleanliness and many factors)
5.What you say about the politics involved in the educational universities?
6. What you expect after completing a degree with a high population rate that we get a white collared job matching our profile?
7.May be IITs and IISC's may give world class education but the competition and the quota system to get in there..only highly talented can enter and who are having 96% , 95% or even 90%..where they will go...beyond iit and iisc get the world ranking universities in india...so why not they take the oppurtunity of going abroad if they get seats there..?instead facing all the above crucial problems...racism is better...we can manage...
Rama
If you want to immigrate after you have gone abroad for studies, your motives will be false. And people with false motives are considered second class citizens. Unfortunately people misuse the esteem placed on educated people when they are allowed to study abroad. It is like a World Cup player who goes to France for a match and decides to settle down with a job instead of returning with his squad to his home country.
Rahul More
I think Author might have never got any opportunity to go abroad. So he is telling all this things to us.
Ask him if he is given a green card of US, will he stay in India ?
tousif
i think ashish is right,
i also thing education of abord is better than india,
you get a gud education then you r free to go any where you may come to india also
rahul bajaj ex student of harvard but he is in india.
lakshami mittal ex student of india he is in u.k.lots of examples.........you better know
Ashish
you have written a very nice article..and i think you trying to pin point the negative aspects of studying aroad..falling prey to drugs and alcohol is even in india also...it doesnt matter what you think...Mass thinking is always on winning hands in India.what you say is really very true..but you cannot do any thing with it...one article can never make gen-X to give up...education abroad is no doubt much better than india. In india only few IIM and IITs r there...where will rest of us vll go...according to you i think..NOWHERE..so I think its not about 1 country..not about ones career..and habbits.its about SUCCESS after all..its the fault of our government who throw trillions of money for wars..missiles rather than encouraging new tallent and education...
Anik Biswas
Very true.More important to note here,are the scholarships which are laid out by Indian Foundations that pay the kids to study abroad for 2 or more years.Its highly painful to see how much money these trusts spend upon individual kids,by tagging as charity.Charity they say,begins at home.Charity is what lies in the greater good of the nation.In educating the poor,in providing money to establish schools for the poor and merited students who deserve more attention than they get in the country.
It is highly painful when the government does not take sufficient steps to ban these plans of the so-called visionary founders which are highly detrimental to the progress of the country in bulk.
Natteri Adigal
The question of India's standard of education is an irrelevant here. Honestly, going for 'higher education' is a white lie. In most cases, the magnet is the employment of opportunities and standard of LIVING if they succeed in settling. That is the reason why parents are willing to pay a fortune for funny degrees in subjects like hair care, fabric maintenance, graphic design, commercial cookery etc, which are offered by vocational training institutes in India after short term courses of a couple of months. Was it not the case with MK Gandhi, the great swadeshi protagonist, to study law? To dissuade a youngster who gets an opportunity (forget about those with resource constraint - monetary or academic) lecturing about the once-great country is a great disservice.
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