Indian Academics

I know this goes against the intention of this blog, but this post won't actually have any pictures with it. I tried thinking of how I could show it, but given the nature of the topic, I don't think it is possible. It is a very important one, though, because it has to do with our classes as students studying abroad. Basically, Indian classrooms are not structured like United States classrooms in regards to the teacher student relationship. In the United States, classes are normally very discussion-based, require critical thinking and participation and insights from the students. In order for it to be a successful environment, anyway. In India, it is almost the opposite. A well-presented class will be one where the teacher enters, lectures, and then leaves. Perhaps the professor will hang after for one-on-one interactions, but largely Indian professors are not used to leaving time for discussion during class.

Our program staff has worked very hard in training the professors who teach our classes to adapt to the style we are used to. To be fair, the effort is definitely there and in some professors I find their efforts to be very successful. However, other professors don't quite get it right all the time. Because we have to cover a semester's worth of material in 8 weeks, our classes are anywhere between 1.5-2 hours long. If the teacher is lecturing the whole time, which happens unfortunately kind of often, it becomes very hard to pay attention. Any college student reading this will understand this feeling--everyone's had a class like this before. The problem is that while in the States that teaching style would be considered bad, here it is normal. Therefore, the professor doesn't realize when we get frustrated and disengage or why. Many times, the professors won't wait for us to finish our thoughts when they do open up for questions or comments. They try to interpret what we are saying before we are done saying it, and then things become miscontrued. Also, our accents are difficult for the professors to understand, which doesn't help. And when I say the professors don't always realize it, I mean it. After what possibly was the worst class as far as the frustration/disengagment level goes, the professor of that class told our program director that we were the best bunch of students he has had yet.

This is a different academic culture, and this and the rest of this weeks situations are meant to shed light on those differences, not overly criticize or complain about them. This won't be the "Why India sucks" week. So for every post, I am going to offer a coping method either I or other students have used for that given situation.

Coping Method: Our program director is absolutely wonderful. This week, we had a very timely group meeting to make sure everything was going alright. A "re-orientation" of sorts. The staff must know this is the time where culture shock makes things difficult. We discussed our frustrations about the classes with our director. She is going to have a discussion with some of the professors about our comments. In the classroom, we haven't given up. Or at least I haven't. I appreciate that the professors are taking time to teach us because they are so distinguished in their fields. With some patience and cooperation, I think this cultural hiccup can soon pass.