They're Rounding the First Turn! And the Favorite Is . . .
One of India's (and China's) greatest strengths is its hunger for education. Most American newspapers lure readers with comics, and some British tabloids with photos of topless women, but a Calcutta daily newspaper is so shameless that it publishes a column on math equations. Imagine titillating readers with trigonometry!
I visited the ramshackle Hasi Khusi Kindergarten and Primary School in a poor area of Calcutta, where most of the pupils' parents are illiterate street vendors, rickshaw drivers or laborers. Out of an average family income of $23 a month, the parents pay a one-time fee of $13 for registration and then $2.30 a month.
"What they didn't get, their children must get," explained the principal, Sampa Sarkar. Even kindergartners study English, Bengali, math, art and music - and do 30 minutes of homework. Private schools like this one are booming all across the country.
They're Rounding the First Turn! And the Favorite Is . . .
CALCUTTA
The great race of the 21st century is under way between China and India to see which will be the leading power in the world in the year 2100.
President Bush's trip to India next month is important, for we in America must brace ourselves to see not only China looming in our rear-view mirror, but eventually India as well. India was the world's great disappointment of the 20th century, but now it's moving jerkily forward with economic reforms, reminding me of China around 1990.
One of India's (and China's) greatest strengths is its hunger for education. Most American newspapers lure readers with comics, and some British tabloids with photos of topless women, but a Calcutta daily newspaper is so shameless that it publishes a column on math equations. Imagine titillating readers with trigonometry! ...
posted by Whitney Tilson at 12:25 PM
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