[110011]

This is a pretty inane article for placing too much emphasis on a stupid gimmick like anti-suicide ceiling fans, when the underlying issue is a serious mental health issue of extraordinarily stressed students.

I'm Indian and I remember the summer of my 12th grade exams back in 2007 just like yesterday because of some latent awareness that something very important is happening here. I sat in so many exams that summer. First was the CBSE boards aka AISSCE (which was the all-important failsafe), then AIEEE (for admission to the NITs), then BITSAT (for admission to BITS), and finally the IITJEE (for admission to the IITs). All these exams are fairly long, and you compete at the national level.

Already back then the competition was fierce with kids enrolling in tuition centers half a decade even before their first attempt at any of these exams (it was quite common for people to try a few times). I could write a very long essay about the depth of preparation that goes into attempting these exams. It is quite natural that the competitive pressures has worsened over the years with students attempting to out-prepare one another by even bigger margins.

In a country so huge, of course not all students attempt this route, but landing a seat in the small list of prestigious institutions is the only ticket to a good career in India for the most part. This is not unlike American students who take AP level courses, demonstrate exceptional talent in sports or music, or volunteer their time in different ways to stand out in the application process at one of the big name schools. So in that sense, this is describing a very relatable struggle among students across nations, though the means are substantially different.

[chongli]

the underlying issue is a serious mental health issue of extraordinarily stressed students

The underlying issue is that billions of people around the world are being squeezed through an ever shrinking funnel in a desperate attempt to escape poverty. The pressure continues to build, year over year. Looking at it as a "mental health" problem is only one less level removed from the source than looking at it as a "ceiling fan" problem.

[110011]

The people referenced in the article, who attend several years specialized coaching preparing for these exams, paying large sums of money in the process, are hardly doing so in "a desperate attempt to escape poverty."

They are simply trying to prepare better than the competition.

Also you seem to get wrong some basic facts about how well the global economy is providing for and improving the state of people around the world. There are no billions that are attempting to escape poverty in the light of some shrinking funnel.

[stale2002]

I reject your claim that opportunities are "shinking".

The actual facts show that the world is better than it ever has been in history, and there are more opportunities than ever.

We still have a ways to go to solve all of the world's problems, but we should be proud of how quickly things are getting better, and not worse.

[truculation]

>stupid gimmick like anti-suicide ceiling fan

Yep. It matters less apparently if millions of people wander around feeling suicidal as long as they don't actually commit suicide. For what? So we can pick candidates for the professions more efficiently.

[parthdesai]

I did my grade 10 in 2009 and grade 12 in 2011, giving CBSE board exams as well. Holy hell, i remember those two years as pure torture. My day looked something like this,

Go to school at 6:30 ( didn't give much attention in classes), come home at 2:30, go to tuition from 4 to 9, come home, have dinner and then be forced to "study". Looking back, i still don't know how i survived that.

Contrast that to my undergrad in Canada where it was fun to study and do assignments.

[pvelagal]

Problems that are clearly evident :

- Ridiculously redundant number of tests : AIEEE, BITSAT, IITJEE, AIIMS MBBS, JIPMER MBBS, EAMCET/KCET/KEAM/TNEA (state level entrance tests in south india).

- Lack of common syllabus, common books : When every student's ultimate goal is to become a good engineer or a doctor , why so much disparity in the syllabus being taught in various high schools.

Sheer stupidity !

[praneshp]

Hahaha, 2007 here too! I also felt really uneasy in December 2006 about where I was, so I wrote entrance examinations to a bunch of third rate colleges as well (VIT, Amrita, Manipal, etc)

[notyourday]

> This is a pretty inane article for placing too much emphasis on a stupid gimmick like anti-suicide ceiling fans, when the underlying issue is a serious mental health issue of extraordinarily stressed students.

That's what happens when a nation of over a billion people has only a few hundred thousand spots on a top. It is insane competition. Wired is writing about it because this level of competition is absolutely foreign to the last few generations of westerners.

It is a norm for India, China or Russia. And these are the people who will be competing with us in 10-20 years.

[Retric]

India is seeing very rapid per capita GDP growth. So, while the number of top economic spots is limited the range of 'acceptable' is expanding fairly quickly.

However, exams like this are still stressful in Japan where high standards of living are far more accessible. Which suggests it's more about importance and being zero sum that's the core issue.