July 6, 2007 - New Delhi, India

"When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."
~John F. Kennedy

The purpose of the Fulbright-Hayes program is to provide U.S. educators the opportunities to learn from the Indian Educational System. Currently, some of the top CEO's in the world are native Indians, for examples at IT (Computer Technology) and Commerce (Financial Institution). It has become apparent that this strive for success and importance placed on education is societal and cultural. Students are expected to be great, respect their teachers, and eventually take care of their families.

The Hindi Goddess of education and culture, Saraswati (my namesake), is a reincarnate of a deity for the poor. For hundred's of years, Indian's have believed the only way to move higher in societal rank is through education.

This experience has made me analyze how the US measures up and our ranking as one of the worst education systems in the world. However, it has become clear that we are the only system in the world that educates ALL students. In Germany, students have to pick a career track by the age of 12 and challenged learners are "weeded" out at an early age. Therefore, India and most other countries will never surpass the "worst education system in the world" in producing an over enveloping population of people (arts, sciences, leaders, etc.) due to the fact we educate ALL.