Regarding the Dec. 28 article "More parents send kids to Indian, Chinese schools": This would perhaps be very encouraging news to the Indian community in Japan and to Indians in general. But I am only in partial agreement with the views of Little Angels International School founder Angelina Jeevarani. While the Indian school may develop an individual student's leadership skills — perhaps by encouraging curiosity to prevail over curriculum — that should not be the reason to join the school or to start an Indian school for Japanese students.
More than 20 years ago a famous Japanese industrialist in Pune, India, was asked the difference between the Indian and Japanese workforces. He said Japanese workers acted collectively when decisions were made just as Japanese rice sticks together when cooked and can be eaten with chopsticks. Indian workers, he said, were like Indian rice, which is separated even when the best-quality basmati rice is cooked. You simply have too many leaders and no group decisions, he said.
I think it's a great quote that is applicable even today to Indian education, politics, economics, industry and each part of Indian social and public behavior. Thus the article should have been more clear about why Japanese children should want to be admitted to an Indian school. I tend to disagree with the reasons cited. Group behavior has certainly been beneficial to the Japanese community.