An Analysis of Cultural Dimension in Indian Education： From the Perspective of Film 3Idiots

【Abstract】Education， as an embodiment of national all-round strength， is an indispensable part of one unique culture. Up to now， there are plenty of documents about cultural studies. Many of them focus on western culture and cross-culture on the basis of Hofstede cultural dimensions. This thesis will focus on the Indian education and pay more attention to its masculinity with the help of the film 3Idiots. The findings show that Indian education reveals a kind of masculinity. In the meantime， there are some reflections and suggests on educations.

【Key Words】Education， Masculinity， 3Idiots

1. Overview of Hofstede Cultural Dimension （Masculinity vs. Femininity）

Culture is defined as the entire sum total of beliefs and social behavior. As a relatively independent social phenomenon， education is influenced most by culture among all the other social phenomena which education relies on. In order to have a clear and better understanding of India， it is a helpful way for us to concentrate on Indian education， which also elaborates masculinity from the perspective of the film 3Idiots.

The dimension for masculinity and femininity measures how goals of men and women differ from each other in different cultures. Although the only absolute physical difference between women and men is that women bear children and men beget children， different cultures view this difference from different perspectives. In masculine cultures men are expected to be dominant in the society and to show quality of ambition， assertiveness， achievement， strength， competitiveness， and material acquisition； thus， the communication styles are more aggressive. In male-dominated cultures women are expected to play the nurturing role.

2. Analysis

According to Hofstede’s study， India ranks 20 on masculinity respectively from 50 countries and three regions. These data probably implicate that India emphasizes norms， right of speech， authority etc. This chapter will fit into masculinity/femininity and analysis them according to an Indian film 3Idiots.

Masculinity in Indian education

In the film 3Idiots， the most impressive clip is Dr. Virus speech to all of the freshmen. Dr. Virus was the director of ICE， students called him Virus， computer Virus. At the beginning of the film， he gave a speech to the freshmen to order them pay attention to their studies and to win a pen which symbolize elite.

Dr. Virus： “what is this？”

Student： “Sir， nest” “a Koel bird’s nest， sir”

Dr. Virus： “wrong. A Koel bird never makes her own nest. She lays her eggs in other nests. And when they hatch， what do they do？” “they push the other eggs out of the nest. Competition over. Their life begins with murder. That’s nature. Compete or die. You also are like the Koel birds. And these are the eggs you smashed to get into ICE. Don’t forget， ICE gets 400，000 applications a year and only 200 are selected： You； my son… he tried for three years. Rejected. Every time. Remember， life is a race. If you don’t run fast， you’ll get trampled”

From this dialogue， Dr. Virus sent a powerful message to those freshmen. He used nest and eggs to symbolize the society and the students. Dr. Virus said” compete or die”， these two words form a strongly demarcated contrast to us. This implicates that if you are not willing to compete， you will be abandoned by the society and if you can not become somebody， you are nobody builds， to the society， you just like a dead person. Even though you entered into the university with a perfect grade， you are still a loser if you won’t work hard. It follows that India has masculine educational system. There are fierce competitions among students， just like Farhan said in the film that from birth they were taught – Life is a race. Even to be born， one had to race 300 million sperms. It is obvious that the competition in India is so relentless. In order to enter the NO.1 institution in India， students work form dawn to night， they get up at half past four in the morning to go to the training school， after that they go to their real school and go to the training school again after class（桑迪潘·德布，2010）. This kind of competition makes Dr. Virus can’t stand lagging behind others even it has something to do with riding， and it also makes Chatur hate others just for ranking the second in scores. Excessive emphasis on academic performance leads to greater competition. Competition brings too much pressure to students， this is the reason that India has a high rate in suicide especially among students almost every 90 minutes， a student attempts suicide. A wise man once said， learning is to improve your life rather than enjoying life， the success will inadvertently catch up with you when you pursue excellence. Learning is to apply， so figuring out the goal of education and student can make Indian education more humanized and perfect.

3. Conclusion

From the above discussion we may conclude that masculinity exists in Indian education. In the process of analysis the film’s clips， this dimension is more obvious for us to recognize. In Indian education， students always live in a high competitive situation， they are forced to compete with others. However， the education mode is not such excellent， India holds a cramming teaching mode， students is requested to remember what is written on the textbooks. It is obvious that Indian education is hidebound， students’ creativities are restricted. Students are only taught to get high scores and good jobs. In terms of those problems， it is essential for India to change its education system. Only in this way can Indian education be an elite mode.

【References】

[1]Fred E. Jandt（2007）， An Introduction to Intercultural Communication Identities in a global community， Saga Publications， Inc.

[2]Hofstede.G.（1991）， Cultures and Organizations： Software of the Mind， McGraw-Hill，London.

[3]桑迪潘·德布.印度理工學院的精英們[M].北京大學出版社，2010.