As part of my New Year's trip to India, I spent a day at a Government K-12 school in Bangalore. Half of
India's urban children are educated in Government schools, which are
remarkably similar to US urban public schools - strong teacher's union, lower
teacher qualifications, worn out facilities, lighter curriculum, lower
academic attainment and little parental involvement. Indian private schools are substantially better in every respect.
The key difference between India's urban schools and America's
would be the children - these Indian children come from the slums of
Bangalore yet all are in clean simple uniforms. Most work 2-3 hours (as
laborers) before school and 2-3 hours after school. The school is a good bit
rowdier than a private school but when I walked in the classroom every
child jumped to attention and said "good day, sir."
Their English is dramatically worse than the English of private school students of the same age because all classes except English are taught in the local language.
Oh, and when asked what they want to be when they grow up - fully one-half want to be doctors - "to help the sick people where I live" and one-third want to be software engineers. Of course, given a choice, all the boys wanted to be professional cricket players!
If I had to decide between sending my child to an urban US school or an urban Indian school - I'd have to pick India. It is decidedly not a very good education, but the US alternative is a clear second.