I'm not sure if my reply had any conclusions, but if it did, it is only that the difference in (supposed) quality of IITs vs. local colleges is atrocious, and this needs to rectified ASAP. However, it is important to remember this quality of education is merely a crutch, and it is completely up to the student on how he/she makes use of it. There are certainly many cases of students going way beyond what their peers have accomplished (best case in point: that whole Scoble/Yuvi Panda thing)

> a) There are colleges beyond IIT and REC and no they are not all bad

yes, but atleast in Bangalore, there's a nauseous culture of "IIT or nothing", supported mainly by BASE/FIITJEE and all those schools in Kota. It was very difficult for me to get out of it - if anything, it's gotten even worse since I left five years ago. I feel sorry for my cousins who are in their 8th grade now, and already being forced to go to a pre-JEE training (which, inevitably, will start as soon as they finish their 10th grade board exams. A training for a training for an examination that will then start their training? What kind of Alice in Wonderland crap is this?)

My parents are both professors at a certain well-known MBA factory in Bangalore, and trust me, the education system is worse than it looks. My mom was recently forced to use pencils when correcting examination papers (for the obvious reason), and my dad regularly complains about how he is forced to dumb down papers every semester or risk getting fired. Agreed, this is all anecdotal evidence, but it is damning nonetheless.