Introductions, Classroom agendas

[Roopsha Samanta]

About me:
Hi. I am Roopsha Samanta. I am working towards my PhD at UT, Austin in formal methods, an area in theoretical computer science. I have been interested in a career in academia for as long as I can remember. I believe that's where I will end up.

I grew up in a colony of scientists and engineers working for Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Mumbai. Needless to say, the atmosphere in my schools, the Atomic Energy Central Schools located witin the colony, was highly competitive. It was crowded with multi-talented "super-achievers", goaded on by their over-enthusiastic parents. Inspite of their varied interests and talents, most of the kids ended up (and still do) as engineers and perhaps doctors. And I suspect they lead pretty uninspired lives. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as it is a conscious decision. I very much doubt it is so. I do believe that, in comparison with other schools, a significant fraction of these kids is familiar with critical thinking to a large extent. They may not always think of different career choices, but they are typically very smart, curious and perceptive. And they do ask a lot of questions!

I want to go back to my schools and find for myself what this fraction really is. I see a lot of potential in this select group of kids, and would definitely want them to be appreciative of their opportunities and talents, and aware of their decisions.
The feedback I receive would help me drive my focus in the future. Ultimately, I do want to reach out to under-privileged kids in both urban and rural spheres.

===============

I have an idea about how I might want to conduct some of my sessions. This design is primarily motivated to test the waters. In my initial sessions, I only wish to estimate how many students are able to ask independent and imaginative questions. Let me play out a sketch of my plan for you.

======

Me (Walk up to the blackboard and erase it. Place a big ? right in the center):
Hi. I am Roopsha. I used to be a student here a long time back. I am not going to tell you anything else about myself just yet. I want to play a little game with you. I want you to ask me questions and get to know me. You can ask me anything you want. Ask me basic facts about myself. Ask me about my opinions. Ask me about my likes and dislikes. Ask me something unexpected. Ask me something unusual. Ask me something that I may not have known about myself. Surprise me with your questions. Your goal is to try and figure out my personality, and probably help me do so too.
Do you want a little demo of the game?

Clueless kids: Yes, please.

Me: Alright. You, on the second bench there. Will you volunteer?
Kid (sheepishly): Huh?
Me: What's your name?
Kid: Avani
Me: Hi Avani. How has your day been so far?
Avani: Ok, I guess.
Me: Did you do anything out of the ordinary today?
Avani: No...
Me: This week?
Avani (shakes her head)
Me: Alright. That's okay. So, what's your favourite color?
Avani: Red.
Me: That's a strong color! Do you like red skirts?
Avani: Yes...
Me: Do you like red cars?
Avani: Yes. But I like black ones better.
Me: What about walls in homes? Do you like red walls? Black walls?
Avani: No...I like yellow walls.
Me: Alright. So I have now met Avani, who likes red skirts, black cars and yellow walls, and is wondering what really is her
       favourite color. She is probably thinking if that was a well-defined question in the first place.
       Are you ready to ask me questions now?

Kids (chorus): Yes

======

The demo needs to capture the kids' interest right on. It will obviously depend on the answers we get from the kids, but we need to try and follow up their answers with unusual, imaginative questions. In the above illustration, I was unable to do anything with the first couple of Avani's responses, but was able to do more with the latter ones.
 
I would expect the kids to ask me some of the usual questions. What did I do after school? Who was my favourite teacher in school? What do I want to do in future? Will I stay on in the U.S.? What is my research about? What are my hobbies? And so on. These should cover what my introduction would have been without the questions. If I manage to steer the questions in interesting directions with my answers, I could also get deeper, more perceptive questions. Someone might ask why is my research important? What do I like to read? How does it feel to be away from home? Do I stay in touch with news back home? Do Americans support the wars their government wages? Why do I like ...? And so on.

I would end by asking someone to summarize what they have learnt about me, or do it myself. I would also categorize their questions into various types - those whose answers are facts, opinions, unknown etc, and summarize the general approach they took to "unravel" me. I would encourage them to extend the same approach to whatever they can find in their lives. Why does a car need a clutch? Should women change their surnames after marriage? Does capital punishment make sense? What makes poetry different from prose? There is always an ugly heap of trash in front of ... what can be done to clear it up and not let it build up again? Is this an unbiased, well founded news article, or is it an opinion piece?

Some answers will involve facts or scientific explanations and can be found in books or on the internet. Others, like  opinions, need to be developed through thought, discussion and a series of questions. As long as one can justify an
opinion, it counts.

Bottomline:
Begin with a clean slate and question everything. And try and look for logical answers yourself.

==================

I like this approach because it is interactive and we can encourage the kids to ask interesting questions. Through this exercise, we can give them a glimpse of what the process of critical thinking involves - developing a logical sequence of questions and summarizing the answers in a cohesive manner. It, obviously, doesn't show them how to find the answers in general. And that's something we could talk about in the end. Finally, this approach will obviously help me judge how creative these kids are and help me plan my future sessions.

What do you all think?

[Anshul Kundaje]

Hi Roopsha,

 

Firstly, thanks for the write up. Your ideas look great.

 

Just a few comments and questions.

 

I very much like your ideas on how to get the kids engaged in conversation. But my main question is regarding the age group you are targeting. I got the feeling you were targeting younger kids (say Class 4-6?).

 

I think my point is (and probably you guys have already thought about this) that each of us will need to make sure we talk to the kids at their level. If we get too basic, they might find us patronizing and if its too abstract or advanced, we will just bore them to death. That’s probably just something for all of us to keep in mind.

 

Thanks,

Anshul.

[Vijay]

that is certainly a valid point, anshul; we need to tailor our talks
to make sure we are communicating on the right wavelength. it gets a
little complicated when we realise that different people in the same
class might engage at different wavelengths, so it's key to have a
little for everyone in the talk. nobody is going to listen to every
single thing that we say, in any case.

our talk is not like a film that is playing out in a dark room to a
captive audience; we're more like a one-man street theatre show. but
if we can electrify some of our audience members, no doubt they will
talk amongst themselves; hopefully we are capable of putting up a more
engaging performance than at least a few of the regular teachers, if
not all.

about the kind of questions to throw out in class -- i think, yes,
these questions might be targeted at a slightly younger audience, as
anshul pointed out; roopsha has nevertheless done a very good job with
kick-starting the debate. what kind of questions would you ask in a
tenth standard classroom situation, anshul? and what about the others,
what do you think?

--------------------------

My Talk

i would begin my session by settling lightly on the table, and
saying:

"hey guys. my name is vijay. i'm doing a phd in television comedy in
the U.S. yeah, i know what you're thinking: 'wow! what time-pass!'
yeah, it's definitely a lot of fun. i get to watch television all the
time, and if people tell me, 'you realize it's bad to watch so much
tv, i tell them -- boss, i'm not doing time-pass at all, i think about
it all the time. i actually study it!'

you know, this classroom seems incredibly comfortable for me, like i
know its character well, because i was in this class before. in fact i
used to sit in that corner bench in 9th standard. my god! i made that
mark with that compass myself! mind if i squeezed into that seat for 2
seconds, just to remember what it feels like?" i'd sit on that bench,
then say:

"sometimes i'd talk or play games like "who can knock the eraser off
the table, or "paper chess". if they saw me talking, teachers would
aim chalks in my direction. thank goodness they did. without them, i
might not have got where i have today."

then i'd walk back to the front of the class. "i was assistant head-
boy in class IX; in my time the head-boy was picked from class XI. is
it the same now?" i'll ask. "who's the leader in this class -- is
there anyone who was assistant head-boy last year? who's the class
monitor?"

someone will raise a hand.

i'll say: "you know what i found hardest about the job? emphasizing
discipline while not coming across as mean. i had to be fair, i had to
think before i acted strongly. i wanted my friends to trust me but i
didn't want to look like i favoured my friends. it was a tough
responsibility. i'm sure all of you followed the U.S. elections last
year. tell you what, if observe barack obama's leadership style
carefully and you might learn how to be decisive and still remain
respected.

"would any of you like to be in politics or government?" someone is
bound to raise their hand.
"why?"
"i want to make a lot of money," the class-joker will say, to general
laughter in the classroom.
"boss, if you want to make a lot of money and NOT go to jail, i
suggest you become a bollywood comedian instead," i'll say with a
laugh. "does anyone have a better reason for wanting to be in
politics?"
"i think it's important to serve my country," some earnest kid in the
front row will say. "i want to be in the army or get involved in
politics."
"the mumbai terrorist attacks i think have inspired a lot of us to
play a more active role. do you think politics in india needs cleaning
up?"
"definitely," the kids will murmur.
i'll make eye-contact with one of the kids who said "definitely". "hi
there, tell us your name, and why do you think politics needs cleaning
up in india."
"um... i'm rekha... i think... politicians... they are highly corrupt
here..."
i'll point to the class joker: "what do you think?"
"what? me? i think they are quite bad," he'll say, a bit self-
consciously.

i will look at him first, then the others, and modulate my voice to
project an increasing passion: "don't you also think politicians need
to be better-educated? people like you and i know that we should take
an active interest in issues, but we rarely ever do. we should read
the newspaper regularly, we should look at international sites like
the new york times, the guardian, national geographic. ("here, let me
write down the links on the blackboard. wow, the last time i wrote
something on the blackboard, i think i was in class 6 or 7. i got the
square-root of some big number totally wrong. the teacher gave me one
richly deserved 'thappad' and made me kneel down with my hands up.")
these sites are amazing, by the way -- anyone interested in
photography should TOTALLY look at those sites. when you all turn 18,
you should vote -- did you know there was a provision in the
constitution that allows you to register a protest vote if you thought
none of the candidates was suitable? if they are all goondas with
guns, if they are all class 3 fail... you should say 'NO! you cannot
be elected as my representative!'

"some of you have the potential to be political leaders. i would love
to be involved in politics myself. someday i hope to be india's
education minister. i want to make education as interesting a process
as possible. you should have fun in school.

"you know what's really amazing about learning? not "studying" maths
and scoring 100 out of 100, not "mugging" from the hindi digest...
yes, you should definitely try and do as well as you can in exams, but
really -- the amazing thing about learning is the joy of cracking a
tough physics problem, it's the joy of learning hindi so i can speak
clearly and have a fun conversation with my barber about his life.

"if you understand how to CORRECTLY learn something, you can learn
ANYTHING.

"what is this correct way of learning? the correct way of learning is
to think clearly, think coherently.

"let me give you an example: just now, how did i arrive at this point
i'm making, this "thinking coherently" bit? i came into the class,
started talking about how i used to be assistant head-boy; how some of
you may be interested in leadership and politics, how i'm certainly
interested; i said i wanted to be education minister, and that i want
to make education a fun process. i said, for this people need to
understand that the fun lies not in "mugging" maths, but in solving
problems. learning for its own sake; learning to think clearly. see
the connections i made, the dots of thought that i just joined to fit
in a logical sequence?

"that is called thinking coherently. i'm sure you've played that game
with yourself once in a while -- how did i reach this point? you
should all focus on applying coherent thinking in your daily lives.
begin by applying clear thinking to your textbooks. it's not easy. it
takes a lot of practice to think straight, just like getting into the
school's cricket team or basketball team takes a great deal of
practice. but it's important.

"so anyway, getting back to what i was saying: if i was education
minister, i can guarantee that i would work towards making education a
lot more fun for young, imaginative people like you.

"too many dirty politicians before us have made fools of the public
before. they don't really looking at our politicians, i sometimes
think -- if you are a truly exceptional leader with integrity, vision,
and the strength to make sound decisions, people will remember you and
think highly of you for hundreds of years. everyone will remember
netaji subhash chandra bose, or nehru, or gandhiji. how can our
politicians be satisfied with just making money that will last for a
maximum of 50 years before their sons and grandsons waste all the
money away? how can they be so short-sighted?

"think carefully about it. for those of you who want to be leaders in
politics, commerce, science, arts -- leaders in any area of life --
how will you achieve your dreams? i strongly suggest that you spend
the next few years studying well. chalk out a plan. do a bachelors in
any subject that you like, then a MA or MSc or MBA. travel abroad if
you can afford it, and study intelligently. higher education in the
West is very good, and the traveling will give you an amazing level of
independence.

"choose wisely, something that you have a deep interest in:
engineering, mathematics, political science, history... geography.
anything that you REALLY like, a subject that inspires you to ask
questions non-stop. i spent 10 years trying to understand what i
really wanted to study. i studied physics, journalism, creative
writing and now i'm studying television comedy. i worked as a
journalist in-between for 5 years. i'm proof that in order to succeed,
you don't necessarily need to know everything about yourself in
advance, or even stick to one career path in life.

"don't just study engineering because your parents tell you that is
the only thing that will bring you a safe job, a car, a lot of money.
trust me -- i know this from meeting people all over the world: you
can make a lot of money at ANYTHING if you are passionate enough to
want to be the best at what you do. you could make a LOT of money by
becoming the most efficient car mechanic in bombay. you could make a
LOT of money by studying graphics and inventing video games. you could
make a LOT of money by studying comedy and advising one of those big
film companies in los angeles like 20th century fox.

money is not the most important thing in life -- the most amazing
feeling in life is enjoying the deep satisfaction that you're doing
what you like best AND making a lot of money.

"study hard, make contacts, and -- especially those of you who are
interested in politics -- come back to india eventually. it may be
after 15 or 20 years, but come back after making enough money, so you
devote the rest of your life to politics -- or even something like
education.

"i've got to tell you all: i completely and utterly love what i do.
you know what i get to do in my phd? i get to answer questions like,
'why is a tv show like 'friends' more popular in bombay than in
rampur?' or 'is there such a thing as "high-quality" television?'

"would you, sitting in this classroom, not love to find answers to
questions like "why does a car need a clutch? what makes poetry
different from prose? suppose you were given the freedom to do
whatever you liked, what would you do?"
"i'd be a painter!"
"i'd be an animal doctor!"
"i'd be a fashion designer!"
"i want to be a journalist!"

"i'd strongly suggest that you tell your teachers and your parents
about these dreams. see how they respond. some of your parents will be
supportive. some of them will advise you that you don't know what you
want so early in life, and that you should wait before committing to
something like photography, which is an expensive field. they will
say: whatever you want to do, think VERY carefully. do you have the
energy and commitment to follow through on your ambitions? nobody says
you should do only one thing all your life. you will develop many
interests over the course of your life. but any career is like running
a marathon. you need to have practised very hard, and built stamina.
that is very good advice, indeed.

but many other parents will say, 'what, you want to do something so
unsafe? you want to live on the footpath without any money?' that is
bad advice. ask your favourite teacher for help. ask them if they will
meet your parents to reassure them that in today's world, anything is
possible. send an email to me (here's my email address, and hey -- add
me on orkut and facebook too!), and i will also suggest ways to
convince your parents."

"you will face opposition at first, but the earlier you tell your
parents where your real passion lies, the more time they will have to
understand your dreams."

"one more thing. when you're successful, remember to come back to this
school every year and talk to 10th standard students, just like i'm
talking to you today. from the experience you will gain over the next
several years, you will be able to tell future generations how there
is so much money floating around in the world, but very few people
actually have fun making that kind of money, partly because they got
pushed into something like banking or finance or computers -- things
that they DIDN'T want to do when they were young.

"i have great faith in all of you. i wish you the very best in
whatever you do. please do email me and keep in touch -- for the rest
of our lives, if you like. i am more than willing to talk to you.

"i'd like to end with this quote from a poem that i read long ago, and
still means a lot to me: 'there is in this world one snow fall. /
everything else is just weather.' it means, there are things in life
that are special. everything else is mundane, commonplace.

"I'm done talking -- I hope I wasn't terribly boring. Does anyone have
any questions?"


----------------------------------------------------

[Manasi Bhate]

Vijay, comments on your classroom plan:

1) I think you should consider talking a little more about what you do
- like flesh out the example of why Friends is more popular in bbay,
or if that's a doh make up an example that engages with some Zee TV
show that they all watch. I can just imagine them being very
interested in what you do- its new, its something they've prolly not
heard of and it'll be a great way to make it a conversation rather
than a lecture. "comedy analyst" sounds so cool and is totally not the
typical career- so consider playing it up more. also consider talking
about journalism (I know you're very jaded) but many kids don't
consider it to be a legit option.

2) Be wary of a) sounding preachy and b) the constant comparison to
the West. (i would reconsider the Barack Obama bit you have). I hear
what you're saying about the disparity in the levels of engagement
here and there, but that's a realization that people reach via
personal experience and not lecture. Lots of Indians and lots of kids
esp have a strong patriotic India-is-great streak in them and its so
so easy for us to be labelled a "typical NRI" and to loose all
legitimacy. The cynicism ingrained in *so* many people is like a thick
protective shell that everything bounces right off. Understandably, it
is used to survive the constant societal assault on any form of
idealism. So when you talk about becoming the education minister and
changing the system and joining politics, be aware that people are
generally very cynical about radically changing the system and a lot
more open to making small changes in their lives that seem realistic
and feasible. (ironic in the context of obama's speech today, but
true)

3) I like the idea of writing things on the board idea- maybe fit in a
couple of books that you've read that you recommend, movies that will
make them think about stuff (you know like my brother nikhil was an
interesting movie) you already suggest websites, magazines etc. ask
them which newspaper their parents subscribe to. ask who's their
favorite author, why do they like the books they do, have they tried
reading literature in hindi/marathi/tamil/whatever. make reading sound
cool.

4) Great job with the informality and connection-to-kids. I like the
prefect/asst. head boy bit, the bit about carving into chalk with a
compass. Love the bit about voting. I think the kids will *love* you
and you're totally set.

5) What's with the quote from Wintering? It's the only part of the
shpeal that doesnt flow. What's its purpose? how does it fit in,
what're you trying to get across with it? either elaborate or remove.

Finally, the one idea that I found most powerful in your shpeal, is
that you can "mess up" in grade 10 and "flip-flop" and change your
decisions and be interested in lots of things, and still be okay in
life. If you can drill that into their heads and convince kids about
it, that's a job well-done.

Manasi

> "study hard, make contacts, and -- ...
>
> read more »

[Vijay]

manasi, thanks for your comments. your comments will strengthen the
talk structure, definitely.

sharp observation about "wintering" -- i was kind of thinking i'd
dramatize the idea, speak softly, get them to visualise beauty as a
pinnacle -- "one supreme, rest average" -- but you're right, the lines
are too abstract for kids, the interpretations possibly overwhelming.
deleted the quote from my facebook note, "talking about talking".

regarding your concern about taking a preachy tone, the trick with
young folks is of course to connect with them, impress them... and
THEN talk sensibly to them. once you've established yourself as
"cool", they're likely to hang on to your words -- more than they
would if you weren't cool.

i cannot emphasise enough how much indian kids value coolness. their
existence revolves around subconsciously classifying things as cool /
uncool -- NOT right / wrong, clever / absurd or sensible /
nonsensical.

once the speaker has established himself or herself as cool, almost
anything can be achieved.

kids are likely to think: hey, this person's cool, he's not boring
like our teachers... wow, listen to him when he says "think about
politics as a potential career"... he sounds so sincere! so fresh! so
cool! maybe politics is a cool idea...

it would sound like preaching to our sophisticated minds, but the kid
might not feel oppressed, because:
a) if the "cool" speaker says he or she wants to be in politics, the
kid might think, hey, politics must be cool if this person wants to be
in politics

b) kids only begin to grow aware that someone is preaching to them if
they are getting bored out of their wits. preaching by itself isn't
necessarily uncool, and this depends on the tone and energy of the
speaker. but anything cool is by definition not preachy.

v

[Rahul Iyer]

Hi guys,
I've been one of the lurkers on the group. I've been following this discussion quite closely. To say the least, it's been very informative to me. I've never been involved in a social cause before. I've never given a talk like this before either, especially to an audience of the age group in question. So this has been great. One of the things that struck me from Vijay's talk structure is the part of one kid saying (s)he wanted to make a lot of money. I remember when I was in school, my aunt (in relation, actually only 9 years older) was doing her masters in the US. She was back in India on vacation and she was talking to me about my career. She asked me what I wanted to be, and that's pretty much what I said. I said I wanted to be rich. I won't bore you with the details, but in a nutshell what followed was a lecture about how I should do what I loved, how materialism was bad, how money doesn't buy happiness (add your fav cliche here) etc. etc. The net result was that I was bored and wound up disregarding the entire conversation. I remember very little except that I was preached heavily. I probably lost some valuable advice there.

I have many cousins in India who're in middle/high school. They all know I "work in computers in the US". Whenever I've spoken to them, they seem to be more interested in my salary than what I do. Even when I do get to explaining what I do to them, answering why I'm not getting a PhD gets to be hard without an economic argument.

Forgive me for rambling here, but kids in India are pretty ambitious. The influx of BMWs, Mercs and Porsches cruising the streets of urban India isn't helping. Odds are a lot of people in the class are thinking the same thing - "I want to make a lot of money", but only a bold few will actually say that. For whatever reason, our culture treats materialism as bad, so few feel they're right in admitting to it.

I know this is quite long, but if some kid stands up and says (s)he wants to make a lot of money, I strongly suggest not belittling him/her and not joking about it. Odds are it took some courage to stand up and say it and getting the class to laugh at the matter will not help at all. In fact, you've lost that person instantly.

Hope this made sense.
Regards,
rahul

[Vijay]

hi rahul,

thanks for your email.

just a couple of clarifications: i wouldn't make fun of the class
joker for saying he wants to make more money; i'm just making the
hackneyed point (and smiling broadly, not maliciously) that you aren't
in politics to make millions.

you possibly missed this, but towards the end of my talk i devoted
almost an entire paragraph to money-making: "you can make a lot of

money at ANYTHING if you are passionate enough to want to be the best

at what you do... money is not the most important thing in life -- the

most amazing feeling in life is enjoying the deep satisfaction that

you're doing what you like best AND making a lot of money." my point
was, one can make a lot of money doing what one really loves.

your example is a strong one, but i believe slightly out of context.
that said, i must say you've raised some very important larger issues
for the group.

thanks again,
v