Fantastic! I babysit a little Indian girl whose grandparents grew up in India and attended the best schools, so education is a priority. She’s recently had trouble with math as well. She was crying and crying the other night, I’m going to copy your wonderful approach and advice Jayshree. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story!
While I was in India for a Fulbright Specialist project in 2019, I worked with a private boarding school in Panvel. I wanted them to recruit their alumni for mentoring purposes, as those tribal kids are away from home and even with a diploma have a hard time finding work.
I did observe some classes, but I had no confidence that how they ran with "the American doctor" in the room was anything like how they ran at other times. I know that I never once heard a teacher say I DON'T KNOW to a good question. It's pretty rare here, too.
Hi Randall, thanks for the share! I intended this to be a reflection on the woes of the system, but decided to split the post into two - so stay tuned for part 2 to answer your question! The short of it - it depends! Schools and teachers vary, and sometimes it may be a case of the observer effect. Great points, thanks for sharing.
p.s tried reading your post, it is behind the paywall!
I don’t always realize when Substack puts them up automatically. With most things I don’t mind, but we’re not really supposed to profit from Fulbright-related activities, anyway. So thank you for pointing it out.
No worries. You can always check under 'Settings' before publishing the post, and set it to "Everyone" or Paid before publishing. Good tip for me to add to techmadesimple posts. Thanks!
Sounds like those girls had done their best yet fell short owing somewhat to the teacher's failure to encourage questions in order to clarify the lessons. I think that here in the U.S. many students believe the learning process is them showing up, and then it is the teacher's responsibility to teach, that is, to unscrew the top of their heads and pour in knowledge as they sit through the lesson staring vacantly out the window. That was my takeaway, having been a "Principal" for our Navy's Cryptographic Electronics school and Electronic Warfare school. We made it plain to our young students on the indoctrination day that learning was a two-way street...that it is intensely participatory on the instructor side and the student side. We had a voluntary night study program manned by several instructors where students could come in on their own time for extra study, for remediation, to ask questions and even get one-on-one tutorial assistance if they asked for it. Now, all of our students were prescreened by batteries of tests to ensure they had the mental aptitude and basic skill sets to meet the challenges of the course. But, of course, testing is not always an accurate predictor of performance. We'd emphasize that all these extras were voluntary on their part. That helped us weed out the unmotivated and lazy, because none of the sailors on staff wanted to go back to the fleet and serve with unmotivated and lazy people. Those people could go do janitorial work. We had a 3% attrition rate. About half of those had genuinely given it their best, as witnessed by their attendance at night study and the by say-so of their instructors. We got those students, 100% of them, another school before sending them to the fleet. The lazy and unmotivated learned to paint, tie knots and swab decks.
I think the problem of students showing up to be educated without the realization that it is incumbent upon them to participate in the process has gotten worse here. Student are given a diploma for just showing up for the most part. They are incurring huge student loan debt for degrees that will only get them employment in governmental D.E.I. jobs or as servers at Starbucks. I think most of the world values a "real" education far more than we do. Your post supports that thought. Hah! I'd bet that most 15-year-old students in Indian could answer this question correctly, "Which county was America fighting in the Spanish-American War of 1898?" You'd get a vacant stare or "Uh-h ... Germany?" here most of the time. Yet they can recite the entire discography of Taylor Swift.
Hi Dale, sorry for the delayed response. Those are excellent best practices you have shared on study programs. I agree that students have to meet the teachers half-way. Lol on the quiz question. Not sure if there isn't an equivalent here that stumps students, though to your point, they are better at quizzes because of the style of study that is advocated here - relying on memorization, v. critical thinking.
I think the issues are complex in India as well - I will post a part 2 to this topic, and address some of the good points you have made here.
Like I shared with Randall, the short answer to some of these questions is: it depends - on the school, income levels, familiar support, future prospects, and student's own inclination to take advantage.
Fantastic! I babysit a little Indian girl whose grandparents grew up in India and attended the best schools, so education is a priority. She’s recently had trouble with math as well. She was crying and crying the other night, I’m going to copy your wonderful approach and advice Jayshree. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story!
Sounds like you were a BIG help! Good job!! Will you be allowed to go to the school to give a talk?
lol, thanks Doug! That's what I am considering suggesting to the school mgmt. I shall send them an email and see what they say!
You had me at idlis! With sambar.
I'm so glad you could be helpful, and yes, do reach out to the school.
While I was in India for a Fulbright Specialist project in 2019, I worked with a private boarding school in Panvel. I wanted them to recruit their alumni for mentoring purposes, as those tribal kids are away from home and even with a diploma have a hard time finding work.
https://randallhayes.substack.com/p/my-fulbright-specialist-experience
I did observe some classes, but I had no confidence that how they ran with "the American doctor" in the room was anything like how they ran at other times. I know that I never once heard a teacher say I DON'T KNOW to a good question. It's pretty rare here, too.
Hi Randall, thanks for the share! I intended this to be a reflection on the woes of the system, but decided to split the post into two - so stay tuned for part 2 to answer your question! The short of it - it depends! Schools and teachers vary, and sometimes it may be a case of the observer effect. Great points, thanks for sharing.
p.s tried reading your post, it is behind the paywall!
paywall removed!
So kind! Thanks.
I don’t always realize when Substack puts them up automatically. With most things I don’t mind, but we’re not really supposed to profit from Fulbright-related activities, anyway. So thank you for pointing it out.
No worries. You can always check under 'Settings' before publishing the post, and set it to "Everyone" or Paid before publishing. Good tip for me to add to techmadesimple posts. Thanks!
Right person, right time, right place; RIGHT ON!
Thanks, Jim.
Sounds like those girls had done their best yet fell short owing somewhat to the teacher's failure to encourage questions in order to clarify the lessons. I think that here in the U.S. many students believe the learning process is them showing up, and then it is the teacher's responsibility to teach, that is, to unscrew the top of their heads and pour in knowledge as they sit through the lesson staring vacantly out the window. That was my takeaway, having been a "Principal" for our Navy's Cryptographic Electronics school and Electronic Warfare school. We made it plain to our young students on the indoctrination day that learning was a two-way street...that it is intensely participatory on the instructor side and the student side. We had a voluntary night study program manned by several instructors where students could come in on their own time for extra study, for remediation, to ask questions and even get one-on-one tutorial assistance if they asked for it. Now, all of our students were prescreened by batteries of tests to ensure they had the mental aptitude and basic skill sets to meet the challenges of the course. But, of course, testing is not always an accurate predictor of performance. We'd emphasize that all these extras were voluntary on their part. That helped us weed out the unmotivated and lazy, because none of the sailors on staff wanted to go back to the fleet and serve with unmotivated and lazy people. Those people could go do janitorial work. We had a 3% attrition rate. About half of those had genuinely given it their best, as witnessed by their attendance at night study and the by say-so of their instructors. We got those students, 100% of them, another school before sending them to the fleet. The lazy and unmotivated learned to paint, tie knots and swab decks.
I think the problem of students showing up to be educated without the realization that it is incumbent upon them to participate in the process has gotten worse here. Student are given a diploma for just showing up for the most part. They are incurring huge student loan debt for degrees that will only get them employment in governmental D.E.I. jobs or as servers at Starbucks. I think most of the world values a "real" education far more than we do. Your post supports that thought. Hah! I'd bet that most 15-year-old students in Indian could answer this question correctly, "Which county was America fighting in the Spanish-American War of 1898?" You'd get a vacant stare or "Uh-h ... Germany?" here most of the time. Yet they can recite the entire discography of Taylor Swift.
Hi Dale, sorry for the delayed response. Those are excellent best practices you have shared on study programs. I agree that students have to meet the teachers half-way. Lol on the quiz question. Not sure if there isn't an equivalent here that stumps students, though to your point, they are better at quizzes because of the style of study that is advocated here - relying on memorization, v. critical thinking.
I think the issues are complex in India as well - I will post a part 2 to this topic, and address some of the good points you have made here.
Like I shared with Randall, the short answer to some of these questions is: it depends - on the school, income levels, familiar support, future prospects, and student's own inclination to take advantage.
Thanks for a great discussion thread!