Having observed that TII is a docking point for dozens of high-achievers with extraordinarily diverse interests, Manasi Bhate (Columbia) suggests that we form a network of mentors. Many of these individuals live abroad, and might be unable to make more than a trip a year to India; a mentoring program via e-mail is one way to maintain continuous contact; whenever and wherever possible, classroom sessions – talks and debates – will be conducted.

Contact Manasi if you're interested in serving as a mentor. We'll add you on our Google resource page.

 

Important links:

 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48767387626

 

http://groups.google.com/group/teach-in-india

 

 

Ways of reaching out

 

Aarti Ramaswami (U. Indiana) wrote:

Some thoughts on ways to make this info available to student audiences: 

1) Email the link and TII info to teachers you are in touch with in India 
2) Email it to students' parents you might know (e.g., an apartment neighbor 
in your building who might have school/college-going kids) 
3) Email it to friends, indian student lists, and Indian Students 
Associations in your college/university (i also feel that while we are 
targeting school kids, college students will be equally if not more 
interested all the info we can share about further studies or careers in our 
field) 

while we can send them info on TII itself, i think an email that is focused 
on the mentoring and networking opportunities students will have will 
resonate better...else they may be too overwhelmed by all the discussion 
threads on TII, not knowing where to begin...so, even if they use the 
database we have created for specific reasons (ie, get info from us on 
whatever areas of interest/education/etc we might have expertise in), it's 
still worth it and our message only spreads further... 

so an email to the Indian students' association in your univ (#3 above) 
would go something like... 

"hello folks...i am aarti ramaswami, a phd candidate in management at the 
kelley school of business...i just wanted to share with you some info 
regarding an India-related networking group i am very excited about and have 
been part of over the past few months...it's called Teach In India (you can look us up on Facebook)

we have been working on creating a database of volunteers who are willing to 
mentor school and college students in India thru email...basically answer 
questions related to areas of mutual interest (say, your major, or how to 
apply to the US, career-related matters in your field, and any other 
activities you might be involved in). 

if you studied in the US, you might recall that when you applied, you had to 
rely on all the info that other students in the US, or in your specific univ 
could provide, to help you make decisions and make the apping process a tad 
bit easier...this is one way for us to give back...or rather, pay it 
forward..of course, i am sure that you are already doing whatever you can to 
mentor students at your university/school/ in the US or in India...Teach In 
India is another outlet for you to express yourself, and in turn, learn, 
share and grow...who knows, maybe you'll find someone within our membership 
who may share your interests, and is able to guide you in that area! 

so once you have read the TII facebook page and feel that our activities 
interest you, please join the group and add your info to our database. this 
is a win-win for sure. 

spread the word... 

-aarti

 

An example of a classroom interaction session

 

 

Vanisha Lakhina (U. Penn) wrote:

Just sharing my experiences at St. Joseph's High School.....comments are welcome!

My brother, Abhishek and I are alumni of St. Joseph’s High School, Colaba, Mumbai. I graduated 10th standard in 1996 and Abhishek graduated in 2000. I haven’t been back to school for about 5 years, and nor has he. The guilt of not visiting for so many years made us slightly hesitant in just showing up at school and asking to speak with the students. So we decided to first make a trip to school, speak with the Principal (who is one of the teachers who actually taught us) and figure out how the school is doing, and more importantly, ask in what way WE, as alumni could contribute.

We were in for a shock. A lot has changed since we left, the most important change being the student demographic. When we studied there, a lot of the students were kids of Army officers, Scientists and other employees of the “Indian Institute of Geomagnetism” (IIG) which is a scientific institution, as well as the “Tata Institute of Fundamental Research” (TIFR), also a scientific institution. In recent years, however, IIG has relocated to the suburbs, and taken with it all the families of its employees. As a consequence, there were many empty seats in the school which were filled up by students from the nearby chawls and slums. Students from TIFR or Army officers’ kids no longer wished to study there, and now the student demographic is PRIMARILY kids from families that belong to a lower income group. We were told that a lot of the families are unstable, where the mother
mostly raises the children, the father is mostly busy making a living, and a lot of the fathers have a drinking problem and are physically abusive.

The change in student demographic changed my entire approach – I had
previously planned on engaging them in a discussion regarding the role of science in society (FYI: I’m getting a PhD in Neuroscience). This was of course, in line with our idea of cultivating “critical thinking” among students. But now our Principal was telling us that these students come to school to “get away” from their home lives, and they don’t really care about education at all, because they are not encouraged at home. She asked us to simply talk about what we are doing right now, and tell the students how valuable our school life was in shaping who we have become. She basically wanted to communicate the idea of “Stay in school, its worth it. These alumni are the proof of that”. It sounded fine to me, but I didn’t want to get all preachy about it, because kids don’t like being preached to – at least I
didn’t. We were told that we would be given only 10-15 minutes TOTAL, because they couldn’t take out more time for us from their regular schedule.

We were taken to five different classrooms, the students ranged from VIII to X standard students. One of our teachers gave us a flattering introduction each time, and that worked wonders in grabbing their
attention. I went first, and told them what my career path has been. I
told them a little bit about Neuroscience, what it means (how different brain areas are activated in response to emotion, etc), and then tried to connect it to something they would relate to. For example, we talked about “Taare Zameen Par” how the kid had Dyslexia, how that’s a brain disorder. They were very happy to talk about the movie. We also talked about how mental retardation is simply a developmental disorder, just like any other, for example, Lakshmi, the girl who was born with eight limbs had a developmental disorder as well. Actually if I had been given more time, I could totally make this into a 30 minute talk. Maybe next time.

Abhishek went next and he spoke about what he does (hes a Sales and
Marketing Manager at Virgin Active, in London). His speil was more personal, he talked about his days in the school and how he played football all the time. He praised the teachers and said how lucky the students were to have talented and dedicated teachers like the ones they had. Then he gave examples of what “Marketing” means, using names of football players, which worked really well. He gave other fun examples of sales, for example, he talked about Pani-puri randomly and kept bringing it up. At the end of it, he said: “Now at least 5 of will go and have Pani puri today, simply because I repeated it so many times. There u go, I’ve sold u an idea”.

I think we made a good team because we combined the personal with the professional and the kids were attentive throughout (at least they looked attentive :D). After we left the classrooms and were on our way out, a few girls came up to me to ask for my email ID, and others for my autograph! Regardless, I gave them all my email ID and asked them to write to me whenever they liked. This event made me realize how much power we, as outsiders, and particularly NRIs, have in capturing the attention and imagination of teenage students. We must use this power sensibly, rather than deny it, and use it as a tool to get our point across.

Well, I’ve been verbose enough. But I have to say that I’m certainly going back, but next time, I’ll try and get more time to talk to the students. I intend to keep in touch with the school and help out in whatever way they would appreciate. Abhishek intends to start a database of Alumni from our school with their contact information and provide this database to our Principal so that they can contact people whenever the wish to.

An example of a classroom talk

 

Vijay Parthasarathy (U. Texas) wrote:

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

Miscellaneous concerns

 

·         Anshul Kundaje (Stanford) wrote:

Hey all, 

I had a few thoughts about the mentoring program. Comments are welcome! 

I wanted to discuss the relative merits of a 1-1 mentoring system vs many-1 
mentoring system. 

I think a many-1 mentoring system (many mentors -> 1 student) is a good 
starting point for a student, primarily because the initial questions tend 
to be more generic and rather subjective. E.g. What type of project should I 
do? Or what are some of the interesting careers? All of us are reasonably 
opinionated and have biases. So for such highly subjective questions, it is 
best for the student to get a broad range of opinions so that they get a 
reasonably complete picture of the space of possible solutions. Which brings 
me to another point. I believe, for such questions, it is important for us 
to try to get to know the students background in detail before we give 
suggestions. Students are rather impressionable at that stage and it is 
important that they don’t make decisions simply based on limited/biased 
feedback. Also, the goal of TII is to make students think and question. So 
we MUST make them question our suggestions/advice as well. If we realize 
they aren’t, questions must be induced. 

Naturally, from the range of opinions, the student will tend to gravitate 
towards one person or a few people and then start asking more specific 
question. At this point, a one-to-one mentoring system should work just 
fine. 

I think my key point here is something that has been repeatedly stressed 
before on the group, that we need to be careful what we say to these kids. I 
think we should try our best to give them advice that is best for them, 
which might not be what we would do based on our likes/dislikes and talents 
- even if we have certain biases against that advice. A many-to-one system 
neutralizes that bias to some extent. 

Lookin forward to what you guys think. 

Thanks, 

Anshul. 

 

 

 

·         Sunayana Banerjee (Cornell) wrote:

 

Hello everyone, 
 First of all thanks for compiling that document Sumreni, that was 
very helpful. Perhaps someone could update that document on a weekly 
basis so that it's easy for new comers to get up to speed? 
 I have some questions regarding what we're aiming to do. 
Questions: 
1. What are we trying to get across to students when we talk to a 
class? I don't think it's enough to talk about what we are passionate 
about. How will that encourage broadmindedness? Also, from a student's 
perspective how is this helpful? For instance as a student I would 
feel that here's a person who studies in the US and she/he brings a 
flashy powerpoint/presentation once a year...period (?) I'm just 
questioning here and I am not trying to be cynical so please help me 
out. 
2. Could we also talk about the necessity to involve oneself in the 
politics of our nation? After all, it's terribly easy to blame 
politicians and not do anything to educate ourselves about our 
politicians, our constitution and our rights as Indian citizens. 
3. I studied in an elite South Bombay school and I feel that I had a 
liberal education that encouraged me to think and question. I 
personally think targeting schools where children may not be exposed 
to such and education would be worth the effort. I don't think that 
for us city dwellers we need to go to far into rural areas to begin 
with. What about municipal schools or schools such as Bhartiya Vidya 
mandir , Anjuman-i-Islam, Don Bosco etc ? 
4. Finally, how do make a sustained effort so that our work makes an 
impact and helps students develop their ideologies over a period of 
time? Some of us are not avid facebookers or orkutters. In addition 
not all students will have access to the internet. Could we liaise 
with a friend we know in our home towns who could make presentations 
once every 3-4 months? Could we ask a specific teacher to read a 
letter from us to the class every month? The other thought I have is 
that if we most of us only go back once a year it might make sense for 
us to be consistent in the schools that we visit. Perhaps that will 
help us build relationships with students and teachers alike. At this 
point I am thinking of ways that will safe guard this effort from 
becoming one time event and fizzling out over a period of time. 

Thanks for your time! 
Sunayana