Why I Joined the Education Space

After graduation, I joined the education sphere because I observed the immense and untapped potential of the rural Himalayas. I’ve written about it before, so do take a look. Living on the ground level inspired me to learn more about it and developing a mental framework.

Books

I started reading books like Jugaad Innovation and Poor Economics, which rekindled my interest in what I was seeing on the ground.

Experience

While I was doing my community immersion program in Bageshwar, I remember it was a light day at school. My teacher was participating in a game of cricket with the students. The student who couldn’t pick up a pen grabbed the bat with his left hand like a natural and hit every six! I was astounded.

It just reinforced within me, everyone has different talents, and getting good grades is just one of them.

Lamabagh School, 21 days with no network

In the same school, I remember there was another genius, Usha, who then was in class 3, who picked up on everything right away and could connect the dots as well. She was awe-inspiring in her thirst for knowledge. I gave her my all, everything I had to offer, but there was a limit to what I could do for her.

Next Stop: Teach For India

This made me think, the next job I want to do is to become a better teacher. That’s when I decided to pause the Himalayan adventure and hit the city to pick up the skills.

You can read in detail about the ‘WHY’ of Teach For India here.

I’ve been working with Teach For India for over a year and have seen the inside of a classroom. So when I stumbled across Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn by Sanjay Sharma and Luke Yoquinto by chance, I knew I was hooked.

Grasp

Grasps discusses the science of learning, including how it works in the mind and in the classroom, as well as which teaching strategies are most effective. These two passages stood out to me while reading the synopsis.

The education system has been designed not just to teach but also to separate “worthy” students from the “unworthy.” The author calls the process “winnowing.”

This is what I notice in my classroom

Students are not given opportunities to try! They are continually being evaluated.

When the school had its annual day, only the students who could sing and understand the lyrics the first time they heard it were permitted to participate. While the teacher instructed me to get the ‘other’ students up to speed.

I felt both heartbroken and enraged. I sat in the computer lab with the children, reworked the song three times with them, and returned them to the classroom.

It was a proud moment for all of us when the teacher took them in. When they returned to practice the next day, the teacher had purposely assigned them to work they couldn’t accomplish to not ‘disturb the practice.

How many Einsteins have been lost to history because of geography, gender, class, or other factors the system couldn’t account for?
Grasp

So, when I read the preceding sentence, I wondered, as the author of Grasp did regarding the process of winnowing, how much potential is being wasted. I aspire to make a tiny difference in someone’s life in another year, given that I have more resources and expertise.

Love to know your views. Do drop a comment.