Educational Observations

Part of my internship at New Life includes teaching. On our first day, we attended a meeting at the school to learn they had just lost four teachers. Not surprisingly (because that's just the way the Lord works), the four of us interns filled their need for additional teachers exactly. School in India is very different; the following anecdotes may outline a bit of what I mean:

The Classroom

Physics

India is a developing country, and methods of organization are reflective of this. On my first day, I walked into a classroom full of students with no teacher and asked them what they needed to be taught. They responded with "Physics", handed me a book, and class began. I flipped open the tattered pages to the first chapter: centripetal acceleration. I studied Physics for two years in high school, and we did not cover centripetal acceleration (a fundamental of circular motion) until after months of gaining a conceptual understanding of basics like speed, velocity and acceleration. After several minutes of probing questions, I realized there was an incredible gap between the book and their knowledge base. These kids did not understand what "speed" was. I set up a simple experiment using a stopwatch, ruler, and a volunteer to walk/run across the room so the students could physically observe how speed is calculated. At first they looked confused, then nervous and finally excited. The kids voluntarily jumped up out of their seat and cheered for their classmate walking across the room, my timekeeper meticulously watched seconds tick by as if he were timing an Olympic race, and the academic kids stood at attention for numbers to be called out for the next calculation. They all seemed so enchanted, and I later deduced it was because they had never been taught outside of a textbook. Looking at the world around them and gaining knowledge was an unprecedented concept. 

Shalom

On another day, I passed an empty class swarming with energetic 8-9 year olds. I began an English lesson, and quickly realized these precious ones had the attention span of rabbits. Searching for something to remedy this, my mind returned to a call-and-response I heard daily from the New Life Orphanage kids at 5am worship and the evening prayer service: "Hallelujah", "Praise the Lord". New Life Academy is full of mostly Hindu children, so my classroom call-and-response is "Shalom", "Peace be with you" because it is not blatantly religious, but when the children ask what it means it opens the door to conversation. 

Discipline 

- Justine is the bubbly 9-year-old daughter of Pastor Siani. She is in fourth grade, and one day started to day dream in class. The teacher came over to her desk, picked up her book, and smacked her in the face with it. This is not uncommon; teachers here are very liberal with physical discipline. 

- I raised my hand to high-five a student after he responded correctly to a question; he winced and shriveled back to protect himself. The first time I opened my arms to hug one of my girls after class, she was petrified. But it only took one time for her to learn I wasn't going to hurt her, now she goes for a bear hug after each class. 

- I interviewed a group of boys to learn their feelings on being beaten by teachers, this is a synopsis of their response:

•  "If I like a teacher and they hit me, it makes me feel very bad, so I start to work harder for them." 
• "When we fear him we can get knowledge." 
• "I feel angry". 

When I told them it was against the law to hit a student in the U.S., their jaws literally dropped to the ground we were sitting on. They asked me what happens when a student misbehaves, and I told them sometimes students will be suspended from school. They were confounded by this and said, 

"But that is terrible, then you are taking away their chance for knowledge." 

While I do not agree with physical discipline to the degree in which it is implemented in schools here, U.S. kids should take some notes on the standard of respect given to teachers here…

Respect for Authority

• When a teacher enters the room, all students rise and say "Good morning ma'am."
• I have never been addressed by anything but "madame" or "ma'am". 
• When called on to answer a question, students rise and remain standing until told to sit again.
• Students stand silently at the door with a hand raised shoulder length until acknowledged and given permission to enter the room.

Methods of Learning

My observation is that these children are terrified to think on their own. They are amazingly smart and memorize endless passages from their books, but when asked to share their opinion on something they shut down. The educational differences between India and the US result in an entirely different way of learning, thinking, and ultimately create a different student.