What Dreams May Come

Last Saturday, while teaching my class (this is an old photo of my class and the entire class is not present), I decided to ask them a question based on reading this on Uma's blog. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Although most of the responses were along expected lines and included teacher,lawyer, collector, scientist, policeman, etc one response shook me a little. One of the kids wanted to become a mechanic. When I asked him why, he explained that how much ever you study, it is a little difficult to get a job. One might as well do something that will help him earn something, rather than run around for jobs.

Once we had run through with everyone's current plans, I began to discuss with them what is required to get there. Although it is a little early to discuss careers, my idea was to impress upon them the utility of attending school regularly, studying hard and working regularly. Some of the class wanted to know which professon involves the maximum amount of studying, as in, how long do you need to become a scientist? Although there is no real answer since one can continue to study as long as one wants in one's chosen field, I explained what I think is the minimum required of each. For example, to become a collector, one needs to go thru the IAS or the state administrative service after a graduation. And at no point, does the competition diminish. And the number of opportunities are limited and hence one needs to work very hard to get there.

Then the session got interesting and amusing. One member remarked that by the time they graduate, I will be a grandpa! I corrected him and said that since the average age of the class is around 12, I might at best be a pa, by the time they graduate. But they were amused nevertheless. Another asked if I was married! Another asked how many degrees I held. Yet another asked what my brother did... (He is finishing his Phd, for the record)

Basically, one takeaway was that (and this is not some blinding insight!) most of the class was thankfully keen on studying further. Also, more than half of them will face some hurdles in continuing education beyond school. But given the support, atleast some of them can get out of the economic strata they are in and do reasonably well for themselves. For example, most of my class cannot afford to buy extra notebooks.

On a generic level, what can one do? Ask around for people, who need support for continuing education. They could be children of maidservants, your paper delivery boy, your flower seller, etc or, if you cannot find someone, ask ASHA if they can find a school child whom you can sponsor or better still, if you and your group of friends can support a school. The contribution does not need to be large. It can be simple stationery as well. For example, not everyone in my class has writing pads.

But I continue to believe that the most important contribution we can make is that of our time, since our country simply does not have enough teachers at the primary level. This is something I have said earlier as well. If we can find like minded people to teach in schools on weekends alone and schedule it such that, you need to take out an hour, once a month, that can make quite a difference to the performance of the students. Of course, if one cannot teach more than once a month, one needs to ensure that there is a plan which a group of 4 or so share, so that continuity is maintained. You can always shuffle around a little bit, when one of the group has some work to attend to, etc. If this is maintained for about 3 years or so, some tangible results can be seen. This could then, be extended to high school and beyond, as required. For example, I would expect that most government college students cannot afford private tuitions. Once one is beyond the 10 or 10 + 2 level, one is reasonably on one's own and can manage. In fact once you get to that level, you are more or less on a path. All you may need is some direction on choices for a career and maybe financial assistance. This again needs time, but it would be more of a modular input and not be required on a continued basis. Of course, one may want to keep track of how the person is supporting is doing.

But like someone said, a journey of a million miles begins with a single step.