The images in this three-part case study really hit you hard, some very heart rending, others uplifting in their own way. Let us look back at some of the stories as they are narrated, (we will work backwards from the third to the first).
Two professionals — Tarini and Bishnu — get together to teach deprived kids fundamental lessons through observation and experience thereby breaking the shackles of conventional approaches, going beyond the usual meaning of classroom to try something new and exciting, something that makes the classroom co-extensive with the outside world. Wow! What a fabulous idea in the process of being translated to a reality. These are clearly pathbreakers and people who are leading the way to a new reality and a new way of learning.
A student who asks “Why did army X battle army Y and what did they feel threatened about?” and another, “Did freedom do for us what we thought it would do for us?” Amazing questions: ones which open possibilities, which inquire, want to know. Is that not the basis of learning? That kids are asking these questions is such an eye opener and one which can possibly open up many more unknown realities. It is a type of thing that seeks to understand and that is powerful in and of itself.
Ragini Mathur, now a Grade 12 student, wanted to choose Maths, Physics and Dance when she was in Grade 9 — somebody who wants to be a ‘dancing physicist! What a fascinating combination! What an expression of choice. That one can even express what one would like for oneself, and that too something out of the ordinary, itself speaks of creating a path that is unique and based on one’s own judgement and interests. From a reality that is dependent or determined by parental choice to one which is moving towards the expression of one’s own choice. That is nothing but revolutionary. Of course, that choice may not always be available is a different story.
Extra curricular activities that are also graded to take the focus away from an ‘academics only’ grading. Another wow! That there is an institution thinking like this is refreshing and clearly moving towards a holistic view of development. Very reminiscent of Howard Gardner’s “theory of multiple intelligence”. This too is revolutionary and something that is based on research and thought.
These stories are all forward looking. Such ideas have the power to inspire others. They also offer hope and a line of sight to those who may be consumed by negativity. These are the pall bearers who can potentially create the future.
On the other hand, we have a few different kinds of stories. Let us have a peek at some of them and see what they may have in common.
The most gruesome is the young 18-year-old who rapes and burns his 15-year-old neighbour. Clearly we don’t know the whole story. By itself it is shocking and disturbing but what could have caused a neighbour to take such an extreme step? Sure it happens, but what drives this inhumanity? Will we ever be free of this kind of viciousness? I doubt it very much but can we learn from it? Grim as it sounds we still cannot turn our backs to it and simply condemn. That only encourages another kind of violence, one which can potentially brutalise and become a baying pack of vigilantes.
Then, there are Lakshmi and Hedel, both of whom have a view of what they want to or don’t want to do as students, but their own path is blocked by parental expectation that overrides their wishes. This is a familiar kind of story. Perhaps there was more of it in the past, a time that believed that no child had a choice about what they could study. They had to take what was chosen for them. There is nothing new in this. It is an old line, one which is clearly giving way to others. Yet the transition is far from over.
There is the story of Noreen Rao who doesn’t get admission into any college of her choice and runs away, ostensibly blaming herself. Very sad. Unfortunately, not everyone will do well. We can blame ourselves or the system or anything else, but the challenge remains.
These stories can be categorised as hope giving, on the one hand, and hope depleting, on the other. Both kinds of story are likely to occur or even recur in all our lives. We are likely quite far away from any utopian society where we have managed to put all this behind us. We are still in the process of forming. Can there ever be a state where we are not still forming? Is that not the very nature of all evolution?
It is people like Tarini and Bishnu who decide to take ownership and go beyond blaming anyone. They set up an initiative that, even in a small way, can hold out hope and become a source of growth and inspiration. We have many others who would rather blame society or parents or life or something and remain in a dark world that slowly gets depleted of value leaving only bitterness in its wake. We all have a choice of going down the latter path and remain locked in complaint, self pity or pity for the system. Such a view is fuelled by a sense of entitlement: one which will be given the goodies on a platter, not one which has to create them.
Roadblocks and challenges are aplenty and there is unlikely to be a time when we can truly be free of problems. So what lesson is there for us? We all find ourselves in positions not unlike the ones that caught up with Noreen, Hedel or Lakshmi. We can end up feeling sorry for ourselves and allow ourselves to self destruct. Or we can take our resolve in our own hands and see to it that we find a way of getting what we are looking for. Entitlement usually leads to a sense that someone else is responsible for us: if it were not for such and such or so and so, we would be flying and happy.
The brutal reality is ‘s**t happens’, we cannot wish that away. We have three options: fight, flight or freeze. Fighting or taking on the challenge may require a lot of perseverance and will call for a lot of resilience to be able to see it through. The result? We may actually get what we want. Flight will generally take the problem away for a brief period but is still trying to get away from the negativity. It can help, under some conditions, to get away. Freezing is the big problem: one that keeps us in a state of being unable to act, we become paralysed and crippled, in a manner of speaking. Bitterness and depression are two other fallouts from this type of inability to act and face or deal with the issues. When we fall ill, what do we do? Try and take up the problem and find ways to deal with it and get better or do we just feel hopeless and gradually lose the will to go on?
These stories are very important in that they point to our responses: we see many kinds of response. On the one hand is the response that blames oneself or blames ones parents or blames the school system or blames the time or blames the government. The common thing is blame. The other kind of reaction is one which questions, seeks, makes choices, acts decisively. Such a person owns their own responsibility. That kind of thing is born from a belief that life is not about entitlement but it is a hard fought battle that requires a lot of effort and persistence, sometimes with very little resources. Those are the people who come out on top, inspiring thousands of others. The former category, unfortunately, in seeking sympathy end up getting nothing at all.
Over time, their bitterness only brings other like-minded people close to them and then bitterness feeds on bitterness but there is no ray of sunshine. We can all blame the world but we have to take charge of our own future if we have to make anything of ourselves. People like Ragini need to be able to say to themselves that if I believe in learning dance with Math or Physics, I will do it come what may!
The other option is to keep feeling that life has robbed you of an opportunity. If it were not for the powers that be, I would have been able to do what I wanted.
Not true. The reality is that we are, in a sense, alone and we also have choice: we can choose to keep crying or we can choose to act in a forthright manner and not allow oneself that kind of belief that pushes responsibility of success on to others.
Tarini and Bishnu need to take action. They see the problems but they also say “we have to do our bit” to make a difference. It requires a great deal of courage though. But it will differentiate the loser from the winner. The loser believes he should be the winner. The winner believes in himself and steers a course.
So also with regard to the vicious 18-year-old: we can get lost in complaining, but what action do we all need to take at a more fundamental level? How do we each take responsibility for educating others, for using our intellect to inform or teach others?
Also read: Case Study | Nisha Nair | G. Gautama
Kaushik looks after the leadership coaching practice for the Center for Creative Leadership and is based in Singapore
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