Conversations with Parents – Part 1– The Dilemma

I am in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. A training session will start at 10 am.  Over hundred students from a masters program in business are expected to attend the talk.

The talk was about falling in love with learning, finding your passion and working on it from a young age.  I had to deliver the talk in a mixture of Hindi and English. Most of the students at the university came from the rural towns and villages around Mewar. But this made them no different from the students in urban cities. 

During the session, I realized how many of them were so intelligent in a variety of different ways. But it must be so hard for them, to work through a system that respected only a few types of intelligences. How do we get our parents support for the field we are interested in? Let us try finding out.

Conversation with Students in India – Part 1

There were some interesting interactions with the students I would like to share here:-

At the start of the session I asked the class two questions.

How many of you like learning?

…1 hand goes up...

Observing - beauty in complexity?

Explore Observing

What Education can learn from Video Games - Jesse Schell

Jesse Schell is the founder of a gaming company called Shell Games. There is so much education can learn from the gaming world and Jesse Schell point out why in his talk titled, ‘Learning is Beautiful’ at the learning without frontiers conference.

He describes how almost everything around us has become beautiful by giving examples of the varieties of toothbrushes, designs of the Apple iPhone and the Gateshead Building design.

He spoke about four aspects of gaming that education can learn from and described each one of them as follows:-

Difference between Education and Learning?

"It has always been my opinion that 'education' is something people do to you, whereas 'learning' is something you do for yourself," – Joichi Ito, 2013 Director of MIT Media Lab

Nothing disappoints me more than a young person telling me he has given up learning because the education system told him he was a bad student. 

No individual is a bad student. I wanted to understand what was the difference between Education and Learning. Insights here - 

9th Grade – Changing Paths and Catching Up

My turmoil with the preparatory institute continued in the ninth. After a two week break at the end of the eighth grade, I started my preparations for an entrance exam I was going to give four years later again. It was the first semester of the ninth grade and I knew I was in trouble.

I followed the same pattern of failing tests and rote-learning notes for the first semester of the ninth grade. Depression was a natural side – effect of this environment.

Stand up for yourself Abhishek!

Mega Learning Experiment – Part 6 - Film Adventures Continue

I was going to attend my 2^nd day of the Mumbai Film Festival, 2014 on this day.

I reached the venue by 10 am. I had woken up early on this day and managed to catch the morning train to the NCPA, before the rush hour crowd came in.

From 10 am to 12 am, I saw a few Canadian Animation films, a film about National Highway 39 in North East India and a film titled, ‘Mokama Fast Passenger’ about a labour contractor who has a family in the countryside and an affair with another lady in the city.

The Subtext of Anger

Mega Learning Experiment – Part 2 - Workshops, Friends

I woke up early on the 4^th February. I had to catch an early morning train to Churchgate from the suburbs, before the rush hour started in the morning.

I reach Churchgate by 9 30 am. My workshop was to start at 11 am. So I decided to explore the street book stalls in Churchgate. Most of these stalls have a good collection of latest fiction and non fiction books. You can even pay half the price sometimes, if you return the book after reading it. I spent an hour and a half looking through the collection at these stalls after which I headed for Kala goda for the workshop.

Writing Workshops at Kala Goda

Mega Learning Experiment

On the 1^st of February 2014, I decided to go on another learning experiment. There were three major events happening in Mumbai at that time.

1) 10 Day Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2014
2) 6 Day Mumbai International Film Festival
3) 2 Day Zeitgeist Media Conference - St. Xaviers

Festival, Festival, Festival

The Worst Year of My Student Life – Part 2

Why was I so stupid?

The Worst Year of My Student Life – Part 1

Joining a prep school

8th Grade and the Prep School

I was really looking forward to the eighth grade. The class would be shuffled again and I would have new friends, new experiences and new things to learn. I was optimistic.

The first semester was not very different from my experience in the seventh grade. More rote learning. More Grades. Study, Do Not Understand. That is the objective. Stay Focused. If you do not suffer now, then what will you do in the real world? (…In my head…What in the world is the real world?...What world am I in now?.... Scratch my head and nod back with a smile…I have no clue what is going on!)

7th Grade and Super – Rote Learning

I was entering the dangerous years. I was becoming a teenager. There was uncertainty written all over my face.