As a part of the NSLI-Y/AFS program we are supposed to have a school schedule which includes 3 Hindi lessons, 2 Indian classes of our choosing, one hobby, and one sport. This would be great if all of this actually happened and we had a consistent routine. Throughout these four months (basically 5 months now) the only thing that has been consistent everyday are our 3 Hindi classes. Because we came to Daly College after the school year had already been in full swing for a month our schedules were botched. We all started off with really great intentions to take our 2 Indian classes of interest. Sam and I were hoping for Indian History and Geography. Liam wanted Computer Science and a math class, and Lauren, the aspiring linguist, tried to find the French and History classes. There are two main reasons none of us were able to participate in our classes of choice: the Daly College block schedule and the educational cultural gap.
The reason that is the most easy to explain why we aren’t taking 2 Indian classes is the Daly College schedule. Monday through Saturday without fail our first three lessons of the day are Hindi. This coincides with the rest of the campus having a block schedule. With classes changing blocks every day we are not be able to consistently participate in one class every day. Sam and I’s plan to take history was quickly shot down when we had already taken 11th grade world history and 12th grade Indian history was only taken by students who had taken 1-2 years of Indian History before hand so it was too in depth and detailed for us. Lauren never found the French class and was actually kicked out of the 11th grade world history class when she tried to take it again despite already completing it in the US. Liam grew tired of having to manage his time to attend his computer science class that caused him to miss lunch every other day and still fall behind. Our Hindi classes were untouchable so no class we tried ever seemed to stick, until we landed on the 11th grade Psychology class. We have been going to our Indian Psychology class for the past four months and we only miss 2 classes a week, unless we decide to skip out - which rarely happens because we are such good students. We are able to stay in this class, because like all Indian classes, it follows the textbook word for word and we are all familiar with this topic because most of it is common sense.
Our Indian Psychology class has provided us a window into the world of educational cultural differences between the US and India. The first thing we all picked up on while in this class was the teachers innate ability to quote the textbook. She practically spent all lesson repeating and rephrasing what the textbook was saying and the examples it provided to explain a particular concept. The second thing we noticed was how bored and uninterested the majority of the class, including me and my Americans, seemed to be with this subject in addition to school in general. Our time in this class never feels like we are in an 11th grade classroom but more like a 9th grade class because of the time spend reprimanding students and over explaining topics because no one was listening the first time. To expand more on Indian classrooms I will describe my adventure in rangoli making!
I’ve been complaining for a good long while about not learning rangoli and my time has finally come! The art teacher saw it as a mutual interest to teach me the great craft. When I first asked her for a lesson she gave me a time to meet her but then informed me that I would be making a permanent rangoli piece. She wanted a permanent piece that she could display in the school’s exhibition, which in my opinion, totally ruins the whole temporary part of the art. Whatever, I’ll take what I can get. My experience trying to learn now to make rangoli provides a nice example of my life as an American in and Indian classroom.
When I enter the art room I say, “Good Morning/Afternoon Mam!”. I always greet the Art Mam by her last name followed by “Mam". This is how all Indian teachers and professors are addressed by their students. There is no, “but Miiiiissssss” like we often hear in American classrooms. Students will often add more Mams or Sirs depending on how higher up on the administration chain the teacher they are speaking with is. This even goes as far as addressing the Principal of Daly College as “Principal Sir”. There are upsides and downsides to this. As an American trying to memorize Indian last names this works great because I never have to remember anyone’s long name! I can simply refer to anyone as Mam/Sir or _(insert whatever subject they teach here)_ Mam/Sir. This is also my downfall because when other Mams or Sirs are asking who gave me permission to do such and such and they aren’t clear WHICH Psychology Mam gave me permission my easy way out leaves me in a really uncomfortable situation.
Once I’ve entered Art Mam’s classroom I gather the various supplies I will be needing: glue, colored sand, paper. The first step of rangoli making is the design. If you are making rangoli on the floor you can use chalk on the ground but when you are making permanent rangoli, like I was, you draw your design on your canvas. When Priyanka Mam gave me the instructions to draw my design it wasn’t with complete artistic freedom. I was instructed to find an image of rangoli on Google and copy it onto my paper. This is a second key point of Indian teachers: there is little to no individual expression encouraged. When I’m in the art room I see 10th and 11th graders producing amazing art for competitions out the wazzoo. Although, if you ask them if they drew it they will say no, if you ask if they came up with the concept on their own they will say no, and if you ask if they picked their own colors they will say no. According to Western standards their art is not original and it is not their own. Their art teacher draws the outline for them, after they select a muse off of the internet or out of a book, then after being instructed which paints to mix they gingerly paint in the lines. They all produce wonderful paintings but again it is not really 100% theirs just like a paint-by-number painting is not the painters intellectual property.
The same can be said in my Indian Psychology class. Our teacher, like all teachers in Daly College, teaches according to the textbook. She recites direct passages from the page as she lectures the class. The Indian students are only expected to “learn” (aka memorize) the opinions of experts and the opinions of the textbook for their exams. This has pros and cons, in my opinion more cons than pros. Students are powerhouses at memorizing and cramming but may fall short in actual comprehension and personal views. Although, for rangoli it works just fine because I know I will never have a shortage of designs via the internet and there will be no “rangoli exam” to test my skill. No matter how you choose to view this philosophy of teaching it is the core of Indian instruction and learning.
The second step of my rangoli was to spread glue inside of the lines of my design then sprinkle sand over the wet glue to dry. After watching the Art Mam demonstrate something I’m pretty sure I did as an arts-n-craft in 1st grade I proceeded to bring color to my floral mandala rangoli. I was a little bitter about the method and medium of this project because the main reason I wanted to learn rangoli was because of its lack of permanence. People often sweep up their big designs a day or two after their celebration and there definitely is a trick to pouring the sand a special way out of your hand. I was sort of cheating with this permanent rangoli. This brings me back to the whole reason I was even producing rangoli in the first place. Art Mam only made time for me in her schedule so that I could display my “art” in the school’s exhibition. This is not uncommon in Daly College as many students will pick up a craft or art form right before the exhibition so they can have something to contribute and share. In my case this is a great example of Indian teachers serving their own self interests above their students. I don’t want the reader to leave with an impression that Indian teachers are the worst people to ever walk the Earth because they aren’t! Indian teachers may hold unrealistically high standards for their student and be a little irrational at times but they do care a lot about their students. My Hindi teachers are completely devoted to teaching us the best way they know how, even though their best way may not work for us they are determined.
The other large contrast between American and Indian classrooms is teacher student confidentiality; it exists in the US and not in India. Grades are praised and scolded openly in front of large classes. Teachers are also completely open to ranking their students. With Art Mam and my rangoli piece she will have other students come and critique my work and she will compare what I have done to the work of other students. In my Hindi class my teacher will often make repeated remarks about how poorly I’m doing, how I need to study more, and give suggestions on how I could get help (including eliciting tutoring from our top Hindi student, Liam). This is something I have come to adapt to and I have cast away, if not all, most of my embarrassment and shame and accepted I am the worst at Hindi out of my 3 other Americans. I won’t lie and say that I am fine with being told openly that I need more practice because of the result of my most recent test score. Because I’m not okay with it and I do miss the confidentiality I held with my American teachers and the promise to treat all students equally regardless of their ability. At the end of the day even though it does bother me this just a different way of teaching and learning and even if it doesn’t make me feel like a stellar student what my teachers are saying is not incorrect.
The reason that is the most easy to explain why we aren’t taking 2 Indian classes is the Daly College schedule. Monday through Saturday without fail our first three lessons of the day are Hindi. This coincides with the rest of the campus having a block schedule. With classes changing blocks every day we are not be able to consistently participate in one class every day. Sam and I’s plan to take history was quickly shot down when we had already taken 11th grade world history and 12th grade Indian history was only taken by students who had taken 1-2 years of Indian History before hand so it was too in depth and detailed for us. Lauren never found the French class and was actually kicked out of the 11th grade world history class when she tried to take it again despite already completing it in the US. Liam grew tired of having to manage his time to attend his computer science class that caused him to miss lunch every other day and still fall behind. Our Hindi classes were untouchable so no class we tried ever seemed to stick, until we landed on the 11th grade Psychology class. We have been going to our Indian Psychology class for the past four months and we only miss 2 classes a week, unless we decide to skip out - which rarely happens because we are such good students. We are able to stay in this class, because like all Indian classes, it follows the textbook word for word and we are all familiar with this topic because most of it is common sense.
Our Indian Psychology class has provided us a window into the world of educational cultural differences between the US and India. The first thing we all picked up on while in this class was the teachers innate ability to quote the textbook. She practically spent all lesson repeating and rephrasing what the textbook was saying and the examples it provided to explain a particular concept. The second thing we noticed was how bored and uninterested the majority of the class, including me and my Americans, seemed to be with this subject in addition to school in general. Our time in this class never feels like we are in an 11th grade classroom but more like a 9th grade class because of the time spend reprimanding students and over explaining topics because no one was listening the first time. To expand more on Indian classrooms I will describe my adventure in rangoli making!
I’ve been complaining for a good long while about not learning rangoli and my time has finally come! The art teacher saw it as a mutual interest to teach me the great craft. When I first asked her for a lesson she gave me a time to meet her but then informed me that I would be making a permanent rangoli piece. She wanted a permanent piece that she could display in the school’s exhibition, which in my opinion, totally ruins the whole temporary part of the art. Whatever, I’ll take what I can get. My experience trying to learn now to make rangoli provides a nice example of my life as an American in and Indian classroom.
When I enter the art room I say, “Good Morning/Afternoon Mam!”. I always greet the Art Mam by her last name followed by “Mam". This is how all Indian teachers and professors are addressed by their students. There is no, “but Miiiiissssss” like we often hear in American classrooms. Students will often add more Mams or Sirs depending on how higher up on the administration chain the teacher they are speaking with is. This even goes as far as addressing the Principal of Daly College as “Principal Sir”. There are upsides and downsides to this. As an American trying to memorize Indian last names this works great because I never have to remember anyone’s long name! I can simply refer to anyone as Mam/Sir or _(insert whatever subject they teach here)_ Mam/Sir. This is also my downfall because when other Mams or Sirs are asking who gave me permission to do such and such and they aren’t clear WHICH Psychology Mam gave me permission my easy way out leaves me in a really uncomfortable situation.
Once I’ve entered Art Mam’s classroom I gather the various supplies I will be needing: glue, colored sand, paper. The first step of rangoli making is the design. If you are making rangoli on the floor you can use chalk on the ground but when you are making permanent rangoli, like I was, you draw your design on your canvas. When Priyanka Mam gave me the instructions to draw my design it wasn’t with complete artistic freedom. I was instructed to find an image of rangoli on Google and copy it onto my paper. This is a second key point of Indian teachers: there is little to no individual expression encouraged. When I’m in the art room I see 10th and 11th graders producing amazing art for competitions out the wazzoo. Although, if you ask them if they drew it they will say no, if you ask if they came up with the concept on their own they will say no, and if you ask if they picked their own colors they will say no. According to Western standards their art is not original and it is not their own. Their art teacher draws the outline for them, after they select a muse off of the internet or out of a book, then after being instructed which paints to mix they gingerly paint in the lines. They all produce wonderful paintings but again it is not really 100% theirs just like a paint-by-number painting is not the painters intellectual property.
The same can be said in my Indian Psychology class. Our teacher, like all teachers in Daly College, teaches according to the textbook. She recites direct passages from the page as she lectures the class. The Indian students are only expected to “learn” (aka memorize) the opinions of experts and the opinions of the textbook for their exams. This has pros and cons, in my opinion more cons than pros. Students are powerhouses at memorizing and cramming but may fall short in actual comprehension and personal views. Although, for rangoli it works just fine because I know I will never have a shortage of designs via the internet and there will be no “rangoli exam” to test my skill. No matter how you choose to view this philosophy of teaching it is the core of Indian instruction and learning.
The second step of my rangoli was to spread glue inside of the lines of my design then sprinkle sand over the wet glue to dry. After watching the Art Mam demonstrate something I’m pretty sure I did as an arts-n-craft in 1st grade I proceeded to bring color to my floral mandala rangoli. I was a little bitter about the method and medium of this project because the main reason I wanted to learn rangoli was because of its lack of permanence. People often sweep up their big designs a day or two after their celebration and there definitely is a trick to pouring the sand a special way out of your hand. I was sort of cheating with this permanent rangoli. This brings me back to the whole reason I was even producing rangoli in the first place. Art Mam only made time for me in her schedule so that I could display my “art” in the school’s exhibition. This is not uncommon in Daly College as many students will pick up a craft or art form right before the exhibition so they can have something to contribute and share. In my case this is a great example of Indian teachers serving their own self interests above their students. I don’t want the reader to leave with an impression that Indian teachers are the worst people to ever walk the Earth because they aren’t! Indian teachers may hold unrealistically high standards for their student and be a little irrational at times but they do care a lot about their students. My Hindi teachers are completely devoted to teaching us the best way they know how, even though their best way may not work for us they are determined.
The other large contrast between American and Indian classrooms is teacher student confidentiality; it exists in the US and not in India. Grades are praised and scolded openly in front of large classes. Teachers are also completely open to ranking their students. With Art Mam and my rangoli piece she will have other students come and critique my work and she will compare what I have done to the work of other students. In my Hindi class my teacher will often make repeated remarks about how poorly I’m doing, how I need to study more, and give suggestions on how I could get help (including eliciting tutoring from our top Hindi student, Liam). This is something I have come to adapt to and I have cast away, if not all, most of my embarrassment and shame and accepted I am the worst at Hindi out of my 3 other Americans. I won’t lie and say that I am fine with being told openly that I need more practice because of the result of my most recent test score. Because I’m not okay with it and I do miss the confidentiality I held with my American teachers and the promise to treat all students equally regardless of their ability. At the end of the day even though it does bother me this just a different way of teaching and learning and even if it doesn’t make me feel like a stellar student what my teachers are saying is not incorrect.