DannyThiemann

   The Road Not Taken

Above the boy's beds made of steel is written "The greatest men have always stood alone." The quote, for me, lends weight to the tension between individuality and the teeming 1billion plus Indians in the subcontinent's often overcrowded cities.  'Individuality,' in reference to our students and their education, is often at odds with the overpopulated city and the lack of funds to provide enough teachers for individual learning. This week taught me the challenges of implementing a curriculum teaching individual expression, creativity, and a sense of individual value in our students in Nalgonda. A.P.R.S. boys school is a Muslim boarding school. Although they are not necessarily minorities in all parts of Hyderabad, there is a rich record of complementary and antagonistic histories between the many religions living side by side in the country's urban centers. Whether or not they would express it themselves, it seems to me that religion plays into a sense of pride in both their identity and interests. They are fascinated by the pyramids and mosques of Cairo, tigers, Arabic and Urdu calligraphy, riddles and religious songs from childhood. So far they have been doing great individual and creative stories while in class. For homework, however, almost all the students copied poems out of their English readers claiming that they had written the poems themselves. For example, one boy claimed he was the original author of 'The Road Not Taken.'

Plagiarism is not always an un-creative act. Some philosophers, such as those Jorge Luis Borges would often quote, believed that anyone who writes a line of Shakespeare is Shakespeare. One of Borges' most famous stories is that of a man who tried writing the next great Don Quixote. Realizing his pride, the man decided instead to live his every thought as though he were Miguel de Cervantes until, without glancing at the text, his life would lead him to write Don Quixote word-for-word, exactly as the original. In most contexts, such a conjecture would seem ridiculous. However, in the teeming crowds of Hyderabad, the individuality of one person or one student can often get lost in the shuffle of government education. Plagiarism can also lead a teacher to suspend their belief in a student's creativity. But this is not so much of an alarm for our classes. Yes, it was not easy for the students to internalize an emphasis on individual work, original ideas and creativity. But they have shown excellent promise while working in class. As supported by the America India Foundation's Digital Equalizer Program, we as Fellows recognize the importance of bridging the digital divide but also recognize a more pressing issue  at the local level of our schools; the value ascribed to individual expression, and perhaps in proportion, individual worth.

There are daily news reports that emphasize a reduced value of human life in such a highly populated country; on-going fatalities on the highways, railroads, oppressive pollution hanging as thick as moss in front of pre-schools, the suicides after the Chief Minister died and the list goes on and is normalized. Granted, this is an outsiders perspective. Yet, on our daily rides home through the congested and chaotic streets of Hyderabad, I am reminded of the social context pressing in on the classroom once the bell rings and the day is over. For teachers, we return to our apartment in Abids. But the boys return to their metal beds and their walls where it is written: "The greatest men have always stood alone." Success, it seems, comes when one has the privilege to live in a house with your own room, to ride in your own air conditioned car, to have the personal space to breath unpolluted air: indeed, it does seem the greatest men here strive to stand alone. There is a health related aspect to self-isolation. No wonder so many students perceive their solitude profiled in the city's skyline; privacy is at a premium in India. Those who can't afford it continue in the rush of the alley traffic beneath the high rises. Perhaps like our students they are fascinated by tigers, pyramids, and constructions of the mind that lead one man to believe, as Borges often dreamed, that he is any other man. For now, our challenge is to channel their energy into completing the assignments faithfully and honestly, doing their own work and showcasing their incredible capacity for wonder.

-Danny Thiemann
2009/2010 Fellow

What do you want to be when you grow up? Saju looked out our second story window. His eyes widened in proportion to the city limits and accommodated an area he saw himself diminish in.

I asked another student the same question. He said he wants to be a pilot in the airforce like his grandfather who died fighting in World War II. I watched him cross the courtyard toward the mess hall. Reflecting on all the challenges he has before him I am reminded of Wittold Gobrowicz. He once said “the heart of standing is you cannot fly.” I have always felt Gobrowicz meant it takes a lot of heart to stand beneath those impossible things we dream of; especially to do so with a body at that young age which is so short of reaching what it wants to become, and reaches nonetheless. He is a smart boy and has already shown promise in our classes. However, he is also an example of a boy with talent who does not do his homework. I am not very concerned. Discipline is a minor issue, I think, because their commitment is sincere. I enjoy teaching at Nalgonda more than anything here so far and I can’t wait to spend some more time with the students and teachers.

Diwali was last weekend! It was a good break from our regular scheduled programming. Late night during Diwali I walked the streets during that hour when all reserve and a childish wonder are thawed from the city streets. People were still celebrating with fireworks. A man sifted through the crowds for a coin and the moon, in parallel loss, panned through sounds of the city dreaming. Street children can easily be found sleeping or roaming the city at this hour.  A boy caught my eye and then ran off into the alleys. The moon, still in the east, was behind him with the pace of an usher’s flashlight suggesting, yes, he was out of place. The city is brought into sharper relief when I come across these urchins denuded of the crowds that surround them during the day, and maybe he sensed it too.

Monday after Diwali was a good lesson in how TMS teachers must be flexible in adapting to students’ varying levels of being comfortable with expressing themselves. Individual expression is, perhaps, not entirely encouraged in their other classes. Copying work is a big problem. I see there is a need to reinforce the sense that each of their stories has value. We started class by defining different types of story telling. Biography, Autobiography, poetry and general classifications of fiction and non-fiction were discussed. We read excerpts from Jamaica Kincaid’s beautiful introduction to Autobiography of My Mother, an article on Mohammed Yunus, and a poem by Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran. We then moved on to an exercise that expanded on last week’s activities. Our first week in class we brought in comics, whited-out the text, and had the students write text of their own. The students then did exercises in story-telling by drawing three panel cartoons and writing a story on the opposite page. This week we expanded upon this activity by having students first write a story and then storyboard the photos that would best document that story through visual evidence. We plan on having the students then take pictures that visually describe that story. Each picture must first be planned with students writing whether the shot was a close-up or long-distance, high or low positioned and what kind of sounds can be heard when taking the picture.

That night I got home late. It was 10:30 when I finished dinner. Walking home, the city started to quiet down and the pollution finally began bedding itself in the pavement instead of my lungs. Street lights dropped their coins into the eyewells of a man here and there, smoking alone. The long travel home from Nalgonda is a good time for reflection. I thought a lot about how the students have so many aspirations, energy and a sense of individualism in such an overpopulated city. We got home and the fireworks continued to send the birds flying into the sky. As with those birds, the nature that governs some students in their unreliable ascent is too often made most apparent in their fall: Around 20% of girls from government schools do not go to college. The number is higher for our boys.

To all our students who want to become pilots I wish them the best and would like them to read a final quote from Rumi:

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.”

-Danny Thiemann
2009/2010 Fellow. The Modern Story
Supported by the America India Foundation's Digital Equalizer Program