of teaching and tea.....

July 8, 2008-(Tuesday)- Palumpur, India

This morning, the sun was out ! What a beautiful view outside my window! Once I got to the school I organized the trash pick-up. Most of the kids helped and worked hard along side me although kids will be kids and some were loafers. I got dirty looks from the teachers and staff. I guess they thought it was beneath them to pick up trash—the trash they threw down there in the first place. Once we had picked up the trash, it was time to bury it. I got the principal to give us some shovels and the kids and I got to work. It was very hard. The soil is full of stones, large ones. I have to say that I was winded and soaked with sweat when we were done. The larger boys and I did the digging. I was still astonished that the male teachers did not pitch in to help, but I guess I was beginning to get the picture. Even in the classrooms, the teachers are so different from American teachers. Here are some of the differences:

• Most of the teachers do not choose teaching because they enjoy it. Most choose it because they are women (and this is an acceptable vocation for some casts of women) or because they don’t have the education to pursue other careers. Some teach in order to produce income while they pursue other studies. In other words, they aren’t giving 100% to teaching, it’s just something to do.
• The teachers lecture and have the children repeat the lesson verbatim. There are no questions from the teachers like “what did you think of….”. The children are not taught critical thinking or to give their ideas or opinions.
• When a child completes an assignment in their notebook, they hand it to the teacher to grade. If the student does poorly on the assignment, they are physically punished and yelled at. If they do well, no affirmation is given.
• The teachers have an arrogant approach which puts them above the students. While I understand that there should be some sense of authority over the students, this attitude is, in my opinion, over done here.
• There is no sense of “fun” in the classroom. The teachers here appear to lack warmth and a sense of humor. Even amongst the little ones there are no affectionate pats on the head or shoulder, and certainly no hugs! When the children saw me hugging one child, they ran over to get hugs too! I don’t see how anyone can work with these little 4- 6 year olds and NOT fall in love with them! I hug all the children when appropriate except for the older boys which could be misconstrued. I play with them all at recess, spinning them around and playing tag and tickle. They see me as safe and run after me and tickle me back.

At about 11am, when it was almost time to leave, I went out to the playground again after finishing painting the 9^th grade classroom. I was extremely frustrated by what I saw. Even though I specifically asked the teachers and staff to instruct their classrooms about the clean-up project and teach them to throw the trash in the garbage can, there was trash again all over the play yard! Then, as I was preparing to leave, the principal asked me when I was going to paint the other classrooms. I explained to him that I was not going to paint the rest of the classrooms because I received no assistance from his staff. I tried to make clear to him (his English is not the best) that I came to HELP, not to do everything myself. He appeared to understand, but I wasn’t sure. He did understand that I wasn’t painting any more classrooms.

Once back at the house, I told Juggy what happened. I explained to him that I would like to speak to all the school staff about my frustrations. He told me that they had been dealing with these frustrations for the last 3 years, and that no one had wanted to approach the problem directly. I told him I would do it, then it would not be seen as CCS complaining, but as one of the volunteers talking. It was here that my age and education would come in handy. As I am older than anyone on the CCS or school staff, they would respect my authority because it is their culture to do so. They would also respect my educational background and see me as part of the highest cast. This is one time that my age is a good thing! (It also probably helped my credibility that my gray is beginning to show!) I sat down and typed out what I wanted to say, and showed the draft to Juggy. He thought it was great. It said all the things that others have wanted to say but did not. Here is what it said:

Good Morning Gyan Deep Staff,

In case you don’t already know me, my name is Marianna Rader. I am 43 years old and I am from the United States of America. In the U.S., I am a professor of Psychology at Florida Community College in Jacksonville, FL.

I am very interested in learning about other cultures, and I am also one who likes to help those that are in need. It is for this reason I saved money all year to come to do volunteer work in India. When I first found out about my volunteer placement I was very excited. I thought that I could show you my method of teaching, one that we use in the U.S., and you could show me yours, and we could talk about how best to help the students succeed. Instead I found myself in the classroom teaching the children myself, without any faculty to be seen. I didn’t mind this because the children are wonderful and it is for them, that I came. Still, I was disappointed. I was hoping for more of an exchange of teaching methods and ideas.

Next I found out that there would be exams going on during part of the time I was to volunteer. As I saw that some of the other volunteers painted the preschool room, I thought I’d begin a painting project as well. I expected the entire faculty to join in as this is your school. In the U.S. we teachers do not make much money, just as you don’t; however, we don’t teach because of the money, we can choose a profession that makes much more income. Instead, we teach because it is our PASSION. We love to see the joy of learning in our students. We love to help students at all levels reach their personal best! It is our job to help students in any way we can. The rewards for this are not money, but love, appreciation, and self-respect. In the U.S. we take pride in our work and our school. It is we faculty who clean, decorate, and invest our own time and money to help the students. Our government is also a problem when it comes to funding, but because we love teaching, we do whatever it takes to get the job done. With this said, perhaps you can understand my frustration when Juggy told me that no work had been done on the school since the volunteers left LAST summer. I would have thought that seeing strangers come from far away to help YOUR school would motivate you to make it better, but I was mistaken. I should then not have been surprise when neither the faculty nor the other staff volunteered to help us paint the classrooms. When I asked a few of you for help, you acted as if it was an insult to help. Even some of the children wouldn’t help. If I, an American, can come 9000 miles to paint your school, then I expect you to work as hard as I am. I did not come from America to improve your school. I came from America to help YOU improve YOUR school.

Another project I was trying to implement was cleaning up the area around the school. Tuesday, the children and I picked up trash, dug a hole, and buried the garbage. You all knew this was going on. When I went back to the yard after painting, there was more trash. Why are you not teaching the children not to put trash on the ground when we are working so hard? Why don’t you help clean up your own school? This is crazy to me. What about digging the holes for the trash? Who will do this when I leave? Would I come back next year just to see my efforts undone?

I am very frustrated. I will not work harder than you, the faculty and staff. I came to help, not to do for you.

This is all I have to say, and I say it with the hope that you will think about it and take it to heart.

Juggy said he would tell the staff that I wanted to speak to them and arrange a time. We didn’t know if the talk would do any good, but we both agreed that these things needed to be said. As a matter of fact, Juggy said that if there were not any change, that CCS would consider not placing volunteers at this placement next year. The only thing that would come into play other than this is the fact that we want to help the students. In this sense CCS might still send volunteers, but would monitor how much they did. Overall, I am hoping that the talk will motivate the teachers and staff to drop their traditional roles and do all they can to help the children and the school succeed. I can only hope.

At 2pm, we were taken to a tea estate to be instructed on the tea cultivation and creation process. I was very interested and took many mental notes. We watched as harvesters plucked the tops of the tea plants off and collect them in baskets. This was surely hard work in the hot sun. It was explained that the workers were paid based on how many baskets of tea leaves they picked. The tea plants were plucked every 7-14 days. Only the new, tender leaves could be used for making tea, the older, greener leaves were hard and useless for tea making. I couldn’t help remembering the jingle from the Teatly tea commercial, “It’s those tiny little tea leaves, in Teatly tea”. Here’s what I learned about Tea:

• All types of tea, -- silver, white, black, green—are the SAME plant ! The difference is how it is picked, cleaned, sorted and processed!

Ø Green Tea is made from fresh tea leaves which are immediately roasted.

Ø Black Tea is made from dried tea leaves which are then roasted.

Ø White Tea is made from the tea flower bud and the fresh tea leaf.

Ø Silver Tea is the most expensive type; it is made from the tea flower buds only.

Ø White and Silver Teas are expensive because they are labor intensive. After harvesting the buds have to be picked out manually.

On the way back from the tea estate it began to storm…. I thought this would be perfect nap weather, and I was right! When I woke up, the sun began to come out, and when I looked out of the window, there was a gorgeous rainbow !!! I ran to get my camera and took several picture, but the pictures don’t do it justice.

After dinner I worked on the journal, graded papers, and went to bed.