Monday, September 9, 2019

Teacher's Day

Was listening to a very senior Professor from Vidyasagar University in a Teacher's Day function few days back at the office of SDO, Kharagpur. He gave example of parents of a five year old seeking advice from a learned on how to raise their kid. The learned said that the parents were five years late as a child learns from the very first day and the conduct of the parents leaves a lasting impression.

My father used to tell in my younger days when majority of my extra-academic time used to be spent in Children's wing of an organization, "Influence of parents on a child is 50%, children's own will is 25% and what you all are trying is 25%. Pick up those children whose parents are supportive to get better outcome." Of course, it could not be agreed to as we didn't want to profile kids that way and father was happy about it. His was to caution us for the unique development path taken by each in which parents, the first teachers, play a significant role.

Today is father's death anniversary (Link). The teacher in him was there for anybody who crossed path. This evening, there was a lecture from a Ramakrishna order monk here.  His Mother was told by Swami Shradhhananda (initiated by Swami Shivananda, direct disciple of Shri Ramakrishna) to dedicate one of his two sons to Shri Ramakrishna during one of his visit to their California residence; there the father was working as a Microbiologist at UCLA. And, both the sons dedicated themselves with encouragement from parents.


Maharaj began with five characteristics of Shri Ramakrisna's teaching: Ever-fresh, Authentic, Allows self-assessment and self-acceptance, Makes best version of oneself, Fun. During Q & A session, he referred to what Nivedita of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda wrote in the forewords of Vivekananda's Complete Works, "If the many and the One be indeed the same Reality, then it is not all modes of worship alone, but equally all modes of work, all modes of struggle, all modes of creation, which are paths of realization. No distinction, henceforth, between sacred and secular. To labour is to pray. To conquer is to renounce. Life is itself religion."

To note, Ramakrishna abandoned formal education at his village school when he was twelve as he found that was oriented only towards bread earning. Interestingly, he became the teacher of many a educated in Kolkata that included young college goers. A glimpse of his teaching, as was noted during those years by Sri Mahendranath Gupta, a Presidency scholar and a Professor can be found here (Link). A more recent article by a Stanford scholar, now an Assistant Professor at Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University in a Springer journal on unique attributes of Sri Ramakrishna can be found here (Link).

Shri Ramakrishna wrote in a piece of paper that Naren would teach and his voice would be heard in home and abroad. Narendra (Naren) remembered, "But I said to him, 'I won't do any such thing.' Thereupon he said, 'Your very bones will do it.'" Narendranath came to world stage as Vivekananda. His simple, penetrative, fearless message has something special. It is inspirational. In today's lecture, Maharaj referred to experience of an American lady who met both Czar of Russia and Vivekananda. Both were very big personalities to stand in front. But, there was an important difference and that was significant. The big personality of the Czar made her feel how small she was while the big personality of Vivekananda made herself feel big. 


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On 4th Sept. evening, a panel discussion was arranged here on the topic "Artificial Intelligence and its Impact on the Society." An observation there seemed to suggest that educational institutions and teachers would not be required in time to come. Educational material will be delivered to students by AI, digital technology. Knowledge in the book will be better accessed through digital platform. Information required by a student will be only key-stroke away or will be available in the recommendation panel.


The writing on the board as I stepped into next morning's 8:00 AM class, "Happy Teacher's Day", brought smiles on either side. Dr. Radhakrishnan's, the birthday boy's thought-provoking quotes appeared as last year's FB post. Greetings, messages. Then came these words from a 2018 batch IAS, IIT Bombay BTech in the Teacher's Day function at SDO Office, "Great teachers teach from the heart and not from the book. Teaching really makes a difference."

"If you want to know India, study Vivekananda," Tagore said. If you want to know about education, there is also Vivekananda for you. "What is education? Is it book learning? No. ... Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested all your life. ... The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion - is it worth the name? Real education is that which enables one to stand on one's own legs. The education that you are receiving now in schools and colleges is only making you a race of dyspeptics, you are working like machines merely, and living a jelly-fish existence. ... We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet."

AI, digital technology seem to bring back education to its roots by revisiting the teacher-taught relationship and educational institutions getting the opportunity to grow up and beyond!!