Skip to main content

No Vulnerability, No Learning

So when I grew up in India, I experienced a very different schooling system. The teachers I had thought that if they could shame me enough, I would learn. But the more they shamed me, the more I hated them, and the more I hated them the more I did not do the work they assigned me. This gave me a never-ending cycle of embarrassment. Every day I would come into class--without having my homework done, and without an excuse as to why--and the teachers would ask me to stand in front of the class so that they could show the other students what a lazy person looks like. Me! Hello! But that didn't mean I did their work, in fact after every incident like that I would hate them more. My parents got notes home saying "Your child is not paying attention in class" or "Why does Mudita never do her homework?" But my parents didn't care. My mom would come down to talk with my teachers, and when they would tell her how horrible I am as a student--she would point out how horrible they are as a teacher! God, I love my mom!

When I moved to America (Wyoming), I finally saw a teacher who actually cared about me. I was in 6th grade, and my teacher Mrs. Anderson was the nicest person I had ever met! I didn't know any English so she was very patient with me. Her and Mrs. Cobb taught me and my sister English together. They even noticed that we didn't have good winter coats, and brought us one so we won't be cold during recess! They really cared about me, and whenever I messed up they didn't embarrass me for it. I still keep in touch with Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Cobb. They find it hilarious and inspiring that I am an English major, studying to be a teacher. In a way, Mrs. Anderson was the one who inspired me to go into this field.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sourdough Bread Journey

 I've always been interested in baking bread and I recently took on the endeavour of baking sourdough. Immediately, I started to hear how difficult sourdough bread is to bake due to the the time consuming aspect of baking the bread properly. Even before this journey, I knew that bread-bakers always attributed sourdough to a very difficult bread. So, I started this journey with my guard up, expecting to make many mistakes that would result in uneatable bread.  Guess what. They lied.  I'm not saying it was incredibly easy, there are plenty of lessons I've learned through my mistakes. But those mistakes do not mark a difficulty for me, they mark my accomplishments. I've made mistakes I never thought I could make through my journey of baking sourdough, but they taught me valuable lessons and I don't regret a single mistake I made.  I decided to dust off my blog after taking to a friend about sourdough, and all she had heard about it was that it was the most difficult th...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Is The Use Of Poetry

I have never been good at poetry. Never. I can appreciate poetry because it's something deep and layered and has hidden meanings in it, but I can never write it. I guess I gave up trying after a few times. But then I went to Get Lit and I have to say, it was really great! To see so many poets sharing their poetry and in a way sharing a part of themselves was so inspiring to see! I got to see my friends share their poetry, I got to see the people listening to the poetry respond to it in a way that was inclusive and accepting. The whole environment of Get Lit was so great, I want to experience that again. That being said, I think poetry exists to let readers see a tiny part of a story. May that story be a person or an event. Poems have layers in them in which you get to make up your own rules. I love Emily Dickenson's poetry because of that--she doesn't conform to any rules, she makes her own rules! This shows the rebellious side of Dickenson that I have fallen in love with...
2 comments
Read more

Book Review: Convenience Store Woman

Keiko sees herself as an essential part of her community; someone who makes sure everyone has what they need whenever they need it, and someone who keeps everything organized for their convenience. Her work is very important to her, she is very dedicated to her job to the point where it's her central focus in life. Work has been the only thing in her life that's made sense, it gives her purpose and she feels safe in that. Keiko is a convenience store woman. Obviously, her family and friends find it very concerning that she's happy working at a convenience store for seventeen years, and that she's never had a partner, which makes her an "other" in their eyes. The thing is, Keiko knows how she is perceived and she doesn't care. She continues happily working at the store until Shiraha, a new hire at the store, moves into her apartment. "Convenience Store Woman" explores the idea of relationships viewed by society, and how society can make you feel f...
Post a Comment
Read more