Education!

 

Consistency vs Intensity

 

Simplify!

 The difference between a teacher and a guru is..Guru simplifies the subject

The FEYNMAN technique of learning:

STEP 1 - Pick and study a topic

STEP 2 - Explain the topic to someone, like a child, who is unfamiliar with the topic

STEP 3 - Identify any gaps in your understanding 

STEP 4 - Review and Simplify!

What went wrong in US healthcare

 Norma retired from our hospital after 52 years as a nursing educator. She started as a junior nurse and eventually became a full professor. In the last few years, we worked together on many projects due to my involvement in education.

When everyone left after the retirement party, I asked Norma: "What do you think went wrong in US healthcare?"

She said: "At some point, we start failing to convey to our patients that we care for them. Instead, we start to bully what we know! They know we know! Our white coats do not capture their hearts; our attitude does. We, as educators, failed to instill that value in the new generation. We taught them books, websites, procedures, writing notes, and articles, but somewhere down the line - we failed to teach them that 'human touch to another human is the most profound art of healing."

A good commencement speech

 

The dark side of Emotional Intelligence

The dark side of Emotional Intelligence

 

What a beautiful lesson

 Being a teacher - I personally learned so much from this video.

Affected-Connected

Obsessed by Rituals

For some reason, I decided to go on the path of doing a doctorate. It is an interesting experience knowing and interacting with so many intellectuals. They all are good and sincere people. I am learning a lot about humans, their instincts and actions and reactions, and the so-called horizons of the human mind. In the process, I attended many defenses of many theses at various levels. The committees rejected some remarkable ideas (asked to come back with corrections) only because the one written paragraph was not indented at the same margin. One thesis was delayed because out of many references, one reference deviated by one comma from the suggested style. And there were so many other examples.

I learned: that it is not only religious people who get obsessed with rituals but any human mind - no matter how enlightened it is - over time, in any organized form, can quickly get consumed by rituals. The human mind has difficulty finding a fine line between discipline and rituals.

As Iqbal said in Saqi-nama of Bale-Jibril:

Byan Iss Ka Mantaq Se Suljha Huwa 
Lughat Ke Bakheron Mein Uljha Huwa

And

Haqeeqat kharafat main kho gai
ye ummat riwayat main kho gai

*

On 'Education'

I had to go to my son's school counselor for his summer classes' guidance. He quoted an interesting statement (which is wrongly attributed to Einstein);

"Education is that which remains if one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

 ~ Jis taalim se kirdaar ki tashkeel na ho, woh sirf gadhe ka bojh hai ~

Last Option (A Short Film)

I found following film pretty interesting.

Predictably Irrational

I wanted to write this post for a while. I was lucky to get introduced to this book: "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely. This is one of the most interesting books I have read so far and finished almost in one sitting.

This book talks about how psychology plays part in carving human economy, not only at personal level but at corporate as well as global level. How everything including emotions are relative to each other. How advertisements fool our brian. Why its easty to buy $3000 TV but hard to pay $2 on item at store! What's wrong with whole idea of demand and supply. One interesting chapter is all about power of "zero". How human brain get deceive by concept of free. Why people get intimidate by hard cash.

How social relationships get screwed when money finds it way into it. He says: we like to believe and behave like social but caring animals but how our inside animal comes out when things go on sale! How our decision power changes when we are 'high'! Why 'procrastination' soothes human mind. How we value our belongings more than it deserve in market ("Virtual Ownership") and play havoc with us!

Why keeping options open is not a great idea. How it hurts when we don't decide and let life take with us. It talks about power of expectations and price. Why restaurants price one dish so expensive knowing nobody gonna order it (because people will order second most expensive with psychology of having best but not wanting to pay too much...lol)

It tells us how corruption at individual level effects whole system. Why we feel comfortable getting free stuff from work. How it hurts when people return stuff in departmental store unethically. It teaches us trust, power of distrust and honesty.

I granted Dan Ariely the rutba of babaji!

3 Rules

I am lucky in the sense that I met many interesting people in life (or probably I have this psychological dyslexia of noticing them more). When we were in grade 6, we had a relatively young teacher. On first day he told his 3 rules in class......

Rule no. 1 - "I Rule"
Rule no. 2 - "When I speak, no one else speak"
Rule no. 3 - "When you speak, only you speak"

(Is class main sirf mera qanoon chale ga. Jub main bolunga to sirf main bolun ga magar jub aap bolain ge tub sirf aap bolain ge)

Master Ayub!

Cindrella

Mujhe 'Cindrella' aur 'Snow White' ki kahanian pasand nahi kiunke jub aap bachhe ki kahani ka aagaz hi kuch aese kerte hain ke...


"Once upon a time, long long ago, there was a princess whose mother was dead and she has to live with her cruel step mother and 2 cruel step sisters...."

to aap us bachhe ki psyche main bachpun hi se dur, khauf aur depression ka beej bo dete hain !

Bojh

Aaj kul jub bachhon pe kitabon, baston aur home-work ka bojh dekhta hun to saleem kausar ka ye misrah bohut yaad aata hai ke:

Sarak banane ki dhun main logon ne pag-dandian kaat di

School building

Agar school ki imarat kushada ho to bachon ke zahen bhi khule rehte hain.

Boston

Jis ne saari zindagi sirf dukandaari ki ho us ke liye boston chand se bhi ziyada dur hai.

Art of taking Exam

Taking an exam is an art. It has nothing to do with your intelligence.

1. Know "what to study" and "what not to study." Know what the examiner is more likely to ask.

2. Do not give up your essentials from the everyday lifestyle (like gym or dinner with family) for the sake of exams, and do not study more than 6-8 hours a day, which is also in 3-4 divided sessions. Make a complete plan of sessions in advance for each day available till exam day, depending on the number of topics that need to be covered. Each day, one session should be dedicated to reviewing and revising the previously studied topics.

3. Keep more eye on graphs, tables, pictures, algorithms, and quick pearls, instead studying the full text.

4. Practice more MCQs (multiple choice questions) as available (if that is part of the exam).

5. Record a specific topic in your voice and listen to it as you sip chai.

6. Stop studying the afternoon of the day before the exam and take the rest easy.

7. Sleep very well before exam night.

8. Arrive early at the exam center with a good breakfast, available munch, and water during the exam.

9. Give social gossip calls to friends during break.

10. Do not worry about results once the exam is over, as actual life has nothing to do with the exam.

*

Stage

One sign of achievement of one basic level (of knowledge) - if someday, with confidence, you can say: "I don't know this."