My post on "Black rights, Animal rights, and......?" talked about how I felt related to those whose Whites to discriminated against Blacks. There is an other context where I felt the same and this post is about it (Che!! My self image is taking a beating with this constant connection with the people who have discriminated).
As a teacher, I have witnessed innumerable number of times, the difficulty (or inability?) of some students to cope up with the difficulty of science and mathematics. Their comprehension of the subject and the ability to solve a question is so inadequate, its almost impossible for a teacher to help. Not surprisingly, I have given up many times saying that the student is better off pursuing a path other than the sciences. During these times, when people have made statements like "Anybody can do science and math. All it takes is effort, determination and external help", I have opposed such views calling them overtly romantic in nature. Can anybody be a runner or a swimmer with just adequate practice? What if someone's muscles are not adequately developed to become an athlete? Similarly, can a person with Down syndrome (where brain is not adequately developed) become a physicist? I have always asserted that any performance (academic or non academic) is both nature and nurture. The body composition matters as much as external factors (if not more) was a belief I held for long and that was also supported by personal empiricism (or confirmation bias?)
My long held belief was challenged last summer when I went for a month long course on science education research at HBCSE. There were many speakers who gave lectures on this topic of what determines whether one can do well in math and science. Almost all of them said, research indicates that 'being a genius' or 'being gifted' is NOT a strong indicator of whether one can do well in science and math. I vehemently argued with those speakers but what can be done? This is scientific research and not some religious debate where everyone wins in their arguments. If research indicates, it does. I returned to Bangalore with a split mind. My personal empiricism strongly believes in the role of body composition for academic performance while decades of research indicate otherwise.
Immediately after returning to Bangalore, I went to this Bollywood movie "Article 15". Before the movie started, I saw the trailer of the movie "Super 30". It's the story of a guy who took 30 students from underprivileged background and succeeded in getting them all to IITs. The IIT-JEE is one of the toughest exams in the world and not even in my wildest of dreams I would have entertained the thought of anybody cracking it with mere hard work. I believed some inherent 'smartness' is absolutely essential to get through it (Here, I don't intend that the under privileged students were not smart. But the fact that all of them got through implies, external factors is playing a prominent role). At that juncture, I was able to relate myself with the Whites who discriminated against Blacks. If we go back few hundreds of years and examine the conditions of Blacks and Whites, it's understandable why the Whites thought they were superior. The living conditions were such that Whites thoughts the Blacks will never be able to be like them. Even if somebody would have told that the BlackS are capable but its just the external factors have brought a huge gap in the living styles, nobody would have believed that. If I was there, I doubt my ability to believe in that too. But see how things have changed. With external factors being changed, the gap between them are reducing. This helped me to put my own split into perspective. I guess I was the White when I was seeing some of my students who were struggling with math and science. It might just be about providing the 'right' environment for students to study math and science and most of them might be able to do well irrespective of the inherent 'smartness' factor. It was time for me to move from personal empiricism to informed practice.
P S 1: I still believe a student with Down syndrome cannot become a physicist. My current understanding is, a IQ of above 130 is not necessary to succeed in science and math. If a student even has a IQ of 100, it should be enough but the presence of the right external environment is important. That's when the role of inherent smartness gets minimised.
P S 2: The book "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond is an excellent read on WHY there was a huge difference in the living styles of Whites and Blacks. Bottom line - It's NOTHING to do with the body composition or smartness but purely external factors!!!
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