It is time to decide. It doesn't matter that I had no need for it in the last 10 years. Apparently, the stigma doesn't apply anymore. As with most things in life, there are two options - Harder in the short term and supposedly better in the long run; Easier in the short term and supposedly questionable in the long run. Obviously, I opted for the latter. The classic risk vs. reward paradigm played on this teenager who just graduated 10th class.
It is time to decide whom to go to for Physics tuition - Doc or Prof. Both teachers were on college payroll and did NOT teach as much, if any, inside the college campus. These same teachers would teach outside the college in their personal tuition and made money many times over. Students paid fees both to the college and for the tuition. You get the certificate from the former as part of the system and the content from the latter outside the system. No body seemed to think that there was anything wrong with this approach. At least, not the students. Some of us - boys looked at tuition as another opportunity to meet up girls.
I was not ready to leave my home at 5 AM in the morning every day, on my bicycle, to get to Doc's place about 40 minutes away. Instead, I opted for the Prof who is walking distance from my home. I could sleep in for another 30 minutes every morning. That is too precious.
All the top students (Straight A types) in town went to Doc who is far off from the town. He is the guy whom you go to if you want to get into one of the best colleges in the country. He charges a premium and gives you the hardest problems to solve. Kids are here not necessarily to learn from this teacher, but to compete with each other on the hardest problems that he doles out. A typical tuition starts at 6 AM every morning and has about 50 kids in the class.
The tutor I picked was for the rest. Prof doesn't give as many challenging problems. Most kids attended Prof's class because their parents sent them here- not necessarily because these kids wanted to learn the subject. Prof is clear on one thing. He is there to teach those who wanted to learn. But, at the same time - he is clear about his business model - High Volume, Low margin.
With 120 kids in Prof's class, there are a few who invariably escape from the last benches in the middle of his class, when he turns towards the black board to write something. One would be tempted to think he didn't notice them missing in the middle of his class. However, on the fifth of every month - he was sure to know which one of the 120 had not paid the fees. All out of his memory. It was not as though we paid electronically and had a receipt every time we paid. Prof used his energy where it mattered.
Prof is personable. He probably talked about Real Physics for 30 minutes. The other half of the class is spent in stories, anecdotes and jokes. He used every day examples to explain concepts.
In order to explain adding to or subtracting from Infinity - he would say - add a bucket of water to the Ocean. Did it make any difference ? Surface Tension is about brushing teeth and foaming. Newton's third law on action and reaction is the same as hitting some body and getting hit in reaction. In order to explain the dual nature of wave and particle in quantum physics, he would make a comment about those backbenchers who seem to be in class one minute and who are missing the next ! Archimedes buoyancy was the same as sambar that spilled out of the cup when one dropped an Idly in it.. Electrons revolving around nucleus was the same as boys running around girls. The list was endless.. Every concept had a story.
It was as though he knew how to teach Physics to the masses. In a few weeks, we were there not because our parents sent there. We wanted to listen to his jokes at 6 AM in the mornings..
25 years later...
I don't remember any of the Physics problems that I had solved. It probably didn't matter that I did not go to the Doc's tuition. What I do remember are some of the jokes and the concepts that Prof had used. I called up my brother before writing this article and asked him about a few jokes from Prof. Without a pause, he started listing a few - some of which made into the article.
It is amazing how memory gets stronger when we are happier. I have tried to emulate this principle in my role as a teacher. I teach History of India amongst other subjects in a Sunday school. I remember when History was dull and dry in school. No wonder, I don't remember much of what I had studied in school. I developed interest on the subject in my adult life. So, I try not to teach History - the way it was taught in my school.
Most of the characters in Indian history are played out as roles by kids in my class. They wage wars and run empires. Some of these classes are held outside the class on the field. A tennis ball is a proxy for an arrow shot (thrown) by one empire over the other. The number of catches dropped dictates the "winner" of the war. After having taught the same group of students for two years, I held a quiz the other day. I was surprised that the students were able to recall the names of Ambhi and Porus - characters taught more than a year ago - only because these were the characters they played !
Even in the History class, the laws of Physics are immutable. I still see a few electrons revolving around the nucleus !
It is time to decide whom to go to for Physics tuition - Doc or Prof. Both teachers were on college payroll and did NOT teach as much, if any, inside the college campus. These same teachers would teach outside the college in their personal tuition and made money many times over. Students paid fees both to the college and for the tuition. You get the certificate from the former as part of the system and the content from the latter outside the system. No body seemed to think that there was anything wrong with this approach. At least, not the students. Some of us - boys looked at tuition as another opportunity to meet up girls.
I was not ready to leave my home at 5 AM in the morning every day, on my bicycle, to get to Doc's place about 40 minutes away. Instead, I opted for the Prof who is walking distance from my home. I could sleep in for another 30 minutes every morning. That is too precious.
All the top students (Straight A types) in town went to Doc who is far off from the town. He is the guy whom you go to if you want to get into one of the best colleges in the country. He charges a premium and gives you the hardest problems to solve. Kids are here not necessarily to learn from this teacher, but to compete with each other on the hardest problems that he doles out. A typical tuition starts at 6 AM every morning and has about 50 kids in the class.
The tutor I picked was for the rest. Prof doesn't give as many challenging problems. Most kids attended Prof's class because their parents sent them here- not necessarily because these kids wanted to learn the subject. Prof is clear on one thing. He is there to teach those who wanted to learn. But, at the same time - he is clear about his business model - High Volume, Low margin.
With 120 kids in Prof's class, there are a few who invariably escape from the last benches in the middle of his class, when he turns towards the black board to write something. One would be tempted to think he didn't notice them missing in the middle of his class. However, on the fifth of every month - he was sure to know which one of the 120 had not paid the fees. All out of his memory. It was not as though we paid electronically and had a receipt every time we paid. Prof used his energy where it mattered.
Prof is personable. He probably talked about Real Physics for 30 minutes. The other half of the class is spent in stories, anecdotes and jokes. He used every day examples to explain concepts.
In order to explain adding to or subtracting from Infinity - he would say - add a bucket of water to the Ocean. Did it make any difference ? Surface Tension is about brushing teeth and foaming. Newton's third law on action and reaction is the same as hitting some body and getting hit in reaction. In order to explain the dual nature of wave and particle in quantum physics, he would make a comment about those backbenchers who seem to be in class one minute and who are missing the next ! Archimedes buoyancy was the same as sambar that spilled out of the cup when one dropped an Idly in it.. Electrons revolving around nucleus was the same as boys running around girls. The list was endless.. Every concept had a story.
It was as though he knew how to teach Physics to the masses. In a few weeks, we were there not because our parents sent there. We wanted to listen to his jokes at 6 AM in the mornings..
25 years later...
I don't remember any of the Physics problems that I had solved. It probably didn't matter that I did not go to the Doc's tuition. What I do remember are some of the jokes and the concepts that Prof had used. I called up my brother before writing this article and asked him about a few jokes from Prof. Without a pause, he started listing a few - some of which made into the article.
It is amazing how memory gets stronger when we are happier. I have tried to emulate this principle in my role as a teacher. I teach History of India amongst other subjects in a Sunday school. I remember when History was dull and dry in school. No wonder, I don't remember much of what I had studied in school. I developed interest on the subject in my adult life. So, I try not to teach History - the way it was taught in my school.
Most of the characters in Indian history are played out as roles by kids in my class. They wage wars and run empires. Some of these classes are held outside the class on the field. A tennis ball is a proxy for an arrow shot (thrown) by one empire over the other. The number of catches dropped dictates the "winner" of the war. After having taught the same group of students for two years, I held a quiz the other day. I was surprised that the students were able to recall the names of Ambhi and Porus - characters taught more than a year ago - only because these were the characters they played !
Even in the History class, the laws of Physics are immutable. I still see a few electrons revolving around the nucleus !
You are on a roll!! Another good blog piece. We too had 2 profs doing "outside" students tuitions with rivalry bet. the two and endless politics revolving around it. Same thing for medical doctors. They had two practices. One to get the clients from and another one for charging money.
ReplyDelete"Archimedes buoyancy was the same as sambar that spilled out of the cup when one dropped an Idly in it.." This is hilarous...You should prolly make a separate post on all the examples this *brilliant* prof had in his mind.
P.S: your kids tell the sub teacher how their classes are held outside everytime. lol. Poor sub.