What’s up, doc?
As I pulled out of my dirt road this morning, I noticed Natasha’s close friend Shelby waiting at the street corner waiting for her school bus. She was by herself and obviously very cold. So, before thinking any further, I rolled down my window and asked her if she would like a ride to her school. To which, she readily agreed. It appeared that Natasha and Sharmila missed her by a few minutes.
The drive to school – which was a slight detour for me, but I had a two hour drive to Lake Oconee in front of me – was very insightful. I am really impressed with how mature kids are these days and their clarity around what they want to do. After asking about her parents, I inevitably came to the “What do you want to be when you grow up” question.
I am not sure, why I always ask that question – maybe because my dad used to ask me and my friends the same question. Or maybe I am simply looking for some ideas for myself 🙂
Anyways, Shelby was clear she wanted to be a doctor. I immediately made a note of how my dad would have been proud of that answer. In his world, everybody grew up to be an engineer or a doctor. Or a Nobel Prize winner!!!
“Tell me a little more”, I prodded Shelby. She went on to explain how she is fascinated by what she has been studying in Biology regarding how organs work. She thinks it is an incredible feat of our body how all the organs work in tandem. She also realizes that for many people those organs do not work perfectly. So, she wants to “fix” the organs for those people.
It was a good chat for 10-15 minutes. After I dropped her and hit the road for the long haul, my mind kept going back to my tenth grade (Shelby is a tenth grader). I had a Biology book too. (It was a red book by two authors – Katyal and Ali, as I reckon). And my Biology book had chapters on organs too. But to me, every new organ was an obstacle to getting myself a passing grade 🙂
And yet, from these same chapters, this girl has started building her dream.
I am truly impressed with how kids learn so much more, faster and exhibit greater level of maturity and independence in deciding who they want to be.
Don’t you let anybody tell you that this world is not getting better and brighter…
Wow, Rajib! That is a wonderful post, as always. Really touched my heart, as a teacher. I live to hear things like that from my students.
What DID you want to be at her age?
rajiv da….i have grown to be addicted to ur posts….nice work dada
Sara, honestly I had no clue. In those times, in India, you did whatever your seniors did. I had good grades – so I did what kids with good grades that age did – I went and studied math and science…. What I really wanted to do was to play soccer the whole day….
Arindam, thank you!!! Are you near Bengal or Bombay this year end?
Tammi, thank you and if you were my math teacher (as I recollect, you teach math, right) you would be real proud of me…
Arindam, thanks! Are you going to be in Bengal or Bombay end of this year?
Yes, and Physics… and by your puzzle posts, that half the time I can’t solve, I would be proud of you! I admire you tremendously… always have, always will…
Are you coming this year end ?
Think so
I think our textbooks were balck and white, monotonos and boring. Here they do labs at the same time which helps them to internalize better.
Rajibda, another book was “Introduction to Biology” by D.G.Mackean which Debasish used to read ,now it is our daughters possession .They found some old question papers of your school. Though they r not very fond of biology.
Rajib, It good to be a good samaritan. Appears now you have plenty of time and you want to enjoy life of free lancing in any possible manner. Our parents missed similar opportunity. Chaudhuri kaku,Airport city.
Rajib, a confession here . Your posts are really impressive, exhaustive and thought provoking . Agree with you that today’s generation is far more matured and clear than we were .
I’m simply impressed you remember the authors of the book from 10th grade. We used to cover them up and I can’t even recall the front cover:-). On another note- do tell us what you want to be 😉 when you grow up!!!!
Just kidding!!!!