BRIDGE YEAR (VARANASI, INDIA): DISPATCH #7 by Andrew Finkelstein '14

MORE BRIDGE YEAR PROFILES are being developed.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Andrew offers his final views on working in India (below).
As you know, the first Bridge Year has concluded, and its participants hail from
the Class of 2013. The goal: Give freshmen a year of overseas community work,
then bring them back to Nassau to launch their actual freshman year. These 20
students entered as '13s; they enroll on campus as the Class of 2014.

This competitive program for incoming freshmen has opened many eyes.
Below is the FINAL PIECE in a series of dispatches from Andrew.

PCW hosts Andrew's "Review of Bridge Year" on June 13.

For DISPATCH 1 in the series, please CLICK HERE ....
CHAP. 2 is HERE....
CHAP. 3 is HERE....For CHAP. 4, GO HERE...
For CHAP. 5, GO HERE. 
For CHAP. 6, CLICK HERE. 

FINAL DISPATCH: "On Leaving India"

My Bridge year ended in the Himalayas, just as it began.  The journey
to the mountains was smooth, but after spending a bit of time within
small enclosures - first a train, then a hotel room, and finally an airplane
- the fresh, open air in Ladakh  (located at 12,000 feet in the northern
most point of India) was the greatest welcoming gift I could have asked
for.  Our first few days were uneventful, filled with eating, sleeping, and
acclimating.  Being accustomed to the frantic pace and non-stop activity
in Varanasi, I quickly  tired of those activities; but once I found a window,
I was no longer bored.  The mountains of the Himalayas, acting as earth’s
largest fence, completely surrounded the small city and attracted my full
attention. 

There, once the group adjusted to the change in altitude, we began
our next activity: to create our lesson plans for the camp we would run
for the entire 7th grade class of a local school.   Appreciating and wanting
to preserve the pristine environment in which we were located, I originally
intended to teach a class on environmental education, but many issues
relating to the environment require facts and facts were not easily attainable
due to slow Internet connections and minimal preparation time.   Instead,
I thought back to my high school education and the courses I enjoyed
most.  One of the central courses in the International Baccalaureate
program is called "theory of knowledge" and examines how you learn. 
While this is a very broad concept and requires a significant amount of
time to explore, I decided that a variation would be to focus on the process
of presenting and examining a position or, in other words, to conduct a
debate.   I feel confident in my ability to argue a point that I believe in, and I
wanted to teach this concept  to students in Ladakh.

Our classes were to be conducted at a makeshift camp which barely
resembled anything close to a school, aside from a map of Europe and
Asia which one of my fellow Bridge Year students had cleverly wedged
into a few rocks.  The grounds were actually located on a terraced field
opposite a fantastically large and rocky mountain, which was begging
to be climbed.  The borders of each step on the terrace were lined with
walls of rock providing a scary jump down and an adventuresome climb
up.  Not surprisingly I sprained my ankle on one of my jumps, but I
continued to enjoy the rocky landscape, albeit at a slower pace.  

By the time the first group of students arrived at the camp - we planned
the camp to be held in two sessions of six days each - I was thoroughly
prepared for my first day’s lesson, but unsure about the future ones
because I did not know how the students would respond to my class. 
I had been told that the Indian system of education is heavily dependent
upon memorization and worried that the students would not be able to
formulate ideas and arguments necessary for debate.  While there are
many classes that  I took which required memorization, my favorite
classes allowed me to speak freely and argue my ideas.  My proposal
to teach debate would require the students to push beyond their own
conventional approaches to learning.

On the first day of camp I taught the students that everyone thinks
differently, which makes everyone’s point of view unique.  This lesson
was crucial for my class to understand because I did not want a student
to dismiss his or her peer’s arguments for impractical or childish reasons. 
I needed them to understand that in debate everyone must be heard or
else useful arguments could be overlooked.  I also conveyed that there
are always two sides to every argument, or else people would not argue
as much as they do.  Why do people abuse drugs when everyone knows
they can be harmful to their health?  The reason is because drugs provide
a high.  Why do people cheat when everyone knows it is immoral?  Because
cheating is often easier than the alternative.  The students grasped these
ideas firmly and the next day we moved on.  I taught them pros and cons,
how to use them, and to recognize that every argument has flaws.  I told
the students repeatedly that it is impossible to deny that there may be
flaws in whatever position is being advocated.  One should never lie
during a debate.  Flaws must be recognized, but at the same time positive
attributes should be discussed and heavily underscored to advance your
argument.

On the third day I felt that the students were ready to debate.  I started
them with easier topics such as “are toothpicks good or bad?” and
“which are better, pens or pencils?”  These simple debates were merely
practice.  I ultimately wanted the students to debate topics that had some
sort of environmental significance.  For our first environmental debate I
divided the class into two teams.  Team one represented a lumber mill
that planned to cut down most of the trees in a certain forest and team
two represented protesters, or people who disagreed with the plans of
the lumber mill.  I was so happy with their performance.  Though we
continued to have a few meaningless debates, such as “are sweaters
better than jackets?” and “are shoes better than sandals?” we continued
to have serious debates as well.  Some of the students’ favorite debates
were “should we wash clothes by hand or in a washing machine?” and
“are cars better than motorcycles?” 

There are many arguments in both of those debates but the students
always found a connection to the environment and used it heavily if it
supported their assigned position for the topic.   In the end, I actually
had taught a class about environmental education by giving them tools
by which to think about and challenge ideas.

My experiences in Ladakh taught me a valuable lesson which can be
taken to any country.  By the time my program ended I had been living
in India for nine months, seven of which were spent in Varanasi.  Even
so, I am not qualified, and may never be qualified, to make completely
accurate statements about the city or the country in which I was living
for this past academic year.  I do not consider myself to be an expert
on Indian culture.  All I can do is share information about what I have
seen and done. 

The differences between Ladakh and Varanasi are so vast that even
to find a starting point would take a great deal of time.  It was this
realization that allowed me to see that I am not yet a bank of knowledge
about Varanasi or India.  If anything, I can say that I have mastered “the
basics,” meaning I have learned enough to realize how complex and
intricate Indian culture can be, not only on a national level, but on a
much smaller scale as well. 

Traveling can be done in a number of ways.  There are five star hotels
and there are hostels, there are top of the line restaurants and there
are cheap local joints, there is private transportation and there is public
transportation, there is luxury and there is simplicity.  Regardless of the
way we travel, we must all recognize that spending time in a foreign
country allows us to learn about the world, not to criticize it, especially
when we only have a surface level understanding of the issues. 

I was challenged by my peers and leaders in India to see past personal
and societal stereotypes, and very few things have benefited me more. 
I challenge others to do the same.