Coding and Programming in Life

“You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose.” ― Lou Holtz

She spoke confidently about herself. She said that she was proud that she could help her parents with the money she earned. I just asked whether she was a regular student and how could she manage her studies. She seemed bubbly with a tinge of naughtiness in her eyes, saying ‘I reach home before five in the evening, freshen up and  begin teaching my students by 5.30 pm, but I  am able to study only during my exams.’ She added that her mother, who is not very educated had begun helping her and she and her mother were able to teach students till their seventh grade examinations. She spoke a lot more, but her love for teaching reflected in her words and actions.

It was an English oral examination for the second year undergraduates pursuing computer science. As the students grow older the objective of a language examination turns into a mere fluency test where the capabilities of communication and persuasion skills are observed. These skills are emphasized to help the students land a good job with an ability to use language for better interpersonal skills. However the syllabus for the students is a holistic one with prose, poetry, business communication and grammar. I appreciate the University for making the course compact and simple for all the students to brush their knowledge and facilitate learning with ease. The students are a diverse group who belongs to laid back villages, normal city schools and high bred convent schools. The orals thus would have been more suited for the second semester after the communication skills, yet it was planned and I decided to move ahead. I gave the students an idea of the questions that would be asked from the prose, poetry and grammar. I divided the question session in three stages for each student and told that everyone would get an opportunity to speak about themselves for a minute, thus I would come to know the hundred odd students too.

As the viva began, I saw the students hustle into the room waiting for their turn. Being science students the crowd has always been a sincere and a manageable one. Here was a young girl who spoke about herself. Then came another young girl who spoke about her family, as the girl spoke there was a quiver in her voice that spoke about her conviction. She said she wished to do something for her parents. She said ‘ma’am, my mother could not study so she is helping me study, I wish to join a good  multinational company with my knowledge of programming and give her a better life’. She said she wanted to make her mother lead a rewarding life filled with pride for having her as a responsible daughter.  

The students spoke about their areas of specialization, their likes in Computer Science like coding, programming, software engineering and many more. They spoke about their aspirations, their courage and their abilities. There were some who said that they did not have an identity in school, they could not land a seat in architecture, or engineering as planned yet in dejection they had opted for this course, they added that flexibility of the course had helped them gain  a new found confidence and now they looked forward towards a postgraduation in their favorite subjects. There were a few who were pursuing engineering from NIIT and doing this course with a retaliation for learning more and gaining more than the courses they could not pursue. There were youngsters who worked in call centers and studied the course in absentia though it was difficult.

I met this young girl for the first time who said she was also an ex student of one of the schools where I had  taught. She spoke about the trauma of losing a parent, her sister and the financial crunch at home making her teach students. She said that she intended to pursue her education in all these hardships and it gave her the understanding that adversities in life have made her stronger with greater understanding of life. There were students who said they wanted to give their opinion regarding the poems we had learnt related to culture saying that they differed in opinion, but wished not to disturb the class the day I taught. They spoke how  a poem like ‘Purdah’ by Imtiaz Dharker was related to their lives and so clarifications were essential. There were many more who said that they needed to speak to overcome the fear of speaking  a foreign language.

The viva turned out to be an eye opener and an understanding how we facilitate learning than teaching. Motivation is an enthusiasm towards a goal. Motivation has an inner drive and an external drive.  The external drive is associated with gains like possessions through money, power and position and importance. An inner drive is the enthusiasm to live in the present, be passionate about pursuits enjoying these wholely, it includes  love, compassion and a service to others that please the soul. It helped me understand how an intrinsic motivation viewed through the feelings of our heart is a long lasting one and can never die out, while the extrinsic motivation of power and position creates a constant craving and leave an individual dissatisfied with life. Motivation, powerfully reminds  me of my friend Vimala when she told me that now it would be the turn of  multinational companies, all over the world to come to India rather than our kids going abroad, adding that had we had the right circumstances we would not have become CEOs of companies like Google, but would have created Google.

“Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” 
― Paulo Coelho