Schedule

9:25	Arrive at School
9:30 - 10:00	Prayers participate/lead
10:00 - 11:00	Attend or volunteer in Language program
11:00 - 12:30	High School Club
12:00	Option to leave early

Topics Covered

1. Enhance reading skills - read 700 verses of Gita and develop an overall view of the contents
2. Presentation Skills - Present what you understand in an effective manner
3. Speaking Skills - practice presentation of ideas with complete sentences and without body gestures
4. Other skills - discuss topics of common interest in last half hour

Notes

1. Instead of using Microsoft office tools we will develop and utilize web based presentation skills. is this page easy to follow? :)
2. The focus is on reading and knowing the text in an academic manner. Discussions about deep meaning are left to invited guest. The group coordinator will not be presenting any particular interpretation or values or deep meaning of the words.
3. This is not a Gita class. We pick Gita because it is a text commonly talked about in our community. We can pick any text we like and we will pick something else after Gita.

Philosophy

The rest of this document is about philosophy and thought process that is driving us to organize this peer group/club. Reader's contribution is appreciated to improve the presentation and provide clarity where it is missing. However, there is no expectation that the reader will agree with everything expressed here.

1. Why Gita?

Gita is the scripture that is commonly identified with us. Apparently, it defines the core of our thought process so we will start with the book. It is only 700 verses and we should be able to consume it in relatively short time without going deep into any particular topic. In the lifetime of this club, we expect to read many other scriptures but Gita will be refreshed every year in the foreseeable future.

• Mandatory / Voluntary

 

The participation in this activity is totally voluntary. Only those who buy into this idea should subscribe. However, if you decide to participate please do so with the intention of respecting the time of others. It only works if all of us benefit from it.

• Parent's participation

 

Parent's participation is voluntary and is encouraged in an organized manner. The difference between student and parents is that parents are not allowed to correct each other. Those parents who want to participate can take ownership of certain slices of time to present their views.

• Expert participation

 

Expert participation is welcomed. An expert for this purpose who has a particular interpretation of written text. Expert can present their views under two mechanism. It could be expansion of particular text of scriptures or it could be a general description of what various unspecified verses might mean. More value will be assigned to cases where specific text is being referenced.

• Translation vs. Interpretation

 

Many of my peers know a lot about culture, tradition and religions of India by hearing about what is written as opposed to reading what is written. It made a lot of sense to do so during Bhakti movementwhen among other reasons the language of Brahmins was not commonly understood. In today's world and with our student base, it is not necessary and we have an option of reading the text on our own.

For the purpose of this conversation we define translation as same words as original text but in a different language. Interpretation is defined as a description of the written text. The main difference is that interpretation contains words that author never wrote. It is the writing of interpreter versus the writing of author. Sri Ramcharitamanas by Tulsidas is an interpretation of Ramayan by Valmiki. The work of Goswami Tulsidas stands on its own and it retells the story written by Valmiki. When we read Sri Ramchartimanas, we are reading the work of Tulsidas and not that of Valmiki. Same is the situation with various readings of Gita.

Intellectually speaking, it is very important to know the writer of a work. In all religions of the world, no book was ever written by God himself. It may contain the words of Gods but the actual writer was a mortal who lived and died. It is reasonable to assume that God did not give exclusive franchise on his knowledge and wisdom to one mortal only who lived at one point in time. In our modern western education, the concept of citation is very important. It is important to identify the writer whose expression of ideas (or compilation of ideas) are being presented in an adult conversation. It is also acceptable to introduce hearsay (whose origin is unknown or cannot be established) as long as it is identified as such.

• Defective Translation

 

Language is a defective means of communication. However, it is the most reliable mechanism to communicate a thought. I am not very good at understanding people who make body gestures or make funny sounds to convey a thought. Nor do I very good when someone puts his fingers on my mind to convey a thought from their mind to my mind. Words is what I know.

The fundamental defect with the words is that it could mean different things to different people. The body of the authors of Gita and many other scriptures has not been with us for some years now and there is no possible way we could know what the author was thinking in case we have a doubt.

Therefore, other than ignoring their works, the best we can do is to use the limited tools we have and make something of it. The good think about modern education is that we do not have to agree to everything and we have developed ways of managing our differences. A possibility of difference does not guarantee the existence of it. As we read and describe what we have read, we are not likely to have a difference on everything. Where we have differences, we have the tools available to manage them and we will deal with them when we find them.

• Emphasis on Presentation

 

Whenever we are in a public atmosphere we are always presenting ourselves. What people think of us is a direct function of what they hear what we say and read what we write. Our friends and families are very forgiving supporting and do not hold us to a very high standard but the rest of the competitive world is always trying to tear us apart. Mature presentation skills help us deal better with that environment and such skills cannot be developed in isolation. A mature group of peers dedicated to helping each other can make a significant difference.

• Teaching vs. Discussion

 

This group is being proposed as a discussion group in contrast to a class with a teacher. If successful, it will help all of us improve ourselves, improve our understanding of world, in general and help us in our interactions with the world.

Summary

Setup a peer group for high school students to serve following objectives

1. Keep the Vidyalaya students together during high school years
2. Provide additional volunteers to Language Classes
3. Enhance learning skills in a group environment
4. Advance study of our scriptures

Written word vs. Interpretation

The focus of this group is to learn the written word in the original text using the methods available to us today. This is distinct from younger classes where our emphasis is more on providing our interpretation in an interesting manner.

It is my belief that interpretation should follow the reading the text. An adult should not read the text from the perspective of an interpreter. An interpretation is subjective and there can be multiple interpretations, by definition. Intellectually, it is more interesting to read the text, review various interpretations and imbibe the one that one most identifies with. We welcome those who have an interpretation in our group and hear how they interpret the written word because without interpretation, the exercise does not have much practical value. We should be able to relate to it in our day to day lives.

The intention is to focus on it as an academic exercise of reading the text. The matters of value, beliefs are left for the invited parents and guests who have an opinion and are wiling to find time for this class.

Presentation Medium

On the first reading, we find that Gita presents a set of inter-related complex web of ideas. In our experience, a two dimensional physical medium like paper/pen is a very limiting medium to present such concepts. Fortunately, we have advanced tools at our disposal in 2011 and it is important to be able to present what is learnt in an effective manner.

We will use web as primary presentation mechanism. We expect each member of the group to have access to a computer. Web server facilities will be arranged. Doing work away from school hours is an option, not a requirement. We believe that we should be able to present what we understood in an effective manner.

There will be a lot of emphasis on using complete sentences and speaking at slow speed. The practice of communicating with body gestures and incomplete sentences will be discouraged. Fast talking every word is not comprehended by listener would be discouraged also. A blog type of mechanism will be developed so the members can capture their notes and thoughts.

Logistics

Everyone is expected to show up at 9:25 and say till 12:30. We can let some leave early after the scripture conversation is over around noon time. Those who choose to leave will not benefit from the non-scripture part of the enrichment conversation. The group will run as peer group, everyone will have equal say. The coordinator role is keep the conversation moving and fill in when the participants do not have material to contribute. We will enroll other parents to contribute to general enrichment experience based on their experience in their area of expertise.

Other Topics

We plan to talk about topics other than scriptures based on interest and participation by other parents. All of us are successful in some professional field and can contribute to the knowledge pool of our kids before they go to college.

Notes

It took Krishna less than a day, according to the book, to pass the message of Gita to Arjun and convince him to do his Karma of killing his relatives, elders and teachers. Arjun only heard it and could not even refer back to previous pages of the written word.

Today, October 2, 2011, we made progress and some objections were resolved. We will further clarify that this is a club and we are reading Gita together as the first book. It needs to be further clarified that, some believe, Gita is a topic of deep understanding and simply reading the words is not sufficient. This group makes no representation that reading the words of Gita is going to give us any deep understanding of the subject of Gita and that we are simply reading it to know the words in the text in a presentable manner. We are going to limit ourselves to the words in the text of Gita written by Vyaa. It is not only about Gita and we will have many other discussions besides GIta include Science, Sports, Business and Finance.

It also needs to be clarified that it is not a general offering to the students. The students and families need to elect to be part of it and the coordinator needs to accept the students. This is an active participation group for high school and higher age (yes, adults). We are going to run like a club where the direction will be determined by the members and each member will get equal vote. The coordinator is just a member for the purpose of voting. While most decisions can be made by a simple vote, structural changes will require 3/4 of the members to vote for it. Non-members are welcome to watch us in action but they cannot participate. Participation is limited to members. Those who want to listen only can come as non-members and sit in the back of the room.

As opposed to a 45 minute culture class, this is a three hour meeting of the club for approximately 30 Sundays in a school year. Attendance is expected in every meeting for full three hours. Each member is expected to have access to a computer. If you want to bring your laptop to the club and use it, we would encourage it but it is not a requirement. We will communicate mostly by written words. Spoken words are ephemeral and have no significance until written down. Each participant is expected to learn advance presentation skills and make good quality presentations using complete English sentences and without the use of body language. The quality of presentation is expected to be same or better than the essays one would write in regular school.

Each member is expected to speak up about their achievements and successes. Being modest is a quality that is not appreciated. There is a fine line between arrogance and self promotion and we would expect everyone to make their point without getting obnoxious (the group can make the judgment by simple majority). If you have achieved success in something, you must tell us about your experience so we can all gain from it.

Any member can bring up any topic and the role of coordinator is to fill up the fee time. A certain amount of time has to be devoted to reading a scripture since we are all part of Vidyalaya.

We are going to approach the Prayer and Language coordinators to propose the following. The members of VHSC will actively participate in prayers. It would be a requirement to recite 11 verses at 9:30 standing up and facing the general assembly and encourage others to recite it in loud voice. There is no need to keep a low voice while praising the Lord. It would be my desire to take over the 9:30 to 9:37 time slot from current prayers leaders. The allocation of time between 9:37 to 10:00 is open. At 10:00 there is a choice between attending Language class or volunteer in helping manage a language class depending on the comfort with the language. This idea needs to be coordinated with language teachers. The volunteer hours will be recorded and proper credit will be given by Vidyalaya Inc. The Club will meet on its own from 11:00 to 12:30 and discuss various topics.

This is a year long commitment. While it is optional to join this club, we would expect those who join to honor their commitment for the whole year and not back off.