Cambridge School

Teaching at the Cambridge School in Calcutta was a wonderful experience. Sarjesh Makherjee who owns the school was a great host just as Tom and Jocelyn had been in Seoul. I have been so lucky! All the administrators, staff, and students at Cambridge made me feel at home, and I only wish I could acknowledge everyone personally. I probably ended up seeing just about every student in the school, and I feel like I have lots of new friends.

The Cambridge School has a direct connection with Cambridge University, and in size it is very much like Ancona. Classes are small and there is an emphasis on discussion, questioning, and life long learning. Most of the students are from India, but a sizable proportion are from foreign countries. In fact, nine different countries are represented with the largest representation from Seoul. I got a chance to practice my Korean in almost every class. For the most part my teaching started with me juggling and then discussing with the students how this was related to ideas of parabolas and the work on Galileo. Well, almost all of it was like this. I left out a little of the physics when I saw the preschoolers! I also got a chance in most classes to perform some of the songs Danny Buenconsejo and I will perform in Cebu. A group of Korean students performed a gospel song with voice and flute, and then I joined them playing Arirang while they sang.

It is always fun to be able to relate juggling tricks to Galileo, and I certainly noticed how all the students seemed to know of the work of Isaac Newton. Well, I guess since he was an alum...

Following these physics and music lessons, we would talk about what America and India are like. Most kids knew much more about America than any of us know about India. With the high school students there were several very memorable discussions in which the students complained that India is being overwhelmed with consumerism. It was a pleasant surprise to see people complain about malls and the jobs that they are taking from poor people, and when several of them noted gleefully that the first McDonald's in Calcutta had burned down in an accident, I realized I was really not in America! Ha ha. It was great to hear that good taste still exists.