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My most favorite course in college was Color Theory. It was a deep-dive in studying the interaction between colors, how to use them in graphic design and art, and so much more. As someone who loves to crochet, I find it incredibly fun to pair unexpected colors of yarn while following some of the guidelines of color theory. This is the first 12 inches of an extra large granny-stripe blanket I started this summer.
Also, if you love colors and smartphone games, then I've got just the app for you. It's called "I Love Hue". A bunch of color blocks are shuffled and your job is to place them back in the correct order by shades and tints with the fewest moves possible. It's a good game to relax with at night along with some decaf chai tea and a piece of chocolate.
I love the theory of the sheath dress. In practice I need something to feminize my hips. #fitandflare
From my birthday back in February.
Personally I don't care much about my birthday...I just like to see what my friends come up with when I throw a theme out there.
They showed gloriously....
45EPIC Malibu Ballet! Beautiful High Res Fine Art Ballerina Dancing Classical Ballet in Pointe Shoes Goddess! Golden Ratio Photography Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Professional Ballerinas! Bikini Swimsuit Aphrodite! Athletic Fitness Models! 45SURF dx4/dt=ic
Sony A7 R RAW Photos of Pretty, Tall Blond Ballerina Model Goddess Dancing Ballet! Carl Zeiss Sony FE 55mm F1.8 ZA Sonnar T* Lens & Lightroom 5.3
My physics equation dx4/dt=ic graces the swimsuits and bikinis, while the golden gun is designed in proportion with the golden ratio, and the photos are oft cropped in divine proportions!
Beautiful Golden Ratio Composition Photography Surf Goddesses! dx4/dt=ic Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite! Athletic Fitness Models!
My Epic Gear Guide for Landscapes & Portraits!
Everyone is always asking me for this! Here ya go! :)
My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...
Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
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Epic books, prints, & more!
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
Epic Art & Gear for your Epic Hero's Odyssey:
Enjoy my physics books graces with my fine art photography! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical
Beautiful Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite!
Chaos Theory.... an Observation : 73° 35' W: 45° 30' N: 10/10/05: 6:30 EST
In mathematics and physics, chaos theory deals with the behavior of certain nonlinear dynamical systems that (under certain conditions) exhibit the phenomenon known as chaos, most famously characterised by sensitivity to initial conditions (see butterfly effect). As a result of this sensitivity, the observed behavior of physical systems that exhibit chaos appears to be random, even though the model of the system is 'deterministic' in the sense that it is well defined and contains no random parameters. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory
Surfing is Poetry in Motion! Beautiful & Talented Professional Surf Girl Goddess! Lower Trestles San Clemente! Athletic Bikini Swimsuit Wetsuit Models Surfing Trestles Beach, San Diego! Nikon D810 + Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2! Surf's Up!
All my photography celebrates the physics of light! dx4/dt=ic! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical: geni.us/Fa1Q
Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz
Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
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Some of my epic books, prints, & more!
Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.
Conspiracy theories swirl around many accidents, terror attacks or disasters. It’s not surprising, then, that a host of different claims surround the crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17. There are theories about fighter jets and different types of missiles. So what really happened?
The...
Big Sur Bixby Bridge Fine Art Aerial Drone Landscape Photography! DJI Mavic Pro 2 Drone Aerial Fine Art Landscape Photography Hasselblad L1D-20c Drone Camera! Elliot McGucken 45EPIC Fine Art Drone Landscape Nature Photography!
Epic Fine Art Photography Prints & Luxury Wall Art:
Support epic, stoic fine art: Hero's Odyssey Gear!
All my photography celebrates the physics of light! The McGucken Principle of the fourth expanding dimension: The fourth dimension is expanding at the rate of c relative to the three spatial dimensions: dx4/dt=ic .
Lao Tzu--The Tao: Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Unifying Physical Reality of the Fourth Expanding Dimensionsion dx4/dt=ic !: geni.us/Fa1Q
"Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life." --John Muir
Epic Stoicism guides my fine art odyssey and photography: geni.us/epicstoicism
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” --John Muir
Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” --John Muir
Epic Art & 45EPIC Gear exalting golden ratio designs for your Hero's Odyssey:
Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz
Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
Some of my epic books, prints, & more!
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
All art is but imitation of nature.-- Seneca (Letters from a Stoic - Letter LXV: On the First Cause)
The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul. --Chrysippus (Quoted by Cicero in De Natura Deorum)
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells. --To Autumn. by John Keats
Pretty Blue Eyes! Black Surfboard Blonde Surf Girl Bikini Model Malibu Sea Cave! Epic 45SURF Swimsuit Model Portait & Landscape Photography! Beautiful Golden Ratio Composition Surf Goddess! Athletic Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Sexy Hot Portraiture dx4/dt=ic Venus Model!
Swimsuit bikini model girls with the famous 45SURF surfboard dx4/dt=ic physics t-shirt! Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz
My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ...
Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
Follow me friends!
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Epic books, prints, & more!
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
Epic Art & Gear for your Epic Hero's Odyssey:
Enjoy my physics!! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical
Beautiful Surf Goddesses! Athletic Action Portraits of Swimsuit Bikini Models! Athena, Artemis, Helen, and Aphrodite!
OK. It has been over a year since I returned from Ethiopia with over 5,000 photos. Yes, 5,000, and that's after culling them during the day and again at each day's end.
I work on the theory that perhaps one, maybe two, out of ten photos will be keepers when all is said and done. When a country is as interesting and spectacular as Ethiopia, 500 to 1,000 photos barely do it justice.
Anyway, I'm determined to finish processing the images before the second anniversary of my trip rolls around in October 2009!
Toward that end, I am picking up where I left off several months ago, near the ancient city of Axum in northern Ethiopia. No more photos of snow, boats or cats for a while. I mean it!
This photo shows the landscape on the road from Axum to the very ancient site of Yeha near the Eritrean border, via Adwa.
Greetings mate! As many of you know, I love marrying art, science, and math in my fine art portrait and landscape photography!
The gold 45 revolver lingerie is designed in accordance with the golden ratio! More about the design and my philosophy of "no retouching" on the beautiful goddesses in my new book:
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
If you would like a free review copy, message me!
And here's more on the golden ratio which appears in many of my landscape and portrait photographs (while shaping the proportions of the golden gun)!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
'
The dx4/dt=ic above the gun on the lingerie derives from my new physics books devoted to Light, Time, Dimension Theory!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Thanks for being a fan! Would love to hears your thoughts on my philosophies and books! :)
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Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess!
Golden Ratio Lingerie Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis! Girls and Guns!
Would you like to see the whole set? Comment below and let me know!
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I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
The Golden Ratio informs a lot of my art and photographic composition. The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo! Not so long ago, I came up with the Golden Ratio Principle which describes why The Golden Ratio is so beautiful.
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.
The Birth of Venus! Beautiful Golden Ratio Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Helen of Troy! She was tall, thin, fit, and quite pretty!
Read all about how classical art such as The Birth of Venus inspires all my photography!
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
Fine Art Ballet Photography: Nikon D810 Elliot McGucken Fine Art Ballerina Dancer Dancing Ballet Spring Wildflowers! Black leotard!
Dancing for Dynamic Dimensions Theory dx4/dt=ic: The fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions at the rate of c!
New ballet & landscape instagrams!
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Nikon D810 Epic Fine Art Ballerina Goddess Dancing Ballet! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Ballet!
Marrying epic landscape, nature, and urban photography to ballet!
Nikon D810 with the Nikon MB-D12 Multi Battery Power Pack / Grip for D800 and D810 Digital Cameras allows one to shoot at a high to catch the action FPS! Ballerina Dance Goddess Photos! Pretty, Tall Ballet Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Captured with the AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II from Nikon, and the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Nikon! Love them both!
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A pretty goddess straight out of Homer's Iliad & Odyssey!
New Instagram! instagram.com/45surf
New facebook: www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology
Join my new fine art ballet facebook page! www.facebook.com/fineartballet/
The 45EPIC landscapes and goddesses are straight out of Homer's Iliad & Odyssey!
I'm currently updating a translation with the Greek names for the gods and goddesses--will publish soon! :)
"RAGE--Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another. " --Homer's Iliad capturing the rage of the 45EPIC landscapes and seascapes! :)
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Music/poetry/art should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman."
Follow my Fine Art Ballet instagram!
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Nikon D800E Photos Pretty 45surf Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess with Super Sharp Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens For Nikon!
Pretty Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess!
She was tall, thin, fit, and most beautiful!
All the best on your epic hero's odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!
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Modeling the new black & gold & "Gold 45 Revolver" Gold'N'Virtue swimsuits with the main equation to Moving Dimensions Theory on the swimsuits: dx4/dt=ic. Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! :) You can read more about my research and Hero's Odyssey Physics here:
herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com/ MDT PROOF#2: Einstein (1912 Man. on Rel.) and Minkowski wrote x4=ict. Ergo dx4/dt=ic--the foundational equation of all time and motion which is on all the shirts and swimsuits. Every photon that hits my Nikon D800e's sensor does it by surfing the fourth expanding dimension, which is moving at c relative to the three spatial dimensions, or dx4/dt=ic!
Instagram: instagram.com/45surf
Surf Cowboys of the world Unite! :)
Epic Goddesses straight out of Homer's Iliad!
Homer's Iliad: "RAGE! Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled."
All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!
I just finished an art class prior to Otakon where we discussed color theory, the color wheel, and the cool/warm colors. Her hair was dyed to the "cool" colors (green, blue, and purple/violet) and I complimented her on her color choices and asked to take her photo. I think it really conveys her colorful spirit and attractiveness. What can I say, I've got a thing for geeky girls.
Fue muy buena la salida de ayer
muy productiva.....
Y llena de gays chupa ...... De racks , jajajajaja...........................!
Photo Essay on above image from my stove top by way of news from The New York Times re: Italian pasta, boiled then simmered with the crisp bacon that started the production, when I added - > mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet pepper, whiff olive oil, basil,spinach, garlic, sea salt, more butter, half&half, with a touch of cheese on top.
Tastes good and, was in the news; Mediterranean Diet Shown to ward off Heart Attack and Stroke; www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/health/mediterranean-diet-can-... .
Relates to my conception a few years of noodling around with 'string theories' being organic and nutrition powered. The 'recipe' of which, along with another (iron skillet spaghetti string theory related) photo essay can be found here in its (expanded technical rhetorical informed wild guess working as to the running of the 'gearbox' of the Universe by means of the expansive and digestive power of 'bugs' (being bacteria and, their quarks in repair) as the micro of cellular expansion that is the growth of life, creates the macro the forest and its fires in the macro to fulfill the content of the past, present and future in its entirety soup to nuts forward and reverse engineered;-) 'in reality as well as theory'*, as Dark Matter and Energy are explained on a proverbial platter, by means of a iron skillet of angel hair pasta and home made red sauce as atomic power explored in terms of the 'water math' as a expression of food as the source of the 'power and light' by means of the atomic material and common bonds that connect by means of diet 'body soul as well as the 'brain pans' by mean the cast iron frying pan technology in the context of Dark Matter and Energy as food energy that has to potential power at every level to operate a city the size of Los Angels, and a planet the size of Earth as explained in detail in my photo essay:
"Pasta Theory À la carte Dark Matter and Energy Being Orgainic"
www.flickr.com/photos/tremain_calm/4595157229/in/set-7215...
Speaking of recipes consider the story of this life as so much technology applied in the form factor of 'food power', as in; you are what you eat writ large, as a wonderful life story in example; www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/dining/Marcella-Hazan-dies-cha... as applied food science, on the 'knowledge is power' meme as served hot or cold for best fusion of the thinking process individually and collectively served.
“Arvind anna! Arvind anna!”
On a January morning in the outskirts of Bangalore, I saw a bunch of 12th standard students run out of their classroom and towards my friend. We were at a school for underprivileged children where Arvind had been a Maths teacher. He had left the school almost two years earlier, but from the cheerful shouts of his students, it was clear that they hadn’t forgotten him.
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Arvind and I first met as freshmen at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. It was immediately evident that he was seriously smart. One would say annoyingly smart too if only he wasn’t so generous in sharing his intelligence and time.
When I flunked my first Physics exam in college, I reached out to him, shocked and confused. Just months earlier I had scored well in the same subject in the Tamil Nadu State Board exams. Arvind ignored my grumbling and taught me, through examples, the underlying concepts of the theories and formulae I had memorised. He would help several fellow students this way.
What is the point of your bookish knowledge, he would ask, if you don’t know when and how to apply it?
---
“Hi anna, how are you?” asked Arvind’s former students as they surrounded him on the school playground. “How long are you here for?”
“Just for a day. I wanted to see you all,” Arvind replied with a hint of a smile.
A few minutes earlier, we had been joking around but now that he was in front of his students he had his strict teacher-face on. The kids wanted to give him a big hug, but he went around formally shaking each one’s hand and commenting on how much they had, or hadn’t, grown. The students were so giddy with excitement that he had to threaten to leave campus for them to go back to their classroom.
“They’re so happy to see you man,” I told him.
“Nah, they just want to skip school,” he replied.
---
Our time in Austin was a time of idealism. Music by AR Rahman would play in the background as Arvind and I sat with open textbooks on our laps discussing the world’s problems and how we would one day make a difference. In the protective bubble of college, anything seemed possible. While every good movie I saw changed my views on what I wanted to do, Arvind was unusually clear about his calling.
When we graduated from college, many of us who studied Engineering or Computer Science went straight into corporate jobs. Arvind, who graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA in Electrical Engineering and Economics, took a job as a teacher in Houston. It was a choice that felt strange to many around him. But how can you expect to change a system if you don’t fully understand it?
---
“A great person once said that preparation in the last minute leads to the best results,” said a student standing in front of us, hands in pockets. His measured and confident manner suggested a promising future in theater. Or politics. He was the leader of a group that refused to leave Arvind’s side despite his pleas that they go study for their upcoming exams.
“Who said that?” Arvind challenged the rebel.
“We only remember the quotes,” he replied coolly. “Not the people who said them.” Sensing Arvind’s mounting frustration, he added, “How can we study now? If you’re at home and your favourite TV show is on, will you be able to study? You are like our favourite TV show.”
I changed the topic. “What do you want to do after you finish school?”
“I want to do business,” he said. He didn’t elaborate on what kind of business – in my experience, very few people did. It was a way of telling us that he wanted to be his own boss. It was also a way of telling Arvind that he didn’t want to go to college.
“What do you hope for kids like him?” I asked Arvind later.
“I want them to do what they love,” he said. But he was worried that the education they received hadn’t adequately prepared them for that. “There’s very little focus on practical skills in mainstream education. If he wants a micro-loan to start a business, he doesn’t know the first thing about it. He’s learnt all these obscure concepts in Maths, but doesn’t know anything about bookkeeping.”
In Arvind’ time at the school, he had seen the benefits of teaching students practical skills.
“There was this one boy in my class who would only whisper. He didn’t have the confidence to talk,” Arvind said. “He was a special-needs child, and his parents would keep comparing him to his younger brother and shun him. He had no friends either. One day, I found out that he loved gardening and that he helped his grandfather out with it.”
When Arvind introduced an after-school extra-curricular program, he made sure that there was a gardening club.
“I put him in charge of it. He knew much more about gardening than anyone else and he became an authority figure. Soon, it improved his confidence. He started participating in class. I began to hear his voice.”
---
In Houston, Arvind was a first-time teacher in a school system he had not studied in – he did his schooling in Chennai and Singapore – and he was shocked by many students’ lack of respect for him. Some walked out of his class, others openly cussed at him. He didn’t know how to get them to care about fractions or algebra when they were distracted, even overwhelmed by issues at home. The pointless meetings he had to attend with supervisors also frustrated him, and he struggled to escape the inner politicking. All he wanted to do was teach, not spend more than half his time on paperwork and handling his superiors.
The experience threatened to break him. He needed a change of scene. So, he quit his job in Houston and moved to a school in Bangalore to teach Maths. By the end of his first year there, he had risen to Academic Administrator, second in rank only to the Principal. He wasn’t sure if his success had something to do with being part of a school culture he knew well, but his students were finally receptive to him. The best way to get them to care, he figured, was to convince them that he genuinely cared.
Two years in, he had to make an important decision: continue to teach, or take up an offer of admission from the Harvard Business School that he had already deferred once. He didn’t know if Harvard would better equip him to achieve his goals in education. On the other hand, his relative low teacher’s salary weighed on him. In the end, he decided that before he could commit fully to chasing his dream, he needed to secure his finances. A Harvard MBA would help with that.
“There are teachers who are earning Rs. 6000 per month (~$100). Who will come to teach? This has to change. There needs to be a lot more respect for the role a teacher plays,” Arvind told me. “There also needs to be a shift in what the curriculum focuses on. There needs to be more focus on character skills and entrepreneurial skills. The education system prepares students for nothing.”
“Do you think you can bring about these changes?”
“With anything in education, change is very, very, very long-term. My goal is not to bring about that change. It won’t be possible in my lifetime, but I hope to sow the seeds for change to happen.”
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Months after our trip to Bangalore I asked Arvind, who was back in Boston finishing up grad school and working on an education start-up, what his teaching experience had meant to him.
“Working as a teacher really changed my perspective,” he said. “I earned a lot in terms of personal growth, and I started to feel comfortable in my own skin. We sometimes measure a job by the money we make. You can’t measure this by money. I can’t put a financial value on how good I felt with the impact I was able to make.”
That day in Bangalore, Arvind didn’t leave the campus till his former students did. Even if he wanted to, they wouldn’t have let him. Right after the final bell rang, they invited him to their classroom where they threw him a surprise party. He had been straight faced all day but even he had to admit that the experience made him emotional.
“I wish I could continue to guide these kids until they are more settled in life,” he said. “I still feel like they are my kids. I do wish I could continue, but that’s life. For now, I hope that I did enough in those two years to help them make the right choices.”
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People in Karnataka (Part 1 of 16)