The Pedagogy Puzzle

I wrote the following piece in 2011 while I was at BITS. I've made a few edits but retained the essence and core content. The motivation behind digging into my digital archives is that, in a few days, it will be 10 years since I last stepped foot on campus! 😮 Truly hope to make a trip there with friends soon! ~ o ~ x ~ o ~

Courtesy Covid-19 and its widespread impact, our lives can now be split into three distinct epochs - Before Covid (BC), During Covid (DC) and, assuming no further catastrophic waves and variants, After Covid (AC). As I live in India: BC refers to the time before March 24, 2020 - the date we were introduced to the concept of a lockdown and full-time  work from home (WFH) . DC refers to the time from that date till about March 2022 (approximately two years). During this time, the fight against Covid-19 saw valleys of despair (first, second and third waves) and peaks of hope (vaccination drives and overcoming the waves). AC refers to the time from April 2022 onwards.

It began with  Wordle  on 13-01-2022. Being an avid puzzle enthusiast for years, I got hooked on it fairly easily! 😅 The simplicity - guessing a 5-letter word in 6 tries with clues emerging based on the guesses - definitely aided its stickiness. (as of July 9, 2022)

The mental game is the entire game. The physical is only an extension of what you're capable of doing mentally... mental toughness and the power of your mind is just really unbelievable. - Phil Davis, mixed martial arts ~ o ~ x ~ o ~ I was 2-5 0-30 down on my serve. My arm was fatigued from the rigours of the previous sets and my legs felt sluggish. Usually reliable, my serve had deserted me while my opponent was sailing through his games. The sun, gradually becoming more intense, added to the perspiration and exhaustion that I was experiencing. I was ready to throw in the towel, dab rackets at the net and end my misery.

These 7 seemingly innocuous words come together 12 times as starred footnotes in a popular class 10 mathematics textbook. A textbook that is likely to have been consulted by around 21,50,000 students (perhaps more) during the 2020-21 academic year. When do these notes appear? Is there a pattern to the excluded content? What is the subliminal message that it might send to children? Is the note subtly symptomatic of bigger issues that plague the Indian education system?