Week 1 of Hindi-Urdu classes ended today with a crafting activity: students threaded together flowers, red fuzzy balls, and bells to make a colorful toran to take home (great idea, Anshu!). It has a been a fun first week here, and I eagerly await the next.
Working with high school students is always fascinating and enlightening: the students are so aware of cultural and social issues, and are ready and waiting to share their opinions on matters they feel are so relevant in their lives. While we didn't get a chance to delve into the topic in more detail, students organically brought up the issue amongst desis of favoritism of boys over girls. I asked them if they still noticed this, even in their generation, and they replied with a resounding, "Yes of course!" Yet it was a half-joking mini-discussion, as if the favoritism of boys over girls is so common and accepted, almost unchangeable.
What other issues do we ignore in our desi society, and just laugh off? Are such issues really not that big of a deal, or should we be taking a closer look at them, in attempts to hopefully resolve them some day? I hope we can continue such discussions at more length in class during the next few weeks!
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment