Brown Motion

 A question that has been the inquiry of many a teacher, a parent and student alike for years.  Clearly yours truly has no professional background on the subject, but will attempt to dissect what I see in the following narrative. In today's world there are distinct styles of education based on my personal experience going through one and vicariously through our kid studying at an American University. The Asian, in my case Indian style of elementary and high school education followed by University level undergraduate and grad work all rests on the parameters of a one way traffic model.  Meaning the teacher or professor is in command of the board (black or green in our case written on with white chalk) all the time.  There is rarely an opportunity for dialog. There is not enough opportunity given for the mind to explore what ifs, questioning the written word or even read outside the curriculum too much.  This is rooted in culture and circumstance. Contrast it with...

Whoa! It is time in our household to help our only offspring to undock from what has been home for the past seventeen years and help seek out a new home aka a higher learning institution.  This undocking is not just physical, it is emotional, it is about leaving familiar and diving into multiple unknowns. A time of escalating stress it turns out.  Not having any personal background in the business of education as it is run in America we the parents are coming in as underdogs.  Admittedly there is a world of information available beyond a few strokes of a keyboard that was not the case a quarter century ago, when we went and got our engineering degrees. Exactly.  That too can be a curse.  TMI.  Inputs and chatter across virtual boards and physical.  On the track and field, or in speech meets, parents with multiple offsprings and one in college are shelling out their tricks and tips voluntarily.  Now mind you this is not true of all school di...