Unit 1 - Preparatory Lessons
1.3.1 - COMPETITION MATTERS - Suzanne Sievert
SYNOPSIS
Suzanne recalls the incident where her five year old kid participated in pumpkin decorating contest at his school. He made a wild combination of carving, paint and feathers to decorate the pumpkin. All the participants had decorated splendidly that judges had a difficult time to choose a winner. To resolve the problem of choosing a winner the judges had awarded same colour ribbon to all the entries so as to convey the participants that everyone are the winner and had
done a great job.
The declaration of the judges made the author worry that the school was sending a wrong message that losing in a contest is a difficult task rather than accepting it and working hard to win in the future. The trend followed by the school judges noticed by the author lately was that declaring every entry as the winner was done by considering the fragile nature of the kids to handle the defeat. But, she says that without a potential winner, a game contest loses it excitement and this she proves with her own experience where she bought a game and played with her kids twice and everyone won this game. The game caught the dust as it did not had the incentive to keep playing.
Suzanne states that if her kid had been the judge he definitely would have picked the winner. The competition was a big let down for the kids as the excitement to win the contest was lost but, the kid made himself satisfied by choosing snowman as the winner and accepted his defeat.
Competition is the best way to test all children’s abilities and performance at school. She states that children are not fragile and they have the ability to face defeat. As in the article, if the boy had been the judge, he would have picked the snowman as the winner and satisfied everyone.
Book Back Questions
1. How is the message conveyed in the lesson?
The message is conveyed through the author’s real-life experiences with her children. She explains the importance of competition using school events and games at home.
2. What is the trend that the author has noticed lately?
The author has noticed that schools declare all children as winners. This is done to protect children from feeling sad when they lose.
3. How does the author show the importance of a potential winner in the story?
The author explains it by giving an example of a game where everyone always won. Because there was no real winner, the game became boring and was not played again.
4. Comment on the observation of the kindergartener, “Well, I think the snowman won”.
This shows that the child can think clearly and judge fairly. It also shows that children can accept defeat and understand who really deserves to win.
5. “It has sat gathering dust ever since” – Why?
The game had no competition or excitement because everyone won every time. So, the children lost interest and stopped playing it.
1.3.2 - A PERSONAL CRISIS MAY CHANGE HISTORY - Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam
SYNOPSIS
In this essay Kalam brings in an example of how Gandhiji tackled the discrimination he was subjected to. Gandhiji was traveling in the train compartment in which Blacks were not allowed to travel in the same compartments as the Whites. Since Gandhi was dark he was pushed out of the train. After being insulted, Gandhiji contemplated returning to India but realized that would be cowardice. Hence he vowed to stay back and fight apartheid. Gandhiji paved way to uproot apartheid in South Africa through non-violence which Mandela adopted and succeeded after twenty-six years in jail. He fought for freedom for his nation from there. This shows his perseverance as well as unshakeable hope that he nurtured for twenty-six long years. Nelson Mandela magnanimously provided equal constitutional rights to the 10% of the white population who were the main culprits of apartheid. He also gifted his nation a book that he wrote stealthily while in prison- ‘A Long Walk to Freedom’.
On the other hand, Gandhiji’s non-violent movement in South Africa became a precursor to India’s freedom movement. Gandhiji started non-violence in India to fight against the British. Ashoka’s decision to follow Ahimsa Dharma dawned after his visit to the bloodied battle field of Kalinga. Thus it can be observed that how we react to a crisis not only becomes a turning point in one’s life but also changes the lives of others. Gandhiji and Ashoka both believed in Ahimsa Dharma. One particular incident in their lives changed history.
Kalam wants the nation to fight against social and economic impoverishment and the widespread inequality affecting many citizens of India. He also wants India to become a developed nation, and show the way to the other developing nations and all these are possible by the Indian youth.
Book Back Questions
1. How did the ugly experience in South African train change Gandhi?
The incident made Gandhi realize that running away would be cowardice. Instead of returning to India, he decided to stay back and fight against discrimination through non-violence.
2. How does Kalam relate the incident of Gandhi in South Africa to the Kalinga war scene?
Kalam relates both incidents by showing how a crisis changed great leaders. Gandhi chose non-violence after the train incident, and Ashoka chose Ahimsa after seeing the bloodshed in the Kalinga war.
3. What does Kalam say about the indomitable spirit of Nelson Mandela?
Kalam says that Nelson Mandela showed great courage and hope. Even after spending twenty-six years in prison, he did not give up and worked for equality and freedom for his nation.
4. How does Kalam establish that personal crisis may not be a turning point in one’s life, but can alter the course of history?
Kalam explains that Gandhi’s train incident and Ashoka’s experience in Kalinga changed their decisions. These personal crises later influenced the history of their nations and the world.
5. What does Kalam imply by the question, “Will history repeat itself”?
Kalam implies that today’s youth must respond positively to present problems. If they act with courage and responsibility, they can bring great change like the leaders of the past.
1.3.3 - WHY PRESERVE BIODIVERSITY - Prof. D. Balasubramanian
SYNOPSIS
There are three reasons for preserving Biodiversity. The first reason is ethical and aesthetical. It is our responsibility to protect our known living companions in the universe. We like to preserve what we find beautiful and pass it on to our children. We get sheer enjoyment of beauty as with the polar bear, the peacock’s feathers, the adorable panda, the majestic tiger or the culturally important American bald eagle.
The second reason is his utilitarian characteristic that makes him depend on nature. Tall, wild grass might not be aesthetically pleasing but is out of such grasses that wheat, rice and corn were domesticated and cultivated by man for his food. A quarter of all medicines used by man come from plants and microbes. Though there is abundance in the planet at his disposal, his inefficiency in recognizing and utilizing the richness leads him to overuse few things and under using or ignoring the majority. This has resulted in an imbalance in nature.
The third reason is his inability to maintain the ecological network. His anti-pragmatic approach toward utilizing the diversity has resulted in misusing nature. Man’s population pressures, leading to hunger and poverty, have led to deforestation. His attitude of gaining in short period of time and failure to see the long term benefits makes him strip mine and cut down trees of value for trading. His purely utilitarian attitude has made him indifferent towards his responsibility of conservation of the ecosystem. Economic pressures of certain communities have resulted in loss of tropical forests. Civil issues as well have affected the ecosystem considerably. Man, in short, has created a total imbalance in the ecosystem by not adhering to the principal responsibility he had been trusted with.
The lesson also discusses about 5 reasons for the biotic degradation caused by man: 1. Hunger and poverty, 2. Short term gains and long term failures, 3. Anthropocentrism, 4. Economic pressures on certain communities and 5. Policy factors.
To sum up, humans rule this planet. So it is the responsibility of man to protect all matter of nature. Unless we protect nature, the beauty and utility of nature cannot be passed on to the next generations. It is only practical to responsibly preserve what has been bestowed on use because man is both aesthetic and ethical.
Book Back Questions
1. Why does the author say that the loss of biodiversity should be a concern for us for ethical and aesthetic reasons?
2. Why does the author call biodiversity a precious genetic library?
Biodiversity is useful to humans for food and medicine. Crops like wheat, rice and corn came from wild grasses. Many medicines come from plants and microbes. So biodiversity is valuable and acts like a precious genetic library.
3. What were the various reasons for the biotic degradation?
The reasons for biotic degradation are hunger and poverty, short-term gains and long-term failures, anthropocentrism, economic pressures on certain communities, and policy factors.
4. Why does the author say that it is our moral responsibility to protect diversity?
Humans rule the planet and have responsibility to protect nature. If we do not protect nature, its beauty and usefulness cannot be passed to future generations. So it is our moral responsibility to protect diversity.
5. Sum up the three reasons for us to be concerned about the loss of biodiversity.
The three reasons are ethical and aesthetic reasons, utilitarian reasons where humans depend on nature, and failure to maintain the ecological balance due to misuse of nature.
1.3.4 - A CALL TO ACTION - Hillary Clinton
SYNOPSIS
Hillary Clinton, in the Fourth World Conference voiced the voice of women:
- The history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words. But the voices of this conference and of the women at Huairou must be heard loudly and clearly:
- It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls.
- It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution for human greed and the kinds of reasons that are used to justify this practice should no longer be tolerated.
- It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire, and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small.
- It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war.
- It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes by their own relatives.
- It is a violation of human rights when young girls are brutalized by the painful and degrading practice of genital mutilation.
- It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.
Hillary Clinton ends the speech by saying that if there is one message that echoes forth from that conference, let it be that human rights are women‘s rights and women‘s rights are human rights once and for all. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely—and the right to be heard.
Book Back Questions
1. Who are the various people accused of not valuing the work of women?
The people who try to silence women’s words and deny their rights are accused of not valuing the work of women.
2. Who are the women for whom the speaker wants to speak up?
The speaker wants to speak up for women and girls whose voices are silenced and who are suffering injustice and violence in different forms.
3. What are the things that women should be entitled to decide on their own?
Women should be entitled to decide about planning their own families. This includes not being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.
4. Justify the title.
The title is justified because the speech is a strong call to action to protect women’s rights. Hillary Clinton urges the world to recognize that women’s rights are human rights and demands action against violations.
5. How are the rights of women systematically violated?
The rights of women are violated by denying food to girl babies, forcing them into prostitution, killing them for dowry, raping them, subjecting them to domestic violence, genital mutilation, and denying them the right to plan their families.
1.3.5 - IF ONLY THERE WERE MORE LIKE HIM - Revathi Seshadri
SYNOPSIS
- The story is about the colonel who saved a young probable ruin and has become a respectable man in the society through his kindness.
- The story revolves around the kindness of the Colonel.
- The servant named Shankar betrayed his master by helping the robbers ‘loot his belongings.
- Finally, Shankar paid his life for the treachery.
- When the police arrived, the colonel told them that Shankar lost his life when he tried to stop the thieves valiantly.
- The news spread, Shankar became a hero to the people of the town.
- The Colonel even promised to bear the expenses of Shankar‘s eleven year old son‘s education if only he undertook to do well in school and became credit to the father who died a heroic death.
- The Colonel‘s nobility and kindness were well rewarded as Shankar‘s son graduated from college and he grew up to be an honest and respected man in the society.
- Thus colonel‘s act of disinterested kindness saved a young probable ruin.
Book Back Questions
1. Describe the friendship of Gopalan and the Colonel.
The Colonel showed kindness and helped a young probable ruin become a respectable man in society. His friendship and kindness changed the life of the young man.
2. Describe the treachery of Shankar.
Shankar was the servant of the Colonel. He betrayed his master by helping the robbers loot the Colonel’s belongings. Finally, he paid his life for this treachery.
3. How did the Colonel justify his action?
When the police arrived, the Colonel told them that Shankar lost his life while trying to stop the thieves valiantly. He did not reveal Shankar’s betrayal.
4. Why does the author wish that there were more like the Colonel?
5. Why does the author describe the Colonel’s gesture as an act of ‘disinterested kindness’?
The Colonel showed kindness without expecting anything in return. He hid Shankar’s betrayal, made him a hero, and promised to pay for Shankar’s son’s education. His kindness saved a young probable ruin and helped the boy grow into an honest and respected man.