From no school to MIT

If I told you that a girl from Mumbai who did not go to school after the age of 12 years, did not give her 10th or 12th board exams is getting into the world renowned MIT [http://web.mit.edu/}, what would your response be?

Here is a brief account from her own mother, Supriya Raj Joshi from Mumbai:

“To all who doubted, accepted, rejected, supported, respected, cherished, criticized our unschooling journey and our fellow homeschoolers.

It was never a smooth journey but it was different in two ways, no teacher, no board, no government but we ourselves chose to take responsibility of our own learning and we pursued that with tremendous freedom and conviction. Secondly, more than marks and medals, we believed and practiced the “joy of learning”.

And I remember a quote I read sometime back,

“What if I Fall? Oh, but my darling what if you fly?”

I just said so to cheer her up but she took it literally. And that made all the difference.

My elder daughter Malvika left her formal schooling at the age of 12.

Scholastically she was a bright student and so people were even more concerned. and I repeat, the journey was never a smooth journey but you see when I say this I am not talking about socialization or assessments. Those are really petty things and this is not what I say, this is what our daughters say because they had more challenges to tackle.

And yesterday Malvika received this note from MIT, world’s top college for science and technology!”

What more can one say?

Education has indeed moved out of the four walls of a traditional classroom. And I must also admire the American universities for the way in which they spot talent and encourage it. Surely the result of placing value and dignity on every human, which is the result of a worldview that declares that humans are made equal, and have value because they are made in the image of God.

7 thoughts on “From no school to MIT”

This s quite encouraging..
Bt wanted to kno some details in wat way s d journey difficult …

Ppl hv forgotten Joy of acquiring Knowledge.
Students mostly learn by Rote & Shortcuts,
only for purposes of regurgitating it out on Exam Day.
Motive is only to pass Exams or get admissions or Jobs by Hook or Crook….