School, a temple of learning
Abigail Van Buren once said, "Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place".If we want to become successful later in life, we need to start young. The great Indian musician, Pandit Ravi Shankar, had learned to play several musical instruments by the age of thirteen. What is required is not that we give up all fun and just single-mindedly pursue our goal right from childhood. Absolutely not. That would be a perfect recipe for a complete burn-out by the time we enter our youth. What is really required is a good balance of guided work and play. In most cases, it is not a lack of balance between work and play which prevents a child from blossoming. What is truly lacking is proper guidance. And this is the gap that this website wants to fill.
There are a few steps that need to followed by every child who wants to do well later in life and be happy in whatever he/she does:
- Identify 3-4 areas in which you are interested.
- Identify the skills that are required to excel in these areas.
- Identify a few people in your neighborhood, school or city who can help you in learning the above skills.
- Go meet them and see if they can help you in the learning process.
- Plan your weekly schedule so as to maximize the total benefit from all the things you want to learn and do. Spend more time learning the skills you like most. There must be an element of fun in whatever you want to learn.
- Go ahead and start the execution.
The above list looks so simple and probably trivial too. And thats how life is. We all know what needs to be done in order to be happy and successful. However, doing whats right is not always so simple. We have many other responsibilities to fulfill. Also, we are not always free to do what we truly believe in. For example, if a child wants to become a physicist, but the parents want him/her to become an engineer/doctor, there will be a problem and great confusion in the child's mind. Thus, the problem is not in the lack of knowledge of what needs to be done. The problem is in being clear enough and bold enough to be able to do what our heart believes. Again, its important to stress on the words clear enough, because without clarity of thought, too much of boldness can easily lead one astray.
The above not only holds for school kids, but also for young people who have not yet been able to find their life's mission. Finding the purpose and meaning of our life is no easy thing. Very few on this planet have been able to find it. However, that does not mean that the statistics cannot change. Where there is a will, there is a way!
We would like to recommend some books in particular subjects, which can be very useful in building a strong foundation early on:
Mathematics
- High school mathematics by Hall and Knight
- The Art of Problem Solving (Vol. I and II) by Richard Rusczyk and Sandor Lehoczky
- What is Mathematics: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins
- A Friendly Introduction to Number Theory by Joseph H. Silverman
Physics
- Foundation Physics (part 1 and 2) by H. C. Verma
Physics at the higher level is more of applied mathematics. So, if you are interested in pursuing physics in the long-run, make sure to have a solid foundation in mathematics right from the school level.
Chemistry
- General Chemistry by Linus Pauling
Biology
- Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne
- Good Germs, Bad Germs by Jessica Snyder Sachs
- The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas
Computer Science
- Hello World! by Warren and Carter Sande
- How to Think Like a Computer Scientist by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers
- Learn to program by Chris Pine
- The Pattern On The Stone: The Simple Ideas That Make Computers Work by W. Daniel Hillis
Economics and Finance
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
- Economics in our times by R. A. Arnold
- Economics for everybody by G. Antell and W. Harris
