Why Are Kindness, Friendship, And Compassion Important For Engineers?

A few days back, Sangeeta Zombade texted me, "Hi Rohit, when you visit the school next time, please plan some time to speak to one of the students from grade 4. He wants to make aeroplanes in the future and learn engineering. He wants to understand why kindness, friendship, and compassion are important for engineers. I have told him it's a good question to discuss when you meet Rohit bhaiya next time."

Last week, I went to school and met him. In the beginning, Saket* was a bit hesitant. I guess, being asked to speak to a bhaiya outside the class at times can be scary. I asked him, "Do you want to walk and talk? Or sit?" He said no.?

"No problem. Will it be ok if I sit down?" He shook his head in a yes. I sat down. He remained standing. When we started chatting, I noticed he slowly sat down too.?

As he started speaking about the things he makes, his whole body language changed. His face lit up. It was fascinating to know what he is already creating and making from things in his house (he made a fan that moved with a battery, and created lamps from the little bulbs and wires, a house, a gun, etc).?

I asked him, "Saket, where did you learn all this?"?

He said, "pappa used to make things…"?

His father passed away at the beginning of COVID. Since then the school team has done tremendous work supporting him and his sister, both of them are our students since junior Kindergarten.?

I further asked, "Saket, can you share a little on what motivated you to build a house on one day, and a gun on another?" I hoped that we could engage in conversations around the why of building things and the impact things we create have on the world. He stayed quiet for some time and said, "I just make whatever I can."?

Fair, I guess; we need a developed relationship and some vocabulary to engage in the "why and impact of our actions" conversation. I let that question be with him so that it lingers in his headspace when he makes things.?

I asked, "Would you like to make something together?"

"Yes, bhaiya. We can make a lamp. I will bring a battery and bulb.. and wo coconut ke khaal se cover bhi bana sakte hain.." He got so excited!

"Great, let's do it during lunch break on Saturday?"

On Saturday, we started building this lamp together. Saket had a clear idea of what he wanted to do. He offered crisp instructions, "bhaiya, is cardboard ko yaha se kaato... aur isko jod ke hum stand bana denge.." His friends also joined in... at one point, our stand was a bit shaky. We all chipped in with ideas. Saket was flexible to adapt to new, emerging strategies and at the same time, stayed true to his vision of this lamp.?

We couldn't finish the lamp during the break. We asked his teacher if he could continue doing this during exposure club. By the end of the day, we had a functional lamp, with an additional feature of a pen stand!

Saket and his friends (Grade 4) with the pen-stand wala lamp!

While we couldn't explore his original question (I didn't want to push on it unless he wanted to speak about it more), we did explore how a personal vision can come alive with a bunch of friends, doing things together.?

His original question, however, has remained in my heart.?

Few years back, I had read the book "Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism" by #SafiyaUmojaNoble that talked about how the negative biases of those who build systems reproduce oppressive technology. I recall how when I chose to study science post grade 10 in my school, humanities was taken away from my curriculum. I am reminded of how some of the most intelligent engineers were also the people who enabled the holocaust in Germany, and are enabling the current genocide in Palestine.?

As an ex-engineer, I have learned that we must go beyond the "how" of making things, and start asking, "why" and "what happens after" of making things. We must ask ourselves how come our phones are becoming "smarter" by the day, but we still have people manually cleaning sewers??

I hope that through diverse experiences at Khoj, Apni Shala 's SEL aligned school, Saket and his friends will continue to explore such questions and become engineers, and anything else they wish to be, who do their work more intentionally, in the service of our harmonious coexistence.?

PS: Well, I was a software engineer before becoming an educator. Making things was not my thing really. But that's the closest Sangeeta had, I guess, to bring into the classroom and ensure our students' curiosities find relevant conversations at the earliest. :) I am calling on all of my amazing LinkedIn connections who love to make things to join us at Khoj in building an SEL-aligned makers club for students like Saket. If you are interested in getting involved, please reach out to me, Sangeeta Zombade , or Priyanka Shrivastav .

* Name changed for student's privacy.?