Shri Vasuvaj, Samskrita Bharati’s sevAvratI (full time volunteer) in the US recently visited Abraham Lincoln school where Samskritam is taught in elementary grades. Here are some of the email exchanges between Shri Vasuvaj and Shri Paul Sheppard, Principal of Abraham Lincoln Elementary.
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From: "Paul Sheppard" <pmshep@peoplepc.com>Dear Vasuvaj,
Your visit to our school served as an excellent reminder of the need to treat Sanskrit as a living language. The aananda that your being exuded also provided an example, a practical example--to students and teachers alike--of the benefit of studying and devoting oneself to Sanskrit.
In answer to your specific queries, we have 12 full-time teachers at our school. Another four of our teachers are part-time, and three more volunteer their time as teachers. That totals 19 if my math is not faulty. Of these, six teach Sanskrit four times each week.
The main reason we teach Sanskrit has to do with our philosophy that the child should be given the very best of everything. As far as languages go, we have found nothing finer than Sanskrit. Beginning with the pure sounds of the svaraah and the intelligence reflected in the vyanjanaah right through to the exquisite beauty and order of the grammar, we find the effect on the hearts and minds of the children is both nourishing and uplifting. Furthermore, our own experience in studying Sanskrit is that it inevitably brings bliss.
The parents of our students are continually enquiring about Sanskrit and so far are a little in awe of it--though we hope to remove the mystique as we go further. The children in the younger grades, i.e. ages 5 through 8 or 9 are highly enthusiastic about the subject and delight in learning it. The older children tend to see it as another academic subject and usually like it or not depending on their general attitude toward language or schoolwork in a wider sense. They often ask why we study Sanskrit and seem to both glory in the uniqueness of their curriculum and express the desire to not have to study it. I suspect it is a function of pre- and early adolescence to rebel, though I must say that there is a deep sense that they would genuinely miss not having Sanskrit as part of their study. Finally, we do not currently have plans to go beyond grade 8 (age 13/14) but it does remain a possibility sometime in the future.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to visit us. The children were very interested in what you had to say and have spoken of you several times since. Please stay in touch.
Best regards,
Paul Sheppard
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vasuvaj ." <vasuvaj@hotmail.com>
To: <PMShep@peoplepc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 11:42 AM
Subject: Namaste
Sri Sheppard mahodaya,
Namaste. Bhavatah vidyaalayasya darshanena mahaan santoshah abhavat. I was extremely happy to visit your school. The whole atmosphere was very congenial to gain knowledge. By inter-acting with the students I could gauge the intensity of devotion of the teachers. As discussed earlier, I would like to write an article (to be published in Sambhashana Sandesha, a monthly magazine in Samskritam) about your wonderful institution. I have already taken the picture of the school building and it would be helpful if you could kindly give me some more information about the school.
> 1.The total number of teachers.
> 2.The total number of Sanskrit teachers.
> 3.The purpose of teaching Sanskrit
> 4.The attitude of students and their parents to Sanskrit learning.
> 5.Are there any other such institution in USA?
> 6.Will you be upgrading the school to high school?
I have sent the URLs of your school and 'The School of Practical Philosophy' to many of my friends who are great enthusiasts of Sanskrit. Many of them have visited the web sites and are very happy to know that Sanskrit is being taught right from kindergarten. Many of them will be contacting you. Hope you have visited the following web site to know more about our organization: www.samskrita-bharati.orgPlease convey my namaskars to all your colleagues and students --Arjuna,Bhima,Lakshmi,Saraswathi,India,Jonathan,Thomas, Mathew and all others.
Vasuvaj.
---------------------------------------------------From: "Vasuvaj ." <vasuvaj@hotmail.com>
Subject: Vichitrah vidyaalayah
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 14:59:35 GMT
Namaste.
A friend of mine recently forwarded a Newsletter of an elementary school in New York City. Aham drashtum tatra gatavaan (I went to see this school called Abraham Lincoln School). Mama aashcharyah abhavat (I was surprised what I saw there).
Right from Kindergarten, they teach Sanskrit. The school is located in a posh locality of Manhattan, very near to the Central Park. In fact, there is no playground in the school and the students go to Central Park to play. There are 120 students. Right now there are classes till VI grade. I went to three classes --IV ,V and VI grades. I was surprised to see the 11 students of IV grade chant the shlokas--sahana vavatu.., purnamadah purnamidam... and sarve bhavantu sukhinah...
Although I did not see children of Indian origin, there were quite a few children from Chinese-American and Afro-American communities. Although these children had official Christian names, I was surprised to see that there were given Hindu names at the school. So I got to see Saraswati,Lakshmi, Arjuna, Bhima etc... One boy's name was Mathew. He joined the school only this month or rather this week. So the teacher asked me to suggest a new name. As his name was Mathew, I just thought of some name starting with -'M' and on the spur of the moment, I told --- Maruti. So now, we have a "Maruti" also in that school.
There are five Sanskrit teachers in this school. Krpaya etat URL pashyantu (please see this web page): www.abrahamlincolnschool.org. This school is managed by -"The School of Practical Philosophy". To know about this institute , krpaya etat URL pashyantu: (please see this web page) www.practicalphilosophy.org. This society has many schools through out the world. The first school was started in 1975 in London and is called -St.James. If you or friends know of any such schools, krpaya maam suchayantu (please let me know).
bhavadIyaH (regards)
vasuvaj
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