From: b2259@moncol.monmouth.edu (RANI BALASUBRAMANYAM)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.indian.telugu,soc.culture.indian.american,soc.culture.usa
Subject: On Learning.  An interesting story
Keywords: Learn, Kaipa, Mitya
Date: 18 Dec 92 19:13:39 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.indian

Hi Friends,

	Here is an interesting episode.  The process of learn, as much as
we think we know a lot about, is itself an ever growing ocean of 
ignorence.  Dr. Prasad Kaipa, pioneer and founder of "The Mitya
Institute of Learning" is discovering this interesting aspect of 
life.  The following episode is one of the many articles published by
his institute.



A Bicycle Built for Two

Prasad Kaipa with Michael Miley

(from On Learning, Vol. 1, issue 3)

Perhaps you're an educator, or a business person concerned about
training of your employees, and of late, you're worried. You're
worried about the debates raging over the direction of American
education and the future of your work-force, but in a moment it
comes to you: We focus so much on training and education,yet we
still can't answer the question: how do people really learn?

In fact, let's ask an even more basic question: just what is
learning? When, over the course of several years of research, we
asked over 200 people what they thought learning was, we found
that each person had his or her own answer and all of them were
subtly different.  We thought you might be more interested in a
story than our answer.  Here it is.

An Indian Tale

We have a friend Vidya, a 25-year old woman from India, who didn't
have a chance to learn to ride when she was growing up. Since she
moved to the states, she's had an intense desire to learn, but
never attempted it for several reasons. The first reason was her
embarrassment. In America, at her age, she's already supposed to
know how to ride. At this point in life, even asking someone to
teach her was almost an insurmountable barrier - or so she
thought.  Next, she didn't want any neighbors, or worse, their
children, to laugh at her when she fell down. Finally,
interestingly enough, a barrier arose that was the least of her
concerns: her fear of hurting herself. So much for physical
cowardice.

How do we know this? During a dinner party, Vinoda (Prasad's wife)
mentioned to Vidya that she herself has never learned to ride a
bicycle. Vidya was astonished. When Vinoda could casually admit
her ignorance in public and other people didn't make fun of her,
Vidya got the courage to admit it herself and to overcome her
shame of admitting it. Well, her admission opened things up. We
soon discovered that, out of a group of ten Indian women, only two
could ride a bicycle.

Where Prasad grew up, most boys learned how to ride, but generally
girls didn't. May be it was not comfortable or seemly to ride a
bicycle wearing a Sari, the traditional dress for Indian women.
Regardless, their ignorance wasn't a problem for Vidya and her
friends until they came to the United States where many women know
how to ride.

Beyond the barriers: Unlearning

By the time the party ended, Prasad offered to teach Vidya how to
ride a bike and they decided to start the following weekend. They
bought an inexpensive bike and went to an empty parking lot. Vidya
got on the bicycle and Prasad held her up so that she wouldn't
fall.

It first appeared to Vidya that she had many different things to
learn: how to pedal; how to hold the handlebars; how to turn; and
how to keep her eyes ahead on the road while she did all this. She
didn't see the synergy between those actions and wanted to focus
on one at a time. For her balance meant not falling down.

During the first few hours, Vidya did fall down a lot and often
got discouraged. She demanded that Prasad hold the bicycle at all
times and to help her to stay on the seat. When she really felt
comfortable with what she was doing and asked Prasad to let go,
she fell down again. Prasad soon realized that teaching somebody
to ride a bicycle and knowing how to ride oneself are two separate
skills and his knowledge of bicycle riding is incomplete. Teaching
someone to ride was also not not as easy as he'd imagined. He was
beginning to wonder about his abilities to teach and why he'd
promised to help in the first place! It was frustrating for not
just Vidya but also for Prasad.

Vidya didn't stop trying.  Each time she fell down she got right
back up though tears were beginning to show in her eyes. While her
anxiety, pain and frustration increased with time, her
determination was obviously dominant.  Prasad was inspired by her
intention to learn and was willing to continue working with her.
It was a challenge to both of them. It was not just Vidya learning
to ride, but also Prasad learning to teach.

By the time Sun set that day, they were both exhausted. Prasad
acknowledged Vidya's persistence and showed a willingness to come
back the next day if she was still interested. Vidya sure was
interested. Though she was frustrated at herself for not learning
it in one day, she promised to show up bright and early.

On the way home, Prasad thought deeply of the events of that day.
The bicycle lesson did not pan out as expected and he did not
understand what went wrong.

Openness and Flow

The next morning, with renewed energy, they both started the
process all over again. Both felt different and from Vidya's
perspective, Prasad seemed to be paying a lot more attention to
her than before. Prasad noticed a shift in Vidya's attitude.
Though she was falling fairly regularly, she was indifferent to
her falls. She continued her practice with an  openness he had not
noticed the previous day. And then, almost without noticing, it
happened.

Prasad was lightly holding the bicycle and Vidya was just
concentrating on riding. He noticed that she was balancing better,
focusing on gaining speed and managing turns well. At one moment,
he let go of her bicycle and watched what happened. He had no
expectations and was ready to catch her if she fell and continued
to run behind her. Surprisingly, Vidya did not fall down and
continued to ride around the parking lot, oblivious to Prasad. He
stopped following Vidya at one point and quietly sat down on a
nearby bench watching her ride with amazing ease. It was a proud
moment for Prasad.

It took few minutes for Vidya to notice her accomplishment, then
disbelief showed up on her face. With Prasad cheering her on, she
continued to ride the bicycle in a state of amazement. It was a
magical moment for her. Effortlessly, Vidya continued till she
decided to take control of the process. You know what happened
then, don't you? She fell!

Surrendering to the process of learning and staying open to the
possibility, Prasad and Vidya had learned their tasks
unconsciously. Vidya entered a state of flow in which she was only
present to the moment and not to her anxiety or to her intention
to ride a bicycle. It was a stage of 'peak experience' for Vidya.

For Prasad, it was special moment. By letting go of Vidya's
bicycle when he did, he set her flow state in motion.

Interestingly, that moment of flow was not really pleasant, when
it happened, either for Vidya or for Prasad. Both were taut with
tension and Vidya's muscles were aching. Still Vidya felt later
that they were the best moments of her life and felt strangely in
control.

Completion, New Beginnings and Mastery

Obviously Vidya was not ready to participate in a bicycle race
that week. She continued the process of mastering various skills:
turning, stopping, controlling the speed etc. She didn't need
Prasad anymore and she practiced all by herself.

Does Vidya now know consciously 'how to' ride a bicycle? Probably
not. Prasad did not know the answer to that question until he
started teaching or training Vidya. By training Vidya, several
unconscious processes implicit in riding a bicycle became clear to
Prasad and those were his learnings. In a curious way, teaching is
learning.

Now that Prasad successfully taught Vidya how to ride a bicycle,
does he know what worked and how Vidya learned to ride? Maybe not.
There are neither recipes nor short cuts to learning together. You
learn with somebody and somebody learns with you. Learning occurs
in circles and each time in a bigger circle than before.

How is Vidya doing? She rides regularly now and wants to learn
down hill skiing this fall. She is looking for a teacher to work
with her just the way Prasad did. Any takers???

About the authors

Prasad Kaipa is the editor of On Learning and and the founder of
the Mithya Institute for Learning, 4832 Pinemont Drive, Campbell,
CA 95008.  He can be reached at (408)866-8926 via phone or fax.
You can also reach him via email by sending mail to
PKaipa@IGC.Org.

Michael Miley is a professional writer and is a member of our
advisory board.  He can be reached at 767 Buena Vista West #103,
San Francisco, CA 94117.  Phone/fax: (415)626-8209.  Michael's
email address is MMiley@mcimail.com.
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