Things that mattered to me, answers that satisfied me and changed my world view. This streak continued as I had more classmates and teachers to discuss things with. I even topped Psychology and Logic that year. Much to everyone’s surprise, I, someone who scored decently in my school subjects only to get my parents off my back, was voluntarily reading textbooks supposedly too advanced for the year I was in.
I had lost all interest in subjects taught in school, but if I had to spend another 5 years studying something, that had to be psychology. I just wanted to understand why people were the way they were and behaved the way they did. I had started looking at people around me with a weird curiosity, like I was trying to figure out a puzzle. By this point, the only thing that genuinely interested me was human behaviour. The way they learn subjects may not be the way they are used in other settings.Īfter school, I had the options of Arts/Humanities, Commerce and Science (the harder kind, Mumbai University still doesn’t think Psychology belongs here). When teaching school children we need to emphasise that the whole world is not the world they see right now.
It’s not like my high-school math at all!’ However, when asked the question above, I had to add ‘…but doing statistics is one of the favourite parts of my work today. Math and Chemistry were the subjects I liked least. I had a natural inclination and curiosity to biology (physics was ok too!) and understood these well. This brings me back to another question I was asked, ‘Did you do well in science and math in school?’ ‘No…and I didn’t particularly like them either’ was my response. As a student in Mumbai, I had one year to decide what electives I would choose for ‘Junior College’ which would then determine what subjects I can major in, at University. Some of my family members had studied psychology, sure, but being a psychologist never occurred to me.īy the end of 9th grade, thinking about my career choices became inevitable.
The earliest memory of my chosen career is a friend telling me in the 8th grade that I would be a ‘good psychologist’ because I have ‘good listening skills’. Below are some of my post-Skype-a-Scientist thoughts on the insights I gained from this experience and why I think we need more programs like this. They triggered my reflections on life and the way I communicate my research. I knew this would be an experience I would enjoy, but I was surprised nonetheless. I smiled to myself as I answered ‘No, I hadn’t even considered it’.Įarly 2019 I got matched with a few classrooms under the Skype a Scientist program. ‘Did you know in the 5th Grade, that you would be a scientist when you grow up?’ This was one of the questions I got from a 5th Grade class I was matched with under the Skype a Scientist program.
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