Q. In your autobiography, you mention family discussions over dinner fostering your ability to question. Was your curiosity curtailed in the event of not obtaining a satisfactory answer?
A. To the contrary, I would say my questioning was further encouraged when I didn't get an answer right away. Most questions in life don't have satisfactory answers and the best questions are generally raised by children. For example, most kids question where most things come from. Where do people come from? Parents teach their children what their parents told them as they grew up wondering about the very same issues. A classic answer would be that God made this world. Kids are not born believing but they are taught by their parents what they want them to believe.
My parents encouraged me to question and be critical. They allowed my thinking to grow and fuelled my curiosity. They would honestly tell me whether they could answer my questions, and guide me to utilize resources which would lead me to the answers. Not having answers to fundamental questions was an exhilarating experience for me. In fact, these family discussions taught me that the first step in learning is being open to the unknown.
Q. Until the 7th grade, you had difficulty in school while your siblings were outstanding students. How did you deal with increased expectations? Did it have any bearing on your decision to become a scientist?
A. I was very lucky to be raised not only by my parents but my outstanding siblings. My home environment always egged me to expand my knowledge. However, I was more stimulated outside school than inside it. Our school system focuses on mathematics and language. I felt challenged as I couldn't read and didn't have a good handle on language. But I was fortunate enough to be self driven to overcome my parents' and teachers' concerns.
It is not until the 7th grade that a child is exposed to the fascinating world of science. I discovered my calling for science outside school. As a young child, I loved studying dinosaur bones. One of the greatest mysteries for me were the incomplete fossil records and I wanted to find the missing fossils. I just knew I wanted to be a scientist as a child.
Q. You were stimulated more outside of school — what are your thoughts on our present education system?
A. As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of scope for our system to improve. I envisage an educational system where academics should not be taken seriously until the 6th grade. In the US, we track our kids too early which maybe true in other countries as well. Testing children to grant them admission to kindergarten is such a huge mistake — we should take a break! We are losing talented people because they didn't perform too well on a particular test but are actually very creative and motivated. We need to understand that there are several areas of intelligence and most performance based exams don't test a child adequately enough to judge his eligibility for the future.
Q. How do you feel about parenting?
A. Parenting is a very tough task. As a child, I always thought that parents had more control to shape their child's personality. But when I became a father, I realized that kids are born with a defined personality. They are an individual from the moment they are born. We can't shape them into what we want them to be. Parents can't force them but simply open the doors to a beautiful world awaiting them. Parenting is a wonderful experience to know this unique individual intimately. In fact I would say that opportunities can change your life but not change who you are — nothing can.
Q. What changes would you suggest in our present education system?
A. We try to educate people and categorize them. We need to be more flexible and think hard. There is an urgent need to come up with new avenues to help people recognize their potential. One way to address this would be to get kids involved in adult activities at an earlier age. For example, involve kids in science and work. Allow them to visit medical institutes to interact with patients and those who care for them. It is also good for sick patients to meet curious kids in safe and supervised settings. On the other hand, it could shape the way a child's mind perceives medicine. Encouraging them to enter labs or pay a visit to Wall Street would give their impressionable minds a glimpse of the real world. This would provide an impetus to recognize their calling early in life and seed passion to be successful in the field of their choice.
As we claim to get more civilized, we tend to shelter our kids. A child's capacity is limitless and it is therefore important to channelize this bountiful energy in a productive way. In the olden days, children were free to explore and understand the world around them. To draw a modern day parallel, young kids run households in the developing world. This is devastating yet demonstrates what a child is capable of. To summarize, I wouldn't say we need to reduce the educational burden on our children but rather find innovative ways to allow expression of their natural gifts.
Q. Do you engage your children in different activities beyond the scope of the curriculum?
A. I most certainly do. When I was growing up, I was very eager to work in the lab. However it wasn't until high school that I finally got a chance to work as a volunteer in the lab. I have always encouraged my children to visit my lab and they do silly fun things. They freeze rubber bands in liquid nitrogen and shatter it — harmless fun. I ask them to look at pond water under a microscope — it is amazing what one may see. However I think my youngest daughter is the only one who is leaning towards science. Diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic, she is very inspired to contribute to the understanding of this condition. I have no clue what the others will end up doing but I'll always encourage them to follow their dreams.
