By Joan Lehn Roslyn Heights, NY
When Raj Singh’s second grade class wrote essays on “My Hero”, one of her students named her as the hero, because, she said, “Mrs Singh is the best teacher in the world, she teaches me new things everyday and makes me feel as good as (when) I’m with my mommy.” The last reason tells the tale Mrs. Singh displays so much love as she teaches, her students respond in kind. She makes them work hard, but opens the world for them, especially as she ties them to the larger world through such innovative projects as the White Elephant sales by which her classes earned money for the Statue of Liberty restoration and the annual Easter Egg sale where her students earn money they donate to CARE for the children of Africa.
The Statue of Liberty project included essays from the children on “Miss Liberty and My Family” in which they told of their relatives memories and what the statue meant to them. The classes donations to the restoration fund were recognized in a letter to the proud class from President Reagan. Each Easter, Mrs. Singh’s class paints and sells Easter eggs. The proceeds of this unique project are sent to CARE. The sale is so popular the children start asking in January when the eggs will be sold. The skills her students learn, from speaking to other classes about the problem of famine in Africa, identifying Africa on the map, and counting money, to carrying a project through to completion, are almost secondary to the more important result the children learn to be aware and compassionate citizens of a world in which people love and help each other and in which each person’s contribution adds up to an important whole. Moreover, they see that the time, energy and effort they expend is appreciated. They have received letters from CARE thanking them and emphasizing the importance of their contribution as well as copies of the CARE World Report which two years in a row included the story of their unusual fundraising project.
The children have other happy memories of their year in her class: The stone soup they make, the plays and songs they present, the “hair opening ceremony” in which Mrs Singh at the end of each school year lets down her uncut hair to solve the mystery her former students have created does her hair hang to her feet, her knees or to her waist?
Parents too, expressed their appreciation of the love and kindness Mrs Singh has lavished on their children. The parents of a child with learning problems wrote that she nurtured the child’s creativity and encouraged the student to strive for more. In her class they saw their youngster go from an insecure and immature child to an assertive inquisitive one. The mother of a child who was self-conscious about her short stature commended that Mrs. Singh made her daughter feel good about herself. And Mrs, Singh says that it is her aim and an important goal for all teachers to make all students feel good about themselves.
Just as Mrs Singh’s talent for loving and encouraging young people is evident in her classroom so too, is it in her personal life. Rather than retire into domestic despair when her young physician husband died she was determined to give her two young children the values and tools they’d need to live independent and useful lives. Jasjit is now a pediatrician at New York Hospital and Harjit a student in his last year at medical school. Not only have they both been excellent students and loving children, they also have remained faithful to their Indian traditions and their Sikh religion. Sikhism is a monotheistic religion with roots in 15th century India. The religious philosophy is that all people are created by one God and that no matter what our culture, religion, caste or color, we are all children of God. Man’s duty is to love and serve others. It is apparent in the conduct of their lives and their choice of profession that the Singh family is following this philosophy. Among Sikh beliefs, there is one that makes Sikhs, especially the men stand out in a crowd. They are not permitted to cut their hair, so that Sikh men have beards and long hair which is neatly tied up under a turban. Sikh women too, keep their hair uncut, thus the end of term “mystery” of Mrs Singh’s long hair. Although Sikh identity isn’t easy to maintain in American society both Jasjit and Harjit who are American born have managed to do so, at the same time as they have been typical American students, attending local public schools and maintaining friendships with their peers.
In addition, the Singhs have all volunteered at camps for Sikh children, serving as models for others and helping Sikh American children by teaching them the Sikh hymns sung at religious services. Mrs Singh is a beloved teacher to these children and at the camps or at the Sikh temple cries of “Raj Aunty teach me Guru Gobind Singh’s song,” or “tell the stories about Guru Nanak” follow her. (Beginning with the founder, Guru Nanak a line of ten Gurus formulated the principles of Sikh faith and stories of their lives contain important lessons for Sikh children and adults). Mrs Singh has also developed innovative tools for teaching Sikh children the history of their religion and has hosted a radio program in which these ideas have been presented. In one such program she presented a time machine. As a reporter traveling with a prophet who lived in the 15th century, she told of the important events of the time, then brought the tale to the present discussing what people think of these ideas today. She then carried the story to the 23d century where she told of how people would be living then and how Guru Nanak’s philosophy could continue to help humanity.
In her dedication to learning and education, Mrs Singh has also hosted seminars for children and adults over the past twenty years, inviting historians and others learned in Sikh culture and religion to her home in Brookville to share their knowledge. The word “Sikh” means student, and Mrs Singh happily admits that she is always a pupil, learning from those she teaches. Her emphasis on the positive on what a person can do and not on what is lacking and her primary concern to make all those she comes in contact with children as well as adults feel good about themselves are the result of her own personal and religious philosophy that the most important thing ‘is to love all people.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 15, 1989
