The Open Society Institute, which is part of George Soros’ Foundation, announced its 2004 Fellowship winners last week:

Community Fellowships are awarded to individuals who wish to employ their educational and professional attainments in service to disadvantaged communities. The goals are to encourage public and community service careers, expand the number of mentors and role models available to youth in inner-city neighborhoods, and promote initiatives and entrepreneurship that will empower those communities to increase opportunity and improve the quality of life there.

Specifically, there were community leaders were picked from NYC:

Ten New York City community organizers, activists and leaders working to improve the quality of public life in low-income neighborhoods were awarded Open Society Institute New York City Community Fellowships.

The NYC Community Fellows are working on a range of innovative public interest projects, including the creation of a community-based legal center to aid South Asian immigrants, the establishment of a domestic violence center for refugee and immigrant African women, and a program in Harlem to protect fixed-income seniors facing eviction.

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The Christian Science Monitor takes an inspiring look at the state of literacy in Kerala. Why are our Mallu friends so damn into their books and education?

At the Janaranjini preschool in the state of Kerala in rural southern India, children aren’t building castles in the sand. Instead, as they sit cross-legged in front of a thin layer of sand, they are learning the fundamentals of reading and math.

Three-year old V. S. Madhav twirls letters of his native Malayalam – the language of Kerala – into the sand with his left forefinger while his classmate, 4-year old Neethu Saji, writes Arabic numerals more quickly than her teacher can call them out.

“I also learned like this. My father also like this,” says N. Revindhran. Mr. Revindhran is a volunteer at the public library that runs this preschool, locally referred to as a kalari. “This is the ancient model [of schooling],” Revindhran explains.

Education in Kerala represents a success story that many nations might wish to emulate.

I had always learned that the high literacy rate in Kerala was directly related to the emphasis that Christian missionaries there had placed on reading. The messages of the Bible are best spread by reading of course. This article cured me of some of my misconceptions.

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Female instructors in the Indian city of Bhubaneswar have been ordered to stop dressing like sexy teachers, and start looking more like naughty housewives:

“The unconscious exposure of a body by a lady teacher during teaching could be an object of amusement for male students inside the classroom,” K.C. Satpathy, the principal of DAV Public School, was quoted in The Times of India newspaper as saying. “By wearing an apron, the quality of teaching could improve” … Women’s groups are outraged. “What does the principal expect? Should women teachers come to classes clad in burqas?” Katuri Mohapatra, a woman’s activist, told The Hindustan Times newspaper. [Reuters/Yahoo!]

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Indra Nooyi – Fortune’s most powerful Desi woman in corporate America – gave an address to the Columbia B-School class of ’05 which veered pretty far from the standard “the best is yet to come” script –

After beginning her speech with words of praise and recognition for the graduates and their families, Ms. Indra Nooyi began to make the political statement du jour. After talking of her childhood back in India, Ms. Nooyi began to compare the world and its five major continents (excl. Antarctica and Australia) to the human hand. First was Africa – the pinky finger – small and somewhat insignificant but when hurt, the entire hand hurt with it. Next was Asia – the thumb – strong and powerful, yearning to become a bigger player on the world stage. Third was Europe – the index finger – pointing the way. Fourth was South America – the ring finger – the finger which symbolizes love and sensualness. Finally, the US (not Canada mind you) – yes, you guessed it – the middle finger…

I liked Instapundit’s reaction –

EVERY YEAR, somebody makes a fool of him/herself while giving a commencement speech. How about going to Riyadh and telling them how they’re seen? That would be real courage . .

I think it’s safe to say – regardless of whether you agree w/ Ms Nooyi or not – that folks assembled at a commencement don’t expect to be sent off into the wild blue yonder with a lecture on why the World sees them as jackasses…

UPDATE – Followup post from Powerline with more info including other folks who heard the speech, and Pepsi PR flack’s refusal to release the text of speech. Continue reading →