Learning Journal 35

For class on Monday we went over what would be on the test. It's surprising how much we have covered. Some of the topics apply more to me and my project than other topics that we discussed. While we reviewed interviewing, I realized that there were a lot of good points brought up and they would be very helpful if I was sitting down to interview. I remember reading that article and thought that the interviewer was great at interviewing because the informant was talking away. The interviewer also made it very easy for the informant to talk because their conversation with very easy to understand questions. It was interesting to see how much of the material came back to me and how much seemed foreign because I had forgotten it all. The hard part is that we will talk about something and then it won't come back up again until the final. I have a lot to study for to prepare myself for the final. The cool part is that I'm not only studying for the final, but I am studying and reviewing things that can be helpful for me while in India.
I am putting together the last of my proposal and wrapping up the last of my survey questions. This whole semester of preparation is coming to a close as we get ready to actually go out and apply what we have learned. It will be interesting to note how many things I do in India that I realize came from this prep class. Or it will be interesting to see how all the time I put into study or understanding the culture becomes beneficial when talking with people.
Here we go! India in 17 Days!

Learning Journal 34

This past weekend I was able to work on more of my proposal. I am specifically looking at my survey. It is the most important part of my research. If I do not gather the correct data from my survey, I will go home with results that won't mean anything to me. It is important for me to gear my questions towards answers that I am looking for. The answers that I am looking for deal with the question that I asked in my proposal. How does education, family size, and the economic condition affect oral hygiene habits. My questions needed to be focuses towards four things; the three sociodemographic facts and the hygiene habits of my subjects. So I went through my survey and revamped the questions. They are now a lot more focused and will help me to get the answers that I am looking for.
What I am planning on doing is printing and taking about 20 surveys. Once I get to India, I can hand out a few surveys and see how people respond. If I think that there needs to be clarifications then I can simply fix my survey and print off more copies. I don't want to print off so many copies that I feel obligated to use that survey, even if people aren't answering the questions the right way or are confused about the questions. I want to make sure that when I get to India that most people can understand what the questions are asking and be able to answer them.
I look forward to analyzing my data based on the results I get from my surveys!

Source 38

MUMBAI: Across the world, India is seen as an education powerhouse - based largely on the reputation of a few islands of academic excellence such as the IITs. But scratch the glossy surface of our education system and the picture turns seriously bleak.

Fifteen-year-old Indians who were put, for the first time, on a global stage stood second to last, only beating Kyrgyzstan when tested on their reading, math and science abilities.

India ranked second last among the 73 countries that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted annually to evaluate education systems worldwide by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Secretariat. The survey is based on two-hour tests that half a million students are put through.

China's Shanghai province, which participated in PISA for the first time, scored the highest in reading. It also topped the charts in mathematics and science.

"More than one-quarter of Shanghai's 15 year olds demonstrated advanced mathematical thinking skills to solve complex problems, compared to an OECD average of just 3%," noted the analysis.

The states of Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, showpieces for education and development, were selected by the central government to participate in PISA, but their test results were damning.

15-yr-old Indians 200 points behind global topper

Tamil Nadu and Himachal, showpieces of India's education and development, fared miserably at the Programme for International Student Asssment, conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Secretariat.

An analysis of the performance of the two states showed:

In math, considered India's strong point, they finished second and third to last, beating only Kyrgyzstan

When the Indian students were asked to read English text, again Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh were better than only Kyrgyzstan. Girls were better than boys

The science results were the worst. Himachal Pradesh stood last, this time behind Kyrgyzstan. Tamil Nadu was slightly better and finished third from the bottom

The average 15-year-old Indian is over 200 points behind the global topper. Comparing scores, experts estimate that an Indian eighth grader is at the level of a South Korean third grader in math abilities or a second-year student from Shanghai when it comes to reading skills.

The report said: "In Himachal, 11% of students are estimated to have a proficiency in reading literacy that is at or above the baseline level needed to participate effectively and productively in life. It follows that 89% of students in Himachal are estimated to be below that baseline level."

Clearly, India will have to ramp up its efforts and get serious about what goes on in its schools. "Better educational outcomes are a strong predictor for future economic growth," OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria told The Times of India.

"While national income and educational achievement are still related, PISA shows that two countries with similar levels of prosperity can produce very different results. This shows that an image of a world divided neatly into rich and well-educated countries and poor and badly-educated countries is now out of date."

In case of scientific literacy levels in TN, students were estimated to have a mean score that was below the means of all OECD countries, but better than Himachal. Experts are unsure if selecting these two states was a good idea.

Shaheen Mistry, CEO of Teach For India programme, said, "I am glad that now there is data that lets people know how far we still have to go."

This is cool because I was able to read about a current issue in India. This is something that was recommended to us by margaret. Plus it shows the poor education level in India.

Learning Journal 33

In class on Wednesday I presented my research proposal. I felt like when you present your idea, you learn a lot about your idea. It helps you to develop what you understand about it and what you want others to understand. It is also beneficial because classmates can comment on your research and help clarify some points. It was nice to be able to present because I have a better idea of what is good to focus on and what I know well. It also shows me what I can work on and develop more so that other people can understand it. I don't want to sound like I am beating a dead horse by saying the same stuff over and and over.
I was the only one that presented in my section on Wednesday so it will be nice to hear other presentations. I think the methods and ideas of others will be interesting to listen to and it may help me to develop my project even further.
It will be interesting to come home and present my project for the inquiry conference. I will not only be explaining my project and the reasoning behind it, but I will also be presenting the results. The results and tying it all together will be a big part of it all. I look forward to making the connections and seeing the results of my project.
I feel like as I travel to India and begin asking my survey questions, that I will really begin to understand what I am looking for. I have a great idea of what I want to see, but I am not quite positive the answers that I will get. I may come to find that certain answers on my survey reveal a lot about why dental care is in its current condition.

Source 37

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_statistics.html

This site is great because it has a lot of data and statistics for India. I will be able to pull valuable data from this site for my project to help back some of my statements.

Learning Journal 32

In class this past Monday we talked about culture shock. I also went through and read the article "Coping with Culture Shock" and learned a great deal. It was actually pretty cool because I was able to go through and think of the culture shock that I felt when I went on my mission. It is important to realize that I didn't even leave the US for my mission. It just goes to show that whenever you are thrown out of your daily routine and put into a new environment, you can experience culture shock. As the author went through the four stages that culture shock occurs. The honeymoon stage was what I felt initially - I met the new assignment with a positive attitude and a lot of adrenaline. I was excited and ready for the new environment and daily life. I only really remember recognizing the similarities and how I would get used to everything else.
The next stage was the irritation and hostility stage. After the initial shock and excitement wore down, I began to think, 'two more years of this?'. The adrenaline was dying and reality was kicking in. Days seemed longer than at first and time seemed to creep by. The town was small, the people were weird, the assignment was tough. I remember it being hard to try and look past these things at the ultimate goal.
The next stage was the gradual adjustment. Looking back now, I can say I love Iowa. When I first arrived in Iowa, I never thought I would grow to like it in the smallest degree. It seemed run down, poor, weird, and boring. But those thoughts would slowly go away. When I could finally look past the negatives and realize what my purpose was, then I could begin to actually enjoy my time there. This can be very similar to a field study experience. From initial excitement, to irritation, to adjusting - when you realize your purpose in India. In Iowa I began to ignore the small things that bothered me and focus on all the positives. My mentality changed and I began to appreciate the area more and more. I adapted to the people, the style of living, the culture, weather, language, and everything. I finally noticed that I was beginning to enjoy myself more and could laugh at simple things.
The last stage, biculturalism, hit me to the point where I really began to feel like I was fitting in. I can't say that I loved it so much that I want to move back and live there forever. But, I did come to understand the state better to the point where I wouldn't be upset if I had to return there for a while. After returning home, you realize the ideas, beliefs, and customs that were unique to Iowa. I began to realize some of those and miss them because I realized that they were things that I grew to like.
I feel like this experience will be similar to the experience that I will have in India. India will be a completely differently lifestyle and culture. Adapting will not be easy and changing will be hard. I look forward to overcoming the irritation and surpassing Stage 2 so that I can make it to Stage 4, biculturalism.

Source 36

http://pdf.wri.org/hammond_india_profile_xls.pdf

This graph shows great statical information regarding the economic condition of India. It breaks it down and compares their condition to the US and then to the world. It will be interesting to relate this data to my study and possibly include some of it into my proposal.

Learning Journal 31

Over the weekend we were supposed to read and look over a classmates paper as well as revise our own. My dad is interested in what I will be doing in India so he wanted to read over my proposal. After reading through my proposal he gave me some good ideas about how to adjust it to make it even better. The big thing that he noticed and that he helped me to realize was that my topic of sociodemographic condition was too broad. I was going to gather statistics on the use of hygiene products and random sociodemographic factors and somehow make a connection between it all. Instead, my father suggested that I focus on two or three sociodemographic factors that could influence oral habits and determine whether they do. I had wanted to do this in my mind the whole time, I had just not connected all of the dots in my proposal and made it exactly clear on what I wanted to do. So I rearranged my paper and am focusing on family size, education, and economic standing of informants and determining how this connects to their oral hygiene habits. I want to know how these conditions affect how people care for their teeth.
I went through and re worded my proposal and am still working on it to make it sound better. I need to adjust my background and significance to fit my idea so that it supports what I am researching. I am excited and I feel like I have more focus now that I have decided to do this. I will be able to put together a sweet paper in the end and go through each of these points and determine whether it does, may, or does not influence oral habits.

Source 35

Tamil Nadu is one of the most urbanized states in the country with 46 percent of the households in urban areas. On average, households in Tamil Nadu are comprised of 3.5 members. Twenty percent of households are headed by women.
The vast majority of households in Tamil Nadu have household heads who are Hindu (89%). Seven percent of household heads are Christians and 4 percent are Muslims. Seventy-five percent of household heads belong to other backward classes (OBC), 22 percent of households belong to scheduled castes, 1 percent belong to scheduled tribes, and only 2 percent of Tamil Nadu’s households do not belong to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, or other backward classes.
A little over one-quarter of Tamil Nadu’s population (27%) is under age 15; only 7 percent is age 65 and over.
Among children under 18 years of age, 5 percent have experienced the death of one or both parents. In all, 82 percent of children under 18 years of age live with both parents, and 14 percent live with one parent.

Housing characteristics
Seventy percent of households in Tamil Nadu live in a pucca house. Eighty-nine percent of households (94% of urban households and 84% of rural households) have electricity, up from 79 percent at the time of NFHS-2. Fifty-seven percent of households have no toilet facilities, down from 66 percent at the time of NFHS-2. In rural areas, 83 percent of households do not have any toilet facilities.
Eighty-nine percent of households in Tamil Nadu have electricity, up from 79 percent at the time of NFHS-2.
Ninety-four percent of households use an improved source of drinking water, but only 25 percent have water piped into their dwelling, yard, or plot. One-third of households treat their drinking water to make it potable. Twenty-six percent of households boil the water, 3 percent strain the water through a cloth, and 4 percent use a ceramic, sand, or other filter. Thirty-nine percent of households use clean fuels (LPG, natural gas, kerosene, or biogas) for cooking (64% in urban areas and 17% in rural areas). More than four-fifths of rural households use solid fuel for cooking.


Tamil_Nadu.indd 2
9/12/2008
6:37:16 PM

Wealth index
The wealth index is constructed by combining information on 33 house- hold assets and housing characteristics such as ownership of consumer items, type of dwelling, source of water, and availability of electricity, into a single index. The household population is divided into five equal groups of 20 percent each (quintiles) at the national level from 1 (lowest, poorest) to 5 (highest, wealthiest). Since the quintiles of the wealth index are defined at the national level, the proportion of the population of a particular state that falls in any specific quintile will vary across states.
According to the wealth index measure, Tamil Nadu has a lower percentage of poor people than India as a whole. Only 12 percent of the households in Tamil Nadu are in the lowest wealth quintile. Thirty-four percent of urban households are in the highest wealth quintile, in contrast to the rural areas, where only 7 percent of the households are in the highest wealth quintile.

EDUCATION
Current school attendance among children
Almost all primary-school age children (6-10 years) attend school (99% in urban areas and 98% in rural areas). School attendance drops to 88 percent for children age 11-14 years and is only 54 percent for children age 15-17 years.
Are there gender differentials in children’s Are there gender differentials in children’s
current school attendance? current school attendance?
Among children age 6-10 years, there is no
gender disparity in school attendance in
urban or rural areas. At older ages (11-14
years), in urban areas, the gender disparity
in school attendance in favour of boys
remains small (3 percentage points); but, in
rural areas, it is more pronounced (7
percentage points). At age 15-17 years, in
urban areas gender disparity in school
attendance is in favour of girls (by 11 percentage points), but in rural areas it is in favour of boys (by 21 percentage points).

Literacy and educational attainment
Twenty-two percent of women and 9 percent of men age 15-49 have never attended school. Two out of five men (39%) have completed 10 or more years of education, but only 32 percent of women have attained that level of education.
In NFHS-3, literate persons are those who have either completed at least standard six or passed a simple literacy test conducted as part of the survey. According to this measure, 69 percent of women and 84 percent of men age 15-49 are literate in Tamil Nadu.

http://www.nfhsindia.org/NFHS-3%20Data/TamilNadu_report.pdf

This will be great for my paper because it breaks down a lot of the sociodemographic conditions that I am looking for. Many of these statistics will be helpful for my paper and for understanding how sociodemographic conditions affect the oral habits.