Can You Teach a Zebra Some Algebra?: The Alchemy of Learning

by Debashis Chatterjee

This book asks what seems like a silly question-can you teach a zebra some algebra? You may in turn ask-what kind of a question is that? How can one teach algebra to a zebra? However, that is exactly what the education system that we have inherited is attempting to do. Teachers go on to teach a subject with very little knowledge of the real subject-the student. Our schools remind us of the story of a sports school for animals. Here the teacher is employed to train animals to compete for the Animal Olympics. The teacher looks at a rabbit and teaches it to fly. Then he gets hold of an eagle and forces the bird to run. The elephant is asked to swim and the tortoise is advised to practice a high jump. Finally, after fifteen years of training is over, the duck is declared the Olympic champion. Why? The duck can do a little bit of hopping, flying, jumping and swimming-a jack of all trades and master of none. Think of what's happening in our schools today. Students, like the duck in the story are asked to do a bit of everything with no deep knowledge of anything.

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2014

About the author

Professor Debashis Chatterjee has taught leadership classes at Harvard University and at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) of Calcutta, Lucknow and Kozhikode for nearly three decades.The longest-serving director of a first-generation IIM, he was reappointed to head IIM Kozhikode for a third five-year term in June 2023. Prof. Chatterjee has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for pre-doctoral and postdoctoral work at Harvard University. A prolific author, he has published fiction and non-fiction, including Leading Consciously, Krishna: The 7th Sense and Timeless Leadership, which have been translated into several national and international languages. He has taught the art and practice of leadership to more than hundred thousand managers globally in Fortune 500 corporations and over fifty thousand school leaders. Prof. Chatterjee is credited with transforming a small-town B-school into an institution of global recognition that is now counted among the top three IIMs in India and the top seventy-five management schools worldwide according to the Financial Times rankings. He can be reached at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS2k...
https://in.linkedin.com/in/debashisch...

Reviews

[Aman Kabra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful message. Powerful Ideas.

We are all students and teachers at the same time. This book has to be read if one even so much as thinks about educating another human being.

A powerful book it is.

[Rishabh Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought provoking book that presents new pathways to holistic human excellence. Each chapter conveys a powerful message and the author has made the book interesting by narrating his own experiences in between.

[Salil Sathe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of "Can You Teach A Zebra Some Algebra?" for free through Goodreads First Reads.
After finishing the intense "Mrityunjaya", I wanted a small easy book to read, and this book, or the title of this book caught my attention.

A very catchy title, and equally good book.

The author "Debashis Chatterjee" discusses our current education system and makes the reader think. Through his various examples, stories & anecdotes, and his great knowledge & experience he makes the reader realise where we as a society are moving. He not only reminds us our (system's) faults, but gives the reader small implementable suggestions to improve and enrich his (reader's) life, and the lives of others around him. The writing style is very lucid and small examples given by the author helps in understanding the concept.

While reading the book, I was able to visualize a few of my teachers, some good, some bad, some orthodox and some unconventional, some boring and some radical.

This book has developed my love towards teaching; and if in my future life I move on to teaching, the seeds would surely been sown while I read this book.

This is a type of book that one should read once in a couple of years and then one should try to practice the things mentioned.

Overall a very good read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Some of the small stories will remain with me for a long time.

[Kumar Anshul · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book by someone who has taught hundreds of management graduates (of the likes of IIMs and Harvard) and principals of schools all across the globe, throws some light on exactly what an ideal teacher is, with a little bit of spirituality, wise anecdotes and lores sprinkled here and there.
Including excerpts from his various leadership (and beyond) lectures and interwining them with his own thoughts, Mr. Chatterjee has woven an intriguing, if not engaging book.
Though it was a random pick and the book was full of hackneyed themes, I enjoyed it in parts.

[Awdhesh Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent book to read and contemplate. Prof Debashis Chattaerjee shares his experiences and philosophy of life in small chapters, which are quite readable.

[Gurnam Sodhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow these type of self help or motivational books with small chapters or lessons. For me these are like read one and forget the other.

[Pratibha Pandey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5