2011.01.24: January 24, 2011: Sheldon Schafer's main mission as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India was training science teachers in modern philosophy and interpretation of science

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Sheldon Schafer's main mission as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India was training science teachers in modern philosophy and interpretation of science

Sheldon Schafer's main mission as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India was training science teachers in modern philosophy and interpretation of science

Schafer's assignment was in Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on the southeastern coast. His Peace Corps team of three included his wife, MaryAnn. Their main mission was training science teachers in modern philosophy and interpretation of science. "By the fifth and sixth year we were teaching inquiry-based science - making things out of materials you scrounge around and get, rather than going to the local bazaar to buy them," Schafer said. "The goal of the state department was to develop a scientifically literate middle class. Today we can look back and say we were a part of something that was happening there." In India at that time, post-secondary education was in English, so language was not an issue for the Peace Corps volunteers. He also learned to speak Telegu and some Urdu, which are among the local languages spoken in Hyderabad. He also learned to cook some local dishes, including a shrimp curry dish. Schafer recalls sending letters written on the international aerogram that took six weeks to reach their destinations. "Today they have cell phones and the Internet," Schafer said. "But on the other hand, their stories are always the same; the basic Peace Corps experience has not changed, and it is a wonderful experience."

Sheldon Schafer's main mission as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India was training science teachers in modern philosophy and interpretation of science

Peace Corps alumni invited to a party

Bradley professor Sheldon Schafer, who served in India, is organizing the event

By CATHARINE SCHAIDLE
Journal Star

Posted Jan 24, 2011 @ 11:24 PM
Print Comment
PEORIA -

When President John F. Kennedy challenged university students to spend two years helping people in developing countries, Sheldon Schafer took heed.

In 1970 he began a two-year commitment to the Peace Corps in India, an experience that remains with him to this day.

Schafer is inviting Peace Corps alumni to a party at his home that will feature international potluck cuisine to mark the formal founding of the organization 50 years ago on March 1, 1961. The National Peace Corps Association has urged returned Peace Corps volunteers to celebrate the anniversary with a series of global house parties around the world.

"I was in junior high at the time the Peace Corps was founded and I kept that goal in mind. I was lucky to get an invitation to join, after passing the application process and all the screening," he said.

Today, Schafer is a professor of astronomy at Bradley University and vice president of education at the Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences, as well as a former Green Party candidate for the U.S.
Congress. But in 1970, he was just a fresh graduate of Ohio State University. He began his began his Peace Corps journey late that summer.

Schafer's assignment was in Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on the southeastern coast. His Peace Corps team of three included his wife, MaryAnn.

Their main mission was training science teachers in modern philosophy and interpretation of science.
"By the fifth and sixth year we were teaching inquiry-based science - making things out of materials you scrounge around and get, rather than going to the local bazaar to buy them," Schafer said. "The goal of the state department was to develop a scientifically literate middle class. Today we can look back and say we were a part of something that was happening there."

In India at that time, post-secondary education was in English, so language was not an issue for the Peace Corps volunteers. He also learned to speak Telegu and some Urdu, which are among the local languages spoken in Hyderabad.

He also learned to cook some local dishes, including a shrimp curry dish.

Schafer recalls sending letters written on the international aerogram that took six weeks to reach their destinations.

"Today they have cell phones and the Internet," Schafer said. "But on the other hand, their stories are always the same; the basic Peace Corps experience has not changed, and it is a wonderful experience."

Catharine Schaidle can be reached at 686-3290 or cschaidle@pjstar.com.




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Headlines: January, 2011; Peace Corps India; Directory of India RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for India RPCVs; Science; Education; Iowa





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Story Source: PJ Star

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - India; Science; Education

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