Extraordinary 20-minute TED talk by Roy Bunker, an upper caste Brahmin who, after graduating from an elite college in India forty-five years ago, decided to live in a poor village and start a college “only for poor people,” teaching skills and knowledge poor people think are important. Ph.D’s need not apply. After many astonishing stories of local learning, local pride, local brilliance, he ends with this:
“I’ll just wind up by saying that I think you don’t have to look outside. Look for solutions within. And listen to people, you have the solutions in front of you, all over the world. Don’t even worry. Don’t listen to the World Bank. Listen to the people on the ground. Mahatma Gandhi: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
