Twelve students got a firsthand look at India’s extremes of wealth and poverty when economics professor Charles Wheelan’s fall public policy course spent the winter interim period traveling throughout the country. The direct experience followed months in the classroom learning about India’s economic reform programs.
The group visited Mumbai, Ahmedabad and New Delhi, as well as a small rural village. Throughout the 17-day trip, students discussed economic issues that they had covered in class with policy makers and other experts, and visited schools and tuberculosis clinics to see the realities of policies they had studied.
On a tour of one of the world’s largest slums in Mumbai, students met people who were “about the worst off you can be,” but also saw the way the slum was “bursting” with life and work, Shoshana Silverstein ’15 said.
The two days spent in the village, Wheelan said, offered students a glimpse of the country’s rural population, but students also met with local government members and foundations.
After the students’ academic preparation during the course, the travel portion allowed them to test their ideas against the reality of India’s economic system, Wheelan said.
With upcoming elections this year, a vibrant democracy and various economic uncertainties, this is an interesting time to study India, he said.
The class concluded the trip by producing a collaborative 70-page policy memo with specific recommendations for the Indian government regarding the country’s prosperity.
The course took advantage of the winter interim period, which was lengthened in 2012 to include Thanksgiving.
“For the purpose of this class, it’s a perfect period,” Wheelan said. “Because we had two weeks, we had plenty of time to do what we needed to do.”
Having previously led a similar program for graduate students at the University of Chicago, Wheelan said he adjusted the trip for Dartmouth undergraduates.
The public policy class involved more preparation than a traditional course. Offered for the first time this fall, the course required students to apply in the spring, read three books over the summer and obtain the necessary visas and immunizations.
“That’s why we get such serious students and that’s why it’s an experience they’ll remember long after they graduate,” Wheelan said.
The course is not yet approved as a permanent offering, as funding for future trips must be assessed.
The Rockefeller Center funded most expenses, but students paid for their flights and those on financial aid received partial funding — a similar policy to that of traditional foreign study programs, Wheelan said.
Silverstein said the trip solidified lessons she had taken away from the classroom, and said she hopes Dartmouth will expand the program and develop others like it.
The element of group work involved in the trip was also unique, Eric Yang ’14 said.
“This is the first time I’ve really learned what it means to define your role in a group,” he said.
Ayushi Narayan ’14 said the experience was a departure from the other classes she’s taken at the Dartmouth.
“I appreciated the extra time to really see what was going on and get other perspectives,” Narayan said.
Wheelan said that the overall experience offered students a good balance of academics and social activities, like a mix of a senior seminar and a Dartmouth Outing Club first-year trip.
