As I walked down the dusty road towards the Maganoorpatti Elementary school, located in rural Tamil Nadu, India, I thought about the task before me. I was a twelve year old kid, about to embark on a summer of teaching English to fifth grade students. The conversation of the day before rolled through my mind. The principal had told me when I met with him, “teaching these students is a waste of your time. They aren’t going to amount to anything.