TEACHING RESPONSIBILITY
June 10, 2013, By KNews, Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source
Going to school is all about learning. It is about learning to read and write and do Maths. It is about learning about the birds and the bees and what comes in between.
But it is also about appreciating the importance of discipline, having the right attitude towards life and respecting your elders.
This is why parents send their children to school. They send them to not only gain knowledge but also to develop good habits such as working hard and achieving things through hard work.
One time there was this kid called Little Johnny. He was awful in his school work. The parents tried everything they could with him. They even had private tutors come over. However, nothing changed because Little Johnny was not willing to study. He had the wrong attitude towards his schoolwork.
One day, someone suggested that the parents send Little Johnny to a strict Christian school in the community. Not knowing what else to do, the parents consented and enrolled him into the school.
After the first day, Little Johnny came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t even greet his parents. He went straight to his room and started studying. Two hours after when his mom peeped in on him, he was still hitting the books. His mom was stunned.
She even had to call him down for dinner. The moment he finished eating he headed straight back up to his room and began studying again. This went on for weeks and his parents began wondering what it was about the Christian school that had caused this dramatic transformation in Little Johnny’s attitude.
At the end of the term, Little Johnny brought home his Report Card and when the parents opened it they found that he had scored A’s in every subject.
His mom could no longer hold back her curiosity. She went to his room and said, “Little Johnny, what was it that caused this change in your school performance and attitude? Was it the teachers?
Little Johnny shook his head.
“Well then,” his mom asked “was it the discipline?”
Little Johnny shook his head.
“So what was it?” his mom pleaded
Little Johnny looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t fooling around.”
Today the attitude towards schooling has changed. Many parents send their kids to school solely for knowledge and knowledge alone. They are not interested in the school inculcating in their children respect for authority or developing a responsible attitude towards life.
And many children have the same approach. They view the role of their teachers as being concerned solely with imparting skills and knowledge and not about teaching them to be responsible, courteous and tidy.
In fact there are some cases when if a teacher upbraids a child for not papering his or her text books, the child will become defensive and ask why they should have to do this. If the teacher tries to explain that the child needs to paper the books so to protect them and ensure that they can last a long time, there are some kids who make it known that if their books are damaged their parents can afford to buy new ones.
And there are some private schools where some students will refuse to lift furniture and move them from one classroom to the next. They will claim that their parents are paying for their education and they are not lifting anything.
The act of assisting in moving things from one part of a school to another has never been about who was paying and who was not. In the old days, children were asked to do these things because it encouraged an ethic of responsibility. Not only were children asked to move furniture but they were also at time asked to sweep the classrooms. There was even a roster of duties Parents then encouraged their children to do these things because it helped develop responsibility in the children.
Today there is a breakdown in responsibility in the school system because too many children are being encouraged to feel that the school authorities are responsible for the administration of the schools and children should not be asked to do any manual labour during school hours. As a result of this, the school system is producing very brilliant students some of whom do not know how to tie their shoe laces.