Monday 9 August 2010

..loco parents..

..re: New Sunday Times' editorial, Ogos, 8th 2010..

..now they want us to be loco parentis..in the place of parents..standing in for the parents..imploring that bringing up children is everybody's responsibility...to stem in the tide of indiscipline and other misbehaviour in schools and everywhere else..

..after 20 over years of sparing the rod and spoiling the child, we now realised the child is, indeed, spoilt..after 20 years of abandonment in mimicking the west, and abandoning our very own values and culture, they want us to be loco parents, Spanish, this time, not Latin..

..after banishing corporal punishment and banning the rotan, you tell us that it is a team effort...sheesh..since when has it not been a team effort?..my time, the father will bring his child to a guru..'this is my child..teach him..and cane him if errs..or whatever punishment you deemed fit..as long as it does not disfigure him...

..then, everyone plays a part..from parents, teachers to elders in the village..we kept our eyes on the young ones..the children got whipped, yes, they got caned, and they became better because and in spite of it..

..and you want the bus driver to chide a child for not sitting properly?..nah..he would not do it..he would not risked being hit, slapped and kicked by a loco parent...similarly the teachers, reduced to being impotent entities..

..the big picture is our education system is in shambles..come to think about it, we don't even have a proper education system or policy..it has been politicised to an extent that what is good for the children is not good for them..we do not have the backbone to withstand a little bit of pressure..we gave in easily..here today, gone tomorrow..gone yesterday, back again today..even an old man like me is confused..and grumbled..what more the children..

..and we want to bring back the cane?..bring back the whole system of the 50's I'd say..

11 comments:

Wan Sharif said...

..bring back the whole system of the 50's I'd say..
saya sokong sepenuh hati..

Anonymous said...

Pak Mat

Our education system is in a shamble when Brader anuar ibrahim was navigating the Kementrian Pendidikan in the early eighties.Inept politician is brader nuar bin ibrahim.


....wawa

Fauziah Ismail said...

Salam Pak Mat,
What happened to the good ol’ days of schooling?
When I was in school, we had a trouble-free childhood. There were rebels among us but it never escalated to become something totally out of hand.
We didn’t have a disciplinary teacher. In fact, we feared all our teachers.
We never complained to our parents about them. Even if we did, they probably tell us that we deserved whatever punishments the teachers gave us.
Now, the spoilt complains and the parents will go to school the next day to reprimand the teachers.
The teachers are not only afraid of the parents but also the students themselves.
Sad state of affairs.
Selamat Berpuasa, Maaf Zahir Batin.

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Hi Pakmat, this is a hard one, every generation is different. Looking back, yes we had it good thanks mostly to the dedicated qualities of those that taught us.

To revert back to the system we had in the old days, will be a tough ask, akin to trying to super glue back a shattered priceless antique vase.

Bring back the cane is another good question, back in our days, those that enforces that rules always says it hurts them more that it does to us but then again you’ll find some that takes sordid pleasure in enforcing the punishment, so there’s a fine line there too. As such, I’m against bringing the cane back.

The only way to improve IMHO, is to teach the younger generation more core family values, civil & humanity lesson taking the religious & ethnicity equation out of the picture (these can be taught at home & in private time) in a single school system. Treat others as you would like others to treat you and be respectful of shared public facilities. Whenever possible, lend a helping hand to other less fortunate fellow beings. End of the day it’s all about self respect, integrity & accountability to society as a whole, and this have to come from within oneself too. Once you start playing the blame game, you will never improve.

So to those in charge, ‘Take care of the small issues now and the bigger issues will all fall in place eventually.’

From your buddy, a ‘traumatised victim’ from the ‘six of the best’{on my bare butt, mind u} school….hahaha

Tommy

P/S - Selamat berpuasa to u & all my muslim friends that sembang here seeking wisdom from the old coot :)

Memorable trails... said...

Salam Pak Mat,
Just want to relate a story that happened in my school 2 weeks ago..
A discipline teacher caned a student which left a mark on her calf.I am sure the teacher has his reason for doing so.The parents not only made a police report but went to a reporter.The next day it became news in two newspapers..
The following day all the inspectorate frm the ministry to the district level came down to our school to check on the matter.The poor teacher has to come out with a show-cause letter..
so how are we teachers going to bring back the cane into the school compound?
To me whether a child becomes a Nasrani or Majusi, it all depends on the parents,...anak itu ibarat kain putih..ibu bapa yg mencorakkannya...We always have our religion to turn to if we fail to counsel our children psychologically....
Selamat menyambut Ramadhn..

Pat said...

"..the big picture is our education system is in shambles..come to think about it, we don't even have a proper education system or policy..it has been politicised to an extent that what is good for the children is not good for them.."

I agree with you here. But I also agree with Tommy Yewfigure above, who astutely says:

"The only way to improve IMHO, is to teach the younger generation more core family values, civil & humanity lesson taking the religious & ethnicity equation out of the picture (these can be taught at home & in private time) in a single school system."

But I don't think that will ever happen here. No one - not the ruling government nor the opposition - would dare to be the one to bell the cat!!!

Unknown said...

salam Wan..just a whimsical thought. I dont think going back to the good old days will work..:)..too much water had flowed under the bridge..with the water mostly cloudy..:)

salam lady FI..what happened to the good old days?..I think as parents we failed..these days we don't have time for children..oh, we had them, alright..but we dont have time for them during their crucial growing up and formative years..we are too busy chasing tht pot of gold..modernisation brought along its inherent evil..a society set in with decay..maybe that's the reason why we have so much strife now..we just dont care anymore of whats happening outside our family circle..

selamat berpuasa, lady..cheers

Unknown said...

salam Tommy..yes, that's what we should be doing..strengthening the family unit..for they are the velcro that knit society together..but until then, we should give the school more clout..show the children that we mean business..and have the appropriate authorities stand by them..on the extreme, maybe get the parents to sign imdemnity forms..that their children will be punished for indiscipline..agreed..we must take care of small issues now..and I'll settle with them being more steadfast when imposing policies..
cheers..
p/s..fasting, too, huh?..good for the soul..you should..

Unknown said...

salam and greetings MGold..ah..the words straight from one who teaches..and faces cases of indiscipline everyday...confirming that teachers these days are reduced to impotent entities..and authorities almost always sided with him who was punished, never mind the misdemeanor..maybe we should bring back the rotan..and have the parents do it..
selamat berpuasa, MGold..agar diberi hidayah dan petunjuk..:) cheers..

hi Pat..belling the cat..I like that..we should, we must..it is bad already as it is..

rizal hashim said...

I agree with Tommy...

I was fortunate PakMat, to enjoy the best of both worlds...attending one of the best schools in KL in the late 70s and being schooled by a stern father and a tolerant mother (RIP mak dan ayah) at home...ah...we are all shaped by the environment, PakMat...and I agree with you pakmat, those days a parent would give the teacher the executive powers to take action against his or her offspring in case of indiscretions...

I try to subscribe to this philosophy...of little interference with the teachers..

having a secondary school teacher as wife puts things in the right perspective as they face a different kind of challenges their predecessors would never imagined...

to me it boils down to coaching your kids at home of the right core values...


integrity, respect for others, honesty, they start at home, pakmat...

Unknown said...

..alFatiha to your parents..but they did well..unlike most parents of today..