You now time and again, when I read about how kids find school unsafe, I wonder what in the hell is going on in this country. I can’t believe I’m going to say this but here goes. When I was back in school, such things would never happen. The worst that would happen would be that after school would be after school. Basic translation being that someone was being threatened to get beaten up but half the time would just run away.
This whole bring a gun, a knife, to school is just getting out of hand. What are kids of today defending themselves from? Since when have school become a military ground? Have the lax laws contributed to the demise of security at schools?
The fact that there’s no corporal punishment at home and at school has maybe contributed to this. Kids know that teachers are toothless dogs lately. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not all for beating kids up since there’s a thin line between corporal punishment and abuse, but knowing that doing wrong has repercussions has led most of us along the right path. Knowing that when you do wrong you will have someone to answer to, usually led one to seriously think twice before doing wrong. This knowledge alone was enough.
Now kids know that the worst that would happen when they do wrong, or worse stick a knife into one of their peers’ necks, is that they will not be allowed to play PlayStation for a month! Wow — the thought of that would definitely make me behave!
I truly do wonder where we have gone wrong. We now even have the threat of the Scorpions being disbanded, surely for the self protection of ANC members who did wrong. It’s almost as though as a country we feel it is OK for people to do wrong and for there not to be any repercussions.
Then we wonder why there’s so much crime. Criminals always get just a slap on the wrist, kids are stabbing one another, left right and center and they are protected by law. There’s always a loophole. Teachers are raping the young, the story gets plastered in the newspapers and we never hear about them again! Why are we such an angry nation?
I wish I had answers to these questions because it would make watching another cell phone recorded brutal fight between kids make all that much more sense.
It’s a damned shame that we are in this mess.
I think crimminals are humans too who need to get protected, If prisoners didn’t have rights a lot of human rights abuses would happen, prisoners would get beaten up like they are in a botswana prison.
Kidz are a reflection of what is going on at home, If someone comes from a family where the father beats the mother you bes’ believe he/she is gonna start beating up on his school mates. I’m 20 and live in Soweto, the things adults get up to are very appaling you really can’t tell the difference between grown a** people and children. Now who are the kidz supposed to look up to? the 40-something year old standing in the corner holding a bottle of beer early in the morning asking kids on their way to school R1.50 for a cigarette? Do you think that if the only thing kids see is old people acting stupid they would end up acting sociable? I think not!!
The wisdom of Solomon says, “Spare the stick and spoil the child”.
Corporal punishment is fine. It was never intended to beat the daylights out of anyone. In my day we were proud of how many ‘cuts’ we got from the head master at school. Now children rule the roost and that why this country is going to pot.
i was a naughty one at school, but always flew just below the radar because we got caned if we were caught.
i think that has a huge impact on the classroom. parents can’t discipline kids. teachers can’t discipline. if i was 14 and i knew that my teacher’s threats were empty i would have turned out differently.
For 14 years I have been hearing that “Apartheid” was the cause of the low level of education amongst our “previously disadvantaged”.
Am I given to believe that this is no longer the case or are we going to find some new inventitive ways to still blame “Apartheid”? What say the liberals?
ANC/UDF slogan from the Eighties: “We will make this country ungovernable!”
That’s where the blame lies.
Double jobs, long hours in traffic have replaced home coming for the children by “care” centres on a “for profit” basis. Dinner “on the lap” in front of TV have replaced the around the table exchange of daily experiences. All Members of the family have become islands with more influences from the workplace and school (for the children). Hostile environments for children. Can one expect respect, inward discipline and more of those outdated concepts? Punishment is no substitute for education.
Look north to Zimbabwe if you want to see what is going wrong.
Old greedy men and women using violence to stay in power, using racist rhetoric and political protection in order destroy the hopes of the next generation rather than retire.
The young people of SA want a future, not a corrupt govt stating is only ok to be a criminal if you’re rich or in govt, because they are that much a hypocrite.
And they want to be able to live in a fairly safe country with the opportunity to make something of their life, or find a comfortable niche, not one where you’re allowed three million rounds of ammunition for old times sake as refugees flood the country.
And it is about time that you had dismantled the old Aparthied “justice” system and made it work fairly equally.
Instead of tailoring it to whoever doesn’t investigate politicians.
Mpho, your article struck a deep cord with me. It’s so encouraging to see more and more of my black fellow South Africans willing to step back and analyze the rotten portions of our nation without fear or favor. I believe you have hit a bulls-eye by holding the lack of integrity and accountability of our “leaders” responsible for the deepening decay of our national morals. As long as the public service & parastatal fat-cats continue to slither out of taking full, unambiguous responsibility for their own inefficiencies and dereliction of duty our youth will continue to take their cue from the antics of those at the top of the pile who daily demonstrate that it’s ok to disrespect people because the worst you can expect is a slap on the wrist and a few months suspension with full pay before being reassigned to another department with a bigger salary and budget to plunder.
I have teachers friends who have taught in Aussie, NZ and the UK. All gave up – why – pupil violenece. The UK teacher was threatened with scissors, the Aussie teachers was told to f*** off by pupils in the equivalent of our township schools and the NZ teacher was escorted by police to and from school and taught the class from behind bars. (one of the north islands.)
So perhaps we have just caught up with public schooling world wide.
Just like the veld needs a fire to get renewable, we need a world war to get out values back in order.
Kids are curious and have great bursts of energy. I suspect there’s something deeply wrong with an education system that fails to fascinate them, and challenge them. All we need to do is allow the children to really think – teach them how to think – and then let them help us out of this problem. The more awful the home situation, the more a child would appreciate an enabling encouraging and stimulating school environment.
We have also failed dismally in making use of a talented diverse society to produce TV material which is engaging and exciting without promoting the superficial violence or ‘love’ solves all viewpoint that is the staple of the american stuff we so enthusiastically slobber up. Shouldn’t we pull up our socks….
@ Mpho
Good article
@ Owen
Removal of discipline both at home and school have caused the same problems in the other countries you mention.
Eagle, where you been old chap?
I believe that there is an element of truth in all of the responses as well as the article. We now have a culture where accountability is a foreign word. As to criminals being human beings……when last have you looked into a habitual murderer’s eyes? I can with experiance state that there is nothing human there.
corporal punishments was and is still good, hance at the same time both teachers and parents should know how to draw the line betwee(punishing a child and abusing a child)I am not saying punishing a child should be easy but “asking a sholar to wet his/her hands and beat the hell out of them in this cold weather is rediculars”that does not build a child it only destroyes them emotionaly.maybe most of you dont know what punishment is at schools in the rural areas but believe me when i say its killing our youngsters.i was once at that stage and i merley survived,which is something i can say about my fellow students.most of them droped out not that i blame them but at times the methods they use for punishments are just not unberrable.pinishment should be just that punishments and nothing more.
I think kids worldwide are feeling disenfranchised, disenchanted and that the family unit as a concept is crumbling. In the UK, the “hoodie” culture is overwhelming – these kids who can’t grasp their place in the world, and so kick people to death for fun. It’s damn scary.
What can we do to change it? I really have no answers. But we live in a world where respect for the person next to you is non-existent – witness someone pushing me out of the way on the train today because I wasn’t disembarking fast enough (and that was an older woman!) – so why should kids apply any sort of respect or consideration in their dealings with each other? Today, we’re taught that manners are things you can do without; if someone says “please” to me, I’m astonished. If someone stands aside to let me go through a door first, or a younger person calls me “ma’am”, I’m gobsmacked. Those values have died out, and that’s a worldwide problem.
Where have we gone wrong, this article asks. The governing authorities, it seems, have gone wrong in going soft on crime. Like I commented in a similar response to a similar article some weeks ago, it is the government’s duty of care and responsibility to protect its citizens, but it has lost that vision, or perhaps never had it.
The country, and first and foremost especially its leaders, as role models, should return to the tried and tested morality of the Scriptures, as clearly set out for us. Then we would not need to lock our doors nor would we fear crime in our schools and in our streets.
That calls for a strong government with the relevant and appropriate moral fibre built into its members. Such moral fibre is an option for each and every human being. We decide how we behave. One would like and hope to think that people are elected for government because they have chosen to adopt and have demonstrated these qualities of morality (and please anyone do not ask what morality is, because you know full well what it is), integrity and sensitivity in their lives. Perhaps some of them have.
Why is the Church and other pressure groups so quiet on this matter? They were very vocal years ago on government issues and policies that offended. Have they lost their voice? Does this lawlessness not offend them? Have they allowed themselves to become desensitized? Desensitized by the swearing in films, DVD’s, TV and so called cultured live theatre? Desensitized by the so called humour of below the belt “jokes” of on stage comedians, where people howl with laughter at poor taste humour? Desensitized by general behaviour patterns that would have shocked us not so many decades ago? Desensitized by electronic games that portray violence? Desensitized by pornography and abortion?Is human life so cheap that violence and lawlessness do not matter any more? Is political correctness more important than yours and my safety and our right to live in a law abiding society with high values ? (And please do not ask what high values are, anyone out there, because you know full well what they are.)
In this life we naturally (or should)take our lead from our leaders and superiors. If the parents are taking their lead from our present-day corrupt, inept, lazy, and sometimes violent leaders, is it any wonder that poor examples are passed on to the kids??
“Our” new constitution has opened the way for a “smash and grab”, “anything goes” mentality, the end result being total collapse of SA society into anarchy.
What is required is a (completely) new leadership, one founded on the key words: honesty, integrity, diligence and tenacity. Of course that would be a first in Africa.
Unfortunately when one considers just how far and deep the cancer has permeated the framework, one might understand that it is already too late to turn this thing around via civilised means, ie, via elections.
@ Owen
Your comment on the benefits of a world war unfortunately holds plenty of merit. These events are the great levellers in history.
You are all so wrong!!
Kids LIKE punishment – it makes them feel macho and gives them attention.
What they can’t bear is being made to look stupid and to be isolated.
But for that you need good teachers and good back up. Kids should be able to be evicted from the classroom and the school.