In the name of discipline

 

It is a long held belief that undergraduates are under nobody but their lecturers.

Going further down the ladder, many

a child would not behave except you threaten them with their teachers.

I recall an incident in my days as a teacher. A young girl was threatened by her parents that she would be reported in school and she told her parents that in school, she had a good reputation.

Well, the report still came and we let the Student know her behaviour was untoward.

Today, things have changed. In the public schools, politicians have gagged teachers with their rules. This has weakened the authority of the school authorities, with the result that the Tail now wags the Dog instead of the other way round.

With the decline in discipline and scholarship in public schools, the private schools are now the vogue.

At primary and secondary school levels, the schools pander to the parents.

At tertiary level the faith based schools take discipline to dizzying heights.

One effect of authoritarianism is abuse and this is legion in the schools all in the name of discipline.

I am not surprised to hear of rape in exchange for silence in the face of disciplinary infraction.

From time immemorial, boarding schools and in fact all schools are a response to the demand of society that parents go to work and in turn, parents turn to schools to care for the children while away at work.

I will always vote for a kind of education devoid of the boarding system for the fact that going to boarding school is like going into marriage you never know what to expect.

Care for your kids while you can and especially while they are young. Parenting by subterfuge is a big gamble.

As for the faith based schools, the level of moral depravity in the society tends to strengthen their hold on the students but I wish they bend backwards to take stock and know if they are getting the intended results.

Rape and faith. Education and abuse should not go together or should they?