Speak to any educator today about the challenges of teaching and they’re bound to relate a story of a child defying authority and then smugly asserting ‘I have my rights”. Classroom discipline has become increasingly difficult because of this self-righteous attitude among our children. Don’t get me wrong: there is nothing amiss in the basic human rights that are entrenched in our Constitution. I do, however, have a problem when such inordinate emphasis is placed on securing these rights.
As educationalists, it seems that the only value we have championed in our youth has been that of individual freedom, while other equally important values such as those of respect, loyalty and trustworthiness are given scant regard. As a result we have created a culture of selfishness and introspection. The very statement ‘I have my rights” is egocentric and reflects a mindset that says, ‘No-one else is important but me”.
Teachers, let’s get back to South Africa’s human rights philosophy of Ubuntu, which stresses the importance of community.
Values of respect, loyalty and trustworthiness are all entirely unselfish and community-centred and need to be actively promoted in every curriculum, code of conduct and in the daily running of our schools.
I believe that this will provide the solution to all those classroom discipline problems.
Ken Langley
Roodepoort