What example will our children follow?

TTUTA

FROM AN educator’s perspective, it is frightening to witness the level of conduct displayed by many leaders in the country. It seems as though there are no boundaries anymore – as if limits of ethical conduct have been redefined with the dictum that anything is fair game in the pursuit of one’s political objective and agenda.

It seems there is no longer any respect for the office one holds, nor is there a sense of moral and ethical decency that forms the basis for self-regulation. Behavioural limits have seen new levels of decadence both in public and private. Social media, with its capacity for almost absolute freedom of expression, seem to have provided the ideal platform for the degradation of human conduct and the decline is rapid.

While this depreciation in the moral and ethical capital of the society accelerates without challenge, our young and vulnerable minds are looking and imbibing these new codes of moral and ethical conduct being displayed by both formal and informal leaders.

Their impressionable minds are being bombarded by verbal insults, character-assassinations, use of foul and coarse language in private and in public, and attitudes of the end justifying the means.

They witness on a daily basis greed and selfishness dictating the agenda of human conduct, with intolerance and disrespect for the views of others permeating the spectrum of our social order. Moral authority is no longer prized by leaders. Respect is being demanded but not earned.

The very society with its battery of formal and informal leaders redefining limits of behaviour cry foul when young people, impregnated with hate, disrespect and intolerance, engage in antisocial behaviour that is inimical to the creation of a good, just and decent society. They see no linkage with their own behaviour and that of young ones who merely reflect what they see and hear.

Adults of today seem to have forgotten that young people are products of their socialisation – they emulate modelled behaviour. They would mimic conduct and attitudes that have become par for the course since there are no social sanctions for behaviour that was once frowned upon.

Shame as an emotion has been redefined if one were to judge by the number of public officials who consistently bring their offices into odium and disrepute with impunity. Malfeasance is commonplace.

Our impressionable young minds see corruption as the norm and will inadvertently emulate it when given the chance. Many will staunchly justify these unethical behaviours in both public and private and are then flabbergasted when such negative conduct is displayed by young ones. Restraint and reflection are uncharacteristic of today’s leaders.

We have forgotten that as a society the job of educating young people is the responsibility of all; not just teachers and schools. Negative conduct while being frowned upon by society is often criticised as a deficiency of the school system, with the familiar call for more human and social education to be included on the school curriculum but not the curriculum of the home, media and wider national community.

The role of society in educating children has become obfuscated – abdicated to the school. In seeking their mandate from the society, schools are sometimes fighting a losing battle to re-educate and undo the miseducation that has been taking place from birth.

When admonished for certain offending behaviours at school, many children would express ignorance, surprised at the infractions. These offences include theft, use of obscene language, disrespect to elders, verbal insults, and physical violence. Correcting antisocial behaviour displayed by students engages a significant amount of teachers’ time.

Our current model of schooling assumes that the socialisation aspect of child development is essentially carried out by the family, home, community and religious entities. Moral compasses are essentially set by the informal education institutions – home, community, media and religious institutions. Unfortunately, this assumption no longer holds and schools are being forced to fill the gap with their limited resources and time.

Our leaders must subscribe to and display a higher standard of moral, social and ethical conduct, if only to ensure the examples they set are emulated by future generations. The society of tomorrow is shaped by the norms we embrace today.

Our capacity to self-regulate as a society must be given higher priority. Children must learn that laws must not only be adhered to when policed. They must know that social sanctions for violations of ethical codes can cause one’s social standing to diminish because they have a strong sense of shame and human decency.

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"What example will our children follow?"

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