You know i would have much to say...
First we need to define, redefine failure. The kid
Kevin has already failed in being a citizen of the home (boring), to make it
short, he should find it in himself to put some mmph in the home or read his
books, at home.
When i walk the streets @ 6 AM or @ 6:30 PM and see the kids on average walk home with no sense of urgency, with no sense of purpose as it were, i see failures. We are failing our children. Let the children play.
We should be afraid when our children are not behaving like children
That is the real fear BY Bob Agevi Mulusa Via Facebook.
When i walk the streets @ 6 AM or @ 6:30 PM and see the kids on average walk home with no sense of urgency, with no sense of purpose as it were, i see failures. We are failing our children. Let the children play.
We should be afraid when our children are not behaving like children
That is the real fear BY Bob Agevi Mulusa Via Facebook.
“If you
train a lion to sit and the lion sits perfectly, we never say the lion is well
educated, we say the lion is well trained” (Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad, a character
in the Indian movie 3 Idiots)
In the
past year, and this year, we have heard a series of teenage suicides. The
suicides were such that they raised concern on everybody. Just the other day,
primary school pupils were burned alive in school in Nyanza Province. This saw
various educational heads face the sack due to what may be termed as ‘sleeping
on job.’ These situations or rather incidents could have been avoided or even
not have occurred. What do such events want us to learn?
Over the
years the search of money has become a central priority in our lives.
Immediately after colonization, Kenyans were thrown into turmoil and confusion.
A society which had not really embraced the monetary trade found it hard to
grope with the immediate urge to find the coin to appease the snarling dog; the
colonial master by paying all manner of taxes: hut tax, poll tax etc. what was
left of the demeaned owners of the land was to secure employment. This culture
has grown to levels of untold misguidance.
A child
is told to study hard so as to get a good job. This child is fed on the idea
that government jobs are secure than other jobs. Therefore, this child will
join the frantic race of books and more books. What we forget is that, these
books without play fill the child with much pressure1. What do these pressure yield? Suicides and wrong
decisions.
We also
emphasize on performance especially on science subjects and Mathematics. The
weakest students in these subjects are overfed with tuition so as to perform.
Recklessly we prevail upon these young minds to perform and they try their best
employing even the most rudimentary method and tricks so as to perform.
Eric* is
now 35 years old. He is white collar job work and enjoys a decent salary with
packs that can send you reeling with spasms of shock. He is a trained
accountant with several businesses under his sleeve. I have decided to bring
Eric’s story since, this young man registered as a private candidate since he
wants to up his grades to become a doctor! Does this spark in sense of reason
in your mind?
We tell
our children that they should study hard to become doctors, teachers, nurses
etc. we look at those jobs that have a government tag on them. Why? The
government is our ultimate target and decent jobs with secure employment our
dream. What are the contributing factors?
Poverty
is the leading factor which is coated with so much expectations from parents.
You go to school aware that you are the torch of the family. You are the only
string on the dangling and dimming hope of the family. This leads to failure. A
generation of failures is born.
I call
it a generation of failures because, if in any event my parents depended on me
as a pillar of hope and I failed to deliver due to so much pressure, I carry
the cross onto my young child who ultimately wont deliver and the string
continues. Therefore the cycle grows, presently breeding the suicides and the
outrage that we are now seeing.
As much
as we exude mixed reaction on the minister’s outbursts, we need to know that we
are the failures of a truly failed system. We are the ones who have taken books
as torches to guide us through the tunnel of darkness towards that light at the
end. It therefore lies within us to reflect upon the responsibilities we give
on our kids. We should look at our own failings and like looking for a worm in
a mushroom; try to find where we went wrong. We should not let the cycle of
failure persist.
“Change
is as good as rest” (Agege in the book Aminata by Imbuga Francis)
What is
the essence of children going for a holiday? A holiday is like a wink out of a
stare. Just like a wink, holiday offers a child that much needed rest for a
clear perception of new things to come and reflection of the things already
learned.
The
holiday also is a time for children to play. Do we have enough space for play?
(Join me in part three as I
answer the above question)
*1 refernce to the movie 3 Idiots
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