Every generation has its task cut out in bequeathing the land’s time-honoured wealth comprising mainly the principles of live ‘n’ let live for enduring orderly life, far different from its contemporary features marked by countrywide unrest due to gross neglect of its duty to mould minds of the succeeding generation. Given the thirty-year span that separates one generation from the next, it shouldn’t be a tall order to accept that responsibility and carry it out as a duty. Mother is universally associated with that duty, considered as the child’s first teacher, if not as also the first friend, philosopher and guide. Mother herself having been a child before, the canvas on which she draws the path for her child is vast and mind-boggling in its details. Her own background dotted by early experiences in life, education, ambience in which she grew, economic health of her family, her place in society, company she keeps, outlook to life and so on do impact the way she manages the child amidst the domestic chores. The urban-based mother forced to work for livelihood cannot spare time for her child to the extent required to fulfil her duty to the child.
The voluminous literature in the land’s various languages, including Kannada, in the form of proverbs, idioms, verses, words of wisdom (Subhashitha), fables, epics and others is a veritable cornucopia as a source of the ground rules of the game of moulding not only minds but also the manner of conducting oneself in different situations both at home and in the open.
Life of the child in the toddler stages and that after entering the portals of school are different kettles of fish and tends to become complicated due to a multitude of factors, with both credit and discredit showered on the teacher fraternity. Given the large presence of the land’s well-marked sections creating unrest, committing fraudulent acts, crime, defying the laws, speaking in the open to hurt sentiments of fellow-citizens and so on, one cannot be faulted to remark that the past few generations have let down the society. Only issues of unmanageable garbage and plastic proliferation are hogging column space of dailies, masking a plethora of other issues threatening the nation’s socio-economic health and integrity.
The air is abuzz with prescription attributed to well-meaning member of society for starting actions at the school stage to raise future generations with refined conduct on lines of guidelines originating in the country’s aforementioned sources. Teachers being the agents for moulding minds, it is appropriate to raise the question: Do we have teachers in adequate numbers to shoulder that duty?
“The air is abuzz with prescription attributed to well-meaning member of society for starting actions at the school stage to raise future generations with refined conduct on lines of guidelines originating in the country’s aforementioned sources. Teachers being the agents for moulding minds, it is appropriate to raise the question: Do we have teachers in adequate numbers to shoulder that duty?
“The focus should be on parents, who, mould the minds of their children , by being their role models first, in their formative years as children. Even in my days as a primary child, I saw roguing behaviour of my classmates, who remained uncontrolled in the class and any verbal discipline by teachers even then were strongly objected to by their parents who appeared quickly on the scene. Then , in the middle school, a state school, nearest to my home and hence I went there first, I could see again, boisterous and utterly uncontrollable behaviour of my class mates, even with the presence of teachers and they refused to learn the 3Rs. Fearing my downfall, looking at my slow progress, and listening to my report of the school.my parents removed me from that school and I joined a small privately-run school with a disciplinarian headmaster and a band of dedicated retired teachers. The school fee per month was a very modest sum. The children there after their good middle school exams went on to study in top high schools and then to universities. Even in the Western countries, the wrong parenting and bad schools combined to produce youngsters who become the menace to the society. Good parenting and them being role models are te key, before the teacher enters the picture.