Parents must help teachers instil discipline among children

THE StarMetro report “Students puff away without fear” (Oct 17) was both sad and alarming and made me realise that educators today face a lot of constraints when it comes to disciplining students.

Many parents indirectly encourage their children to defy their teachers, headmaster and headmistress by confronting the teachers on minor issues.

In my school days in the ‘50s and ‘60s, parents had total respect for teachers, making the latter’s roles as disciplinarians much easier.

When I was in Form Two, I befriended some naughty students and we went around disturbing girls in the neighbouring school by whistling and passing remarks at them.

The headmistress of the school complained to my headmaster and a few of us were rounded up and caned. My neighbour’s son told his mother about the incident and my mother came to know about it through her.

My mother took half a day off from work to buy a cane and beat me with it when she got home. She told me it was disgraceful for me to behave in that way.

When my father came home later in the evening, my mother told him I had been caned by the headmaster. He flew into a rage and took a broomstick to beat me. The neighbours had to restrain him.

After that episode, I stayed away from the naughty students to avoid being punished by my parents.

If my parents did that today, they could be charged with brutality and face imprisonment.

In the ‘80s, one of my relatives suspected that her teenage son was smoking after she smelt the odour of cigarettes on his clothes.

She did not confront him immediately. During the weekend, she took her son shopping while her husband searched his room. He found a kiddie pack of cigarettes and a lighter hidden under his bed.

They both confronted him with the evidence and counselled him on the bad effects of smoking. The father who was a smoker stopped taking cigarettes home and did not smoke in front of his son again. They also monitored his pocket money closely.

The father, who was a senior executive and was always away from home, also decided to spend more quality time with his son. The mother also monitored her son’s friends closely as it was them who had introduced him to smoking.

Today, the son who is in his early 30s is a chartered accountant who doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol.

This shows parents are very important in moulding their children’s behaviour and discipline.

As I said earlier, educators today face very difficult situations. Many have a large number of students in their class, making the task of monitoring them very difficult.

The indifferent attitude of many parents towards teachers discourage them from taking strong action to curb disciplinary problems.

The Education Department can help in this aspect by setting up units in every district to deal with students with serious disciplinary problems. These units can haul up the really difficult students, counsel them and take the appropriate disciplinary action.

The students’ total disregard for the writer’s threats to inform their headmaster clearly shows that some of them are not afraid of the action that can be taken against them by their school.

We hope parents will help by paying more attention to their children’s attitude and behaviour. They must have information on their children’s friends and take appropriate action to put them on the right path to adulthood.