Thought for the day
IF YOU spent your life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were? What if the face you showed the world turned out to be a mask ... with nothing beneath it?
– Jodi Picoult
THE TRUTH about pupil cruelty against teachers at schools is disturbing, reprehensible and thoroughly unacceptable. But reporting the ongoing disrespect is actually fuelling the terror, because the social media does its viral thing.
I do not believe the focus should be on what should be done to punish pupils who defy, assault and even murder teachers. We should look at the narrative that led to this social aberration.
Not long ago a teacher was battered with a hammer by a pupil. The sad incident was played out during prolonged court action and eventually resolved.
The teacher wasn’t suddenly “un-traumatised”.
The pupil didn’t suddenly begin preaching respect for the profession.
But the law had taken its course, and all parties had had their day in court, and the situation had been dealt with according to human rights laws and the Constitution.
We could return to normalcy. I started my teaching career in 1959.
In those days we enjoyed the respect of society.
Since then I have seen the decline of respect for teachers, priests, nuns, doctors, midwives, policemen, postmen – indeed, all persons seen to be performing public service.
These days, if we have an issue with a train or bus, we merely torch it.
Let us try to isolate the reasons for the decline in morality. I recall with shudders the photograph of a corpulent teacher on a grass knoll sporting a sheet of cardboard with a hole cut in the centre and the mantra scrawled beneath: Ek is gatvol.
Tied to this implosion of the teacher’s own self-respect was the unionisation of the profession in terms of the revolution. But I still maintain that one should retain the essential, if outdated, pledge that professional service takes precedence over political agenda.
The nurse administering dialysis cannot stop midway in answer to a union’s call for action.
Part of the answer lies in the home. School is a place of learning, not conflict. Parents must get on board.
In my day, a hiding at school meant another one at home.
It’s a tough and long haul to separating cause and effect.
Yet we still buy Mercedes-Benz cars despite World War II.
Connect the dots. THE UNVEILING of a life-size statue of former president Nelson Mandela at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday was an important moment for our country.
This event once again reaffirmed South Africa’s standing in international affairs and our commitment to the creation of a peaceful and a better world.
Mandela’s eldest daughter, Makiziwe Mandela, who was representing the family, said something important, in that
“this is not only testimony to Madiba, but to what South Africa was capable of producing”.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres referred to Mandela as one of humanity’s great leaders, and also hailed him as an outstanding man and global citizen.
We should be proud that we are a young democracy built on the giant shoulders of an outstanding global leader such as Madiba.
But it is the context within which this statue is unveiled that makes it all the more important for us to remind ourselves of what Mandela stood for and represented.
One of Mandela’s abiding commitments was reconciliation, given the country’s dark and painful past.
He believed that, indeed, working together, irrespective of our race or creed, we can build a prosperous country in which people are not judged on the basis of the colour of their skin.
As we debate the land question, we should remember Mandela and the kind of country he wanted us to be.
The racial polarisation from both divides – black and white – that has characterised the land debate at times undermines our reconciliation and nation-building efforts.
We should not allow populist politicians to use the land question for their narrow interests and to further divide our nation.
Both justice and reconciliation, which were close to Madiba’s heart, can be achieved through a well-handled land programme.
As the world continues to celebrate and honour the giant of our Struggle against apartheid that is Mandela, let’s use his values to build a better South Africa and remind ourselves of our common destiny.