What should kids really be learning in school?
“As the new school year commences, millions of Grade 1 children across the country formally entered the education system. It is more than just the start of a 12-year learning journey, it is the beginning of integration into a system that will see children from diverse backgrounds, family structures, ethnicity, class, religion, race – a true reflection of South African society – congregate and co-exist in a learning environment. This provides an opportunity to pro-actively close gaps that we have seen in behaviour in recent times in our schools; as the saying goes “get them while they are young”.
Last year saw a high rate of learner misbehaviour in South African schools which included violence against fellow learners, teachers and sexual assault.
The reality is that we raise our children in the privacy of our homes and the results thereof manifest at school, hence discipline, good values and behaviour can be relative and differ from one home to the other. However, children congregate and socialise in a school environment armed with behaviours and values – good or bad – that have been modelled to them in their respective homes.
With all these societal challenges and our diversity, should we aspire for universally an acceptable minimum set of norms, standards or values to instill in our children that transcend race, class, religion and schools for them to live by? That is, to create the society that we would like to see; emotionally intelligent children that display tolerance, empathy, kindness towards one another and critical thinkers who are not easily influenced by misinformation?
In education globally and here at home, there is a move to do away with homework or to at least reduce it significantly and replace it with play and family time. In its place, parents and guardians should use this as an opportunity to intentionally model positive behaviours.
Would such intentional and proactive involvement by parents relieve teachers of behavioural issues that tend to eat into teaching time? Behaviour issues and poor conduct are one of the major reasons for teachers leaving the profession.
By the time kids start Grade 1 they should be taught from home that bullying will not be tolerated, how to resolve conflict, and sharing. How does a child with a tablet or bike voluntarily share with another without being instructed to do so (emotional intelligence)?
How do we speak and treat our kids in the privacy of our homes? Do we drink, smoke, swear, or badmouth people, consume inappropriate content, use racial slurs, display homophobia? Do we resolve conflict through violence in front of them? Why do we act shocked when they demonstrate the same behaviours as us? These are behaviours that we pass on to our children whether we are aware of it or not
This is not meant to pass judgement on how parents raise their kids, instead, it is a way to collectively find common or basic values with which we can raise our children in our diversity. In other words, a minimum set of standards that our children can walk into school premises upholding before any learning and teaching take place.
The onus is not on the children but on the adults in their homes and communities. It is a call to parents, teachers, uncles, aunts, school bus drivers, coaches etc that come into contact with kids to do better and model positive behaviours. We need to be intentional about how we raise and socialise our children.
The parental role in the triangular relationship (school, parent and learner) has never been more important than now.
Come 2031 I hope we will not only report on the NSC and IEB results but on the behaviour in our schools which will also be a reflection not only on their parents but the adults in their community.”
The above is part of an article called, Do we need universally acceptable Parental Norms and Standards to improve behaviour in schools? From the Daily Maverick, written by
Sean Mbusi
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”