Kids, leave them teachers alone! (A Response)

Is this the future?

While reading the ‘Hindustan Times’ newspaper today, I came across a headline that said, “Kids, leave them teachers alone”. Finding it hard to resist reading the cover story I sat down to read the article. It starts with “The shock surrounding the recent incident in Chennai, where a student stabbed his teacher to death after she repeatedly pulled him up for not doing well in academics, has worn off somewhat.” However I disagree. The shock is still prevelant in our heads.

How students are reacting toward their gurus and teachers is not  because we are the generation that was born rebellious. We, genX was born just like everyone else before us, maybe in better hospitals and better conditions, but the same nevertheless.
I do not believe that if you give the teachers sticks in their hands to beat the students, the attitude of the students can change. A stick in the hand of the teacher will still be less than the knife in the hands of that Channai student. Looking through the old scriptures one can find various things that influence today. ‘Pen is mightier than the sword’ is a fairly used proverb. But what we see as the truth is that the sword can kill, but what can the pen do.

A way to approach students like these (rebellious/disruptive) should be via the parents. The parents have the full capability to make their kids aware about the fact that if they do not study, they will fail and even killing the teacher won’t make a difference. The parents can set rules for the children, but with proper explanation. For instance, they should tell their child not to come back home any later than sunset. But when the kids ask for an explanation, they say ‘…because I said so’. Dear parents, if you can give an explanation to the kids about how it is difficult to navigate at dark, crime rate increases during the dark, or whatever your reasons maybe, the children feel secure. They feel that they can trust their parents and also their surroundings.

If there is a good parenting then definitely no teacher needs any weapons to protect themselves from students. School is a place of knowledge, let the temple of knowledge be pure, without any disruptions. After all, we don’t need the most secure places of our lives, our schools, to turn into places of criminal activity.