Dear Editor,
Recently, there has been an upsurge in attacks on teachers, as well as the fiery end to a number of our schools. It is a very troubling situation facing us as we try to grapple with this serious malady enveloping our society. In both cases, the education of our children, who are the nation’s future, suffer a great setback, and development as it relates to future plans for their good is affected.
We cannot just throw in the towel and say that there is nothing we can do. Certainly, we can do something; that is, confront the situation with that positive optimism, and in the end come up with valuable solutions.
Now, I shall deal with the first aspect of our discourse; that is, these violent attacks on our teachers. The other aspect, as it relates to the burning of our schools, I would address in a subsequent article. On the violent invasion of our schools by parents and guardians, I am of the opinion that these are cases in which the school system is reaping the raw negatives of its actions; or, in other words, it is the negative, far-reaching effect of bad parent-teacher/school interaction.
You might be puzzled by my use of the term “negative parent-teacher/school relation”, and as such be quick to ask the question, “Where is Mister Adams going with this one?” So, to lend clarity to the matter, I call to our remembrance the incident involving a judge’s daughter.
Here we had a parent who was concerned about his daughter’s safety and wellbeing at the school, after news surfaced of her being assaulted by a male student of the said school. Now, the normal thing for any normal parent to do is to visit the school to get to the bottom of the matter. On his first encounter with the administration, he was cold- shouldered by the authorities there, and got no redress. Interesting!
On his second visit, the legal luminary took along a Policeman as an independent witness to the proceedings. On that second visit, the very same lame excuse was made by the administration. On the second visit, things got a little heated, and the administration and union readily jumped on the airwaves with all the negatives to castigate the parent, not stopping one minute to think of their own callous approach to the situation.
They were not in the least interested that a concerned parent was out waiting to be properly apprised on the wellbeing of his child, and how the matter was resolved, if it was resolved at all.
And here’s my point: to be rebuffed on two occasions would cause any parent to be annoyed. I am talking from my standpoint; I might have been tempted to do something very derogatory and crude. The judge did not react that way, so maybe, and just maybe, the teacher and administration of that school might have run away with the false idea that they (as we commonly would say, “manners the judge”, because we run things in this school). Well, they are ever so wrong, because not every parent would be so tolerant as the judge was, and, as such, would be very rustic in their approach – something we are witnessing right now.
Some parents, especially those from the fringes of society, would go right through that school and barge through security and physically assault that teacher. God forbid, if the present situation continues, in which some teachers believe that a school is their stomping ground to play out their bullying ways, political or otherwise, I’m afraid many more of these violent confrontations would occur. In this regard, the education authorities must take steps and make urgent interventions for this malady to stop.
This is something the Education Ministry and the school authorities have to sit down and seriously address, in order for us to move forward in a positive way.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
