Imagine a small boy, no more than ten, sticking his head out of a school bus window in order to hurl abuse at a child in the street. On another school bus, two pupils stick their heads out the windows and spit on passing pedestrians who were expatriates from the neighborhood. As if that were not bad enough, the two pupils began swearing at the workers using language which cannot be printed here.
I was, I am sorry to say, an eyewitness to both incidents and I was genuinely shocked. Thinking about what I had seen, I wondered where on earth such young children had learned the kind of language I had heard and also where they had learned such offensive behavior. Did they really mean what they were saying? Did they even understand the words? What kind of upbringing had they had and what are they taught in school? If these are examples of what our families and schools are turning out, then I think there is little hope for us or for the country itself.
The question here is who is really to blame for those children’s conduct? Is it the family — which of course has the first responsibility for bringing up civilized, God-fearing children — to blame for this kind of conduct by those children? Or is it the school whose role should be complementary to that of the family? The best thing that could be hoped for and sought after is an upbringing through joint and real commitment by both parents and teachers.
The question still remains as to where young children learned such filthy and disgusting language. Even if the family is not doing its job, the school should step in to fill the gap. The school also has a role in teaching children how to behave and how to respect others.
Education is basic to bringing up a child. Both parents and schools have obligations and responsibilities. If either one fails, the other must not stand passively by but must work to overcome the failure. It is indeed sad and painful to see some of our children behaving this way. There is little doubt that if things are allowed to go unchecked, these rowdy pupils will influence others who are on the same bus or in the same class. One rotten apple will in this case soon spoil the entire barrel. Judging from what I saw, the time for urgent action is now; this shameful behavior must be not only punished but stopped.
