67. School And Society

• English Essay(61-80)
• 5 Years, 7 Months ago
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67. School And Society

67. School And Society

Society, as a whole, appears to accept that the majority of children want to learn, and that to enable them to do so, discipline must be maintained in schools, Schools in this age cannot operate in isolation; whatever happens and whatever is tolerated in the world has an effect on the school. The attitude of adults with whom children come into contact, either by direct experience or through media condition, the attitude of the pupil to all, influences on their lives.

Until recently, the few who disrupted school with extreme behavioural problem were from environments which thrived on violence and misbehaviour. But the growth of mass media, specially the visual ones, and the decline of censorship, has introduced a much wider group to extremes of behaviour. Thus, a society which expects and believes that its children must be educated in a reasonably ordered situation, tolerates the daily visual exposition of activities which can undermine and destroy that reasonable order.

The problem arising from this contradiction is: when schools attempt the reasonable order which society wants, the support of the society is conditional. And, in the long run, this situation becomes intolerable. There is an increasing amount of violence and disruptive behaviour. Liberal attitudes among adults have probably given encouragement to these youngsters who have such disruptive inclinations. Be it any country, one sees the difficulty into which undue tolerance can lead.

Society must face up to the problem society is creating. Tolerance, overindulgence, neglect of standards, abandonment of guidance; unwillingness to accept reason, are social attitudes which are affecting the school. At the same time, social neglect in poor housing, unemployment, deprivation, lack of provisions, are also stimulating and fostering the development of bad attitude.

To discipline a child means to teach him how to live with others. It does not mean breaking but teaching, not only through rules, but its own attitude towards others and our own towards it. It is essential to convince that it is possible and also, if necessary, to disagree, but this need not Involve loss of dignity.