I am back from the land of endless projects and deadlines. I would like to send a shout out to all the graduates this year(welcome to the real world. Hope you got yourselves a pair of bata bullets for the tarmacking).
And back to today's topic. After months of meetings, discussions, and finally compromise, the students who had been removed from school will be going back. Many may see this as cause for celebration but I don’t. For some reason I fear we are in deeper than we think. Before you accuse me of being a pessimist, let me explain my reasons.
What was accomplished by bringing back the students to school? We took care of the symptoms and not the disease. The problem as we all know is that students are failing in school, as much as we may lobby to keep them there, the trend will continue and the results will be the same unless change actually takes place.
I suggest a complete overhaul of the system, let us make changes within the system that will actually attack the problem and not keep it off until the next time it rears its head. I suggest that each of the players has a role to play to assure the students success.
Students
The students have to realize that it’s a high time they took charge of their life. They should get mentors who can help them improve on their study skills; assist them in making life goals and setting priorities.
Mothers
Start early. Teach children how to study, dream big and structure their lives. Encourage the children to read at least one book a week, give them examples of people who worked hard and aimed high so that they know goals are achievable, and most of all, give them endless support and opportunities to build confidence.
Village Fathers
As the family head, you set the standards, your expectations from the children is reflected by the decisions you make, and the opportunities you present to the children in your care. And remember, your actions always speak louder than your words.
Educators
Set your priorities, you are not a disciplinarian and should not be seen as such. Your role in a student’s life is more of a councilor. You are the student’s eyes to possibilities through education so get informed of as many possibilities open to students as possible. They will thank you for it. Your belief in the student’s performance should always be positive, remember a good performance is partly a result of self confidence in a student.
Youth Leaders
Dealing with adolescents is not easy, but adolescence is the break, or make stage; you should never be limited in your views of the youths’ achievements or you will end up shattering dreams and lives. Do not play favorites; we are dealing with people’s lives here.
What was accomplished by bringing back the students to school? We took care of the symptoms and not the disease. The problem as we all know is that students are failing in school, as much as we may lobby to keep them there, the trend will continue and the results will be the same unless change actually takes place.
I suggest a complete overhaul of the system, let us make changes within the system that will actually attack the problem and not keep it off until the next time it rears its head. I suggest that each of the players has a role to play to assure the students success.
Students
The students have to realize that it’s a high time they took charge of their life. They should get mentors who can help them improve on their study skills; assist them in making life goals and setting priorities.
Mothers
Start early. Teach children how to study, dream big and structure their lives. Encourage the children to read at least one book a week, give them examples of people who worked hard and aimed high so that they know goals are achievable, and most of all, give them endless support and opportunities to build confidence.
Village Fathers
As the family head, you set the standards, your expectations from the children is reflected by the decisions you make, and the opportunities you present to the children in your care. And remember, your actions always speak louder than your words.
Educators
Set your priorities, you are not a disciplinarian and should not be seen as such. Your role in a student’s life is more of a councilor. You are the student’s eyes to possibilities through education so get informed of as many possibilities open to students as possible. They will thank you for it. Your belief in the student’s performance should always be positive, remember a good performance is partly a result of self confidence in a student.
Youth Leaders
Dealing with adolescents is not easy, but adolescence is the break, or make stage; you should never be limited in your views of the youths’ achievements or you will end up shattering dreams and lives. Do not play favorites; we are dealing with people’s lives here.
Today’s challenge
To all those who resumed school, please prove me wrong. Let your results say that something changed, that it was worth taking you back to school.
To all those who resumed school, please prove me wrong. Let your results say that something changed, that it was worth taking you back to school.
1 comment:
welcome back...by the way i thought that is what we are good at doing in SOS;tackling the symptoms instead of the disease. and i havent followed much on the issue... but all i know is that we have created a bigger problem for ourselves... in the sense we have eroded the last strand hard working siblings, secondly, we have shown the kids that although decisions are made at the national level they can be revoked anytime and so we happen to be the untouchables... but maybe we have also created a sense of pride amongst our siblings who went back to school. Its a catch 22 has to be treaded upon carefully.
once again welcome back... and please dont disppear like that! if you need an assistant i dont mind being one... just make sure this forumn stays alive!
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