It remains unarguable that any action we exhibit influences either negatively or positively on the environment, organisation and people around us. We are models, our behaviour and actions shape our environment and portray it in a different light. The recent mass strike by the working sector which lasted more than three weeks can prove immensely to this analysis. Over 1.3 million strong Public workers engaged in the strike including teachers, civil service workers and health workers. The Army were deployed to take control of many state hospitals. Even the court couldn’t stop the essential service workers from participating in the strike as they remained defiant to the law to prove their cause. This remains the most significant strike since the end of apartheid in 1994.The deadlock issue was a pay rise and increase in housing allowance. The unions were demanding 8.6% salary increase and 1000 Rand housing allowance monthly. In Kimberly, a high school had to be vacated after non-striking teachers were intimidated. Worse still, there was act of vandalism, trashing and intimidation by striking workers. These ushered a negative precedent for our youths and kids who unwittingly believes that violent protests remains the option to resolve unsettled issues. But behind all these, the frustration lies in the slow pace of change in the last 16 years.
However, have we ever considered what gingered the recent protest by high school pupils? It was said that violence begets violence. It must have been realistic enough to conclude that the three weeks of Public strike action that left the pupils at home created in them probably subconsciously the act of violence or the notion to believe that violence gets one what one wants. May be, analysing the similarities on the violent actions that occurred within these months will give us untainted perspective on why our kids behaved in such unruly manner.
Public Service Strike:
Marred by few deaths,
8.6% salary increase,
Government been inconsiderate,
Some strikers intimidated those not participating in the strike and violently threatened them to join the strike.
High School Protest:
Young girl shot dead with few wounded,
Demand that the Education sector offer 25marks free in their exam,
Rethusegile high school pupils went to Iketletso high School and allegedly forced Grade 12 pupils writing exams to stop from writing their exams and apparently two children were stabbed when exam papers were grabbed from their hands.
Moreover, in as much as I strongly support Peaceful March, violent protests should in its strictest sense be condemned. The Authorities could however be blamed for the death of a young school grade 12 pupil who lost her life during the recent protest. There was no proper detestation of the violent impact of the Public Servants Strike. Operant conditioning (Reinforcement theory) had to be enforced. Operant conditioning involves individuals learning that by acting in a particular way, they determine the consequences of their behaviours. Positive or negative reinforcement increases the likelihood that certain behaviours will be repeated. The life of this young lady would have been saved if the (former) violent strike of the Public Servants was strongly condemned and culprits made to face the law in its strictest sense.
As the Public Service Strikers carried placards which read 8.6% salary increase, the pupils carried theirs saying 25marks increase. Of course, school pupils inculcated and internalised what they learnt from the Public Servants Strikes, they (pupils) don’t necessarily grasp that marks are earned. Partially, the workers deserve the courtesy and have the right to ask for a wage increase because they earned it through hard work but for a high school pupil to demand free marks in exams is absurd, unethical and this should be curtailed else it develops as a norm. The Education Minister days ago announced that marks should be earned and not given ‘free of charge’. As teachers, parents, adults, the onus lies on us to imbibe in our kids the philosophy of hard work, eagerness, non-violent attitude and positivity. Some of us will attest to the fact that at the age of Grade 12, we hardly engaged in violence protests. We have a huge impact to play to curtail the reoccurrence of this disgusting situation. The authorities can do their bit by postponing these exams or evaluating these pupils based on the curriculum or schedules that have been covered before the strike as this will eliminate such acts of violence in our kids in future.
At last, let the authorities emphasise and re-emphasise on behaviour modification-the fact that peaceful protest remains the ultimate process to get one’s view across and imbibe in our youths the right step to follow to assure that their issues or concerns are addressed properly.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
EDUCATION- PRIMA DONA TO OUR KIDS
In one of his speeches, John Dewey was quoted as saying, “what the best and wisest parents wants for his own child that must the community want for all its children-Education is not a preparation for life-education is life itself”. We boast of 12 million learners, 360,000 teachers and around 28,000 schools. Basic school life span extends for 13 years and yet the results do not manifest the true reflection of these hard earned years.
The recent release of the 2009 Matric results fuelled mixed reaction on the quality of education especially for an African child. I was able to grasp three points from John Dewey’s speech which centres on Family, School and Community and all these comprise the agents of socialisation which is a sine qua non for the development of young people. The many of the mixed reaction that surfaced the media after the recent release of the Matric results all projected that African child’s failure to measure up to expectation is bound on languages. Few arguments that came through was analysing how difficult it is to teach Young African Children in a foreign language (English) and concerned parents were arguing that their kids should be taught in their respective local languages. National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa referring to difficulties with Maths, Science and English said a strategy should be put in place to ensure suitably qualified teachers are appointed in these posts and that adequate support is given to develop teachers of these subjects.
May be John Dewey’s insight will assist us to unravel the ultimate cause for this poor performance. A child automatically becomes incorporated in a family when born. A dysfunctional family produces a dysfunctional kid while a functional produces a functional kid. Family remains the main and core agent of socialisation. An estimated 40% of South Africa’s 18million children are being raised by single mothers. Seven million children are growing up with single mothers, outnumbering the 6.2million-about 34% of the country’s children-who live with both parents. Indian children are most fortunate, with 82% living with both parents. White children follow closely at 80% while 52% of coloured kids and 29% of Africans have those privilege- reports the South Africa Institute of Race Relations. The importance of our roots and our success in life remains inseparable from our family. The family ushers the stepping stone to a greater future. John Kane-Berman said, “it is now widely recognised that most public schooling in South Africa is in dire straits. But so is family life. Can one be fixed without the other? If we cannot fix education and family life, can we combat crime”? Other factors that also pose challenge in the family background is divorce, AIDS, Migrant labour and teenage pregnancies. Gail Eddy, a researcher in the South Africa Institute of Race Relations mentioned that families are the nucleus of the society because they pass down social values which shape the country and added that these values were being threatened. Hitherto, many critics argue that blaming family does not do justice as family is broad in its concept-critics highlight on how poor financial situation in families had led to disintegrating the family thereby producing unhealthy kids. May be we can borrow a few wise sayings from Dabby Govender who argued on ‘OLD SCHOOL UPBRINGING’. Old school upbringing means instilling good moral values, inspecting the kids, strict (not malicious), spending time with kids, always around when needed. All these values can prove to produce a good quality kid even when the family tends to be financially unstable-with good supervision the child still remains in an utmost supervised care.
Quality teachers and educationists come in the lime light when we discuss family because the child gets to spend about 8hours of their time in school. Poor educationists tend to imbibe bad behaviour on kids. Cases of malicious handling of kids, sexual abuse and abseentism make our headlines and destabilise our education system. Unqualified teachers send the kids to the dungeons with their illiteracy. I was encouraged with the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa commitment to ensure that suitably qualified teachers are appointed to the core posts and that adequate support is given to develop these teachers. Strict measures should be put in place to ascertain that teachers are been monitored, evaluated and compensated based on their performance and that their salary is commensurate with the contribution they make in our children’s life.
The Community remains an important agent that unites our kids. The place of our first stages of development moulds our life, integrates and gives us a sense of belonging. The government comes handy in this section. Poor infrastructures and bad development can hamper the success of our kids. Areas without good water, electricity and good roads can prove to be a disaster for a young person. Bad water can cause illness to our kids which will likely excuse them from attending lectures and set them back to achieve their educational and professional dreams. Without electricity, our children will be unable to do their studies and burning a midnight candle might affect the quality of their vision which will deter their eye. Good roads and transport system are essential to ensure that our kids are on time for school. Inadequate roads or transport system can even shorten the life span of our kids as a result of road accidents. Poor built schools and lack of adequate equipment in schools can pose an enormous threat to the future of our kids who will equip themselves with nothing but ignorant and illiteracy.
Since it is a fact that all parents wants good quality education for their kids, the community (government) must ensure that this is achieved in order to produce an energetic and future promising kids. It remains our responsibility as parents, adults, policy makers and public servants to ensure that education facilitated with an ‘Old School Upbringing’ is the first gift we bestow on our kids.
The recent release of the 2009 Matric results fuelled mixed reaction on the quality of education especially for an African child. I was able to grasp three points from John Dewey’s speech which centres on Family, School and Community and all these comprise the agents of socialisation which is a sine qua non for the development of young people. The many of the mixed reaction that surfaced the media after the recent release of the Matric results all projected that African child’s failure to measure up to expectation is bound on languages. Few arguments that came through was analysing how difficult it is to teach Young African Children in a foreign language (English) and concerned parents were arguing that their kids should be taught in their respective local languages. National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa referring to difficulties with Maths, Science and English said a strategy should be put in place to ensure suitably qualified teachers are appointed in these posts and that adequate support is given to develop teachers of these subjects.
May be John Dewey’s insight will assist us to unravel the ultimate cause for this poor performance. A child automatically becomes incorporated in a family when born. A dysfunctional family produces a dysfunctional kid while a functional produces a functional kid. Family remains the main and core agent of socialisation. An estimated 40% of South Africa’s 18million children are being raised by single mothers. Seven million children are growing up with single mothers, outnumbering the 6.2million-about 34% of the country’s children-who live with both parents. Indian children are most fortunate, with 82% living with both parents. White children follow closely at 80% while 52% of coloured kids and 29% of Africans have those privilege- reports the South Africa Institute of Race Relations. The importance of our roots and our success in life remains inseparable from our family. The family ushers the stepping stone to a greater future. John Kane-Berman said, “it is now widely recognised that most public schooling in South Africa is in dire straits. But so is family life. Can one be fixed without the other? If we cannot fix education and family life, can we combat crime”? Other factors that also pose challenge in the family background is divorce, AIDS, Migrant labour and teenage pregnancies. Gail Eddy, a researcher in the South Africa Institute of Race Relations mentioned that families are the nucleus of the society because they pass down social values which shape the country and added that these values were being threatened. Hitherto, many critics argue that blaming family does not do justice as family is broad in its concept-critics highlight on how poor financial situation in families had led to disintegrating the family thereby producing unhealthy kids. May be we can borrow a few wise sayings from Dabby Govender who argued on ‘OLD SCHOOL UPBRINGING’. Old school upbringing means instilling good moral values, inspecting the kids, strict (not malicious), spending time with kids, always around when needed. All these values can prove to produce a good quality kid even when the family tends to be financially unstable-with good supervision the child still remains in an utmost supervised care.
Quality teachers and educationists come in the lime light when we discuss family because the child gets to spend about 8hours of their time in school. Poor educationists tend to imbibe bad behaviour on kids. Cases of malicious handling of kids, sexual abuse and abseentism make our headlines and destabilise our education system. Unqualified teachers send the kids to the dungeons with their illiteracy. I was encouraged with the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa commitment to ensure that suitably qualified teachers are appointed to the core posts and that adequate support is given to develop these teachers. Strict measures should be put in place to ascertain that teachers are been monitored, evaluated and compensated based on their performance and that their salary is commensurate with the contribution they make in our children’s life.
The Community remains an important agent that unites our kids. The place of our first stages of development moulds our life, integrates and gives us a sense of belonging. The government comes handy in this section. Poor infrastructures and bad development can hamper the success of our kids. Areas without good water, electricity and good roads can prove to be a disaster for a young person. Bad water can cause illness to our kids which will likely excuse them from attending lectures and set them back to achieve their educational and professional dreams. Without electricity, our children will be unable to do their studies and burning a midnight candle might affect the quality of their vision which will deter their eye. Good roads and transport system are essential to ensure that our kids are on time for school. Inadequate roads or transport system can even shorten the life span of our kids as a result of road accidents. Poor built schools and lack of adequate equipment in schools can pose an enormous threat to the future of our kids who will equip themselves with nothing but ignorant and illiteracy.
Since it is a fact that all parents wants good quality education for their kids, the community (government) must ensure that this is achieved in order to produce an energetic and future promising kids. It remains our responsibility as parents, adults, policy makers and public servants to ensure that education facilitated with an ‘Old School Upbringing’ is the first gift we bestow on our kids.
Friday, January 15, 2010
GET ME ANOTHER 'WIVES'
Strolling down the aisle of a mall, whether to get that fancy cloth or have a taste of that lovely meal or visit the cinema-choice preoccupies and directs our decision as to which movie to see, clothes to buy or the restaurant that will nourish our appetite. So the saying goes that variety is the spice of life. As humans, we love to choose from the options that have been given to us. The 3rd January 2010 Sunday Times Newspaper Publication fuelled my urge to find out how men perform in the transfer market with the marriage business. The article titled “More sex please, we’re French (and we’re married) was graced in the front page- next to it was another which goes, “Zuma takes the fifth”. A French psychologist was quoted as saying that cheating husbands help make good marriages. May be Maryse Vaillant is the only woman that understands the sexual prowess of men, she said , “To imagine that love always goes hand in hand with absolute fidelity will expose us to disappointment adding that monogamy is not natural to humans. One of her books Men, love and fidelity was aimed at young women in love who she said must understand that monogamy conspires against a lasting relationship. It still goes on to say that when men stray it does not mean they do not love their wives. Men dream of sex but are able to separate sex from love more easily than women. She believes that obsessive fidelity is as much of a plague in a marriage as serial infidelity. I would have loved him to stray a bit, she says of her former husband, “But no he was too lazy”. The refusal of married men to be tempted by other women is merely a symptom of some deeper malaise. There are men who are faithful because they are incapable of being unfaithful, she concluded.
The underlying question remains - Is Man Polygamous by Nature? The fact is that polygamy has been practiced by mankind for thousands of years even the scriptures testified to this. “Marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one or one that your right hand possess. That will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.” (Quran 4:3)
Had an audience with quite a couple of middle aged men, who voiced their views,
Hartley - a married man who admitted that he won’t marry a second one but got other girl friends outside his marriage and claims that the relationship with those ladies are physical and not emotional admitting to loving his wife more than all other girl friends of his.
Nkosi- a happily married man as he addressed himself admitted that the relationship with his wife has survived its 13th year simply because he had extra-marital affairs occasionally and this motivated him to continue loving the wife.
However, I extended my audience to young single men who generally voiced that men should be allowed to marry whoever they want to, they continued that this is a free country after all and it doesn’t hurt anyone if they marry whoever they want to. But young single and married women consented to a different version of the men.
Amanda- a single mum who is in a relationship was quoted as saying, “Polygamy makes no sense to me, Woman or man”. Admitting that she is the jealous type and wish not to share his man with anyone.
Browsing through the online guide for bedding women, it analysed the married man’s routine. Ask any married man if he thinks he was hit on more when he was single you will be surprised to learn he has been approached more as a married man. What is it about married man that women find so attractive? Easy, it is because she can’t have him. Women are competitive; they want what another woman has. If a woman believes that a man already has a woman, then there is a quality in that man which another woman found worthy of pursuit.
Nomathemba- a single lady assented that there is much excitement and fun in sleeping with a married man, even the idea of getting caught increases her chance of powerful intriguing orgasm and she goes into his bed assured that this will be a one night stand with no strings attached. Asked if she knew that the men were married, she agreed that some of them don’t wear rings but deep down she knew they were married but don’t bother asking till the fun thrilling sex comes to a halt.
The fact remains that men have a choice to do whatever they like. A man can choose to be monogamous or polygamous. It’s like asking if men are born murderers or thieves. A man is what he does. He is not intrinsically one thing or the other. In one of my articles in the Cape Times News dated March 8, 2008, I voiced dissatisfaction on how Taxi drivers molested a lady on a mini-skirt, as men I believe we are motivated by our will but governed by intellect and reason.
In other words, I have yet to be convinced that we are born monogamous or polygamous; the only thing that makes sense is that we can choose what we want to become. I beg to differ with our lady friend Vaillant Maryse who reiterated that married women who complain that their husbands are off chasing skirts don’t realise how lucky they are, “At least they can sleep peacefully”. I believe men should honour and respect their wives or partners whether in a monogamous or polygamous relationship. Good luck with another wife.
The underlying question remains - Is Man Polygamous by Nature? The fact is that polygamy has been practiced by mankind for thousands of years even the scriptures testified to this. “Marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one or one that your right hand possess. That will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.” (Quran 4:3)
Had an audience with quite a couple of middle aged men, who voiced their views,
Hartley - a married man who admitted that he won’t marry a second one but got other girl friends outside his marriage and claims that the relationship with those ladies are physical and not emotional admitting to loving his wife more than all other girl friends of his.
Nkosi- a happily married man as he addressed himself admitted that the relationship with his wife has survived its 13th year simply because he had extra-marital affairs occasionally and this motivated him to continue loving the wife.
However, I extended my audience to young single men who generally voiced that men should be allowed to marry whoever they want to, they continued that this is a free country after all and it doesn’t hurt anyone if they marry whoever they want to. But young single and married women consented to a different version of the men.
Amanda- a single mum who is in a relationship was quoted as saying, “Polygamy makes no sense to me, Woman or man”. Admitting that she is the jealous type and wish not to share his man with anyone.
Browsing through the online guide for bedding women, it analysed the married man’s routine. Ask any married man if he thinks he was hit on more when he was single you will be surprised to learn he has been approached more as a married man. What is it about married man that women find so attractive? Easy, it is because she can’t have him. Women are competitive; they want what another woman has. If a woman believes that a man already has a woman, then there is a quality in that man which another woman found worthy of pursuit.
Nomathemba- a single lady assented that there is much excitement and fun in sleeping with a married man, even the idea of getting caught increases her chance of powerful intriguing orgasm and she goes into his bed assured that this will be a one night stand with no strings attached. Asked if she knew that the men were married, she agreed that some of them don’t wear rings but deep down she knew they were married but don’t bother asking till the fun thrilling sex comes to a halt.
The fact remains that men have a choice to do whatever they like. A man can choose to be monogamous or polygamous. It’s like asking if men are born murderers or thieves. A man is what he does. He is not intrinsically one thing or the other. In one of my articles in the Cape Times News dated March 8, 2008, I voiced dissatisfaction on how Taxi drivers molested a lady on a mini-skirt, as men I believe we are motivated by our will but governed by intellect and reason.
In other words, I have yet to be convinced that we are born monogamous or polygamous; the only thing that makes sense is that we can choose what we want to become. I beg to differ with our lady friend Vaillant Maryse who reiterated that married women who complain that their husbands are off chasing skirts don’t realise how lucky they are, “At least they can sleep peacefully”. I believe men should honour and respect their wives or partners whether in a monogamous or polygamous relationship. Good luck with another wife.
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