2:42 AM
Samrat Babu Koirala
Schools were established in the 1800s in Chicago with the intention to produce factory workers. That is why there is a line in the morning, the uniform, the belt, the tiffin box, the bell, bow down, and at all cost- do what you are asked to do system. The goal was to produce obedient people who would do what is asked without questioning their authority. Fast forward 200 years and very little has changed.
We as a generation have failed to define "discipline". We confuse authorities with leaders and we have massively diluted the definition of respect.
We are asked to respect others- juniors should respect seniors, students should
respect teachers: bow your head, do what is asked, do not question them. And
sure, the students have been doing it. But that is not respect. That is acting
as if they respect them. There is a massive difference between respecting someone
and acting like you respect someone just like there is a massive difference
between loving someone and pretending as if you love someone. Respect can only
and only be given voluntarily. So, commanding someone to respect you is as dumb
as commanding someone to love you. It cannot function and it has to be given
voluntarily.
Its no wonder that our kids are not able to analyze, rationalize, comprehend, question.. in order words: THINK. The scary thing is that it is not a manifestation of a pathologic system but rather a result of a system that has been functioning at its best. Schools don’t have the leg to stand on morality nor on intellectuality to claim to be doing the right thing for these little human beings.
It does not take a genius to realize that it is a recipe for
producing “YES sir” saying parrots who are designed to act like robots with
unquestioning authority. This is a tragic misfortune that the very institutes
which was designed to help kids think is the one that is holding the kids
hostage in their intellectual development.
The fog of discipline is drawn dangerously close and has been made synonymous with slavery. The trick like any pandemic is to make yourself safe before it engulfs you.
