“This is not my job. Aayammas [housekeepers] are there to do it; they are appointed for this purpose, so don’t ask me to do this.” This was the reply I received from a high school student when I asked him to clean the desk he had scribbled on. I was shocked. After spending significant time with him, I understood that it is a learnt behaviour. Later, I came to know from my colleague that he had told her that teachers’ salaries are paid out of students’ fees, so teachers have no right to question students on any issue. I felt sorry for that boy who had been guided in such a way!
Coming back to the issue of students not taking responsibility for their mistakes — this attitude comes in different forms such as littering the school premises, dirtying the restrooms, not putting library books back in their proper place, not putting back the lab equipment, and so on. These are serious issues to be addressed.
When students take the right to use the available material and space, they also need to take the responsibility to take care of them. This has to be introduced, instilled and reinforced by both parents and the teachers. When at home, if students are allowed certain freedoms without assuming responsibilities, they tend to follow the same at school. For them, it is all right to be like this. Such children might follow the same while they visit their relatives or friends’ houses. In later years, they may become public nuisances, scribbling in buses, trains and monuments. A general tendency of dissociation with their surroundings forms.
Having social skills doesn’t just mean socialising and mingling with everyone; it also means respecting and accepting responsibility of public property. For students, this skill has to start right from school and home in such a way that they use and treat the property and people with respect. For this to happen, a separate curriculum cannot be designed. This has to be learned parenthetically, in primary and secondary socialisation. Rights and responsibilities are Siamese twins; one does not come without the other.
Teacher-parent relationship
And sometimes, when the parents speak ill of the teachers in front of their children, or when the teacher blames the parents in front of their students, the students understand that the relationship between their teachers and parents is not so good. This may cause discomfort in them and some students may even use this to their advantage. On the other hand, when the teacher-parent relationship is smooth and friendly, and when the child feels that, the child could grow confidently and comfortably.
This situation is of a different degree in government schools. There, the teachers’ concern is that students have no regard for their textbooks and notebooks, because it is provided to them for free. This unfortunately equates to the material having almost no value.
So as a team, when the parents, teachers and the school work together to swap this behaviour with positive reinforcements, changes can be expected. Instead of playing the blame game, it has to be a coordinated effort. And most importantly, these team members have to be role models for this to materialise.
The author trains Cambridge International Examination students in accounting and business studies, and trains teachers on the Cambridge International curriculum.