Young people are rebellious. Hot-headed. Insubordinate. Secondary
school teachers have especially a difficult time dealing with adolescents.
Universities are sometimes over-powered by angry youth during riots. They have
their demands. They want freedom.
We could never deny the challenges the youth bring into educational
institutions. However, one crucial matter that is sometimes overlooked,
especially in Kenya, is the kind of influence the teachers have on their
students.
It doesn’t matter if one is a secondary teacher, a university
lecturer, a home teacher, a trainer, all those in a position to educate young
people from the teenage years to adulthood play a very crucial role. They spend
most of the time with the youth. They are the ones who get to spot when one is
going astray, hanging out with the wrong group, or slacking around. They are the ones to notice when a child is
being discriminated or picked on or depressed. They are the ones who either
become role models to the youth or crush them entirely according to how they
deal with them.
The youth are fragile. They are still trying to contemplate what life
is all about. They are still shaping their identities. Yet how many times do we
see educators being the nightmare to the youth? How many times have we seen
educators call students failures or give them embarrassing nicknames or harass them
or call out on them for their looks or tribe or their body weight? How many
times have we seen educators abuse the youth; emotionally, physically,
mentally? How many times have university students failed their exams because
they refused to be sexually manipulated by their lecturers? How many youths
have been scarred permanently by their educators?
There is this intriguing and thought-provoking story about Solomon
Islands which is in the South Pacific Ocean. The people in the village use
quite a unique way of logging; ‘yelling and felling’. So how this goes is that
whenever the villagers want to cut down a huge, thick tree, they’d curse and
yell at the tree powerfully for thirty days. After this period, the tree
surrenders and dies. The villagers believe this method has always worked. When the villagers curse, their
whole intent to break the tree’s spirit is so strong that they successfully
make it die. While there is no scientific validity to this story, it should
make us ponder. Think about this: how powerful are words then that they are
able to kill a tree? And if it can kill a tree, what about the spirit of a
human that is filled with hopes, dreams, goals and fears? (The story of Solomon
Islands was first mentioned in Bruce H. Lipton’s ‘The Biology of Life’. Read more
at: https://www.newsgram.com/power-of-words-the-story-of-the-solomon-islands/)
Without a doubt, teaching is a very noble profession. These are the
individuals who make us grow and strive for greatness. They are the ones who
push us to dream and explore. We could never downplay their very important role
in our lives. Yet sometimes, these are the same people who bring us down
entirely. Make us detest ourselves. Make us hate the idea of seeking education
and want to drop out entirely.
It is indeed high time that our educators, whether in institutions
or even in workplaces, are properly evaluated and properly trained on how to
deal with youth using diplomacy rather than abuse. The young people, from
teenage years to pre-adulthood are like clay that is still being molded. The
clay is in their hands. They have the power to shape it into something
extra-ordinary or over-water it till becomes lifeless dirty water.
As you may have noticed, the above does apply to parents as well
because they too are educators; the most important ones! It can also apply to each one of us and how we interact with other
human beings, sometimes very carelessly. May we always be conscious of how we
talk and deal with other people. Ameen.
To every teacher doing their job whole-heartedly and striving to
make a difference, however small, we salute you and appreciate you!
