Most people when asked about the teaching profession confess their respect for this time honoured profession. Teachers are likened to angels. They are the groomers of the Nation. They groom future leaders and instill good values in students in preparation for giving service to the Nation, or just to be good citizen. They are the conscience of the society; instilling in the students the filter to differentiate good from evil, right from wrong. Without teachers we will be trudging a sure road to disaster.
Is this picture still correct or just nostalgia from the past? Are the current crops of teachers still the in consonant to this idealistic picture we treasure so much? Or are all these utopia, something we would like it to be but in reality just myths from the past? Do teachers still honour their profession and embrace its ideals or are they just a bunch of working people out to make a living just like any other profession? This is becoming the current reality, a sad reality indeed.
My daughter came back from school today a very agitated and frustrated person. She could not accept her teacher attacking her emotionally for some misunderstanding. Being a sensitive person by nature, she could not accept such callous verbal abuse by someone so respectable as a teacher. When the teacher started blurting out vulgar words, the damage is complete.
What is happening? Are teachers now just teaching desperados, using their classrooms to release their pent-up fury for some household squabbles they failed to settle at home? What is to become to our Nation if teachers are of this type. Are they grooming their students to be the vanguard of the Nation or are they implanting time bombs in the student’s psychological make-up? What is the Ministry doing? Don’t they have psychologists and councilors? Cant they drive this simple message across? The classroom is not an emotional dustbin to dump all pent-up emotions and the students not toilet papers to soak all this s_ _ _ _. If the teachers feel justified using vulgar words to drive some message across, then something must be very wrong indeed. Or are they exhibiting repressed sexual syndrome? My other half seem to think so.
It is time to wake up and stop this march towards becoming a slum Nation where street behaviour and gutter vocabulary become norm and modesty a rare commodity. And where is this better started than in schools. We do not need to limit teaching to nuns, priests, imams or mullahs. It is enough if teachers have some sense of responsibility and aptitude to do their job conscientiously and do not bring disrespect to this auspicious profession. Amin.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
TECHNOLOGY SANCTIFIED
Today I feel on top of the world. My friend who just went for pilgrimage called me up from Masjidil Haram. I was af first perplexed receiving a call from a voice so familiar but could not register because in my mind he's out of reach. As the voice registers I was out of balance as it sounded so near. It was a gift. If someone is to give me a present, it could never beat this one. A call from a place so sanctified is a supreme present indeed.
This was in fact a second time I received a tinker from the Masjidil Haram. Sometimes back a good friend of mine also, sent an sms. It was such a delightful present. It embodies so many things. A place like the Masjidil haram and the Masjid Nabawi of Medina is a place where we lose ourselves in devotion to the Almighty, a place where we lose ourselves from this material world and focus onto the next world. To receive an sms and a call from such sanctified places connotes so many good things, things to feel good about, feeling of being remembered and cared, feeling of bond so close and heart warming that beat any other gestures thinkable.
This is Technology Sanctified. Not so long ago to call from Mecca and abroad would cost a fortune. Now with the advent of the VOIP and satellite based technology, such a thing is now possible at reasonable price. With it well wishers could sms and call from such places and bring joy to the recipient. Though the economic factor is the carrier that make this resture possible, it is the remembrance that is most important. If technology could be made to bring this feeling of goodness to all the world, and people feel enticed to use it to such purpose, then this is indeed Sanctified Technology; technology used to add peace and harmony to the world.
Some technology however are used to spread unhappiness and misery to the world. The Hiroshima Episode is indeed a dark glory. The glory earned was through the misery of others, those helpless people who were not party to the war. The modern episode in Afghanistan and Iraq is another. High technology bombs so smart, it could hunt victims deep inside underground caves were used. So much misery spread because someone hate another so much he was prepared to fabricate lies to justify the actions. Hatred, ego trip and call for revenge so compelling someone feel justifed to put his back to views from all the world including the world's official body and carried on avenging missions to punish those he felt associated with the crime. Such misery spread by a black heart through technology.
I wish technology could choose the user. Then I'm convinced technology would only allowed itself to be used to spread good feeling and add to the well being of the world.
I WISH.................
This was in fact a second time I received a tinker from the Masjidil Haram. Sometimes back a good friend of mine also, sent an sms. It was such a delightful present. It embodies so many things. A place like the Masjidil haram and the Masjid Nabawi of Medina is a place where we lose ourselves in devotion to the Almighty, a place where we lose ourselves from this material world and focus onto the next world. To receive an sms and a call from such sanctified places connotes so many good things, things to feel good about, feeling of being remembered and cared, feeling of bond so close and heart warming that beat any other gestures thinkable.
This is Technology Sanctified. Not so long ago to call from Mecca and abroad would cost a fortune. Now with the advent of the VOIP and satellite based technology, such a thing is now possible at reasonable price. With it well wishers could sms and call from such places and bring joy to the recipient. Though the economic factor is the carrier that make this resture possible, it is the remembrance that is most important. If technology could be made to bring this feeling of goodness to all the world, and people feel enticed to use it to such purpose, then this is indeed Sanctified Technology; technology used to add peace and harmony to the world.
Some technology however are used to spread unhappiness and misery to the world. The Hiroshima Episode is indeed a dark glory. The glory earned was through the misery of others, those helpless people who were not party to the war. The modern episode in Afghanistan and Iraq is another. High technology bombs so smart, it could hunt victims deep inside underground caves were used. So much misery spread because someone hate another so much he was prepared to fabricate lies to justify the actions. Hatred, ego trip and call for revenge so compelling someone feel justifed to put his back to views from all the world including the world's official body and carried on avenging missions to punish those he felt associated with the crime. Such misery spread by a black heart through technology.
I wish technology could choose the user. Then I'm convinced technology would only allowed itself to be used to spread good feeling and add to the well being of the world.
I WISH.................
