This incident happened in a school. The whole incident was witnessed and related by the school's vice-principal. You may want to think about the difference between a lowly eduacated security guard and a highly educated parent. Think about how education makes a difference in moral values and does it works in inculcating social well being in today's society.
There was this boy who was admitted to the college and wanted to appeal out of the college for a better one. Of course, in order to do that, he needs important documentations and acknowledgment of his current school. Yes, he did that. But that was when the school had closed at 8.30 pm at night. The vice principal was on his way home when he noticed that there was a commotion at the guard post.
The parents of the boy, together with the boy himself, was at the guard post. The parents of the boy seemed rather educated. The parents was very rude towards the security guard, using a very rude tone and was unreasonable. Actually, the school had already closed and the security guard was kindly telling them to leave as they are not allowed in. Instead, the parents were impatient and gave uneasonable excuses to go in. At last, the guard was able to persuade them to leave. The parents and child went into the car and requested to make a U-turn in the school to leave. The guard readily agreed with a smile. He was trying to be courteous throughout. He allowed them in.
Instead, misusing the the guard's trust on them, they drove in and get off the car. They started walking around the school. This activated the school's security alarm which was linked to the police. The guard chased them and what the parents retorted back was "we were just touring around the school". The vice principal stepped out and asked about the commotion. He did not asked the parents and child to leave and helped them to prepare and approve the documents the parents needed. He also de-activated the alarm system and had no intentions of charging them with tress-passsing. However, as the vice-principal was walking out with the boy, he told him "When you leave, could you say sorry to the security guard or just a thank you. He was just doing his job. No to find any trouble with you. Thank you." The boy was silent, and not a look of remorse or embarrassment. After grabbing all the informations and documents from the principal's hand for his appeal, the parents of the child rolled their eyes at him and drove off.
Not a word of thank you. Not a word of apology. A lowly educated security guard who was just doing his job. A highly educated parent who was just expecting whatever he wanted. How did education play a part in this incident? Or did it even play a part?
Hi Dany,
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out that this is where our moral education comes in. This is exactly why our government introduced civics and moral education into our education system.
I am particularly disappointed at the last part whereby you stated that the boy did not even have the look of remorse or embarrassment. This is definitely not the kind of attitude that a young child should display. Moreover, he is a college student. This is ridiculous. I believe this what he learnt from his parents. Parents are supposed to be role-models for the child. However, if the parents displays such a disgustedly attitude, the child would think that it is right, and hence, he will start learning from them, without even knowing if they are right or wrong. Hence, this incident would also prove that the moral education system is not doing its job well. I believe that parents should go for moral-education lessons too, if they are going to treat others rudely, without giving others their deserved respect.
Highly-educated people usually have a tendency to look down on the lower-educated people. This is definitely the wrong attitude. Moreover, the parents need the help of the school. They were supposed to talk to the guard nicely, and if they can, seek the guard's help to alert the vice-principal to help them. Instead, they resorted to arguing with the security guard, which would get them nowhere. They made use of the security guard's trust in them, which is very wrong, and they were setting a bad example for the child. Hence, I do not think that social well-being relates directly to their standard of education. Instead, I feel that it relates directly to the people near them, who would eventually be their role-model. Hence, I believe that good influence would greatly benefit an individual. And bad influence would lead to a bad attitude too. The actions of a person who is deemed as a role-model by an individual would voice down to that individual's personality. As the Chinese saying goes: "近朱者赤，近墨者黑".
Best Regards,
Chan Yu Siang
2O2(02)
Woah, I feel that this has a little to do with Singapore's education system. I'm not criticising it, I'm just trying to find an explanation to this. You see, the students of Singapore are streamed according to their learning abilities. Somehow, the students that have better learning abilities tend to think they are better and smarter than the rest of the students. The fact is, they are. However, most of the people dislikes these kinds of snobbish students.
ReplyDeleteAs the students with lousier learning abilities have nothing to retaliate about, they can only listen and feel inferior. Thus, the 'better' students are not corrected of what they are doing wrong, and continue to have these kinds of attitudes. Sometimes, it is known as being elitist. Well, I am not disapproving streaming. The fact is, I think it is good for us, as we are taught at our learning abilities.
So...this is how I feel about it. And i really hope the boys parents would teach him to be polite, and hopefully, they themselves would learn to have more manners.
We are just like that, we take advantage of what we think is 'supposed to be there'. A good example is having a domestic helper at home. They are not treated fairly, and are not treated as human.
Well, that's all i have to say.
Seeya!
Yuding