What we can do to get back to morals

BY ANTHONY GATHIMBIRI

The moral breakdown in schools is one of the thorny issues in our society today. Speaking with some high school teachers, I get an impression that our children are getting out of hand. What action can we to take to change the situation?

"Children need a figure to identify with. They imitate what they see in their seniors."

There is a Kikuyu proverb that “a tree is shaped while it’s still young”. If we want responsible and disciplined children, communal responsibility is needed. Teachers and parents alone can’t help solve the problem. We need the whole society to cooperate.

While walking down the streets of Pietermaritzburg recently I heard two adults swear at one another. I felt like closing my ears because of the words that came from their mouths. A week later, I heard the same words repeated elsewhere by some youngsters.

Every time I read the newspaper or tune into our local radio station, all I see and hear is crime—rape, murder, robbery. Our society is dreadfully sick.

I had a chat with Marcel Moorhead, a parent of two and a teacher at Linpark High School in Pietermaritzburg. From him I learnt that families can help a lot in shaping our young people. If we have good families, we have a good society.

According to Mr Moorhead, strong parental influences in families make a great impact on children. It is in functioning families that our children learn love, values, discipline, integrity, morality and all the good virtues.

Broken homes can create negative outcomes because the single parent is so busy trying to make a living for the children that she—it usually is the mother—doesn’t have enough time to thoroughly instruct her children in values. Survival—bread on the table—takes obvious precedence.

That does not mean a single parent cannot succeed in instilling good values in children, but the odds are stacked against them.

Children need a figure to identify with. They imitate what they see in their seniors. When I was young, I used to speak and walk like some of my teachers, who were nuns. I admired them because of their edifying character.

It is important to have good role models. Children learn by example, behaviour, attitudes, values—and good virtues have to be modelled not only by parents but by all parent-figures. That is why everybody in a community needs to aspire to be a good person.

Fr Callistus Kathali, a rector of St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal, and a lecturer in moral theology says that there should be no dichotomy between the Church and society.

He notes that the children who come to Mass to hear his homily are the same ones who act contrary to the Gospel when they leave the church. He put it like this: “It is putting a fake hat on when you are in church and another one when you go out of the church”.

The parish priest should know what is happening in homes. Home visits are badly needed so that the pastor can know what is happening in the families where the children come from.

Fr Kathali says that it’s not enough to pray with the family during such visits; it is also necessary to speak with them about their daily life. This will help the priests preach sermons that will touch the congregation.

Collaboration between church leaders, teachers, and parents is necessary. I have seen it at Woodlands schools, where the pastors from different denominations come together and deal with social issues communally. They work hand-in-hand with schools.

Churches need to create structures to help the faithful deal with social problems. Seminars could be held and themes related to behaviour could be raised.

It is one thing to do in promoting a moral regeneration.