Yes, children here like school. But it seems that children behave not much differently than in schools elsewhere when it comes to bullying. Instances of bullying here are frequent and aggressive behavior is not being checked by the teachers, and such behavior seems to be a routine thing. Girls cry often in class. Last week, I took a girl with tear trails still staining her face to her classroom teacher and explained what had happened. One of the boys was coming out of the classroom and hit the girl, who was standing by the door, on the ribs with a long thick stick. You could hear the stick meet flesh with an audible thud. I do not have any knowledge as to how the matter was addressed, but just being told off won’t do the trick for the boy.
To merely tell the boys off does not yield any results. Nor is answering violence with violence an alternative solution. Aggressiveness will just perpetuate and be manifest in the boys’ daily behavior towards girls as well as towards one another. Where is the peer support and safe environment that is conducive to student engagement with school and academic achievement? Where do the examples for such behavior come from? How are parents educated about -non-violent- child rearing? No one was born a parent, and we all make mistakes, but to resort in violence at home, be it physical or verbal, will come to no good; it may silence the child for the time being, make it afraid and submissive, but negative emotions being built in a child, its fear and the influence of role models in its family and social environment will find an outlet, namely a classmate who more often than not belongs to the female sex.
Now, I am no child psychologist and, as a ‘Westerner’ and a teacher working in the ‘West’, I was brought up and worked in a culture that frowns upon corporal punishment and verbal violence. In the beginning, I noticed violent behavior towards girls, but I also noticed the older girls fighting back or claiming what was taken from them (e.g. a notebook, a pencil, a cap). But the young ones are reduced to tears.... and in the long run they will be reduced to passive creatures, deeming such treatment a natural thing they simply have to accept as the natural course of nature between men and women; and surely this idea is reinforced by knowing or observing or even experiencing themselves some form of violence at home or during play time outside the classroom.
Teachers alone cannot effect a change, no matter how well respected and highly esteemed they are by students and community alike in Thai culture. This is a rural village, and while not isolated, it does have its own way of doing things, its own rhythm of living, its own pace. Children spend a lot of time playing with peers and are sensitive to whatever behavior is exhibited by the adults in their immediate environment, indulging their tendency to imitate and uncritically accepting certain behaviors as the right ones because they make them feel powerful over peers who offer little resistance to counter ‘attacks’. Parents have a lot of power and influence over their children, so they must be offered some counselling regarding raising children and using non-violent means to address behavior issues. If there are positive role models to follow or positive examples of conduct to imitate within the family, violence between children, let alone between boys and girls, might be considerably less. A violent environment makes a violent kid outside home, and bullying thrives at school, where there are many ‘weak’ ones to be found on which to practice the violence observed and learned at home. Making parents resolve their differences and teaching their children limits differently, will ultimately render children more reasonable, responsible, quiet and peace-loving adults.
To merely tell the boys off does not yield any results. Nor is answering violence with violence an alternative solution. Aggressiveness will just perpetuate and be manifest in the boys’ daily behavior towards girls as well as towards one another. Where is the peer support and safe environment that is conducive to student engagement with school and academic achievement? Where do the examples for such behavior come from? How are parents educated about -non-violent- child rearing? No one was born a parent, and we all make mistakes, but to resort in violence at home, be it physical or verbal, will come to no good; it may silence the child for the time being, make it afraid and submissive, but negative emotions being built in a child, its fear and the influence of role models in its family and social environment will find an outlet, namely a classmate who more often than not belongs to the female sex.
Now, I am no child psychologist and, as a ‘Westerner’ and a teacher working in the ‘West’, I was brought up and worked in a culture that frowns upon corporal punishment and verbal violence. In the beginning, I noticed violent behavior towards girls, but I also noticed the older girls fighting back or claiming what was taken from them (e.g. a notebook, a pencil, a cap). But the young ones are reduced to tears.... and in the long run they will be reduced to passive creatures, deeming such treatment a natural thing they simply have to accept as the natural course of nature between men and women; and surely this idea is reinforced by knowing or observing or even experiencing themselves some form of violence at home or during play time outside the classroom.
Teachers alone cannot effect a change, no matter how well respected and highly esteemed they are by students and community alike in Thai culture. This is a rural village, and while not isolated, it does have its own way of doing things, its own rhythm of living, its own pace. Children spend a lot of time playing with peers and are sensitive to whatever behavior is exhibited by the adults in their immediate environment, indulging their tendency to imitate and uncritically accepting certain behaviors as the right ones because they make them feel powerful over peers who offer little resistance to counter ‘attacks’. Parents have a lot of power and influence over their children, so they must be offered some counselling regarding raising children and using non-violent means to address behavior issues. If there are positive role models to follow or positive examples of conduct to imitate within the family, violence between children, let alone between boys and girls, might be considerably less. A violent environment makes a violent kid outside home, and bullying thrives at school, where there are many ‘weak’ ones to be found on which to practice the violence observed and learned at home. Making parents resolve their differences and teaching their children limits differently, will ultimately render children more reasonable, responsible, quiet and peace-loving adults.
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