Life as an adolescent is an extended period of vulnerability and is somewhat different from even twenty years ago. Back then, respect for adults was evident and deferring was commonplace. Respect for others was the norm in most sectors of society and maintaining the dignity and upholding the worth of each person in the community was a given.
What has changed? Individualism, rather than collectivism, has risen to be a value to which one aspires. This results in the “me” syndrome, a psyche attached to many of the daily activities experienced by youth. This is driven largely by technology and media. Technology, insofar as it provides greater opportunities for people to entertain themselves alone, through the medium of a machine/computer, eg. TV, computer games. Media, insofar as youth are continually confronted with which labels will allow them to look acceptable, and which therefore focus the individual on self, self image and how they appear to others.
The ease with which one can access pornographic visuals in the form of internet sites and videos js alarming. Our young people readily observe behaviour that people were rarely aware of, not even ten years ago. Such behaviours diminish the sanctity of others, hence lowering the sacredness of each human being. This general and accelerating lowering of societal tone is no more apparent than when one listens to the way our young people talk to each other. The use of the four-lettered ‘f’ word is unfortunately endemic. No wonder, when it is growing in frequency on Channels 1, 2 and 3, let alone the Sky movie channels. Videos are full of such expletives, as are the lyrics of today’s teenage music.
What chance does a School like WCS have of raising the standards of our students to mould them into people of standing and moral difference?
Our response to a lowering societal tone must be forthright and unrelenting. As a School with a Christian ethos we must strive to demand that our students rise above the parapets to be counted and be different.
it is vital we have zero tolerance for lazy and offensive language, for treating people in a manner which demeans them and for low self-respect, which potentially engulfs the self-esteem of individuals. Equally important is our quest to advance the cause of collectivism; not to make everyone the same, but to value the group and the role each individual plays in the group.
WCS has always produced leaders, locally, nationally and internationally. In order to maintain this pattern, we must continue to be different and not accept the tone out there in the big wide world.
A renaissance of a healthier moral and social fabric would be wonderful, but for WCS we must endeavour to maintain a continuance of what we have always stood for and largely achieved.
Let us not allow a lowering of tone – we must be a lighthouse and clearly be vital in our difference.