A society
that does not inculcate solid and unifying values in its youth,
disintegrates and becomes violent, perhaps even suicidal. It is
therefore incumbent upon education in general, and on teachers in
particular, not only to impart knowledge and skills to students, but
also to teach and educate the younger generation in the values of the
past that have stood the test of time.
Regretfully, our society and school system invite obstructive tactics
that prevent the teacher from carrying out such objectives. Students
today become increasingly aware of the individualistic conceptions that
promote absolute freedom and equality, even relative to parents and
teachers. Many parents can no longer cope with this situation, so
either they raise their hands in despair, or they become violent, or
they transfer the problem to the teacher's doorstep, where they stand
united with their children. As a result, the school system has lost
control of disciplining the student to the extent that it has become
practically impossible to teach, let alone to educate. In general,
parents and principals alike have accepted the ideas of counterfeit
pluralism, freedom and equality, while the teacher stands alone "in the
forefront of the hottest battle" (Samuel II 11:15).
The lack
of discipline and the violence of the students have turned into a real
physical danger to students as well as teachers in both formal and
informal educational frameworks. Consequently, no teacher can ensure
the safety of the 40-80 students usually in his charge. Under such
circumstances, parents, students and principals become materialistic,
interested primarily in professions that promise a high income.
Computers and electronic equipment have made students spiritually
passive and distanced from humanistic and Jewish culture. The economic
perspective has turned parents, students and principals into a consumer
society that views education as a supplier of goods in exchange for
payment, and then justifies the recipient's interference in details of
educational activities and teaching to the degree of demanding the right
to determine their own grades. The development of research and the
blind trust in it have turned schools into experimental stations that
have lost any inclination toward a continuous, planned, graduated
educational process. Despair of formal education has brought about a
blind acceptance of informal education, till school is often an informal
educational framework, or an amusement park of education and teaching.
In such an
atmosphere, in which all forms of constraint or restraint of students
are forbidden, the teacher remains with his hands tied, unable to
enforce even minimum discipline. His situation is like that of our
ancestors in Egypt who cried out: "There is no straw given to thy
servants and they say to us 'make bricks'" (Exodus 5:16). A society
that demands output and achievements from its teachers, yet prevents
them from using the means to accomplish such goals, is a hypocritical,
corrupt society that has only itself to blame for the faults in the
school system. In short, it is neither the schools nor the teachers
that have to change, but the society that has to admit its guilt and act
to reform itself, even if this means a return to religion and its
values. It is preferable to do so today, than to wait until the
situation has become even more critical.
