Bricks in the wall falling out

Ever since Pink Floyd referred to schoolchildren as "just another brick in the wall", back in the Eighties, it has been one of my favourite catchphrases.

The number of children staying away from school is increasing. The wall is crumbling. There were 8,903 arraignments over truancy since last January, according to the latest survey results from the National Statistics Office.

What is encouraging is that rather than getting defensive, some teachers are responding positively to the problem. "The blame for high absenteeism lays squarely with the educational system", teachers' union (MUT) president John Bencini said in response to the survey.

Teachers are also realising that schools should be there for the students and not students for the schools. "Instead of adapting our schools to students, we are trying to force students to adapt to our schools".

There is no doubt that schools, like everything else, have to reinvent themselves to cope with changes. There have always been children who do not 'fit in' in schools, but it does seem that the problem is getting worse. And this is a global concern.

In South Korea where the young are disregarding Confucian traditions, corporal punishment is still seen as a solution. Spare the rod and spoil the child still holds. Although educators' authority over children has diminished over the past 20 to 30 years, physical punishment will continue as an effective form of discipline, according to an expert.

"Hitting will remain a forceful means of getting an instant outcome, even for students in high school," said Hwang Sang-min, a professor of psychology at Yonsei University. "But for corporal punishment to work, communication between teacher and student is needed, and the student must understand what he or she did wrong," Professor Hwang said in the Korea Herald last December.

The professor, however, noted that when it comes to treating chronic problems, such as making a student study hard, physical punishment could be ineffective.

The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) said it received reports of 56 cases of parent-teacher disputes in the first half of 2001, a 24.4 per cent increase from 45 cases reported during the same period last year.

Corporal punishment topped the list of causes for that year's disputes, accounting for 19, or 34 per cent, of the 56 cases, KFTA officials said.

In 1999 the Ministry of Education tightened regulations on corporal punishment, permitting it only as a last resort. With the change, each school drafts its own set of rules on punishment, in consultation with students and parents.

Some basic prohibitions for most schools include slapping the face, caning for personal reasons, or using corporal punishment in an irrational manner that risks leaving emotional scars or hurting the individual's dignity, according to officials.

Despite such conditions, there are many alternatives to physical punishment, Lee Hee-su said. "There are so many other ways to punish children, such as making them clean the classroom for two weeks, or run around the school yard about 10 times," she said.

Hardly progressive educational methods. I hope our schools do not subscribe to this line of thinking. It is so negative. Children could instead be made to undertake tasks which actually motivate them - that would really 'teach them a lesson'.

Lee of the KFTA said corporal punishment, in the form of caning, would be a part of Korea's educational system for some time, unless there is a radical change in the country's culture.

"But the old custom of entrusting children to teachers with hopes of making them into respectable members of society has got to change, especially in this age of globalisation. Caning is a thing of the past," Shin Ghee-hee said.

But coming back to the local scene, thankfully, we do not subscribe to beating our kids into submission, it is refreshing to see blame not apportioned to parents for a change, and that the MUT president said that the arraignment of parents and guardians did nothing to reduce the problem.

"We need to do something more drastic if we are to put our house in order", said Mr Bencini. Demotivation seems to be one of the major problems of truancy.

It is obvious that reform is needed to compulsory schooling.

Surveys in the UK show that half of all secondary school children are bored and fail to see what relevance much of what they learn has to their lives.

We need a radical revolution, interest and investment in our teenagers. It will take more than anti-truancy sweeps and anger management courses to get disaffected kids back into school, said Kate Figes in London's Guardian last April.

School curriculum planners have to ensure that children are being challenged and given the tools to learn how to be responsible and cope with modern life.

A local survey I reported on two weeks ago showed that these are stressful times for the young as well as adults and statistics on the rates of drink and drug use are rising.

Those who blame the young on their way of life, i.e. being materialistic, and drinking, smoking and having sex, should realise they are only copying the adults either on television or around them.

The young are susceptible to advertising and television plays an important part in forming the way our young think. They are constantly inundated with materialism while having to contend with rapid social change; in addition they face more exams than any previous generation and a much more competitive environment.

We should be worried about truancy firstly because it means that future adults will have less chances of getting employment which might lead to criminal ways of getting money, but also because kids on the street with nothing to do are looking for trouble.

I agree with Mr Bencini we have to make sure that the education system is meeting all children's needs, at the moment it does not seem to be doing so. We need to ensure our kids are equipped to secure jobs and educate them effectively for a changing market and a changing world.

Not a pigeon fancier

It was great to see pictures of the restored fountains in Valletta, thanks to the Bank of Valletta and the Valletta Rehabilitation Project in yesterday's Times.

As part of our cultural heritage these fountains not only enrich our (locals') lives but they also form part of an important element of our economy by attracting tourists.

However, there are a couple of things which could be improved. One is the surrounding area. I went to have a look at the newly restored fountains on St John's Square yesterday morning. I had to manoeuvre around parked cars as a car nearly ran me over parking right next to the fountain.

The ground around the fountain is in a bad state and it was surrounded by rubbish on one side. On the other, an ugly utilities box stands out. A coat of white paint would improve things temporarily, but a wooden shuttered cover would be ideal.

The other improvement would be keeping pigeons off the fountains. Pigeon droppings are detrimental to monuments, which means we shall have to spend more money on restoration sooner.

It is now common practice to install elements which keep pigeons off restored churches, we should ensure all monuments are given the same protection.

Of course we should also be thinking of reducing the pigeon population. Chasing them off one site merely attracts more of them to unprotected sites.

Politicians will not do anything about it, because most bird hunters are pigeon fanciers - sounds perverse I know, but there you go. Anyway, important decisions on anything which affects votes are not taken. Therefore, it is up to the media, educators and the institutions which finance restoration to do something about it.

Individuals can also do their bit by telling people who insisit on going around town with bagfulls of bread to feed the 'dear things', that they are not helping our environment.

I do it often, but I admit I do not accost these irritating people all the time. It takes energy and I sometimes cannot be bothered to get into arguements. There are so many things which I find irritating that I could spend all day battling with foul mouthed yobs and arrogant bureaucrats.

I was relieved to read in yesterday week's London Telegraph that their columnist Zoe Heller is a kindred spirit. She is forever getting into slanging matches with people with 'attitude' like taxi drivers, food sellers and men who spit in the street, and that is in New York. No wonder I felt at home when I visited it there a while ago.

Although she said she keeps meaning to stop getting hot-tempered and ending up in embarrassing situations, she sometimes cannot help it. I know the feeling.