A Salesian priest writes in View from the Ark, in the Catholic Times, about the difficulties parents have in educating their children. The money they need for
the public education is a burden, private academy attendance is many times more expensive.
A TV program in Europe showed the life of a 3rd year
high school student who was preparing for college entrance
examination: 'We have this going on in our world' was the title of the
program. How can a person put up with this kind of life? -- Was the response of many viewers.
The
difficulties of the young in our school system is well known and the
ones who suffer the most are the young. There are many young people not able to adapt to the system, and have even more
trouble out- side the system; it needs to be changed. He blames
the older generation for the acquisitiveness and selfishness, and
those in the teaching profession himself included, for laziness and lack
of responsibility in not doing enough to bring about change.
Because
of the inhuman type of education, the pressure they are experiencing
will affect their emotional and psychological well being, which does not speak well for the future. They are receiving a distorted value
system. A time when they are to blossom with their youthfulness, they
are given a very heavy cross to carry which only makes them shrivel.
He
remembers a young lad who frequented the PC rooms ( a place where one
goes to play games and pays so much an hour). He was a timid and
withdrawn person but with his frequenting of the PC rooms the priest
noticed a change in his demeanor, his face lit up and his eyes were
alive and bright. The priest realized that in the virtual world of the
game room the young man was king. He was able to control everything
that he dealt with. In the real
world he confronted knots and conflicts, in the virtual world he was
in charge. In a short time all disappeared, and he returned to his
depressed state.
This is the portrait of our young
people. Once they leave the virtual world they come back to their old
selves. They are faced with the gloom of reality, anger and the
burdens of daily life. This is the reason they don't want to leave the virtual world in which they feel on top of everything. We need to do all in our
power to change the system, the young people face in their studies.
He
concludes the article with an example of a teacher who knows the problems students face, and is doing something about it. He
arrives at school in the morning an hour before class and is greeting
all the students as they come to the class room. He wants to show
the students we are not just isolated islands, and feels
good about the efforts he is making to give vitality to the students.