Michelle Engelberg, Johannesburg
The headmaster wisely stated: “…words said in anger are not wise.” Indeed. The theatre director should have been in touch with his rising anger and either taken a few deep breaths to calm down, excused himself for a few moments, or even just called it a night and dismissed everyone in order to carry on another time.
But he didn’t do any of those things. He lost his cool and uttered ugly words that “horrified” those present.
As a result of this unfortunate incident, the theatre director stepped down from the production. This is a lesson in how learning to control one’s anger can avoid so much unnecessary anguish.
It also could have been an opportunity to set a positive example to the learners (and others present) if the theatre director would have found another way to dissipate his anger, instead of exploding with hurtful epithets. But this opportunity was lost.
On the other side of the coin is the behaviour of the learners. They were engaged in “unruly behaviour”. One learner admitted: “We certainly were not on our best behaviour.” This is not acceptable.
Ideally these learners should appreciate that they have been given a privileged education, in one of the best private schools in the country. They have been afforded a schooling experience that millions of other children can’t even dream of.
Compare the schooling situation of these KDVP learners to the average child in this country. They too should be ashamed of their behaviour.
The issue of “poorly” behaved learners was brought to the fore because of the coverage this incident received in the Jewish Report. But unfortunately this is not an isolated incident. There are many times when Jewish learners are not well behaved. In fact, they can sometimes act like real spoilt brats with an attitude of entitlement rarely seen in previous generations.
The times we live in do contribute towards this narcissistic attitude – with selfies, self-absorbed Facebook posts, cyber-bullying, etc. As adults (whether parents, educators, or whoever), we should try and be aware of these negative character traits forming in the youth and open lines of communication with today’s children.
We need to counter the egotistical, self-absorbed elements in today’s culture and teach our children higher morals and standards; teach them to have empathy and treat others with respect, otherwise we are relying on mere chance that they might mature and outgrow it. And if they don’t, then they might turn into adults who behave this way!
