Education Matters

I was asked to visit an island last week that lies like a sand bank in the middle of the ocean. I did and it was magnificent. Well, it was from a distance. 

As we approached I could see that there was a dark mass on the beach that I presumed was seaweed or driftwood which would have expected. 

On arrival, however, it became abundantly clear the seaweed and driftwood were of the manmade variety. 

The litter washed up by the surrounding ocean was phenomenal. The most normal of items such as flip flops and flasks, beach chairs and, I kid you not, a child’s seesaw seemed quite abnormal when they were floating or abandoned in this uniquely beautiful setting.

Now, I know and I hope most of the adults reading this know that this is a pretty bad show, but, likewise, so are the mounds of tipped rubbish I see at the sides of roads on my daily commute. It seems, however, that nobody wants to face up to the problem, ugly and urgent though it is.

I have said many times in my column that the biggest educator of children is their parents. 

Their influence is so profound that the habits children develop and the attitudes they show to the world can usually be traced back to the point of derivation, the parents and whether they be good habits or bad, racist views or not, this is invariably their source.

Now, I was driving on the highway this morning on my way into work when a cigarette box flew into my windscreen, thrown from the driver of the car in front. Within two minutes, the back window of the same car rolled down and the child in the back threw a crisp packet out – lazy, ignorant father like poor, misguided son.

That little snapshot of life in Bahrain got me thinking. How many of you reading this knew that this Tuesday was World Environment Day, probably not many and if you did, how many of you changed one iota of your day as a result? 

How many of you switched off your lights for an hour on Earth Day back in April and how many of you will plant a carrot on World Food Day in October?

So, if you don’t know about these days, or do know but do nothing about them, why do organisations such as UNICEF or the United Nations make such a big fuss about them?

Well, the reason is to publicise problems, to make people aware of them and in doing so, hopefully inspire them to do something about it because if you don’t know that a problem exists, how can you solve it? 

Schools often champion these causes by having fun with the ideas in classrooms and getting children creative in ways that inspire other children and, most importantly, adults to care and possibly even change, but then what? 

If your child brings home their enthusiasm about World Environment Day or Anti-Litter Day and you don’t encourage it, just carry on doing what you always did and quashing the possibility, how can you expect the message to get through? 

My advice to parents is that when these types of events come around and schools take time to guide your children in ways that help them to think responsibly about others and the world around them, support it, show an interest and try to change your habits, even if it is in the smallest of ways because when a child sees that they are making a difference it can be a very powerful message to give.