"Without discipline we can solve nothing." M. Scott Peck
There was shocking news in yesterday's newspaper. A 15-year-old student stabbed his teacher to death in a well known school in Chennai, South India. She had written comments in his diary on his poor performance, for his parents to read. That seems to have provoked his heinous act. He stabbed her in the throat, chest and abdomen. She died on her way to hospital. The act was premeditated, not impulsive, because he came to school with the knife carefully wrapped in a paper. When asked why he killed his teacher he replied that he had recently watched a Hindi movie in which the hero avenges the injustice to his family. He wanted to avenge what appeared to be the injustice of the teacher. The police report states that he came from a rich family who indulged his every whim and pampered him with a lot of pocket money. We are yet to know what will become of the case, but we have alarm bells ringing.
Are we guilty of spoiling our children without disciplining them? Do they react in anger and defiance when admonished? Have they lost respect for elders and teachers? Do they scheme and plot vengeance? Do we shield them when they do wrong? Do we pick on others when they are at fault? Do we guide them in the choice of movies and TV programs they watch? Is our parenting going wrong somewhere? It is time we took stock.
