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From drug dealer to head boy (with help from a very inspiring headmistress)
Friday 14 May 2010
Categories: Drugs and Alcohol, Education, Self-esteem
Some things never change including adults’ views of the young. Even Socrates is quoted as saying: “children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” **
It’s so easy to criticise “the youth of today”; every generation are appalled by how their lack of manners, by how standards of behaviour have declined, by how little respect they show towards their elders who are obviously their betters.
Before slipping into the comfortably superior role of a Grumpy Oldie consider whether this is not only lazy but unfair. The uplifting tale of Arthur Lutaaya should give every GO pause for thought. He appeared to be a lost cause, another deadbeat kid destined for a life of crime and a sticky end. His lifestyle led to his being beaten so severely that he thought he would die. At this point he started to reflect on the wisdom of his choices thus far but what made the real difference, what changed the entire course of his life, was the faith Sally Coates his Headteacher showed in him. She mentored him, inspired him, gave him the courage to turn his life around.
Like Arthur many successful adults remember a teacher who believed in them, who saw a spark of promise and fanned the flame, who gave them the confidence which them enabled them to grow and flourish.
Ask any teacher and they will be able to reel off a list of the children they helped, guided, nurtured because these children, not the promotions or exam successes, are the highlights of a teacher’s career.
What if every Arthur found a Sally at a key moment in his life? What if every Grumpy Oldie set out to look for the good in every child? What a difference that could make.
**Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L. Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment (1953)
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