What influences the society?

Our school celebrates grandparents’ day in which the grandparents of a particular class are invited. This is an annual event and the day is dedicated to the grandparents and they are remembered for their contribution and the sacrifice towards their own children and grandchildren. The concept behind the celebrations is to give them opportunity to see their grandchildren performing well in front of their grandparents who do not otherwise get opportunity to come to the school.The children of the age group five to seven years are able to do all that which the parents and grandparents cannot expect from them. In addition to this the children learn so many things when they practice for the show. They become better on their vocabulary and do make some improvement in their language because there are so many words which they speak a number of times during the rehearsal. They also learn many things related to the history,environment,importance of books etc; depending upon the theme of the programme. Though such things are taught during the classes also but learning is more enduring and enjoyable when acted or learnt through activities. Such programmes help the children learn to work in groups and help each other.

Grandparents are the treasure of experience and love and affection for all. They are the ones who guide the present generation for the future and if heard seriously then this always proves beneficial for the society. We all know that change is inevitable and nobody can stop it. What is important to be understood is, what should be the pace of the change.   The last few years have seen a fast pace of change and that is increasing the gap between old generation and the young ones. Our children do what they are exposed to and the onus lies on the old generation to ensure that our children are not too much influenced by the negatives around them. I was wondering that when the children of the age group five to seven can learn what the teachers teach them to do during a function then why are they not influenced for good manners and habits? Everytime a child is found doing something which is not acceptable why should he/she be blamed for that? Should we not share that blame for not being an influence against those negatives which we feel will harm our children and the society? The programme yesterday was based on the glorified history of our country and the teachers had made it as easy as possible, so that kids of class one could understand and perform it easily and the same was enjoyed by the grandparents as well. I think it happened unknowingly that a song from a film which was made on the same topic was taken and the children enjoyed acting on that. The programme was appreciated by all the grandparents and they were really happy to see their dear ones coming on the stage and playing their parts so well. After the programme was over one of the most respected grandparent gave a suggestion that the film songs should not be used while presenting any programme in the school otherwise the children can be influenced negatively. This was a very well made observation and I agree that the schools are the places where children should not be exposed to anything which might have a negative impact on the minds of the young children. When we discussed on the same topic it was said by some honorable guests that some songs from the films are really good and there was nothing wrong if the children sing them. Of course, the vulgar and the negative meaning songs are not acceptable even if these were non filmy. Another question that was discussed was,do the films influence the society or the films are influenced by the society? This question is similar to what we have been hearing from the childhood, whether the writer influences the society or the writer is influenced by what is happening in the society? There has been debate on this in the past also and the same still continues. We are not in a position to give one answer for the question, but sometimes it appears that both influence each other. In addition to this, the debate  made me to ask one more question, if the schools influence the society or the happenings and the expectations of the society influence the functioning of the schools? This also does not have a straight answer but I feel, the schools can influence the society through the parents of the children. But that brings one more issue to my mind. This has been observed in many families that the parents do watch certain programmes and the films in the presence of the children which may have negative impact on the children. This has also been observed that some parents dress-up their children, especially the girls in a costume which they will not allow to be worn by her at home when they take them to some dance competition. That makes me to question myself whether schools alone would be able to inculcate all good values in the children without the support of the parents. And if all the films and the filmy songs are so bad then why the government should allow the film industry to exist? We must all be aware of the step taken by NCERT and the CBSE to introduce topics related to films and film stars in the curriculum. What I feel is that the parents and the schools should work together to filter the negatives from all that is influencing our children. It may not be possible (and that is not desirable also) to stop the changes but the pace of the change should be controlled so that all are comfortable with the change, the old as well as the new generation. Let us do our level best to give values to our children by actions and by the speeches. The schools will have to play a more active role regarding the issue raised by our respected grandparent. I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to him for giving us the direction and we seek the same from him in future also.