As long as we promote a culture in which the meaning of 'fun' has been totally misunderstood and ill-presented, talking about change is a total waste of time; let alone making it happen. People, from their very childhood, learn that we live once and we should "enjoy" our lives. I am not arguing that we should have fun and enjoy ourselves, but it depends what we mean by that. Fun means sex, drinking and smoking to majority out there; and this is just wrong. This may sound anecdotal but you know that it is true. Many perceive sex as something like sports. Unfortunately due to lack of purpose in life and for some loss of meaning and reaching hollowness, love, bonds and respect are just buzzwords these days. Culture of hedonism is damaging our societies and we really need to start worrying about our lives and our future, as stress, anxiety and depression have already started to destroy us. What deems to be harmful to our health, be it mental or physical, is not fun but self-harm; a psychological illness which can be treated if attended on time.
Seeing children talking about sex, having celebs as their "role models", wearing makeup and emulating adults' behaviour and action say a lot about how poor the education system is and how unsuitable some, if not most, teachers are. Education is not just at schools but it has a major impact on a child's behaviour and way of thinking; what can even cause problems at home. Many of so call lectures for top universities are also as guilty; simply because education has been treated as business as opposed to essential in one's life; this calls for a major change at high levels of course and protests and closing down schools just makes things worse in the society. Children will be left on their own and unsupervised; so they tend to experiment stuff which they probably wouldn't if they were in classrooms or supervised by a wise adult sharing best practices in life.
Education has roots in culture and we cannot expect a good education system unless we genuinely review what needs changing in culture. Parents, as teachers at home, have a major role in educating their children too; by helping them understand not all teachers are right and or have the right attitude and personality. Parents need to encourage their children to speak at home about the behaviour and comments of their teachers at school; and report any inappropriate (however pity and "isolated"); as well their interactions with other children. This helps to understand how the future generation is getting ready to lead the future.
The future depends on the intelligence of today's children and the only way we can ensure the next generation is not as shallow as some we witness these days, is to educate this generation that life is not about fun and what's in it for me and let's enjoy ourselves; life is beyond that. Let's scratch the surface together. So let's not undermine children and believe them when they talk about their concerns and investigate if they say something, however not very true at first glance, about their teachers and anyone else they are in contact with.
The picture is courtesy of butchbellah.