Life is so interesting because its main actors – people – are so diverse. This diversity is reflected in our interests and attitudes, and our likes and dislikes. Despite our differences we are expected to collaborate with each other to create a harmonious and productive environment, in which we are free to be ourselves, while respecting the rights of others to do the same. This is the dilemma the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School is likely to face as it engages with stakeholders to review its Behaviour Management Policy.
Society, in its bid to ensure the existence of a harmonious and productive environment, has sought to establish acceptable standards for various aspects of our lives. Our right to pursue our individual likes and dislikes often challenges these acceptable standards. Our very differences serve to ensure that the harmony we seek is not easily achieved.
Many of us have seen the struggles church leaders encountered as they sought to introduce new hymnbooks into the Church’s Sunday service. We have all heard stories of some parishioners packing their bags and walking out of the Church when a hymn from the new book is announced. Today in our school system, standards in relation to grooming are being challenged. Views on this issue vary among students, parents, educators and other stakeholders. How will an acceptable position be agreed and pursued, in circumstances where individuals are encouraged to be themselves and to be comfortable with who they are?
What is an acceptable hairstyle? What one person finds pleasant to look at, another might find distracting. What one person considers unkempt, another might find stylish. When is a pant too baggy or too tight? Why is it important how your pant is worn relative to your waist? Why can’t both boys and girls wear stud earrings, if they so desire? There are persons who consider these matters to be non-issues that should not be occupying the time of educators and other stakeholders. Then, there are others who sincerely believe that to leave students to believe that any and everything is acceptable, once it makes them comfortable, is to give them a false impression of what they will encounter in their adult lives.
As adults, rules will exist and conformity will be required from them in order to get that job, that promotion, that invitation or that club membership. Very few persons are able to shape the rules to their liking, unless they have first, by conforming to those rules, achieved a position where they can influence or singlehandedly effect changes in the rules, to reflect their personal likes and desires.
The reality is that we will live in a constant state of flux, while persons’ likes and dislikes continue to evolve. Interestingly, many likes and dislikes tend to fall in and out of style, on a recurring basis. Many young persons, today, are unaware that the hairstyle they are ‘rocking’ is not new. It is in fact a throwback to decades ago. The same is true of clothing styles. The daring mini-dresses worn by some of our senior ladies might actually shock some of today’s young women.
In the face of such diversity in our likes and dislikes, how de we achieve a harmonious and productive environment, where we are free to be ourselves, while respecting the rights of others to do the same? It appears to me that what we need to cultivate is an environment that encourages tolerance and critical thinking. Tolerance for new ideas and the ability to critically consider whether and how new ideas can be incorporated, without destroying the central objectives of an institution. Tolerance and critical thinking should allow us to recognise that some personal likes and dislikes cannot be readily accommodated in some environments, while they will bewelcomed and laudedin others. An appropriate sense of time and place is vital, if weare to live in harmony with one another.
