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Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
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The Sri Lankan culture is very unique in many ways. After reading the article "Gratitude", I could not resist spilling out some of my memories.
I remember going to school and extremely obedience to the teachers and also remember carrying a set of Betle  A set of Betle leaves are usually given to elders to show respect, gratitude. If you are giving it to an elderly person you hold the leaves by both hands pointing the tips of the leaves towards you
There is no one above the teachers when it comes to parents and students. At the beginning of the school year, parents are literally giving all the authority and power to the class teacher saying "Do anything and fix him" and we can't complain about our teachers to our parents either. No one believes us, the students. Tough physical punishments were the consequence of either bad behavior or bad in school work.
A cane and a teacher are like salt and pepper. Almost every one had a cane, usually homing inside of a long sleeve shirt....it whips magically appearing out of the sleeve very swiftly.....in the class there were few on top of the cupboard. Looking at each and every one of us, the students. It was fearful to look at them ... yeah! don't know when you are going to land on my back or the palm. Our friend the foot ruler sometimes turns against us in the hand of an aggravated teacher. Which side of the palm it will land on is not your choice. Flat side or the thin side of the ruler or palm of your hand or back of the palm. There were lot to choose from. It was not an attractive menu. I am not talking about ladies. Every one of them I had, was so sweet.
Talking about punishments, sometimes some punishments could not be justified. I have one such moment carved in my mind and would like to share it with you in a separate article in the future.
What ever the punishment a teacher gives to a child, I believe the purpose would be to make you good in school work or to discipline you to become a good citizen. One may not be a smart but at least if that person learns a lesson and become a good citizen, that itself serves the society in the long run. I do not know how the teacher-student relationship in Sri Lanka now. Hard physical punishments may not be there or at least diminishing but students always must show their respect and gratitude to their teachers. If you are a student reading this you may not realize but when you become an adult and mingle with the main society, you will realize so, keep that in mind and if you can extend that to teachers in general as in the article "Gratitude", it is noble! Like I said in my home page I thank my teachers always and without them I am nothing that includes my loving Mom and my loving Dad who guided me as parents as well as those days in the school as teachers. Thank you! Written by Shantha
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 February 2008 )
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