Pleasing Parents
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "One who pleases his parents has verily pleased Allah, and one who has angered his parents has verily angered Allah." Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 16, Page 470 MORAL INTELLIGENCE In these times, when our children are forever put under pressure at school, they learn to be competitive and become rather detached towards knowledge and more focused on the end result i.e. grades and marks. This may lead the child to cross ethical boundaries and look for easy ways to get a mark. In this instance we as parents have to ask ourselves "Are we raising a morally intelligent generation?" "Is gaining an extra mark on the paper more important than cheating?" Let me share with you some scenarios, to better explain this trend........ 1) Hanna, a grade four student, is given a project to do on her environment, she goes straight to her mom who makes a face and says well we'll do it soon. As Hanna is very busy with her tuitions, swimming classes and homework, she forgets all about it, 10 minutes before bed time she remembers and complains to her mom that I am too tired to do it; but I have to give it in tomorrow. Mom says it's fine, I'll do it. An impressive project is ready the next morning, for which mom had worked till late night. Very happy, Hanna thanks her with hugs and kisses and gives it in at school. She gets an A+ for it, and her friends are very impressed by her, she takes all the credit for it, without mentioning her mom's efforts. 2) Ali, a student of form four, was given an assignment to write up an essay on environmental factors. He went online and searched for environment, and then as he had a lot of other homework to do, he copied and pasted sections from the articles he found and put them together hence completing his assignment in 10 minutes. He scored an 84% on it! He bragged about it to friends saying that was the easiest A he ever received, and of course he let them in on his secret. So Now they all do the same. The score they received has not benefitted them much; in fact they have stolen somebody else's hard work and presented it as their own. They above all else lost their sense of morality in cheating their teacher, who was trying to inculcate in his/her students, research and essay writing skills. Now to address this issue: 1) When the child at a young age brings work home, like a project, NEVER do it FOR them but rather WITH them. 2) A child always needs help, and work is given to do at home so that parents together with their children work on it. When researching on a topic, look at books together, read aloud parts so that the child understands and picks up relevant information. 3) When supervising an older child, check for work that has been copied of the net. Ask questions regarding the essay. Encourage research over the internet; however ensure the final product is a combination of information gathered and the student's own opinions and understanding. These are but a few methods of helping your child to get through his/her education with a strong moral background. Use your own initiative and work together with your children to bring up a truly responsible generation. P Please consider your environmental responsibility before printing this e-mail Save paper - do you need to print this email if you can.
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