The issue of who is responsible for the moral decadence in the society today, especially among youths, is indeed difficult to say. A lot of people believe parents are to blame, while others have apportioned blame to teachers. I however wish to say that from the way I look at it, I have every reason to believe that moral decadence among our children, has its roots in parents. In the first place, parents have failed in their duty to bring up the child the way he should, in utter disregard of the Biblical injunction that they should train a child the way he should, so that when he is old, he won’t depart from it. Parents are the child’s first teachers. They, therefore, have a lot to do in training the child before he joins the formal school. But the economic situation in the country today, has made most parents abandon their duty in pursuit of material wealth.

Besides, house helps and maids have now assumed the role of parents. Very early in the morning, both parents leave for work, leaving the child to the care of the house helps. By the time they return in the night, the child has already gone to bed. The child will still be asleep by the time his parents will go out in the morning. When then do parents stay with the child to train him and correct him? Some parents are known to support the child when he goes wrong. Some parents go to the extent of harassing teachers for flogging the child at school. This encourages the child to do even worse things. At home, the child does bad things and the parents support him, so that he will not take offence. Some do not care to flog the child who has done something wrong, so that he won’t die, thereby sparing the rod and spoiling the child. This is as it should be.

Some parents are known to have perpetrated so many immoral things to the glare of the child, forgetting that the child sees his parents as a mirror and copies virtually all they do. When such immoral things as stealing, insult, fornication, bribery and others are done in the present of the child, how then can anyone, especially, the parents turn round to punish him, when he copies these? Though teachers cannot be totally absolved from the blame of youth immorality, parents should not forget that the child only spends about six hours at school. The rest of the time is spent at home. Sometimes, teachers fear to punish the child when they remember that his parents may organize an offensive against them. These days, teachers do their best to train the child but they fail because the child has already imbibed so much immorality from home, that the teacher can’t change him.

Parents encourage immorality among their wards by not querying them when they return late in the night or when they bring home expensive materials as gifts. This is common among girls, who sometimes, bring home boyfriends whom the parents receive warmly. Most mothers even make use of those gifts with their daughters. The boys also do this. Some parents fail to look into the company the children keep. All these are roads leading to immorality.
I am convinced beyond doubts that parents are to blame for moral decadence among youths, not teachers because, as earlier mentioned, parents fail in their duty of building the child and charting a good moral path for him in these early ages. At these pre-school ages, his mind is blank and if the mind is filled with immorality, the child grows with it and it will be very difficult to correct him afterwards.

Written by Victor Okoro
Editor-In-Chief

IyaTola:
Who Is To Blame For Moral Decadence Among Our Youths: Parents Or Teachers?

IyaTola:
The issue of who is responsible for the moral decadence in the society today, especially among youths, is indeed difficult to say. A lot of people believe parents are to blame, while others have apportioned blame to teachers. I however wish to say that from the way I look at it, I have every reason to believe that moral decadence among our children, has its roots in parents. In the first place, parents have failed in their duty to bring up the child the way he should, in utter disregard of the Biblical injunction that they should train a child the way he should, so that when he is old, he won’t depart from it. Parents are the child’s first teachers. They, therefore, have a lot to do in training the child before he joins the formal school. But the economic situation in the country today, has made most parents abandon their duty in pursuit of material wealth.