CAUSE OF SCHOOL FIGHTS: A NEWSPAPER REPORT

(THIS was reported in The National on June 4, 2013.)

A RESEARCH into the cause of fights and cult-like groups in Lae schools reveals that the problem is deep-rooted and needs a massive effort by stakeholders to fix it.

Rev Elymas Bakung heads the research into school rivalry and cult-like groupings in Lae schools funded for K35,000 by Lae MP and Minister for Community Development, Youth and Religion Loujaya Toni last year.

It was carried out by Morobe students attending the PNG University of Technology.

Bakung, who serves as the university’s Lutheran chaplain, said the information was very comprehensive and needed strategies by authorities to fix the problem.

Bakung said cult-like groups in secondary schools had existed for generations with some still having connections with former members who were now parents and former students in tertiary institutions.

It made the research riskier, he said.

“The grouping system is very systematic and the findings have shown that their activities will not cease easily,” he said.

“It will take lot of time and energy if we are to control this group system which has existed for more than 20 years and so its roots are very deep.

“There is connection with the group members who have graduated many years back and the level of indoctrination of the grouping system sunk deep into the inner being of members.

“It’s not that easy to stop or eliminate.”

Bakung said the research strongly recommended that the Morobe provincial government, provincial administrator, the provincial education division and provincial education board immediately deal with the problem systematically instead of letting the schools administration handle it themselves.

“We must do this immediately in addressing it otherwise we will still have more fights and student deaths,” Bakung said.

Toni was given the findings two months ago by the research team.

LEARN AND LIVE ITEM: STAY AWAY FROM GANGS AND CULT GROUPS

IF you have been following this column (as in The National newspaper in PNG) since 2011, you would have noticed me writing on this topic before.

Joining gangs or the so-called cult groups is dangerous for many reasons.

I have stated before that the leaders of those groups try to get others to practise rituals that were similar to what people in traditional societies did, but because they were immature a lot of bad consequences might occur.

People may get hurt and in some cases, as years ago, students died as a result of rituals where new members were beaten on the chests by others.

Some who learned bad habits in such groups found it hard to part with later in life.

Last week I discussed this issue with a few other educators and said the first thing that comes to my mind about following a cult group was that the individual loses his or her identity as a person.

When you join certain groups, you get “generation names”, as they call them. And you are urged to wear someone else’s character or image.

In doing that you would lose your own individuality, which I think is a very bad way to live.

Given that we are born with unique combination of talents, abilities and intellectual astuteness, why should anyone wear someone else’s image, so to speak?

Many of the cult groups formed in secondary schools followed on traditions which were first started in some National High Schools.

I said some national high schools because in my days at Aiyura National High School in the late 1980s, there were no cult groups.

Of course, there were student groups there, but no cult groups with the passing on generation names as such. If there were such groups, they were operating in secret.

The school was so disciplined that there were hardly any fights then.

Students who attended the school in those days knew why they were there: to get educated, not spend time in unnecessary activities. 

On my second day at the school, I was taken to a senior’s room and met a few others. But the kind of stories they told were not the ones I liked listening to. I never went to that senior’s room again nor hung around with him and his group of friends.

I made my decision to distance myself from people who did not walk the way I wanted to go.

It is my wish that you must do the same.

(I wrote the item for March 27.)

AN INCIDENT: Last week, the media in PNG reported a fight between two schools in Lae, the second largest city in PNG and is about 300km away from Port Moresby. Two students were wounded in the fight when Police came to stop the fight. One of the two students died from the injuries received. Police are still investigating. 

A research by a group (The National, June 4, p6) revealed that cult groups formed by the schools over the years were the cause of the fights and other activities that have been going on in Lae.) REFER TO THE NEXT POST!

RESPONSE TO A QUERY: UNIVERSITY STUDIES DIFFERENT FROM HIGH SCHOOL STUDIES

Q. WHY IS UNIVERSITY STUDIES MORE CHALLENGING?

(I wrote this in response to a query that was sent me by a student studying in one of our universities.)

THE QUERY: Someone asked me to advise him as to why was it that even though he found studies at the secondary level quite easy, he was usually behind in his university studies – as in completing assignments and revising for exams.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE: The first thing that comes to mind is this: University study is different from studies in high school.

Each subject studied in university requires that a student puts in an hour or more each day to review lecture/tutorial notes (apart from writing essays/completing projects).

It is possible that in university you also sit in hour-long lectures/tutorials, unlike the 40/50-minute lessons that you had in high school.

Photo: Entrance to UPNG. Life there can be challenging there.

PUT IN MORE TIME TO REVIEW WORK

Good tutors advise students at university to spend at least one hour each night to assimilate/comprehend what they are taught in class.

In high school a lot of people could get by with spending a mere 10 minutes flipping through notes and falling back on their “natural brilliance” to come out tops at the end of a term/year.

This will not work at the university level.

A few years ago, I came across a free PDF file written by Dr Stephen Siklos of Cambridge University.

In less than 20 pages, Dr Siklos informed his first-year Maths students that “studying Maths at university is very different” from studying it at secondary level.

From experience, he knew that many who were brilliant at the secondary level often found university work difficult.

CUT DOWN ON TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES

Check also that you do not spend too much time telling stories or engaging yourself in activities that may take up time that you should be putting into your studies. 

DEVELOP OTHER SKILLS: WRITING SKILLS

In Law or Humanities (e.g. Literature), and a few other courses, writing is an important skill. The person who has developed his/her writing skills and “enjoys” writing is a few steps ahead of the others.

(When I studied Science, I did not write much. But when I studied Education, we had to write a lot of essays and term papers.)

In Science, students must learn to write good practical reports for a course (e.g. Physics, Chemistry or Biology), about once a week.

DEVELOP OTHER SKILLS: SUMMARISING NOTES

This is another important skill in some subjects. Summarising chunks of information (from text books/lecture notes) quickly into comprehensible bits that you can remember and use in your writing, as well as in debates. It is a skill you must also develop.

CONCLUSION

Basically, the point is: Put in more time into your work than before.

You know, there are many brilliant people in high school who never completed their diplomas/degrees.

They thought the habits/skills they possessed in high school were sufficient – but they were wrong.

One of my friends, who is now a senior surgeon, said “the people who complete their medical degrees” are not naturally brilliant.

He said there was one thing they did that many others did not do and that is “they knew how to get their work done”.

It is a matter more of “habits” than of “intelligence”.

May you learn from that also.   

Bon chance (Good luck)!

LEARN AND LIVE ITEM: DO NOT CHEAT IN SCHOOL

YOU may have read last year and early this year about the alleged cheating during exams in some schools.

That is sad news. More frightening is that many students were implicated.

You know that my items in Learn and Live are directed at you, the individual.

I urge you (the student) not to cheat. Do not follow others who may be.

When markers pick out those who cheat they will be penalize them, which may include cancelling of marks.

Here are some reasons why you should not cheat.

Firstly it is immoral, just as stealing is.

Secondly it is illegal. According to the rules, you will be penalized. At the national exams, if you are found to cheat, you will not be given a certificate and you will not advance to other levels of learning.

Thirdly, the cheating habit makes you weak. You will not use your God-given potential.

Fourthly, cheating is part of corruption. That follows on from reasons 1 and 2. By cheating you will likely get things or offers in the future through such an illegal method. Also, it is likely that you will not be strict in following rules when you are in a position where you supervise others.

Fifthly, when found out to be cheating in other areas, you will lose a lot in life. Some “sports stars” in other countries illegally take performance-enhancing drugs and win races.

But when they are found out they are banned from competitions, and have titles stripped of them.

Sixthly, cheating may help for the moment, but will not help you everywhere. A student who cheats at high school and gets to the university level will find some courses difficult to do and s/he may become frustrated with life.

In certain organizations, tests are usually given to candidates who want a job or apply for a scholarship. A person who cheats will not pass such tests.

Years ago, before exam time, I heard that some students were looking for a certain substance to drink. They said that would help them do better in the exam.

I was surprised and thought there is one thing that a student must do to do well in the exam. That thing is called “study”.

Those who study honestly and consistently will not cheat or look for special substances to consume before exam time.

I urge you to be such a student.  

(Note: This was written for March 20.)