While i was working with a NGO, i went to Digi for a meeting. So here i was dressed nicely in my formal attire and in my tie waiting for the Digi team to come get us, comes in a gentlemen nicely dressed in jeans, a shirt with sleeves rolled up. I was a tad surprised at the dress code but we went ahead with the meeting and i made friends with the gentlemen who i was talking too.
A few days later, i asked him about the dress code in Digi and he told me…
We live in a tropical weathered country, whats the point of wearing a tie and suffering in the heat!? In Digi, they apparently encourage their staff to dress comfortably so that the temperature can be higher on the air conditioning and that saves power and the staff are more comfy and hence more productive!!
Then it hit me, there i was working for a NGO which advocates environmental conservation (which includes living a sustainable life) but wearing a tie into a meeting dressed all wrapped up! What was i thinking!?
Anyway.. That was a lesson that i never forget and am more aware of such details which are soo important in our day to day lives.
So back to what i wanted to talk about! I was chatting with a relative a few days ago, a parent who was complaining about how his kids had to wear ties to school everyday in schools which match sauna’s and classroom’s which have 2 old fan’s which should be in museums rather than classrooms.
His children thus come back sweating and are extremely uncomfortable so you can imagine the attention level! Now thats a “CODE BLUE” situation if you asked me!
I have some questions to those who come up with these horrible practices
- Why do you make these children wear ties?
- Do the children know why they wear ties?
- How is wearing a tie impact these children?
- Are we focusing on the right things in the child’s education?
Being in the local education system for about 11 years, i know the consequences of not wearing your tie in school. You get pulled out, disciplined and sometimes even more than that!? Is there the same level of consequences if the teachers dont make it to the classroom or provide substandard classroom to the students?
Maybe its time that our children are educated the right things and are brought up by explaining why certain things are done and not by the book!! I always believe that if you tell a child not to do something they normally don’t listen but if we explained why, they then listen. If they do it or not, its a separate matter.
I dont have children but listening to parents who have children in the system and being part of the system makes me think that maybe educators need more education on how to educate, no?
