Be Virtuous and Sensible - Sharmila Vijayvargi

My Book of Positive Thoughts by Anil Kumar

Virtuous persons are those who adopt a high moral standard. Their behaviour is morally good and desirable, and their character is a bundle of virtues. Such persons are sensible, that is, they are wise and prudent. They can distinguish between the right and the wrong and always stand by and for the right.

We should do our best to be virtuous and sensible. Simplicity, humility, love, compassion, politeness and courtesy are the hallmarks of a virtuous and a sensible person. We should develop them in us. We must not allow anger, hatred, pride, boastfulness, meanness and evil thoughts to affect our virtues and sensibility. 

Our virtues and sensibility get expressed in our manners and etiquette. We are nothing but our manners and etiquette, which our conduct always exhibits wherever we go and whatever we do. For a start, we must learn to be always cheerful, polite and courteous in our behaviour. We ought to obey and respect our parents, elders and teachers and everyone around us. Little words of gestures such as 'please', 'thanks', and excuse me for making our speech courteous.

We must also avoid criticizing others for any reason. If we must disapprove of others'  unbecoming behaviour, we must choose our words carefully. Unnecessary criticism of others can seriously affect our relationships. We have no right to indulge in scandalous talk about others and spoil their name and harm their reputation. Since ours is a democratic country, people are free to have different views, opinions and beliefs. 

Therefore, we may disagree with others on all matters, but we must respect the freedom of thought and expression. We must learn to understand and appreciate the views of others, and for this, we should develop the fine art of listening to others with patients and compassion.

Finally, a word about our speech: a polite and courteous speech is an index of our mind and character. It can win us friends, respect and a good reputation and if it is the other way round, we may develop a lot of enemies around us. Therefore, always be polite, courteous and well mannered. 

Sharmila Vijayvargi

The Fabindia School

svi@fabindiaschools.in

Honesty and Respect - Optimizer BHIS

"Overcoming fear, to tell the truth, is difficult, but in the end, it isn't so bad."

Teaching young children about courtesy, gentleness and honesty, we sometimes wonder if they would ever show these qualities by themselves without being reminded. How will they act when faced with a moral dilemma? This story about  Divyansh might give us hope and affirmation.

Recently, we conducted an invigilator less weekly test for all the grades. Since it was the first time, students were going to be assessed in the above way; they were briefed about the intention behind the thought.

I delegated the responsibility and shared the instructions for this test with my class. I had requested the class monitor to keep an eye during the test and asked her to collect the answer scripts after half an hour. After the test, I went to the class and enquired about their experience.  Most of them suggested conducting all tests in the same manner in the future. Further, I checked with the students whether they were honest in attempting the test. To my surprise, all agreed that they had been honest. 

After the class, Divyansh met me in the staffroom. He looked worried and started weeping. I tried to pacify him but at the same time asked why he was worried. He confessed that he had copied the answers from the textbook. He also said that while I was taking feedback about the test, he was hesitant to give a truthful answer as he was scared.

Later, when he realized his mistake, he decided to meet me personally and wanted to accept his wrongdoing and free himself of guilt.  He requested me not to share the incident with other teachers and the class because he didn't want to feel insulted.  As a teacher, first I valued his honesty and then I respected his courage in sharing the truth with me.

I have understood that when we trust one another with respect, students reciprocate by confiding in us.

Optimizer @ Billabong High International School Thane.

- Sanket Patel, Madhubala Saji, Kalyani Chaudhuri, Rupal Trivedi, Momita Banerjee, Ajita Bhoir, Kshama Rajgor.

Honesty and Respect

What is Honesty? Many children think honesty means not to tell a lie and that is definitely part of being honest. But honesty means more than not lying. A more complete definition of honesty shows that an honest person doesn't do things that are morally wrong. Honesty is an important character trait for a successful future. It takes time, patience and effort to teach children to be honest.

Children sometimes start a dishonest tendency during the pre-school years. For instance, they may grab toys from a child or try to take stationeries of other children. The teacher should correct this type of behaviour immediately by teaching children to return what is taken, apologize for their behaviour or teach children a way to pay for what is taken.

 Use age-appropriate language to teach positive character development. Help young children understand honesty and why dishonesty is bad by reading stories related to honesty. Ask children questions throughout the story, or enact a play on the theme 'Honesty is the best policy’. This process gives children time to share their thoughts and understanding.

 Children often lie out of fear or to protect themselves because they worry about being punished or making teachers angry. When teachers react harshly to children’s mistakes, it may result in more lies instead of taking responsibility for their behaviour. It is important for teachers to talk to children about their behaviour, what they could have done differently and what they can do to make things right. When children tell the truth, teachers should praise them for being honest. Children should know that their teachers value and appreciate the truth.

Respect includes qualities like acceptance, courtesy, manners, being considerate of the feelings of others, peacekeeping, and appreciating differences. It is important to make the children realize the value of respecting their teachers, their parents and friends. One of the most fundamental things to teach respect is ‘To give respect and take respect’. If we do not respect our children, they will also not respect us. Both the teacher and the student should respect each other.

The next time you see a child in a situation where he is being respectful, acknowledge and praise him in front of other children. Thus, you will be able to check that respect is an admirable quality in all children equally. As our children learn the importance of listening to others and taking their views, ideas and opinions, they should also become more open-minded and increasingly tolerant towards others. Respecting others can lead to the development of strong positive relationships with friends, family members and teachers. It is also a trait that is invaluable throughout life and ultimately respect will help our children to grow up and lead a happy life where others are always treated well.

Educators: Swabhi Parmar, Rajeshwari Rathore & Prakash Dangi
The Fabindia School, Bali