Honesty and Respect - Achievers JMMS

1. Not willing to admit

Five years ago one instance happened when I was the class teacher of class 5, and we use to give stationery to the students from the school, and by the end of the day, they collect and leave the stationery in the class. One morning I saw that some of the stationery was missing. I asked them but no was willing to admit the fault. This went on for few days. I was distraught to see that. I decided to put some good values in my students. I told them about our inner voice which stops us from doing wrong things, and I told them the story of ‘A Golden Axe’. They listened to it carefully. Then I asked them if you have done something wrong that will show dishonesty then tell me. 

First, they started looking at one another. I took them in confidence, so they started admitting their mistakes. Suddenly a boy got up and told me that how and when he had stolen the things from the classroom. I was happy to hear that. Instead of scolding him, I praised him for telling the truth in front of the whole class.

2. Dishonest due to fear 

Once there was a girl in my class. She always used to be dishonest in the class. Whenever she was asked for her class test notebooks, she uses to tell a lie. The reason behind her dishonesty in her behaviour was carelessness, and maybe she got scared, and one more reason behind her dishonesty was that her parents were also not able to spend time with her. 

3. Jealousy and cheating

Two best friends used to spend most of the time together. One of the friends was intelligent and used to get appreciation from the teacher. The other friend was an average student. He never gets appreciation from the teacher. He feels sad when his friend was praised in the class. After some days the school planned to start the exams and called everyone to take their admit card and also informed that without this, you will not be able to appear in the exam.  The friend who was an average student got an idea due to jealousy to hide his friends admit card so that he will not be able to appear in the exams, so he did. 

When the friend was not able to find the admit card, he rushed to the teacher. Everyone started searching for it. Also, the teacher made the announcement that if any of the students have taken it, please returns it back to him. But every student refused. 

Suddenly one of the students told the teacher that I saw his friend stealing it from his bag. The teacher called him and searched himself in his bag, and she got it. The teacher then explained everyone not to steal things due to jealousy.  

             

“Honesty is truth-telling and truth-speaking. It takes strength and courage to admit the truth”.

B. This statement is true that you must show respect to earn respect in a classroom. Respect is something that is a two-way process.  When we give respect to someone, we expect the same from them. This happens in a classroom also. Children also expect respect from their teachers. I want to highlight this with a story.

One day I was taking attendance in my class. While calling out the names, I dropped my pen down. A child sitting just in front of me saw that I dropped my pen . He came and picked up my pen and gave it to me.  In return, I said thank you to him. He smiled and returned back to his place.  After that, I explained to them the value of 'respect ', and from that day, they started using it in their day to day lives. 

Achievers JMMS @ John Martyn Memorial School, Salangaon, Dehradun - Sweta Thapli, Meena Kukreti, Jyoti Joshi, Nisha Pundir

Patience and Courage - Byju Joseph

Patience and Courage are connected to each other in some ways. We need the courage to be patient. At the same time patience leads us to be courageous. If we analyse the social life at the present time we can understand that we are losing the value of patience day by day. Patience is the way to simplicity and it is the key to success. Beyond all discoveries, inventions, productions or any attempts, there must be patience and hard work for many days. It is time-consuming. In the present world, nobody is ready to waste precious time.

The world is running fast with technologies and everything is available instantly. Everyone is influenced by the scenario and getting addicted to consumerism.  We are also acquiring the tendency to gain without pain. We are not thinking of the consequences and thus we are becoming jealousy and impatient. Impatience may lead to dangerous situations. We need to stand courageously and patiently to work against the present-day issues that we face. We need to overcome them effectively and to do maximum for the betterment of the coming generations.

Patience depends on our self-discipline and self-control while courage depends on our confidence. Confidence depends on our knowledge. It is very clear that patience and courage together make success. There are many such examples which are inspiring everyone. Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four and he could not read until he was seven. Teachers thought he was slow and that’s why he was expelled from school. Later the world identified the most genius person in him. Thomas Alva Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything”. So he was also expelled from school and his mother took him off the school and taught him herself. Later he became one of the greatest inventors of all time having more than a thousand patents. He invented the bulb. During his attempts to invent it, he failed more than ten thousand times. From these, we can understand how much patience and courage they possessed which ultimately led them to success.

I would like to bring your attention to a small creature which I used to observe mostly in my childhood. It was a spider and it was so interesting for me to observe the weaving of its web. During its attempts to make the web, it fails many times. But it never gives up till it accomplishes. It tries many times patiently to achieve the goal. At that time it was not very thoughtful for me. But later on, I read a story of the king of Scotland named Robert the Bruce. In the story, it states that he fought against England six times and he was defeated in each war. The king escaped to a cave in the forest. There once he noticed a spider weaving its web. Six times the spider failed to throw its thread to the next end of the cave but it did not lose hope. It tried again and in the next attempt, it succeeded.

The king got inspired by the act of spider and as a seventh attempt, he collected and trained his soldiers to fight against England. He waited patiently and all arrangements were done and he became confident. The patient preparation and courageous step to the battle led him to golden success.

Byju P. Joseph

The Fabindia School

Honesty and Respect - Rectifier BHIS

Honesty & Respect - Inseparable Duo

It is said that “Respect is earned. Honesty is appreciated. Trust is gained. Loyalty is returned” - Anonymous.

The boys in the school were very excited. Adrenaline was running high as the much- awaited inter-school sports meet was to be held at the end of the month. The selections were scheduled for that afternoon. Vikram and Ram were close contenders for the 100-metre race.

Ram was the most popular boy in his class due to his consistently good grades, and Vikram was the most unpopular for his usual below-average grades. This had made Vikram extremely jealous - a mindset that even the teacher couldn’t get rid of, despite her efforts. One night, he decided to try out a devious plan on Ram which he thought was harmless. He poured some oil just near Ram’s bed so that when he got up for practice the next morning, he would trip and fall and probably hurt himself. Sure enough, the next day, unfolded exactly as Vikram had hoped. The doctor advised Ram 2 weeks of rest which meant that he couldn’t participate in the race. Eventually, their school lost the race, while everyone secretly wished Ram had participated.

The school schedule limped back to the usual, post the competition. One day, the teacher called Vikram to her desk. She expressed her concerns about his grades as he had secured only passing marks so far. She told him that in order to move up to the next academic year he would need at least 80% by the end of the year. She decided to let one of the students in the class help Vikram out in a  Buddy System. She picked Ram for this task. Ram was very glad to be of help to Vikram. This kind gesture shocked Vikram. He wondered if Ram was mocking him or was an incredibly sincere person! Soon, Ram made a study schedule and started tutoring Vikram. In due course of time, Vikram began to realize what the other students and the teacher saw in Ram. He began to recognise that Ram was intelligent and generous, without a sense of bias. At last, he felt as though he had a real friend whom he could count upon. But  the guilt at what he had done gnawed at Vikram. Every day he would consider confessing to Ram; but was held back by the fear of losing the only friend he ever had.

Both Ram and Vikram worked hard and soon they took their exams. It was time for the results. On the day of the outcome, all the children waited expectantly and Vikram, in particular, held his breath.

The teacher announced everyone’s grades and said, “This semester, we have a surprise entry in the top 10...Vikram with 82%!!”                                               It was a glorious moment for Vikram and the first person he ran to and hugged was Ram! He couldn’t thank him enough. After school, he decided to tell Ram everything honestly. He told Ram of his terrible plan, driven as he was at that time by sheer envy. His heart was racing throughout the whole time he spoke. But to his surprise, Ram told him, “That’s okay Vik! Things happen, and I’m sure you didn’t do it consciously. Your jealousy had consumed the better part of you. You’re asking for forgiveness now, and that shows me that you’re a good person!”

Vikram was ecstatic beyond words. He was in tears and hugged Ram. His respect for Ram increased tremendously.

After this, they were more popularly known as the “Inseparable Duo”.

Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into failure, and simultaneously gaining respect.

Honesty is very important in building trust, making friends and being a successful student. Being honest can be difficult for kids, but is important.

Rectifier @ Billabong High International School, Thane

- Pallavi Harkare, Kalpana Dodia, Rajshri Mohite, Prerna Khanna, Priyanka Iyer, Mahalakshmi Iyer