Behavioural education, crime and a good book.

Yesterday I took a blog day off for reflection. I don’t know that it did me much good, as I seemed to just fill up that time with a long list of things to do that otherwise would have waited but I think I got a good amount of time in there for some reflection and consideration of behaviour, crime and education.

I am reading a wonderful book at the moment, lent to me by my darling friend Kate, The Secret River. It is just incredibly interesting and full of facts, some dark, some uplifting.

It shares the tale of Londoner in the late 1700s caught thieving, shipped off to Sydney and, plonked in the middle of nothing to start all over again only to achieve a whole lot more than he ever dreamed he could. It is a story of success and triumph, of love and loss and a clear demonstration of the behaviour that we are forced to partake in when the wrath of hunger and poverty beat down upon us.

This is all very interesting for me on many levels. As a teacher here in Brazil, I deal with upper middle class to high society. I don’t see anyone who is hungry, I don’t see people who need for anything, in fact the most common thing I witness here is the compulsive nature of a consumerist society (not excluding myself here) where there is always a thick water building up in the mouth as the taste of the next purchase to facilitate life comes to mind.

I am, however, not ignorant to the many of us who live on this beautiful, exotic continent who do not live in this manner. Who live by thieving their next dinner, begging for basic necessities in the street and turning to glue sniffing and smoking crack to keep the hunger pains at bay. Gosh, the number of times I have bought disposable diapers in the pharmacy at the request of a bleary eyed mother or father, flanked by at least 3 other children is countless.

So why, I ask myself, is it that we are so focussed on the reduction on crime? Why are we so quick to punish these people for possession and thievery? The answer to these problems lies in community policing and education. Police need to be revered rather than feared and social inclusion programs, such as some of the many provided by NGOs, government divisions and public organs need to be supported financially and otherwise to encourage the less fortunate of us to grow and prosper.

The law cannot be changed for those of us who are hungry, who have mouths to feed and not a penny to bless ourselves with. However, some considerations and the implementation of education in place of a jail term could more appropriately take the opportunity to rehabilitate a person, make them a more capable member of society. That is what jail is supposed to do, correct me if I am wrong, but penitentiary centres are for the re-education of the behavioural issues that some members of society suffer from?

So once again education triumphs. This article is but another demonstration of the positive turns education can give person. It opens opportunity to learn the skills to earn a living, honestly. Education gives the techniques to think for himself and make better decisions to benefit one’s family and then finally, education give one the ability to reason well, consequence and action. Is it worth stealing my neighbour’s car if I don’t have enough money to pay taxes and gas for it beyond this month...?

Keep educating yourself and take part in educating others. Scold less and explain more.

This is probably my favourite part of my life here in Brazil, I get to be an educator of language, culture, history, sport, politics anything my students want or need to know about.

Thank you Brazil for giving me this opportunity and also for educating me.

Have a great day.

Miss Hayley

PoGo Communications