School Drinking Day!

Oni wat otto tanah urah de wat tih de sikurah?

A friend of mine who once taught in a Sarawak rural primary school told me a story about the the school's Sports Day. It is common that the Parent Teacher's Association (or Persatuan Ibu Bapa & Guru) play a pivotal role in making such an event a huge success and it comes as no surprise that parents more often than not, would jump at the opportunity to participate in this sort of event. I think the enthusiasm from parents for any sports day, whether rural or urban is about the same. But how they go about it...is a totally different story.

Let me stress that what I am about to say does not apply to every rural school, but I wouldn't be wrong in telling you that it happens in most rural schools. I'm assuming it could be a fifty-fifty ratio or more. So what happened was, as the school authorities prepares the venue for the event, parents were also helping them out .But as they helping, they were also helping themselves opening up their own 'canopies' and 'stalls'.

What exactly were they planning? They were opening drinking joints for parents that want to buy beer and they watch their kids compete. They set up a temporary karaoke joint - so even when the Sports Day is done by late afternoon, the parents enjoy themselves there until ate at night (note that this is happening in the school compound!)

In my entire primary school days, I have never seen parents in my primary school dare to open a drinking session during the school sports day. The reason is plain and simple: ethics. The school is a place of learning and educating, for all the right reasons...so if you show up at school with beer cans in hand, all drunked up and mumbling through a karaoke session - then you have a lot of explaining to do to yourself and to your kids. Unless you intend to educate your kids in becoming drunks.

There's a time and place for everything and  I personally think that a school Sports Day is not the time and the place to be hanging out on a drinking binge and SHOW it to everyone. I wonder if they even really care about what exactly goes on over at the track.

So why am I writing about this? I dunno, maybe simply coz I'm just saddened by how this is projected into the minds of our future generation. Or maybe because I don't think it's right? But I'm not trying to be judgemental - people can do whatever they like, but that doesn't stop me from saying what I want to say too, rite? The same way no one is stopping these type of parents from drinking in schools.