In the distant past, in great Greece, hubris was excessive pride towards or defiance of gods. Apollo the King of Greece wanted to know the wisest man in Greece. Therefore, he sent his oracle to strut in the street, and scout for the wisest man that brought glory in great Greece. In the street, the oracle met the philosopher Socrates, and asked him about the wisest man in Greece. Socrates responded that he was the most sagacious man. When asked why he thought so. He defended that he was the wisest in Greece because he knew that he knew nothing.
So, as I sit to write, my mortal mind takes a mental flight back to the recent past, 2015. As a teacher of English, I was preparing a certain candidate class for KCSE. It was in an emerging private school, in this coolest town, the jungle of concrete, where roads such as Express Way have evolved to storeyed status.
I joined the school as a teacher of English. But after teaching there for around two years, the skillful management of the school promoted me to be the Deputy Principal of the school. Being young, with limited experience in teaching and school management, I must admit, it was the most challenging job. In my moments of reflections, through it all, I always look back and thank God for propping me up. I may not opt to write about how I handled discipline cases as the man who was at the helm of that department; assisted by the dedicated discipline committee. In this essay, I will only say something about my short stint in that school as a teacher of English.
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Driven by real zeal and incisive zest, I tried to create more contact and content hours with my students. I woke up early and slept late. Meaning, apart from the normal lessons splashed on the block timetable, I also went the extra mile.
In 2015, I was teaching Form Four candidates. Unfortunately, there were yawning gaps in matters character and discipline, which manifested in the form of stupid pride. As the KCSE exams edged closer, we reached a point where my disciples frowned at discipline, and thought that they were done and dusted. They felt they were home and dry.
Therefore, some of them, due to what I term as stupid pride, started sliding into indiscipline cases like defiance of authority, skiving lessons, and absconding duties, abusing drugs and using vulgar language. Some became prone to unacceptable hairstyles, wearing of wrong school uniform, refusing to sit for exams, sleeping in class, making noise, vandalizing school property, becoming truants, inciting other students, coupling, fighting and stealing
Unfortunately, during the last lap, instead of polishing pale parts in the sphere of academics, we spent eternity solving indiscipline cases of undisciplined students. Instead of reporting to school to implement the main curriculum and instruct Form Four candidates on how to pass KCSE with flying colors, we allotted a lot of time reminding them to toe the line.
Somewhat, the school now looked like a police station or a court of some sort. Then, there is this sad episode. Based on my KCSE predictions and projections. In English Paper 1 (Functional Skills), question 1(Functional Writing), I came up with a giant list of documents to go through. I remember, very close to KCSE, there is a day I went to class to tackle Minute Writing. Sadly, in a class of 50 students, only 15 were in-attendance. Meaning, around 35 students were perhaps sleeping in the dormitory that morning. Maybe, they thought. At that time, they chose to clamor for comfort and free time.
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There was no need of attending more lessons. They thought they knew. Yet, they knew very little, and the little they knew, they did not know it well. When KCSE 2015 came, to their utter surprise, Minute Writing came as question 1 in English Paper 1 (Functional Writing). Advisedly, the sage said that we should let bygones be bygones. Albeit, I always take a mental flight back to 2015, and I feel for that whole kit and lot of candidates who perhaps missed quality grades in English because of stupid pride.
How does this stupid pride manifest? We see it when some candidates choose to take the path of indiscipline. They refuse to listen to figures of authority – administrators, teachers and student leaders. Then, when teachers cry about the candidate class, a curse can cloud their path of excellence. Then, we all know, curses are like chicken, they come to roost. When teachers who are elderly people, cry about children in the candidate class, this has a negative impact on what I call the ‘favour factor’.
For a part from getting quality grades in school, students should strive to leave school with bountiful blessings of teachers. No wonder, James 4:6 says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. James 4:10 reminds us to humble ourselves before the Lord, then He shall lift us.
In most cases, stupid pride also manifests in candidates who are top achievers – boys and girls who are geniuses. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 8:1-2 that knowledge puffs up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. Therefore, candidates who ‘think’ that they know better, can be tempted to rely on their own limited effort. Some fail to know, there is nothing that can replace the place of a teacher.
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Once a teacher, always a teacher. A teacher may look young, even with modicum experience, but apart from the advantage of age, the teacher knows the right buttons to press, which can entice peak performance. Then, top achievers in the candidate class should avoid hubris — excess self-confidence and pride. In addition, they should shun chutzpah — extreme self-confidence and audacity. For if they succumb to such, they will not make wise use of every minute to add some shine and sheen to their grades.
Interestingly, due to stupid pride, some top achievers just celebrate mediocrity — average grades. Instead of scoring maximum marks, they become complacent, and just remain on top of the bottom or at the bottom of the top. It is stupid pride, which eventually makes a top achiever to score an A of 80 points instead of an A of 84 points. A of 80 marks is not the same as A of 100 marks.
Stupid pride is bad. Woe betide proud people. It is what sank the Titanic Ship in 1912. Shiv Khera writes in his heroic book titled You Can Achieve More. That at that point in time, Titanic was the world’s largest ship. The behemoth sea vessel weighed 46,328 tonnes. It was 882 feet. It could accommodate 2,500 passengers. Titanic Ship was equipped with all the luxuries including a pool, gymnasium, mini-golf course, lavish dining rooms, et cetera. Ostensibly, it was the talk of town in those years of yore.
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Sylvia Caldwell, with her better half, boarded this behemoth vessel in Southampton on Sailing Day, April 10, 1912. She asked the crewman of the colossal ship who was still on the dock whether the vessel could sink. Stupid pride made him respond that even God could not sink it. Sadly, in the evil hours of the night, the Titanic struck an iceberg ripping a hole through five of its sixteen water-tight compartments. The Titanic sank. 1,513 people died. The captain and crew did not heed to the wise words fore-warned is fore-armed. They were warned earlier, but they totally ignored. Stupid pride made them sink.
Apart from refusing to heed to the stern warning, they did not carry life-boats. Which begs the question: What sank Titanic? Stupid pride sank Titanic. No wonder, when the oracle asked Socrates about the wisest man in Greece, he admitted that he was the one. For he had the awareness that he did not know. He needed to know more.
By Victor Ochieng’
The writer rolls out academic talks in schools. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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