By Victor Ochieng’
vochieng.90@gmail.com.
In November, I was cordially invited to speak at Karima Girls; the national Centre of Excellence for the girl child in Nyandarua County. From the City in the Sun, you drive towards Nakuru up to a place called Fly Over. Then, you branch to Njabini. From there, you drive towards Engineer Town. Again, you cruise the car up to a tiny town called Ndunyu Njeru.
The school is hidden in the thick thickets of Aberdare Ranges. I had the privilege and pleasure to speak there for two consecutive weekends. One glad day, I will write something good about Karima Girls.
In my second visit, I decided to call my friend, Sister Susan, the pious principal who steers St. Anuarite Girls in Njabini. It is a school I have always visited alongside Njabini Boys and Mt. Kinangop Girls. I had not planned to speak, but the solemn sister requested me to say something to the candidate class.
When the pleasant principal prefaced my presentation, she told daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi something I felt was worth writing about. You know, I am a passionate lover of Benjamin Franklin’s wise words, “Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.”
There, they don’t just focus on the school target of 7.5+ or so. There is also discipline target which stands at 12. I found that to be quite intriguing and interesting. Schools talk about targets like the overall mean score of the class. They set targets of the number of students to matriculate directly into university, and the last grade to be attained. Teachers set targets in every subject. Students are challenged to set individual targets. There are group targets and recognition targets. But do most schools really think about the score and scope of discipline?
Somehow, diligence and discipline must be welded well. Jim Rohn sagely said, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.”
There are various forms of indiscipline cases committed by students. They include: truancy, bullying, vandalism, theft, assault, incitement, leaving blank spaces in exams, cheating in exams, organising or participating in strike, dressing like large scale farmers of bhang, torching schools, rudeness, boycotting lessons, defiance of authority, abuse of drugs, wearing wrong school uniform, unacceptable hairstyles, reporting to school late, use of vulgar language and possessing unwanted stuff. Indiscipline is also seen in perverse sexual behaviour like; fornication, lesbianism, gayism, masturbation, exbitionism and voyeurism.
Over and above, there are different types of discipline: self-drive, academic discipline, mind-level discipline, external discipline and self-discipline. Self-drive is having personal initiative. Academic discipline cascades to what students do to evince academic excellence. Mind-level discipline entails controlling what gets into the mind. External discipline can be explored as humility and obedience. Self-discipline is self-conquest. Harry Truman sagely said, “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves. Self-discipline with all of them came first.”
Let me augment this argument. Solomon, scion of David, the sage who according to 1 Kings 4:32 penned 3,000 aphorisms, writes in Proverbs 12:1: “Whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge…”
Therefore, it’s right to write: Discipline and knowledge are inseparable. They are close cognates. Diligence and discipline are also consanguineous. When candidates are undisciplined, they mess and miss the mark. When the administration tightens the noose, it leads to suspension and expulsion of students with aberrant behaviour. When candidates are sent home due to indiscipline, this pales their performance in KCSE. For the conducive school environment is very important for a student poised for KCSE.
Moreover, it’s indiscipline that makes some candidates to blatantly refuse to sit for exams. Yet, several exams done before KCSE enable candidates to practise and prepare to run the last race with great grace and elegance. Candidates steady their nerves through several tests and trials.
Elite athletes dedicate 90% to practice and preparation. Therefore, winning the race is 10%. But the practise and preparation that athletes go through is expensive, pensive and painful.
A soldier does everything with clock-like precision. Yet, it is always not easy to be precise and perfect. In military, discipline is paramount. No wonder, Apostle Paul of Tarsus admonishes his protégé Timothy to evince excellence in grace. He reminds him to be a good soldier in 2 Timothy 2:3-4: “Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commander.”
Again, in verse 5 he says: “Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the raft of rules.”
Over and above, life has two types of pains: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Going through the pain of discipline, saves a candidate from the pain of regret. The saddest statement is: I wish I knew.
Diligence and discipline carries pangs of pain. A giraffe gives birth while standing. All of a sudden, the baby falls on hard surface from the cushion of mama’s womb. It sits on the ground. The first thing mama does is to get behind the baby and kick it hard. The baby gets up when legs are feeble and fallible. It falls. The mama goes behind again, and gives it a hard kick. The baby gets up, but sits down again. Mama keeps kicking until the baby gets on its feet and begins moving.
What makes mama to do that? She knows the only way for the survival in the jungle is to get up. Otherwise, it would be eaten up by wild cats. It’s painful, but an act of tough love – discipline.
Therefore, figures of authority should instil discipline in learners. Instilling is an act of tough love: Being unkind in order to be kind, for not all medicine is sweet, and not all surgery is painless.
The writer is an editor, orator and trainer. He rolls out motivational talks and training programmes.
