Don\\\'t sow weeds into the minds

What a delight it was to read the report titled "Reception accorded to Sir Frank Peters" (Financial Express, January 27, 2014)! The smiling faces of the pupils at Seven Star Daffodil School in Khilgaon have proven that there is no room for corporal punishment in a classroom environment and the pupils loves him.

His pep talks to the pupils were really interesting. I wish he had been around me when I was a teenager. He asked the pupils to imagine their minds are buckets filled with fertile soil and to imagine negative thoughts as seeds of weeds and positive thoughts as seeds of flowers. He said if you sow weeds (negative thoughts) into the mind, weeds will grow and if you sow flowers (positive thoughts), flowers will bloom.

The mind itself has no prejudices and accepts whatever you feed it, just like a sponge that soaks up dirty or clean water. When I conveyed this philosophy to my children, they were impressed. If philosophies and positive thoughts like this one were taught in schools, Bangladeshi society would prosper more.

Anika Miah

Banani, Dhaka

anika.Miah@cheerful.com