REPLY TO ABOVE

Rose Villa.

Quetta,

January 7,1994.

Dear Pirzada,

Spare the rod and do not spoil the child. Do not think the ancients were always right. I do not mean to say that the ancients were always wrong. Their sayings were conditioned by their circumstances. Let us not forget the modern circumstances demand new approach. Let us learn who is best in all the ages. Our maxim should be. “Gather ye the wisdom of East and West.” In modern times more children are spoiled by using the rod than by spraying it. If you want to bring up a child well you must treat him as your equal. You must not beat him for everything. Rather beat everything into his head. You must win him over to your ideas. You must convince him about the rightness or wrongness of an action. It will be more fruitful than mere violence. You can force a child to follow you, but you cannot make him your follower by force. Only when he is convinced of the rightness of your advice will he do as you tell him. Logic alone than love. You must always appeal to his heart rather than to his head. To appeal to the long stick in education is to destroy education. It is like burning the house to drive out to rat. Maybe, the house is burnt and yet the rat is not driven out. He sleeps snugly in a hole below the floor and at last burrows his way out of the ashes. So use your head rather than your stick in dealing with a child. Verily, he is more afraid of your tongue than your rod. Even more than the stick, a good tongue can succeed. A gentle understanding eye does ever better than a talkative tongue. A sympathetic silence is the real part of education. An ounce of example, as they say, is worth of ton of precept. Think! Think! Think! Help the child to think and bring out his best.

Yours sincerely,

Mofiz.