07/08/2026
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There was a time when showing respect to teachers was an unspoken rule in society. While far from perfect, young people were raised to honor them because they carried the weight of shaping tomorrow.
Today, that basic standard of respect is visibly breaking down. Just this June 22, in Tacloban City, a tragic campus shooting involving two young minors resulted in lost lives, many injured people, shattered dreams, and mourning families. Meanwhile, in Naga City, a group of high school students rode a public jeepney while openly discussing plans to assault a teacher. They repeatedly talked about beating the teacher up, laughing as though the threat was nothing more than a joke. Whether said in jest or in earnest, such remarks reflect a troubling disregard for respect, accountability, and the safety of educators.
When classrooms turn into spaces of fear and teenagers treat real harm as light entertainment, society is forced to confront a painful reality. What is happening to the core values of today's youth? And what kind of atmosphere is being handed down to the generation taking over tomorrow?
Parents work tirelessly to provide food on the table, a quality education, and opportunities for a better future. Yet, amid the pursuit of material and financial security, one question remains: Have we unintentionally allowed comfort and convenience to replace the essential work of parenting, teaching kindness, respect, responsibility, and self-control at home?
Education does not start when a student steps through the school gate. A childโs character is shaped long before they ever sit at a classroom desk. Teachers can teach academic lessons, but a childโs morals are formed inside the household. Children absorb far more from what they witness than what they are told, noticing how adults handle frustration, how they speak to others, how people treat each other behind closed doors, and how they behave when no one is holding them accountable.
Some might argue that social media, peer pressure, online games, or an overworked school system are the true root causes of this problem. However, while external influences certainly shape a childโs environment, they only fill the void left behind when foundational values are missing. A strong moral compass built at home acts as a shield. Without it, a young person will simply absorb whatever the outside world feeds them.
When a young person feels no hesitation in threatening, intimidating, or harming even their own teacher, that dark impulse does not magically form in a school hallway. It is the result of a long, slow, and often unnoticed process in which boundaries gradually disappear, accountability is forgotten, actions are detached from consequences, and empathy is left untaught.
If society no longer feels alarmed when a classroom becomes a place of violence, then the issue never belonged to the school system alone. We should stop expecting classrooms to teach what must first be learned at home, and parents should reclaim their role as their children's primary guides before outside influences do it for them.
Books, lessons, and school policies will never be enough to raise a good person. These foundations are built around dinner tables, through everyday conversations, and by the daily examples set within the home.
A school can teach a child how to make a living, but only a home can teach them how to live. If character is not built within those walls, no school bell will ever ring loud enough to awaken their conscience.
| Words: Shamcey Tolentino /The Isarog
| Cartoon: Cris Albert Lucero /The Isarog
