Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Political Mayhem
Criticisms flew across the room toward the unbeknowst monolithic being. It hit him bulls eye. Not typical of him to surrender easily, the being retaliates, assailing its attacker with verbal acid. The atmosphere tenses up. As the spar proceeds, the situation becomes too intense for the judge. She decides to intervene. The judge poised herself, ready to catapult her ammunition... With deft movements of her verbal orifice, the judge calls for the spar to be adjourned indefinitely. At this instance, the audience in the room breaks into whispers and sniggerings. While some are bewildered, others become involved in their own world conversing among themselves.
Classroom politics is probably the most loved and enjoyed classroom entertainment. Most people would disagree. But in their darkest and inner most conscience-forsaken corner of their heart, they revel in it. Who wouldn't be interested to watch a live political spar in the midst of a lesson!
Obviously there are the downsides of classroom politics, which is why I never land myself into such unglamorous predicaments in life - even if it means to shave a few strands of hair off my skin. In most circumstances, there is the victor and the loser. Kudos to the winner. But not everyone will be sympathetic towards or feel empathy for the loser. But in any case, the audience gets the better bits and pieces of the entire saga(s).
Let's look on the bright side. Politics in class is not all that bad, is it?
With the inevitable winner-loser element aside, I feel that classroom politics is an excellent case study for inter-human relationships within a group. Even before the verbal spar has ended, there surely will be sides taking. Supporters of each side will surface, subtly or otherwise (I assume that nobody reading this article at any point in time is picturing the supporters with banners and sorts - silly billy!). Besides the supporters, there'll be neutral cliques. Quite self-explanatory. These are those who indulge in absolute pleasure and gratification the entire time during which the political war is being fought. Lovely.
Shouldn't people live harmoniously in peace and goodwill? Imagine all the live entertainment and digestible life lessons yet to be learnt! What becomes of those PR skills?
Definitely, life skills are not based solely or mainly on classroom politics. There are a handful of others: Gossip, scandals, and slanders. The list is inexhaustible.
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