Educating Youth

School Environment and its role in Educating the Youth
The youth have a critical role to play in a country’s effort to achieve national unity, social cohesion, economy, social justice, political stability, government system, quality of life, social and spiritual values and national pride and confidence.  Hence, the human capital factor has been elucidated as one of the important contributors towards achieving the country’s vision and this is where the education comes in.  The education system or precisely the schools emerge as the prime body to ensure the development of a highly educated, skilled and strongly motivated professional workforce.
Education is put as a significant element in a person’s life that can create the way of thinking and thus, create the world view.  According to Khan (1976) education is knowledge that put ones potential to a maximum use.  He further states that there are two important functions of education.  Firstly, education makes a man a right thinker, and secondly, to connect oneself to the external world, past history and receive all necessary information on the present.  Maulana Wahiduddin Khan (1976) also adds that without education, man is as though in a closed room and with education, he finds himself in a room with all its window open towards outside world.
Towards pursuing the success of the individuals, the schools and the nation, the intelligence of emotion must also be taken into account besides educating the youth for academic attainment.  If the academic excellence promises the worldly attainment, the emotional intelligence will equip a person with abilities in anger management, social intelligence and empathy (El-Nadi, 2008).  Hence, as an institution of learning, schools play an eminent role in educating the youth and hence, shape their world views.  This is the place where they build their social bonds with their circle of friends and teachers, and most importantly, it is the place where they are shaped into a whole person through the path of knowledge acquisition process and social behavior.
Lately, educators have been tuned towards providing and improving the teaching and learning process beyond the four walls of the classroom.  In addition, co-curriculum activities are seen as a way to encourage students’ interaction, thus build healthy social behavior and emotional intelligence.  When a school is perceived as a second home to the learners, educators therefore, need to look at many aspects when deciding the best way to provide good learning environment in the schools in assisting many parties to produce learned people.
Xin Ma (2003) stated that students will feel more comfortable in their schools if they have a greater feeling of worthiness compared to those who feel less worth.  When students feel socially comfortable and involved, they will be more ready to accept other challenges and difficulties in pursuing their obligations.  It is therefore seen important to look at the role of the school environment of the public secondary schools and how it affects the building of the students’ emotional intelligence.

References:
Xin Ma. (2003). Sense of Belonging to School:  Can School Make a Difference?. 
         The Journal of Educational Research, July/August 2003 [Vol. 96(No. 6)],
         2003.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. (1976).  The Importance of Education.  Al-Risala Forum
         International, Retrieved April 5, 2009 from the World Wide Web:
         http://www.alrisala.org/index.htm

Sahar El-Nadi. (2008).  How Does Islam View Human Emotions?.  Islamonline.net,
         Retrieved April 4, 2009 from the World Wide Web:
         islamonline.net/servlet/.../AskAboutIslamE/PrintAskAboutIslamE