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Discipline: a system, not a speech

24 6
21.12.2025

During a discussion with a colleague at the university, I was advised to rethink a complaint we often make in faculty rooms: "Students have changed." His point was simple but uncomfortable. Many problems we face on campus are not produced inside the university; they arrive here already shaped by years of home training, routine (or the lack of it), and the habits children develop while growing up. A university can guide, mentor and correct, but it cannot reliably rebuild what was never built: self-control, respect for limits and the ability to tolerate boredom without running to a screen.

When we talk about discipline, we usually reduce it to attendance, deadlines and classroom behaviour. Yet beneath these symptoms lie deeper drivers: poor sleep, unlimited device access, uncontrolled junk food, weak reading habits, minimal household responsibilities and a culture of instant gratification. A child raised with a phone in the bedroom and entertainment on demand trains the brain to seek stimulation constantly;........

© The Express Tribune