Civic Education - Junior Secondary 2 - Contentment

Term: 1^st Term

Week: 6

Class: Junior Secondary School 2

Age: 13 years

Duration: 40 minutes of 2 periods each

Date:

Subject:      Civic education

Topic:-       Contentment

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to

1. State and explain the effects of lack of contentment

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES: Identification, explanation, questions and answers, demonstration, videos from source

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: Videos, loud speaker, textbook, pictures

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES

PERIOD 1-2

NOTE

CONTENTMENT

EFFECTS OF LACK OF CONTENTMENT

Due to the quest for wealth, power, popularity etc many people in the society do things in the wrong ways and this has a negative impact on the society. Some of such negative ways include: 

1.) Corruption: This is a dishonest, illegal or immoral behaviour especially from someone with power. Corruption is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority, often to acquire personal benefit. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement, though it may also involve practices that are legal in many countries. Many people who are in position of authority misbehave by being dishonest.

They enrich themselves through illegal ways. Money given to such people to do some projects for the public are converted to their personal use. They take advantage of the position to be involved in immoral relationship with the opposite sex.

Corruption destroys honesty among citizens. People reap where they have not sown. Immoral relationship becomes the order of the day. Corruption is a disease that ruins if not taken care of.

Types of Corruption

1. Bribery – Bribery involves the improper use of gifts and favours in exchange for personal gain.
2. Embezzlement – Embezzlement and theft involve someone with access to funds or assets illegally taking control of them.
3. Fraud – Fraud involves using deception to convince the owner of funds or assets to give them up to an unauthorized party.
4. Extortion and Blackmail – While bribery is the use of positive inducements for corrupt aims, extortion and blackmail centre around the use of threats. This can be the threat of violence or false imprisonment as well as exposure of an individual’s secrets or prior crimes.
5. Abuse of Discretion – This refers to the misuse of one’s powers and decision-making facilities. Examples include a judge improperly dismissing a criminal case or a customs official using their discretion to allow a banned substance through a port.

2.) Favouritism, nepotism and clientelism  – This involves the favouring of not the perpetrator of corruption but someone related to them, such as a friend, family member or member of an association. Examples would include hiring or promoting a family member or staff member to a role they are not qualified for, who belongs to the same political party as you, regardless of merit.

3.) Greed: This is a strong desire for more food, drink than what you need. It could also be a strong desire for more money, power and possession than your need. This wicked desire in some people leave many people in poverty of such things. When a greedy person is in position, he grabs and grabs and grabs till there is nothing left for other people. Greedy people may hinder even development, make some people and places perpetually poor because they do not allow things to get to such people and places as it ought to because of their greedy tendencies.

Some examples of greed that don’t include money are:

a.) A person who takes all of the cookies in the house for himself, not sharing even though he knows others will want some.

b.) A person at work who takes credit for the hard work of others and who takes a larger share of the bonus money or prize for sales, even if he didn’t actually do anything to earn it.

c.) An employee who takes lavish vacations at the expense of his employer by claiming that the vacations are business trips, even when they really aren’t.

4.) Envy: This is a painful desire to enjoy or have what another is having or enjoying. Many people who are envious go all out to achieve their desires. Most envious people are people who are not contented with what they have. They continue to eye the benefits by other people. For example, people envying others are likely to get such people eliminated by

a.) Working against them

b.) Criticize such people unnecessarily

c.) May plan the killing of such people

This envy can hinder development in the society. It can also lead to misunderstanding

5.) Theft: People who are not contented with what they have always plan to steal other people’s things or the things belonging to the government. Stealing destroys the economy. Stealing hinders people enjoying things they would have been enjoying

6.) Prostitution: This is a way of using your skill, ability in the way that does not show its true value. Lack of contentment makes people to prostitute their abilities, skills or body in the process of earning money for a living. The word “prostitution” can also be used metaphorically to mean debasing oneself or working towards an unworthy cause or “selling out”. People who prostitute are likely to be victims of unexpected circumstances. Prostituting abilities have also led to brain drain from one society to another. Those who prostitute their bodies have become victims of one sexually transmitted disease or the other most commonly HIV/AIDS.

7.) Robbery: This is the crime of stealing that involves using violence. Many people today take to robbery to earn a living. Some go to the extent of arming themselves. So, anybody who stands on their way is threatened, injured or killed. Properties and money acquired through a long savings and pain are taken away. Lives and properties are also destroyed in the process of robbery.

8.) Cheating: It is to behave in a dishonest way in order to win or to get an advantage especially in a competition, game or examination. When people cheat in a competition or game, the true champion or winner is not known. The supposed winner in a cheating case often disappoints those they are representing. Those who cheat in examination are only qualified on paper, they are not skillful or knowledgeable. They disgrace themselves when tested on things they are supposed to know. They become square pegs in a round hole.

EVALUATION:    1. State and explain five effects of lack of contentment

CLASSWORK: As in evaluation

CONCLUSION: The teacher commends the students positively