Education or Law?

Which way do you think is the most effective, education or law? For example, do you think the law or education will be effective towards people who have the habit of throwing rubbish onto the floor or leaving rubbish behind? Both of them will, of course, be effective to a group of people.



The law imposes fines on people who throw rubbish on the floor and have to pay the fine when caught. This will only work for people who care alot about their money. This group of people do not want to lose their money as it is their hard-earned money and it will be a waste by paying the fine($1,000) when caught for littering. It is certainly not worthwhile to just lose that much money to the government by just getting caught for littering so this group of people will consider about throwing litter. This group of people are those who are from the low class and middle class since they do not earn much money and every little bit of money matters alot to them.



Education is to educate people on the correct ways to do things like throwing rubbish into the litter bins or keeping the rubbish in a plastic bag until you see a litter bin to throw it in. Education is best taught to kids from young and this correct ways of doing things can be cultivated in them, letting them having the good habit of throwing rubbish into litter bins and despite inconvenience, they would still keep the rubbish and throw it into the litter bins if they found one later on.

I would think that educating people from young would be a most effective way and kids would learn everything taught to them since they yearn for knowledge as a curious child, allowing them to absorb everything they learn. If everyone has this good habit from young, then the law would not need to impose such heavy fines on people caught littering in public places and Singapore will continue to live up to its prestigious name of 'Garden City'. The law will only work on those who are scared of the law and do not want to pay the fines or to be caught in the public, causing themselves to be a disgrace in front of the public. Those who violate the law would only be scared after being caught once and having to pay fines, if not they would keep repeating the offences and by the time they stopped littering, Singapore would lose its name of 'Garden City'.

So what do you think? Education or Law?