Ronald Thwaites | The common good

Recently, Dr Horace Chang confirmed what many of us already knew: that the most dangerous criminals are in their teenage years. Then Minister Desmond McKenzie blurted out that we are a nasty people. Hard truths after 56 years of independence, especially since it was not this way in living memory.

Ask yourself: Where do Jamaicans learn to respect themselves, to prize human dignity, the worth of every person, reverence for the earth?

Who teaches us manners, discipline, the need for self-restraint, basic appropriate conduct, the habit of obedience, of sharing, a reverence for the sacred, the sense of a common cause greater than individual satisfaction?

Are these virtues innate in the human DNA? Or must they be intentionally taught and cultivated? And if so, where and who are the preceptors? While we argue about the Primary Exit Profile test and are preoccupied more with CSEC passes than with moral values, are these habits and principles of a life that is not brutish to be found well-embedded in the National Standard Curriculum? Are they persuasively evident in all the communications media? Can we be sure that they are sufficiently inculcated in our homes?

 

NATIONAL MORAL OBLIGATION

 

And if not, why should we be surprised at the social deterioration that coarsens our lives, contributes mightily to the shedding of our blood, and 'colts' all hopes of high productivity and economic growth?

Do we even acknowledge that all these principles and dreams are connected? That the five-in-four projection will not be possible, or, even if it were, would have little significance if we continue to treat the coffee farmers, the Constant Spring vendors or the needlessly detained, embittered youth in the states of emergency as collateral casualties to our selfish minority pursuits?

For many of us, it took the unrelenting efforts of parents, committed to each other and to their families, who enfleshed and mentored the lives we now try to lead.

It was impressive to listen to Minnie Phillips' children and grandchildren speak over her coffin last week of her gift to them of freedom with responsibility, cherishing of nation and relishing of sacrifice and service.

But seriously now, are we encouraging wholesome family life in Jamaica? At the very least, should we propose as a national standard in our sex-crazed culture that when two persons produce a child, they have an obligation, whatever their personal affections turn out to be, to commit to relate to each other constructively for the upbringing of that child? For then, more than perhaps, those children would not turn out to be teenage 'shottas'.

Then there were/are the schools and churches. 'Butch' Hendrickson, the early-childhood philanthropist, tells of the profound influence on him as a giddy youth, not only of his revered parents but of men like Hugo Chambers and Mr Sparks, just two of his teachers at Jamaica College. Should we, by more careful choice and training, intensify the role-modelling aspect of more, if not all, our teachers?

 

HOW IS SOCIETY PLAYING ITS PART?

 

What special effort have we made this year to keep teenage boys in school? The discipline of regular attendance alone of the most vulnerable would go a far way to prevent the graduation of at least some of them into the 'shotta' culture.

How many of the churches who own or sponsor almost 50 per cent of our schools, and whose membership staff the remainder, accept that engaging and mentoring young people inside and outside the classroom constitutes a vital ministry?

Children need training, not dressing up. Too often we confuse taking care of them to mean that we make them look nice. They need to be taught to respect authority without recourse to physical force.

There are two broad trends in our political culture that either help or harm the pursuit of an ethic of the common good. One tendency sees society as an aggregation of individuals seeking personal interests and yielding to the concerns of others only to the minimum extent necessary. The other identifies equality of opportunity for all as life's supreme and sublime purpose, one which can bring fulfilment for each person.

What notion of the common good are we teaching our children?

- Ronald Thwaites is member of parliament for Kingston Central and opposition spokesman on education and training. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.