Lascelve Graham | The formidable, dysfunctional education system vs the gallant Ms Paula Richards

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! I lift my hat and commend highly the very courageous single mother, businesswoman Ms Paula Richards, who has taken on single-handedly the grotesque juggernaut into which our education/socialisation system has morphed.

Through the many years that I have been voicing my concerns related to the system, I have had complaints from many parents, guardians, students, teachers, coaches and even principals and other significant actors in the education hierarchy. They privately agree fulsomely with the grouses I have aired having to do with the interface between education/socialisation and sports in our public schools.

They agree that the role of sports in our schools has been distorted, corrupted, hijacked, undermined, made less efficient by the overemphasis on winning at all costs at sports in schools. The concomitant recruiting for sports purposes by schools has many obvious and unintended, negative consequences. However, none has had the courage to go public with his/her complaint because of fear of reprisals, in one form or the other, by the system. Ms Richards has valiantly gone public.

DAVID VS GOLIATH FIGHT

Ms Richards has decided to take on this David vs Goliath fight of the system and to put everything on the line, out of love for her son and what she considers the best path for him. She told her story, published on 15/7/23 under the heading, ‘Mother complains that gifted footballer son abducted by prominent high school’, to the Observer newspaper. She states essentially that her son, who captained Wolmer’s Manning Cup team last year, has seemingly been enticed to change allegiance to Hydel this year, although his mother is dead set against that. He allegedly went off to camp against his mother’s wishes.

Inter alia, Ms Richards is quoted as saying that there are forces determined to influence her son’s future without her involvement, while he was still a minor; that her son would be going to Hydel “over my dead body”; “these people are vultures, they are recruiting my child without my consent; I am a single parent. I have raised him by myself for 17 years”.

Given the state of affairs with respect to the many hurdles, especially of single-parent families in Jamaica, as they struggle to instil the proper values, attitudes and behaviours in their children, our schools persist with an approach which, instead of assisting in the proper socialisation of our young people, is in fact making it more difficult. The system is a hindrance to the proper socialisation of our children!

AUTHORITY FIGURE

Given Ms Richards’ allegations, this young man has been encouraged, supported, aided and abetted, incentivised to disobey his mother, a most important authority figure in his life, who cares for him, has sacrificed for him and has his best interest at heart. And why? For the ridiculous goal of the recruiting school doing better at sports!

Is using our public, specialised educational/socialisation institutions as sports academies/clubs in the long-term best interest of Jamaica? Especially at this time in Jamaica, when our social fabric is under stress, where we are one of the top-ranked countries in the world in crime, shouldn’t our schools, as major socialising agents, be using all at their disposal (extracurricular activities, etc) in an attempt to help in the inculcation of the proper values, attitudes, behaviours and skills in all our youngsters, whether nerds or stars?

Sports in our public specialised educational/socialisation institutions has become an end in itself. It is no longer a means to an end, which ought to be the better education and socialisation of the student. Its role is no longer that of a socialising tool, in the teaching/learning environment we call school, for the benefit of whomever has legitimately qualified to be at that school, whether star or nerd. It is all about winning at all costs. Thrown through the window is the idea that it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.

ENTICED BY PROMISES

Of course, this is not the first time that a youngster has been enticed by promises, cash and/or kind to change school because of his/ her sports prowess. The dastardly, scandalous practice of recruiting for sports purposes by our schools, with its many ills and negative implications for our education/socialisation system, has been happening for decades. Throughout the years, this win-at-all-costs mentality has caused flare-ups, including violence between schoolboys. Many schools and parents have succumbed to the pressure to move, while others have quietly resisted the incentives to transfer.

Ms Richards is the first victim to have bawled out so loudly. Kudos to her and her tenacity! This may be the only chance she has as a loving, responsible, hard-working, caring mother to regain some control over her son’s life. Also, this is one of the few occasions that a big fish is being inveigled to come into shallow waters – a star is being tempted from a very highly rated, traditional educational institution to one perceived to have less pedigree.

This won’t be the last time that recruiting for sports purposes by our schools rears its ugly head. I suspect Ms Richards will be appeased because of her tremendous strength and resolve, and we will be served the usual menu about ignorance of what was happening, “I can’t recall”, and the other worn-out platitudes. However, the beat will go on and recruiting for sports purposes by our public specialised educational/socialisation institutions will continue apace, unabated, because of the cowardice of our leadership in education, politics and the Church.

It’s a shame when poor, struggling families have to fight tooth and nail against what should be an ally – the education/socialisation system – in order to do the right thing! A clear example of the enemy within!

I hope this episode doesn’t cause a serious rift between the loving mother and her son. They both need the support of society and our governance to ‘do the right thing’.

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