Lascelve ‘Muggy’ Graham | Action! Not ah bag a mouth!

“ Action – not ah bag a mouth”, exhorts the hit song by Nadine Sutherland/Terry Fabulous. This is what is required in a number of areas in Jamaica, including education.

Through the years our leaders in education have travelled to countries that have lifted themselves from the bottom of the pile to the top with respect to education. There has been copious research in education in Jamaica, with two commissions, the latter about two years ago. The conclusions have been similar – the outcome of our education/socialisation system, to say the least, leaves a lot to be desired. The recommendations to bring about the required fix have also been similar and speaks to greater investment, particularly in the early childhood stage. Our educators know what needs to be done, it’s the implementation which has proven problematic.

The focus of the education system has essentially been on the core function, the primary mission of our education/socialisation system, which is to formally prepare our young citizens for life, especially in the academic, technical and vocational areas. Of course, in this digital, chatbots day and age, it is critical that we get these areas right. These variables will help us to merit a seat around the table of respectability, self-sufficiency and power. Otherwise, we will always be slaves.

However, the secondary, but very important objective of our education/socialisation system — the socialisation of our young citizens – has been given short shrift, overlooked, not highlighted or accounted for sufficiently. This is although the results of the society’s neglect in this area is all around us – murders, stabbings, gangs, fighting even at schools, poor anger management, distrust of authority, indiscipline, crude, crass, disrespectful, aggressive behaviour etc. Socialisation also has an effect on how open, receptive, willing our children are to learn, e.g., how quickly they settle down at school. Socialisation encompasses, is the embodiment of and makes possible the delivery of the holistic education our educators so frequently espouse.

People will be socialised one way or the other — to the benefit of the society or to its detriment. By neglecting to pay sufficient attention to this area, the state is ensuring that the outcomes continue to be, too frequently, not in the best interest of the society. We need conscious, deliberate action by our leaders in politics, education, the Church and the private sector, if we are going to turn the situation around. Action, not ah bag a mouth!

Too many of our families, for one reason or the other, are seriously deficient in providing the type of guidance and socialisation our children require. Fixing this is a long-term project. However, the government is in full control of our schools, and determine what happens in these schools, where children spend a lot of their time and are heavily influenced by what happens in school. Therefore, in the short to medium term, our schools, as one of the main socialising agents of society must step up to the plate, as surrogate parent, to help fill the socialisation gap left by the family. Our schools must start, as a policy, to put more emphasis, greater focus on the proper socialisation of our young citizens. We must engage the services of more experts in sociology, anthropology, psychology and psychiatry even, as well as getting more serious about how we use all the resources of the school to help the school achieve its mission.

It is disastrous for us to continue to have the two main agents of socialisation in society, the family and the school, operating at a dysfunctional level, and then at the end of the day blame the victims, the children, future adult citizens, for behaving in the destructive way they do. We must start taking the socialisation of our youth seriously, and stop leaving this process to chance. The outcome is not in the best interest of society, to which the police will readily attest. In the short to medium term we must give laser sharp focus to bringing about a paradigm shift in the efficacy and efficiency of our schools with respect to socialisation.

In keeping with this approach, one of the low hanging fruits, one of the things that should be changed immediately, is how our specialised education/socialisation institutions treat with extra-curricular activities, especially sports. We must move away from the win at all costs approach to sports in our schools and ban its corollary, recruiting for sports purposes by schools. This goes against, blunts and negates the fundamental purpose and role of sports in school as a socialising tool for whomever has legitimately qualified to be at the school. This is not in keeping with the holistic development of our students, which our leaders in politics and education mouth repeatedly.

Banning recruiting for sports purposes by our schools with all its many ills, would signal, among other things, that our leadership is serious about inculcating the values, attitudes, behaviours and life skills that our society demands for sustainability. It would be symbolic of the fact that we have turned a corner and are prepared to do the right thing, to take action and not just be, “ah bag a mouth”!

All stakeholders who have an interest in the proper education and socialisation of our youth – parents, students, principals, teachers, coaches, past students etc. — must, in their groups or singly, as did Miss Paula Richards, of whom I wrote in my last article (Gleaner 20/7/23), start to speak out strongly, not just privately, against this horrific practice of recruiting for sports purposes by our schools. Many of the above have complained to me about being hurt by the practice. Let your pain be known by the public. This will help tremendously to prod and push the reluctant leadership unto the right path and thus give our youth a better chance at the balanced adulthood we all crave.

Action, not ah bag a mouth, is needed for positive change.

Dr Lascelve ‘Muggy’ Graham is a former captain of the senior Jamaica football team. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com