Prison schools? Oh, come on!

Dr. Orville Taylor, Contributor

Seemingly caught flat-footed by the presentation in Parliament on Tuesday by Minister of Education, Ronnie Thwaites, principal of Jamaica College, Ruel Reid, lamented, "It's unfortunate how we like to grandstand in this country because, as far as I'm aware ... this research is dated and it does not in any way represent what is happening at Jamaica College (JC) today."

It was a study, conducted by the Jamaica Constabulary Force Research, Planning and Legal Services Branch (RPLSB), which found, in essence, that the majority of prison inmates in Jamaica had attended non-traditional high schools. A whopping 74 per cent of them went to schools that were former junior secondary schools in the 1970s and now labelled 'upgraded high schools'. Indeed, several of them formed clusters and popped up most frequently on the radar. These include Kingston High, Holy Trinity High, Vauxhall High, Norman Manley High, and Pembroke Hall High. However, only one traditional high school, JC, and Holmwood Technical, are fingered, with both having eight attended.

SINGLED OUT

Thwaites, ever the Georgian and Christian, trying to assuage the delicate feelings of the labelled schools, who have long borne the stigma of being second-rate, 'other' schools, remarked, "No one wants to put a pall of doom or guilt on these institutions, but they have been singled out, only with the desire, as far as the Ministry of Education is concerned, to be offered special attention."

Unfortunately, both Reid and Thwaites, two bright men in their own right, have demonstrated why sociological analysis, social research and social policy must be done by sociologists and social workers. It is no different from when lawyers and doctors tell laymen to leave it to the experts.

What we have seen is a correlation; that is, two sets of variables are associated, although one does not necessarily cause the other. For example, if larger plantains seem to grow nearby humongous bananas, we wouldn't conclude that it is the bananas that cause the plantains to grow. Rather, we would logically assume that some independent variable, such as fertilisers or irrigation, but not like the St Thomas onion project, was the cause.

So, let us make it clear what the point is. Criminals are not born, they are bred, and it is not the schools that "have been churning out the bulk of misfits who have ended up in the country's prisons," as my colleague and 'bredren', Daraine Luton, remarked in The Gleaner on Wednesday. Moreover, although the headline 'Prison schools - Gov't study says poor-performing institutions produce most inmates' captures the imagination, the schools do not, by
themselves, create criminals.

Thwaites was on the
right path when he decided to focus his strategy on early-childhood
education, and one of the recommendations of the study is precisely
that. The fact is, the life chances of young people are well determined
and decided by the time they reach primary school. Socialisation, the
process by which citizens in a society learn socially acceptable
behaviours, begins at home, where the template is drawn. True, the
renamed schools are underequipped. But that is the symptom, rather than
the problem. Thwaites will readily agree that the cream of the crop from
the erstwhile Common Entrance Examination and the Grade Six Achievement
Test (GSAT) does not get sent to Vauxhall. Despite the 2014 Rhodes
Scholar being a graduate of that institution, he is a statistical
anomaly; not the norm. Students who go to stigmatised schools are
generally those with low GSAT scores. Many of them have been failed
previously by the primary-school system.

Thus, with
the substandard levels of basic numeracy and literacy, they simply lack
what is necessary to go forward. Poor academic outcomes at all levels in
the system are associated with learning and behavioural disorders as
well, which in turn affect both placement in the next scholastic level
and other social pathologies, such as criminal
conduct.

It's not rocket science, although it is
social science. Internationally, the trends are consistent. Around 77
per cent of the Scottish prison population examined "were assessed as
lacking functional literacy". Another 74 per cent were numerically
deficient.

In the US, 60 per cent of the prison
population and some 85 per cent of juveniles who are brought before the
courts are functionally illiterate. Not surprisingly, more than 70 per
cent are incapable of reading grade-four
material.

Nevertheless, for all the discomfort that
some people have with the survey, the police must be commended for
trying to apply a social research approach to an understanding of the
phenomenon that they are struggling with. Sociological research has long
helped criminal investigators to build profiles of categories of
criminals. And though offensive to some, because the majority of persons
with these attributes are not criminals, they can be useful in both
investigations and the construction of policy.

This
survey is not quite there yet. Drawing a decently large 894-person
sample from the more than 3,000 residents in penal institutions, the
RPLSB found the "'typical' inmate ... comes from a single-parent home,
... has had some exposure to a secondary-level education at a
non-traditional high school and dropped out of high school before
reaching grade 11 without achieving any subject". And "... at least
seven out of every 10 inmates ... have had some association with a
non-traditional high school." These schools are not the causes, and any
policy or media report which seems to give that impression is flawed and
dangerous. Worse, the labels can not only demoralise, but can be used
to justify maltreatment by agencies, including the
police.

However, one must remember that the prison
population only comprises persons caught. With the low clear-up rate, it
could very well mean that the smarter criminals are running
free.

Yet, there are some other details in the study
which need attention. A third came from homes with both parents resident
and, if father-only households are added, 40 per cent of them lived
with their fathers. However, 37 per cent of them lived with mother
alone. The 'single-mother' stereotype must be looked at more carefully,
because the data do not support it. Noteworthy, 24 per cent said they
left school because of finances. Unemployed or underemployed parents
can't educate their boys. I have been saying for years that poor labour
policies fuel the crime rate.

Oh, by the way, did
anyone realise that we are assuming that a bunch of convicts have spoken
truthfully to police investigators? Hmmm!