School or family: first point of socialisation?

Esther Tyson

'Prison schools - Gov't study says poor-performing institutions produce most inmates'. This article published in The Gleaner on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 has elicited outcry from many quarters, with some agreeing with the conclusion drawn from the study.

The article indicates the following:

"The research unearthed evidence to suggest that the names of some schools were more likely to be featured than others. There is also overwhelming evidence to infer, with a high degree of confidence, that at least seven out of 10 inmates in our adult prisons have had some association with a non-traditional high school," the study said.

I need us to examine the language the writer uses. The evidence "to suggest"; evidence to "infer"; "have had some association" with a "non-traditional high school". This language tells us that while it is possible to derive correlation between criminals and non-traditional high schools, the schools cannot be determined to be the cause of these men becoming criminals.

It is important, then, to recognise that although we look to our schools to mitigate the effects of the failure of our homes and communities to instill positive values and attitudes in our children, the focus must first be on the core areas.

Professor Anthony Harriott, in a report titled 'Crime Trends in the Caribbean and Responses' (November 12, 2002), outlined the causes of crime in the Caribbean to be the following:

"The motivating forces (unemployment, immiseration, relative deprivation, etc; the opportunities (the affluence that is one side of the coin of inequality, etc.); poor guardianship (weak and ineffective law enforcement, weak informal control by disorganised communities and families, etc.); the means and facilitators (firearms, corruption)."

Therefore, when The Gleaner places a bold headline on the front page of its newspaper that declares 'Prison schools', it is being misleading, sensational and less than honest. This headline gives the impression that the schools are the cause of these young men being in prison. I was heartened to see two principals of schools that were named responding to this claim.

We know in Jamaica that some of our young men who end up being incarcerated attended some non-traditional schools, yet we need to recognise that they did not come to the schools with minds that were blank slates. By age 12-13 when our students enter high school, their minds have already been stamped by their experiences coming from their homes and communities. Many non-traditional schools are assigned students who are underperforming academically. The few sent who are performing above average are many times transferred by their parents to other schools.

A good number of the students entering non-traditional high schools come in with cognitive deficiencies because of lack of appropriate early stimulation and exposure to life experiences which would help them to develop academically.

Conversely, many have been exposed to emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Some have been exposed to violence in their homes and communities. A number of children have seen persons killed or have had their loved ones murdered.

In addition, because of the high poverty level in our nation, many come from homes where they are not given enough to eat and so they come to school hungry. Furthermore, the issue of the neglect of many of our children is becoming widespread. Increasingly, we are seeing not only fathers abandoning their children; more and more mothers are doing so. These children are passed from one relative to another, and once they begin to display any negative behaviour, they are thrown out of the house. These are our Jamaican children. These are the children who come into our schools.

Therefore, when our boys and young men come into school angry and hungry from the homes and communities in which they reside, how are the schools to change their reality? When we try to instill correct values and attitudes in them and they return to homes and communities where the opposite is practised, how are the schools to reverse the pattern of negative behaviour?

NON-TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS NEGLECTED

Are the government-owned non-traditional schools given the resources of enough guidance counsellors, social workers, psychologists?

Is there sufficient provision of nutritional feeding programmes to address this stark reality that we face? Are these schools given special educators on its establishment and specialist rooms such as reading labs to address the learning problems that many of these students enter high school with?

Are the schools given enough physical, human and teaching resources so that they can assess students' learning, and, recognising the deficiencies, retain students for more than a year at a grade level if necessary until they have achieved a satisfactory learning standard? That would be preferable to sending them through each grade to exit the system barely literate and numerate?

Are the schools adequately provided with the financial and physical resources to create an environment conducive to learning where students can feel that their school is a place that is safe and attractive?

These are some of the issues that need to be addressed. But even these solutions are found, it will still be the home that is the first point of socialisation.

Many persons have repeatedly pointed out that we, as a nation, must begin to emphasise the importance of home and family in order to provide a stable nurturing environment for our children. I have written about this over the years. We have spoken about this, but not enough has been done - by either the Government or the private sector - to change the breakdown of the family structure in Jamaica.

Poverty needs to be alleviated, but there are many poor persons who have strong families and do not produce criminals. Let us begin to focus on rebuilding family in Jamaica.

Esther Tyson is an educator. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and esther.tyson@gmail.com.