Nation lacks self-discipline

By Peter Espeut

Senator Ruel Reid, in his first major intervention in the Senate, has exemp-lified the major weakness of the Jamaican political class: They dabble in social analysis, but are weak on prescriptive solutions.

The first part of his argument rings true: When poor Jamaicans have children, they compel the Government to spend money to care for them. Maternity hospitals - at some expense - must assist poor mothers to give safe delivery to their babies, including providing pre- and postnatal care.

The Ministry of Education must provide school places for all these children, and if the parents cannot afford school fees, lunches and books, the Government must spend money to provide them, either through direct grants from members of parliament, or through some social safety net intervention like PATH.

Senator Reid contends that HALF the children in Jamaican schools - a considerable number - are supported by the PATH, proof positive, he argues, that people are having children they cannot afford, and are throwing the burden of their support upon the State. His contention has not been contradicted.

It is a serious matter! Where these children do poorly in school - or even drop out of the official school system - they might join gangs, contribute to the crime statistics, or become further burden on the State.

Even though Jamaica's birth rate has halved since Indepen-dence, there are many thousands of children born each year to casual sexual liaisons whose connections cannot - and do not - care for them. Too many children do not know their fathers, and too many fathers do not care for the fruit of their loins. There is data showing correlation between poverty and certain types of crime.

The second part of Senator Reid's argument is also correct: that since the State has the burden of providing for the (wanted and unwanted) children of Jamaica's citizens, the State should have something to say about the whole affair.

the State

And the State has had a lot to say about it, as decades of 'birth-control' programmes will attest. Contraceptives (preventing conception) and abortion-producing devices (like loops and coils and morning-after pills) masquerading as contraceptives are freely available. The State also performs thousands of abortions each year on the flimsiest of pretexts (to pretend to stay within the law).

It is moving from these two premises to his conclusion that Senator Reid's argument fails: 1. because poor people have children they cannot afford and the State has to care for them; and 2. because the State should have some say in the matter; therefore, 3. a law should be passed compelling each person to have only two children. There is no logic in this conclusion, and it is crooked thinking like this by politicians that has put Jamaica in the mess we are in.

The argument is not even internally consistent: if a person cannot afford even two children, why should the State allow them to have two? On average, two is more or less what each woman of child-bearing age has now. Doesn't Senator Reid know that basic fact?

The argument, as outlined by Senator Reid, identifies the problem as too many 'children being born'. Is that the real problem? How do children come to be born? Do we blame the stork? Or is there some other mechanism at work?

National problem

As someone who is no stranger to the classroom, I thought Senator Reid would have been more fundamental in his analysis: On the deepest level, the problem is LACK OF SELF-DISCIPLINE. This is the root of our national problem with crime and violence, with illegitimate parenting, and with environmental destruction.

People hanker after other people's property and steal it. People want to get good grades in school, but they also want to watch television and play video games. People want to lose weight, but they love ice cream and cake. When 'nature rise', there is a drive for release that in some people is almost uncontrollable.

Disposing of one's garbage out the window or in a gully - or maybe just burning it - is for many the quickest and easiest solution. Paying someone to get a driver's licence, or to get a permit to build, or maybe bypassing the official system altogether may be the quickest and easiest way to build some much-needed shops. LACK OF SELF-CONTROL is at the root of much of Jamaica's problems.

And the solution, Senator Reid? Let's teach people how to control the urges of their bodies and their passions. Maybe begin in the classroom? Then people will have the number of children they can afford.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and Roman Catholic deacon. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

the official system altogether may be the quickest and easiest way to build some much-needed shops. LACK OF SELF-CONTROL is at the root of much of Jamaica's problems.

And the solution, Senator Reid? Let's teach people how to control the urges of their bodies and their passions. Maybe begin in the classroom? Then people will have the number of children they can afford.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and Roman Catholic deacon. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

the official system altogether may be the quickest and easiest way to build some much-needed shops. LACK OF SELF-CONTROL is at the root of much of Jamaica's problems.

And the solution, Senator Reid? Let's teach people how to control the urges of their bodies and their passions. Maybe begin in the classroom? Then people will have the number of children they can afford.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and Roman Catholic deacon. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.