Real education

Kareem Smith, who is 14 years old, was attacked by several students in broad daylight on the San Juan promenade last Wednesday. One of them stabbed Smith at the back of the head as he was walking away, fracturing his skull. The incident occurred within walking distance of the San Juan police station. Two suspects aged 14 and 15 are now in police custody.

According to the report in Friday’s Newsday, teachers say the incident wasn’t the result of gang warfare, but just an unfortunate incident sparked off by rivalry between different shifts. If this is so, it raises two questions: one, why should there be rivalry between different shifts of the same school; and, two, what causes such rivalry to reach the stage of possibly fatal violence?

Psychological studies have shown that conflict between people is easy to invoke, once they are put into different groups. Common sense tells us this from observation of race, religion, and politics. What is unexpected is that even the most trivial signals — people wearing differently coloured jerseys, for example — can cause people to see one another as members of a rival group and, once they have that perception, to form negative opinions of the other.

This effect is especially intense when young males are involved. So, unless deliberate efforts are made to socialise these youths to resolve their innately aggressive tendencies, violence becomes the preferred method of resolving conflicts.

The school is the best place to socialise young persons in positive ways. And it is especially important that the school do this for those students who come from neighbourhoods where violence is culturally sanctioned. It is, after all, no coincidence that most of the country’s murders are taking place in specific parts of Laventille, Morvant, Diego Martin and so on. If, however, the school provides a different set of social values, then most of these at-risk students can overcome the disadvantages they are born into.

But this can only happen if schools make fundamental changes in their approach to education. We cannot depend on preachy peace projects or raising young people’s self-esteem. Instead, schools must, first and foremost become places where students feel welcomed and safe. Unless this happens, education can hardly take place for disadvantaged students. Some techniques for creating a welcoming environment include decorating classes with appealing posters, starting the first class with relaxation exercises of different sorts, and even playing music.

It is also important to empower students in meaningful ways. Ours is a society which typically uses authoritarianism, rhetoric, and platitudes in order to make people behave in positive, productive ways.

Needless to say, such approaches have little or no efficacy. On the other hand, if people are given responsibilities, then they will more readily behave in ways to enhance themselves and their institutions. In the case of students, this means, for example, the setting up of student councils which, in tandem with teachers and parents, make decisions on disciplinary matters involving students and — and here is where our conventional cultural sensibilities balk — also teachers.

If, however, we are serious about reducing violence in schools, these are the kind of innovative measures that must be implemented. Unless we do so, then the society is going to continue throwing up young killers.