Time to police the children in school

The first question to come to mind — and which must be answered urgently and credibly if societal collapse is to be averted — is why? Children, regardless of race, class or status, are by nature seldom models of appropriate behaviour.

They must be brought to book and taught — usually by example — how to be “civilised” little people.

That responsibility, of course, falls first and foremost on the parent or parents of the child. After that the child has to be educated and part of their education is “discipline” which, although it is not a school subject, was always a vital part of the curriculum of a school.

Why the change today? Obviously, we now have to face the fact that possibly both parents of today’s wayward children and the school system have to bear joint responsibility for this state of affairs. The answer to me is simply to make each of these parties responsible for what takes place under their aegis.

In particular I would draw reference to many of the “violent” scenes captured on video of events at these schools by (I presume) students as I would hope that teachers and staff would be trying to quell the fracas rather than recording it. In those videos there is a complete lack of adult supervision. Apparently, break time is break time for both student and staff.

When I went to school we were supervised (often without knowing it) at all times during the school day and, having gone to an English boarding school, I can assure you that we got away with nothing.

Before that I attended Naparima Girls in San Fernando and I again assure you that there we were well supervised also.

Unfortunately, today the violence seems to be erupting in “government” schools and I can only lay the blame at the feet of those in power for the same. Economic downturn notwithstanding, those schools are responsible for each and every child under their care and supervision.

The answer to simple-minded folk like me is obvious. The children must be “policed” (and here I don’t mean the Police Service but simply supervised and overseen) by responsible adults.

They must also be suitably punished for any infringement of the rules — which in my day included walking up a staircase on the wrong side. Obviously, the staff at both these institutions had a rota worked out where a certain number of them were “on duty” at break time.

In my school days, at break time you could not stay in the classroom and had to get out into the “open air” (weather permitting, of course). At all times pupils were “supervised.” Hopefully also these “badjohn” children are receiving the appropriate attention. How many of them come from deplorable home conditions it is difficult to say, but surely children like that display certain characteristics and can be sent for early assistance to avoid them becoming next-generation thugs and criminals.

The future lies in our hands. By that I mean the present adult generation.

And not just as postulated by the Father of the Nation — in the school bags of the children.

VIRGINIA VERITY via email